A History of the Idea of Glued Linen Armour

[Sean Manning]

RAT veterani veteranaeque will remember the long thread on glued linen armour ("Linothorax vs Quilted linen vs spolas") which inspired a book by three researchers in the Midwestern USA. It quickly became clear that none of the people putting this theory forward could point to strong evidence, so where did it come from?

My article on the history of this idea has appeared in the Canadian journal Mouseion Vol. 17 No. 3 https://doi.org/10.3138/mous.17.3.003 With the help of Joe Balmos and Todd Feinman (who are in no way responsible for my conclusions) I show that linen armour was first linked to glue in a bad English translation of a French summary of a Byzantine chronicle, not in an archaeological report or an ancient text. There was never anything substantial behind the theory (although it is always possible that in the future archaeologists will turn up some evidence that some people somewhere before 1970 made armour by gluing linen together).

And that will finish the Manichees!

If you do not have access to this journal (its cheap enough that many public libraries have subscriptions), and you are not on my list for receiving copies, send me an email address and I can add you to the list.

[Praefectusclassis]

Neat! Definitely going to have a read.

[Creon01]

Kudos Sean! It's always interesting to find out why we think something is "accurate" when discussing the military material culture of the the Ancient World, especially when we have very scant physical and in this case little literary evidence as well. What little evidence we do have is open to interpretation...and to my dismay seems to cause ill feelings among some folks who disagree. I do see in the newest cohort of Greek reenactors a sense of "we can agree to disagree" on this subject and they just move on to other topics of interests. The cause is not furthered by name calling or disallowing one type of tube and yoke armor in a group over another type if makers attempt to use reliable sources as guides. PLUS...I like seeing my name on the old RAT.

[Feinman]

I'm looking forward to reading it Sean!! Very important, as much money is spent by folks these days making the specious glued versions (I know there are still many glue believers), not to mention it is a valuable academic contribution that hopefully will unglue folks from the idea of the glued linothorax.
In a similar vein, I think Connolly is wrong about the leather basis of boar tusk helmets. Rather than an unstable bunch of leather thongs bound at the top of the helmet, I suspect that they were made in a similar manner to scale armour helmets--in segments, and the criss-crossing thongs described by Homer are the thongs lacing the tusk pieces to the helmet; they can be laced on in such a way that a criss-cross pattern is created inside the helmet.

[Sean Manning]

Hi Todd,

have you considered submitting your leather spolas writeup and your twinned linen thorax writeup to Christian Cameron's reenactment magazine Hoplologia? PDFs have a longer half-life than forums (and its easier to process a tidy writeup than a thread with lots of side talk).

Sean

[Feinman]

Hi Todd,

have you considered submitting your leather spolas writeup and your twinned linen thorax writeup to Christian Cameron's reenactment magazine Hoplologia? PDFs have a longer half-life than forums (and its easier to process a tidy writeup than a thread with lots of side talk).

Sean

That's a good idea Sean. When I finish those projects I will look into it. I have to finish a painting before I can get back to finishing armour projects. I think the spolas should be done by the new year though. I'd like to create a few PDF manuals on how these experimental armours were made, too. Right now I am in the middle of: A Greek twined linothorax, the spolas, an Egyptian painted hide scale armour made like Tut's, composite bronze and hide scale armour, a twined Egyptian linothorax, Achilles' helmet, shield and greaves, a Greek shield effigy, and Mountain Pattern armour. I have a couple of secret projects I am working on too... For me it gets exponentially harder to finish items the closer they get to being done

[Praefectusclassis]

Just read the article. Great job on the historiographical detective work!

[Sean Manning]

I was glad to bring this back to RAT since it was a RAT post which uncovered one of the references from the 19th century which was the 'missing link'

[Feinman]

Great article Sean! Got it through interlibrary loan.  I wonder if the references to the use of wine and salt with linen was actually describing a process for felting flax.
It exists, and it might have existed in the past too.  Here is felt made with hemp:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1034994553/...hemp-fiber
Something like the depiction in the fresco below could be felted flax sewn into the pockets seen in the armour below.  I'll bet flax felt could be made quite stiff indeed with a bit of work.  Just conjecturing.  Of course other forms of the linothorax could be twined or mad of multiple layers or both.

[Sean Manning]

Hi Todd, this is the first I have heard of any kind of felt being made from hemp! Could you point me to more information such as a book? A quick DuckDuckGo just gives me advertisement for this product- apparently sometimes it is painted with bitumen and used in roofing?

[Feinman]

Hi Todd, this is the first I have heard of any kind of felt being made from hemp!  Could you point me to more information such as a book?  A quick DuckDuckGo just gives me advertisement for this product- apparently sometimes it is painted with bitumen and used in roofing?

  
That's as much as I've found too, but I don't have access to academic journal databases currently.  IF the stuffed fabric technique was used by folks like the Greeks and Etruscans to make armour in the manner of the ichcahuipill or gambeson, then felting the flax might create a better stuffing than just stuffing the armour with the fibers, and might be lighter and more stable than using old clothes, or those could have been used to create the felt. The fresco is just as likely to represent regular quilted armour of layers (though that would be heavier, I'd think) or even a twined armour quilted between linen layers.  Twined material benefits from being quilted in place, and I believe strongly that is what is seen in the Etruscan urn depictions.  I am going to re-create one of the urn armours with my twining project.

[Crispianus]

Hi Todd, this is the first I have heard of any kind of felt being made from hemp!  Could you point me to more information such as a book?  A quick DuckDuckGo just gives me advertisement for this product- apparently sometimes it is painted with bitumen and used in roofing?

  
That's as much as I've found too, but I don't have access to academic journal databases currently.  IF the stuffed fabric technique was used by folks like the Greeks and Etruscans to make armour in the manner of the ichcahuipill or gambeson, then felting the flax might create a better stuffing than just stuffing the armour with the fibers, and might be lighter and more stable than using old clothes, or those could have been used to create the felt. The fresco is just as likely to represent regular quilted armour of layers (though that would be heavier, I'd think) or even a twined armour quilted between linen layers.  Twined material benefits from being quilted in place, and I believe strongly that is what is seen in the Etruscan urn depictions.  I am going to re-create one of the urn armours with my twining project.

I think with hemp/flax felt you may have to consider the method of manufacture, whether or not the process is possible or practical by hand?

Plant fibres have been used since the ancient past for weaving, but felted?

[Feinman]

I think Ivor is right; unless any archaeological evidence shows up for it, there is no point in pursuing the idea further. Flax fiber doesn't easily lend itself to felting, and other methods of armour construction were available, so it makes it an unlikely technique. As we all know, we need more surviving bits of these things...

[Crispianus]

If its of any relevance I just came came across a reference for stiffening Linen in "Wearing the cloak" pg47:

"Nicetas Acominatos in a book written c.Ad 1204-1210 describes the crusader's way of making a linen garment more protective against weapons by treating it with a mixture of Vinegar and salt. This recipe is in agreement with Pliny the Elder who mentions the gauls and parthians used vinegar for stiffening wool."(Plin. NHVIII 192)

[Dan Howard]

Pliny was wrong about lots of things and this is another one. Vinegar is a fabric SOFTENER - the complete opposite of a fabric stiffener. Mixing vinegar with salt produces hydrochloric acid and sodium acetate. Hydrochloric acid degrades the fibres in textiles, which weakens the material, so it would be pretty silly to apply it to cloth armour.