Most people picture armor as metal: a shining breastplate, a helmet, a mail shirt. But almost every piece of medieval metal armor was meant to be worn over something soft. Quilted cloth was the quiet foundation of the whole system. It cushioned blows, kept hard steel off the skin, gave mail a place to hang, and in many cases it was the only armor a common soldier owned. A knight in full plate and a village archer in a thick coat were, in a sense, wearing the same idea at different levels of wealth.
For a LARP player, this matters twice. First, the right padded garment makes your character look correct: the silhouette of a gambeson, the tight sleeves of an aketon or the laced front of an arming doublet tell other players who you are and when you come from. Second, padding makes armor wearable. Whether your plates are steel or polyurethane, a good underlayer spreads pressure, absorbs sweat and stops edges from rubbing you raw over a long weekend. In this guide we explain what the three main names mean, how these garments were built and quilted, how plate was tied to them with arming points, what survives in museums, and how to use the same ideas at a LARP event.
Padded Armor at a Glance
Medieval writers used these words loosely, and modern scholars still argue about the exact boundaries. The table below shows how the terms are generally used by the museums and specialist references listed at the end of this article. Treat the dates as approximate, since regional habits differed and the names overlap.
| Garment | Main period | Worn | Typical build | LARP characters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aketon | About 12th to 15th century | Under mail or plate | Plain linen shell, snug fit, tight sleeves, quilted | Knights, men-at-arms, sergeants |
| Gambeson | About 12th to 15th century | Under or over mail, or alone | Thick, many layers, vertical or diamond quilting | Soldiers, militia, city guards, mercenaries |
| Jupon | From at least the 12th century | Over mail or alone | Textile coat armour, sometimes lined with plates | Nobles, heralds, knights in heraldic colors |
| Arming doublet | Linked to full plate, after about 1410 | Under plate | Fitted, laced, with points for attaching armor | Late medieval knights, tournament fighters |
| Jack | 15th and 16th century | Alone, as body armor | Much thicker, many folds of cloth, or plates between layers | Infantry, city watch, Renaissance soldiers |
| Arming cap | Until the 16th century | Under a helmet | Padded coif with ear flaps | Any helmeted fighter |
Why Armor Needed Padding
Metal protects against cuts and points, but it does a poor job against the shock of a blow. A sword or axe can hit a mail shirt, fail to cut a single ring and still bruise or break what is under it. Padding solves that problem. The Metropolitan Museum of Art explains that mail needed an underlayer of quilted fabric, which made it more comfortable to wear and cushioned the wearer against blows. The same essay notes that mail was worn over quilted leggings and quilted garments of different lengths.
There is also a measured side to the story. A myArmoury feature on quilted defenses reports simulation tests by Dr. Alan Williams in which about 16 folds of linen gave protection similar to or better than 5 mm of boiled leather, with roughly 80 to 90 joules needed to push through. The same article notes that swords and axes deliver energy somewhere between 60 and 130 joules, so cloth alone was a serious defense, and padding combined with mail raised the energy needed for piercing weapons even further. These are modern test results reported second hand, so read them as an illustration of how effective layered cloth can be, not as a guarantee. The full story is in the myArmoury quilted armor article.
The earliest records of quilted textile defenses that the same article discusses come from the middle of the 12th century. From then until the end of the Middle Ages, padded garments appear in inventories, effigies and surviving objects in many forms.
Gambeson, Aketon and Arming Doublet: What the Words Mean
If the terminology confuses you, you are in good company. The sources use the words in slightly different ways, so it helps to know which name belongs to which job.
Aketon
The aketon is the quilted garment worn under mail or plate. According to the authors cited by myArmoury (Claude Blair and David Edge), it was usually made with a linen outer shell and left undecorated. It was cut close to the body, with tight sleeves and a stiff collar, and some examples had slits at the sides and back to make riding possible. Earlier aketons were pulled on over the head, while the 14th century added versions that opened down the front. The same article points out that no surviving aketons are known, so what we know comes from descriptions, accounts and artwork rather than from museum objects.
In LARP: think of the aketon as an invisible hero. It is the plain, snug layer under your mail or plates, and no one needs to see it. It suits knights, men-at-arms and any character who wears real armor. If you want a historically flavored look under open armor, a plain undyed linen outer shell reads exactly right.
Gambeson
The gambeson is the thick sibling. Claude Blair, as quoted by myArmoury, defines it as a relatively thick quilted defense usually worn over the metal armor, and the outer layer could be silk and carry the wearer's coat of arms. The Metropolitan Museum describes it as a many-layered, heavily quilted body armor worn under mail and early plate. Britannica gives a simple definition: a quilted garment of leather or canvas, worn by knights beneath mail, while ordinary soldiers often wore it as their only protection.
These descriptions look contradictory at first, but they are not. The position of the gambeson changed with time, region and wealth, and myArmoury notes that in period terms gambeson and aketon were largely interchangeable. The practical way to read it: a gambeson is a thick quilted coat that might be the only armor or one layer in a stack, and an aketon is the same family worn specifically as the underlayer.
In LARP: the gambeson is the most useful padded garment you can own. It works as stand-alone armor for a militia soldier, guard or mercenary, and it works as the base layer for a knight. A gambeson is also the fastest way to make a costume look believable, because it gives the torso the heavy, layered silhouette that cheap tunics cannot.
Arming Doublet
The arming doublet belongs to the age of plate. The Metropolitan Museum describes it as a specially fitted and padded garment worn under plate armor. The myArmoury article links the thinner arming doublet to the arrival of full plate after about 1410. The same feature describes arming doublets with full-length sleeves, laced at the front.
The arming doublet is also where the term gets slippery. Some authors, including Brian Price as cited by myArmoury, use "pourpoint" for the arming doublet, while Claude Blair used the word for quilted armor of any kind. Other names that appear for similar garments include arming coat and jack. Do not worry about getting the label perfect. The shape and the job are what count: a fitted, padded, laced garment that supports plate.
In LARP: if your character wears a full harness in a late medieval style, an arming doublet is the right underlayer. It is a fitted garment that gives plates a base to sit on, and its laced front and visible points are a nice detail when your cuirass or surcoat is off.
Jupon and Jack
Two more names appear in the sources. The jupon is a textile coat armour, worn alone or over a mail shirt according to the Metropolitan Museum, and myArmoury notes some were lined with metal plates. The jack is a later, much thicker defense of the 15th and 16th centuries, made of many folds of cloth. The jack is covered in more detail below.
How Padded Armor Was Built
The myArmoury article describes two basic methods for making a padded defense. One is to stuff a shell with padding. The other is to quilt many layers of cloth together. In both cases, stitching held the layers in place so the padding could not slide down and bunch at the hem.
Shells and Stuffing
Linen is the outer cloth in most of the examples discussed by myArmoury. For stuffing, the sources mention wool, tow, rags, animal hair and cotton, with wool preferred for its breathable nature. Tube-style quilting used at least two linen layers stitched in vertical lines to make channels that were then filled. Multi-layer quilting could reach more than twenty layers of cloth.
The same article names a period term for stuffing, fustian, and says it likely refers to a mixed linen and cotton weave. For helmet liners, the article cites surviving 16th and 17th century German and Italian examples made of linen stuffed with cotton, with a thickness from 2 mm to 15 mm.
Famous Surviving and Recorded Examples
Few padded garments survive. The myArmoury article describes two famous ones.
- The Black Prince's gambeson: kept at Canterbury Cathedral. It has five layers, with two linen shells, wool stuffing, a satin lining and velvet sleeves, and it laces at the front. The article says it is widely believed to have been processional clothing, so it may show a display version rather than a battlefield garment.
- The garment of Charles VI of France: kept in Chartres Cathedral. It has seven layers, essentially linen stuffed with wool, and closes with 25 wooden buttons.
A third example comes from accounts rather than objects. Robert Reed's study of the Howard household books, cited by myArmoury, describes a "doublet of fence" bought for Sir John Howard for 20 pence. Each front quarter held 23 folds (18 of white fustian, 4 of linen and 1 of black fustian), and each back quarter had 21 folds. The sleeves had 9 folds in total (6, 2 and 1 folds in its parts). Even a 20 pence garment held a lot of cloth.
Fit and Closure
A good padded garment fits snugly. The article notes tight sleeves and stiff collars for aketons, and front lacing for arming doublets. Armor was not loose clothing: if a gambeson sags, the mail or plate above it sags too. The same applies to LARP, which is why a properly sized gambeson is always better than an oversized one.
Arming Points: How Plate Was Tied to the Doublet
Plate armor did not simply hang from the shoulders. The Metropolitan Museum explains that individual pieces of armor could be attached to the arming doublet where needed, using arming points, which it describes as ribbons or strings attached to the doublet. In practice, the doublet worked as a base for the harness. The wearer tied the pieces to it.
The same Metropolitan Museum essay says dressing usually began with the legs, followed by the upper body and arms, and the helmet and gauntlets were put on last. A knight in full armor was also expected to mount and dismount unaided, and the essay calls the idea of a crane lifting a knight into the saddle complete fiction. The myArmoury article adds that arming doublets could carry mail at the armpits and groin, where plate left gaps, and that the doublet gave the armor an attachment base.
The myArmoury feature also gives an interesting caveat. In the Howard household books, Reed found no records of arming doublets, so there is room for scholarly debate about how the garments were named in practice. If a reenactor tells you the word was used differently in his period, he may well be right.
In LARP: arming points are a feature you can use if you wear several separate plates. Tying shoulder or arm pieces to a fitted garment is more comfortable than relying on elastic or tight straps alone. Always check with your event what attachments are allowed, and keep points easy to cut or untie in an emergency.
Padded Armor With Mail and Plate
The sources show padded garments in three main roles. The table summarizes them.
| Setup | What the sources show | LARP look |
|---|---|---|
| Padding alone | Britannica: ordinary soldiers often wore the gambeson as their only protection | Militia, city guard, scout, peasant levy |
| Padding under mail | The Metropolitan Museum: mail over quilted garments, which cushioned blows | Knight on campaign, sergeant, northern warrior |
| Padding over mail | myArmoury: the effigy of Sir John de Creke (about 1325 to 1330) shows two quilted garments, one over and one under the armor (the labels are partly speculative) | Heraldic knight, noble in a coat armour |
| Padding under plate | The effigy of Walter von Hohenklingen (1386); the arming doublet after about 1410 | Plate knight, tournament champion |
| Padded legs | Gamboised cuisses, from about 1250 to the early 15th century, worn both under and over mail | Armored infantry, knight on foot |
| Padded head | Arming cap, until the 16th century | Any helmeted fighter |
It is worth noting that padded legwear was a real thing. The myArmoury article says gamboised cuisses, quilted thigh defenses, were used from about 1250 into the early 15th century, and that poleyns could be attached to them. They were worn both under and over mail cuisses. If you want to pad a character's legs, it is not an invention.
For the head, the same article describes the arming cap, a padded coif with ear flaps, used until the 16th century. Surviving helmet liners were made of canvas or wool stuffed with cow hair in the case of the Churburg bascinets, and linen stuffed with cotton in later German and Italian helmets.
Jacks and Plated Jacks: Padding That Became Armor
By the 15th and 16th centuries, the jack had become a major defense for ordinary soldiers. The myArmoury article describes it as much thicker than an arming doublet, made of multiple folds of cloth. A variant held small plates between layers of cloth.
Two museum objects show this clearly. The Royal Armouries jack of plate was made about 1580 and is a sleeveless jack in the form of a doublet, with small plates sewn between layers of textile. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds an English plated jack from about 1575 to 1590. Two layers of unbleached linen enclose a layer of thick woven wool padding, and about 800 iron plates are sewn between the layers. It has a swollen "peascod" front, fastens with points on one side and lacing holes on the other, and the museum describes it as a stab vest for low-paid infantry.
The V&A page adds a lovely detail: a proclamation of 1579 targeted "Secret Doublets of Defence", because civilians wearing hidden armor in town drew suspicion. In other words, the line between clothing and armor was blurry, and people noticed.
The Metropolitan Museum also holds a jerkin of about 1580 in leather, silk, linen and cotton. The museum says the padding on the chest, back and sleeves suggests it was probably made for wear during fencing practice.
In LARP: a jack gives a rough, practical infantry look that fits Renaissance mercenaries, city watchmen and anyone who has to look battle worn but not rich. It works well in a group of soldiers who share a uniform color.
Gambeson Types for LARP
When you pick a padded garment for LARP, the first question is what role it plays for your character. Here is a simple guide.
- Long, thick gambeson: a stand-alone armor for a guard or infantry soldier. Best with a plain outer cloth and a belt. Add a medieval hood or a coif for a complete early or high medieval soldier.
- Fitted aketon style: a snug, undecorated layer to wear under mail, plate or a heavy harness. Choose natural linen colors, since nobody will see it.
- Arming doublet style: a slimmer, laced garment for late medieval characters in plate. Add points if you plan to tie pieces to it.
- Decorated gambeson or jupon: a showy coat in heraldic colors for nobles, knights and officers.
- Jack or plated jack: a Renaissance infantry look. Use plates only if your event allows them.
Our shop offers a linen gambeson for women, the Female Linen Gambeson, in the LARP Gambesons collection. If you want to wear a leather harness over padded clothing, our leather body harnesses can be worn with padding if you size them over the thicker garment.
Polyurethane Armor and Padding
Historical padding protected the wearer against blows. In LARP, the main job is slightly different: comfort and fit. A few practical points:
- Pressure. Hard armor presses on the shoulders, collarbones, hips and ribs. A gambeson or doublet spreads that pressure over a larger area.
- Edges. Even rounded edges can rub on bare skin during a long day. A layer of fabric under the armor stops that.
- Sweat. Natural fabrics such as linen and wool absorb moisture. Our armor care page explains how to look after your armor, and a washable padded layer helps keep the inside fresher between events.
- Sizing. Put on the padded layer before you try armor on or order it. A thick gambeson changes your chest and shoulder width, so take your measurements over the garment you plan to wear.
- Heat. Thick quilting is warm. Choose lighter layers in summer and layer up in the cold.
Our armor is made of polyurethane resin reinforced with fiberglass, painted by hand. It still sits on your body for hours, so a good underlayer is a sensible investment. For a deeper look at materials, read What Is the Best Type of LARP Armor? and our guide to how polyurethane LARP armor is made.
Event rules differ, so always check what your game allows, both for armor and for layers such as plates sewn into jackets.
Which Padded Garment Fits Your Character
- Town guard, militia, peasant levy: a long gambeson worn alone, with a hood. See the Landsknecht collection for infantry-style looks.
- Knight on campaign: an aketon or gambeson under mail, with a surcoat on top. See the Knight collection.
- Crusader or paladin: a padded layer under armor, plus a heraldic coat. See the Paladin collection.
- Northman or tribal warrior: a plain, rough gambeson with leather straps. See the Barbarian and Northmen collection.
- Late medieval plate knight: an arming doublet with points, under a full or partial harness. Read about the whole development in The Evolution of Knight Armor: From Mail to Plate.
- Renaissance soldier or watchman: a jack or a padded doublet, and an open helmet.
If you play a crusader, you may also like our articles on crusader knights and the knightly orders.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Using a modern puffer or sports vest. The shape and stitching look wrong, and the shiny fabric stands out. Choose linen, canvas or wool with visible hand-style quilting.
- Making it too baggy. The sources describe close-fitting garments under armor. A loose garment slips, bunches and looks costumey.
- Adding every layer at once. A gambeson plus doublet plus mail plus plates is a lot of heat. Pick the layers your character needs.
- Hiding the history. If your character wears an aketon under a hauberk, tell the story. Players love details like a worn, patched padded coat.
- Forgetting the head. An arming cap or padded coif makes a helmet more comfortable and adds to the look.
Want Something That Is Not in Our Shop?
Our workshop in Ukraine makes original armor designs, and we do custom pieces to order. If you want armor that works well over a padded layer, such as a breastplate or shoulder pieces cut for your gambeson, or a design in your faction's colors, we can make it. We usually start with a 2D concept, then a 3D sculpt, and then make the mold and the piece. Tell us your idea on our Custom LARP Armor page. We paint everything by hand, offer free recoloring in your colors, and ship worldwide. Production takes 7 to 21 business days, and instalment payments are available.
If you outfit a whole group, orders from 5 players get 15% off. See Group Orders. You can also browse armor for every role in the LARP Armor collection, and check upcoming events on the LARP Calendar. Our customers have worn our armor at ConQuest of Mythodea and DrachenFest.
Further Reading
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Function of Armor in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
- myArmoury: Spotlight on Quilted Armour Defenses of the High Middle Ages
- Royal Armouries: Jack of Plate (III.1278)
- Victoria and Albert Museum: Plated Jack
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Jerkin, about 1580
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Gambeson
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Difference Between a Gambeson and an Aketon?
What Is an Arming Doublet?
What Were Gambesons Made Of?
Did Knights Wear Padded Armor Under Plate?
Do I Need a Gambeson Under LARP Armor?
Event information is provided for orientation only. LARPSHOPKEEPER is not affiliated with the organizers. Please check dates and details on the official event websites.
