the.com/aketon
padded armor so humble it kept knights alive while the steel got all the credit
means A quilted, padded jacket worn under or instead of armor to cushion blows and prevent chafing from mail.
from From Old French 'auqueton,' which came through Spanish from Arabic 'al-qutn,' meaning 'the cotton' — the very stuffing that made the garment soft. So the name quietly admits what it's made of: the humble cotton wadding that absorbed the violence the knight would rather not feel.
- layered defense
- quilted cloth absorbed blows beneath the mail
- many names
- also called gambeson, padded jack, arming doublet
- arabic roots
- name traces to al-qutn, meaning cotton
- budget knight
- poorer soldiers wore it as their only armor
- arrow eater
- thick layers could stop or slow arrows
for instance
aketon of henry viii — padded armor jacket worn by king henry viii, preserved at the tower of london