Whether or not some form of padding was worn I think will be difficult if not impossible to determine given biodegradable items such as this are scant. As many have already said we can only make assumptions.
Jean Thibodeau wrote: |
Lets just imagine a draw cut with very little pressure with a very sharp weapon: This should be able to cut you to the bone, cripple you for life if you survive the fight and maybe cause you to bleed to death.
Even a casual cut during a mellee comming out of nowhere could put you out of action. Add some sort of armour, fabric, leather or even better a maille shirt even if over only a light linen undershirt: All of the above wounds could be avoided. At this level of protection swords would still be effective but only focused and power blows would be a significan hasard. |
Jean you make an excellent point here and to further illustrate if I could I'm going to borrow a link from Alexi that he posted on the thread regarding the Brigadine armor question.
http://www.chivalrybookshelf.com/
If you select the catalog option on the left, scroll to the bottom and click "Armor from the Battle of Wisby" you will be taken to a page showing some of the pictures in the book. Granted this battle took place in the 14th century, but if you look at the picture in the first column, fourth down you will see a picture depicting a variety of wounds found on the skeletal remains of a soldier.
All of them appear on the arms and legs which lends to just how crucial some sort of protection is on all portions of the body. The fact that no wounds appear on the torso or head lends me to think they were at least armored to some degree. That image there also give a good pretense for the advent of full armor in the next century and why designs moved towards encompassing the entire body. It's all well and good not to take a sword through the chest, but if you bleed to death from wounds on your arms and legs what difference does it make?
Just my rambling thoughts as I try to diligantly to avoid the paperwork on my desk here :)
Dominic