Linothorax vs Quilted linen vs spolas

[PMBardunias]

The tawed leather was called "Cordovan"- which makes me think of Ricardo Montalban.

Here's a link to burgundian shoes that mentions it:
http://atelierlalonde.com/World/SCA/shoe.html

From Roman times articles such as shoes and gloves were made from tawed skins (in latin aluta). Tawed leather is delicate and easily dyed, and was used when the shoes and gloves were more for show than hard wear [Ibid, p. 20]. This tradition continued through much of the middle ages.

As early as the 9th century the Spanish city of Cordoba was renouned for the bright red tawed skins produced there. The French word for shoe-maker, cordonier is derived from the old French form cordouanier, refering to the cordovan leather.



Mineral Tanning
The first mineral process used, dating back to ancient Egypt and Babylonia, is the alum process. Skins are soaked in a solution of alum and salt and the resulting leather is a pure white colour. The alum and salt will, however, wash out in water, and the leather must be further processed, according to the application, to avoid this kind of damage [Waterer 1971, pp. 23-24]. The process of preparing leather using the alum process is called tawing. Alum tawed leather is also very easy to dye in bright colours, alum being a mordant.