Subarmalis or gambeson?

[Dan Howard]

I would like to point out we have no finds of integral padding under mail, scale or anything. Neither do we have no armour with integral padding after the period. Mail with integrated padding would also loose much of what makes it so useful. Flexibility.

All scale armour has an integrated liner. The construction can't be made without one. People constantly confuse standalone padded armour and under padding. Underpadding doesn't have to be thick. A few layers of linen or a winter woollen tunic is more than enough. There are plenty of medieval examples of mail with integrated liners and it doesn't affect flexibility at all. Some have padding on the inside AND outside - they were called jazerants in Europe and kazaghands in the Middle East. Even these constructions suffered no loss of flexibility. Every piece of plate ever found with small holes spaced around the perimeter had an integrated liner. IMO every example of Roman mail with a leather edging around the perimeter had an integrated liner.

The only types of armour during the Roman period that really need some kind of dedicated subarmalis is segmentata and lamellar.