rcher gambeson of this type is an essential element of archer costume. Our gambeson is dated to the 15th century. It will work perfectly as an archer costume, but also as a late-medieval reenactment piece of clothing.
English archer gambeson is made of materials of the highest quality.Its outer layer and lining are made of linen. The padding of this archer costume is made of a cotton-polyester material of various thickness.
Our English archer gambeson has various levels of protection:
↪ on chest, shoulders and elbows - Y2
↪ in rest of medieval gambeson - Y1
This costume for an English bowman is closed with four leather laces and it has a high collar. It also has distinctive puffs on shoulders filled with fleece. It has straight stitchings on its whole surface, both torso and sleeves. We can recommend this archer costume to anyone completing their archer clothing.
NOTE - there is an option of modifying the thickness of amortization layers in this model of medieval archer gambeson. To customize this product, please contact our Sales Department before you place an order.
Similar archer gambeson can be found in the work of Hans Memling titled as Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. This painting can be found in the Memling Museum in the Belgian Brugge. You can find a man wearing this type of archer costume in this painting.
- tied up with four leather laces which eases the process of putting the archer gambeson on
- high collar, protecting the neck
- available in standard sizes (XS - XXL)
- costume based on a historical source
- option of layer modification
- puffs on shoulders
To complete one’s English archer clothing, we suggest starting with a lightweight, convenient archer’s gambeson. Other essential elements will be medieval pants, a shirt and medium braies. We also recommend a coif and a hood type 4. To fulfill your archer costume, don’t forget about soldier’s shoes, an archer badge, arrows and gloves.
Such costume will work perfectly during any reenactment of a medieval battle.
One of the most famous military formations of the medieval period were English bowmen. The distinctive feature of their equipment was a long English bow. It was made of yew wood and its length reached approx. 180 cm. Bowstring, on the other hand, was made of linen or hemp threads, resistant to moisture. Arrows were approx. 100 cm long and after shooting from a bow they were able to get through the armor.
The English bowman was able to shoot 10-12 arrows per minute. French knights during the Hundred-years War turned out to be the real power of this formation. Its accuracy and quick-firing gave England victory in numerous battles during the conflict.The outer garment of the archer costume were thick gambesons.
Gambesons were a cheap protection for the fighting men in the Middle Ages, but only the poorest ones used only them as their single armour. For others they were a part of a complete protective armament, providing amortization of the hit and the protection of attritions from the armour. Among padded protective elements we can find: simple gambesons protecting the trunk and hands, padded gloves, padded coifs and separate hoses. They were sewn from layers of a fabric.
In the 13th century gambesons were long and rather badly-fitted to the figure. Medieval padded armors were usually put over the head and buttoned only near the neck. Later, with the development of other elements of the armour, gambesons were shorter and better fitted to the body. In the 14th and the 15th centuries they were usually buttoned at the front or laced up.
Currently, we are working on implementing to our assortment the upgraded versions of our well-known medieval padded armors. Changes include:
- improving the functionality and mobility of our aketons
- layers’ thickness (check the chart with levels of amortization)
- directions and shape of stitchings
- minor changes in cut (for better fitting)
- and most of all, matching the gambesons to our six-levels size set: XS-XXL (NOTE: you can still order a custom-sized gambeson)
Therefore, you can be sure that upgraded SPES gambesons are even better suited to your needs. And if you have any questions about mentioned changes in any model, contact us - we will dispel the doubts!
To make each gambeson stand out even more, we gave them unique names. From now on, the archer gambeson is named the English archer gambeson.
