Subarmalis or gambeson?

[Nathan Ross]

That's certainly possible.

It is! You could wear mail over ordinary clothing - or even bare skin, if you were so inclined - and it would provide a certain degree of protection against glancing blows and so on. But - as you've demonstrated, Dan - mail was a very effective armour against most weapons and in use for over a thousand years. It would make sense (although 'sense' is not evidence!) to ensure that your armour was as effective as possible, and a layer of something thickish worn beneath it would certainly add to its effectiveness.

How much practical padding would be afforded by wearing several tunics on top of each other? There's the note in Suetonius that Augustus wore 'no fewer than four' tunics in winter, over a woolen 'chest protector'. Might a length of wool wrapped around the torso, with several layers of wool or linen tunic over the top, provide adequate protection without the need for a separate padded garment worn beneath mail?