Linothorax design/construction

[Sean Manning]

...which should serve to remind us that the Greek tube-and-yoke corselet could well have been 'composite'.......for example, two layers of leather with flax stuffed between for padding, or leather layers with an outer cover of a single sheet of linen......or something else entirely....

I think composite construction should be part of our basic assumptions. Some Indian composite linen armors had a layer of leather in the center to act as a base for the nails holding on the metal reinforcements, perhaps analogous to the scaled portions of Tube and Yoke (T-Y) corselets. The abrasion resistance of leather would make it attractive as an outer layer or as edging at the very least.

On the other hand, if I remember what I read correctly, there were indian leather armors covered in a sheet of velvet. In fact even with pure linen we would have textural differences based on the density of stitching.

The question is probably more of of degree ands surely varied temporally and spacially during the long appearance of the T-Y corselet.

As an aside, does anyone still believe in glued layers??

And some late medieval padded jacks seem to have been made of leather, others of quilted cloth. We have a number of specifications from the 14th and 15th centuries, I think.

I think glued linen is definitely the worst of the three theories, for various reasons. It was an honourable try by Connolly to explain why the things look white but smooth, though!