Gambeson
"Mail is tough but flexible; it resists a cutting sword-stroke but needs a padded or quilted undergarment as a shock absorber against a heavy blow." (David Nicolle, Editor, Companion to Medieval Arms and Armour, p. 111.)
Quilted garments were part of soldiers' kits in varying forms and with varying names throughout most of the SCA timeline. As early as the late Roman/early Byzantine period there is documentation for quilted or padded coats called Zabai or Kabadia. Illuminations from Maciejowski Bible (circa 1250) show aketons or gambesons. In Arms & Armor of the Medieval Knight: An Illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages by David Edge and John Miles Paddock, the authors state "These terms seem to have been interchangeable but the weight of evidence suggests that 'aketon' refers to garments worn under the mail while gambesons were worn over or instead of it...The gambeson is often referred to in contemporary accounts as being worn by the common soldiery and, indeed, is part of the equipment required by the Assize of Arms of 1185 of Edward I of England." (p. 57)
From "Jonathan and his Armor-bearer Attack the Philistines" from the Maciejowskie Bible, circa 1250.
These garments were worn under maille, over maille, under plate, over plate, or on their own. Some were designed to encase maille or plate. They could be short-sleeved, long-sleeved, or sleeveless. Some had padded collars, some dags, some integral mittens and they were seen quilted in a variety of ways. Their styling often followed the fashion of the day, especially in the later middle ages.
"[Late Sassanian] infantry’s kavadia were to be made of coarse silk padded with cotton as thick as may be stitched." (David Nicolle, Editor, Companion to Medieval Arms and Armour, p. 82.) The English Great Wardrobe Accounts detail the use of linen, cotton wool (2.3 lbs.) silk thread, and linen thread for the construction of an aketon (1343-4) to be covered with fustian and enclosing a coat of mail or plate. (Newton, Stella Mary, Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince, p. 136.)
Magnus's gambeson above is constructed of heavy weight natural linen as an exterior fabric and a lining fabric. The padding is 100% cotton batting. In period, it would have been more common for the padding to have been tow. There has also been a lot of conjecture as to whether the garment was sewn into channels and then stuffed, or whether the padding was layered between the lining and the exterior fabric and then quilted together. I believe that the latter was probably the case as it keeps the padding from bunching and shifting. That being said, I've only worked with modern cotton batting which requires it be sewn in the latter method when used traditionally. I have not yet tried a project with stuffed channels to compare the finished results. It might be a good project for a pair of cuisses ;-)
