felt armor?

[scott adair]

My wife took a feltmaking class this last weekend. Now I am not talking about the thin felt you used for craft projects as a kid. She felted a pair of slippers that ended up being a bit less than 1/2" thick. One of her books said that felt was sometimes used for armor. This caused me to recall something I read years ago, "their felt corslets were so dense that the saracen arrows could not pierce them." I can't remember the source, but I think it was a book about the crusades. Does anyone else know of solid references to felt armor?

Scott Adair

[Brian Hunt]

I do know that felt has been used as reinforcement for both cloth and leather armours. I do not know of any accounts where is was used by itself as armour. Doesn't mean it wasn't done, just means I haven't read or heard of it.

Brian Hunt
GFS

[M Wallgren]

Among farmers in sweden, being a rather cold country in the winter, felt was widly used for clothes since before the viking era. And with the large armies of farmers fighting various wars during the 15-th and 16-th century I would be supprised if not at least a few put on a few layers of felt to protect themself against the attacks of both german Landsknechts and Father Winter...

[TimSheetz]

I had seen this mentioned reference the Crusade when King Richard took his shot at it.

The video said that England was rich in wool and that meant felt... makes sense that it would be incorporated into gambesons and the like.

Tim