MM - Breton gambeson with short sleeve

This Breton clothing is a type of medieval gambeson perfect for 15th century reenactors. This short-sleeved gambeson is based on the late-medieval chronicles from Brittany.

Breton clothing of this type is dedicated for late-medieval reenactors. An outer layer of this short-sleeved gambeson is made of high quality linen.

Our aketon has crinkled short sleeves, finished with a trim. It is tied up with four leather laces, and it has a collar. Breton short-sleeved gambeson consists of one layer of cotton-polyester nonwoven  with an enhancement on the chest . It has vertical stitchings on both torso and sleeves.

This Breton clothing will perfectly work as an archer’s gambeson. Short sleeves of this aketon make using a bow easier.

Short-sleeved gambeson straight from Brittany

Breton clothing of this type can be found in Compillation des cronicques et ystoires des Bretons (Compilation of the Chronicles and Histories of the Bretons). One of the illustrations presents archers wearing short-sleeved gambesons. Chronicle is stored in the National Library of France.

Basic features of our short-sleeved Breton clothing

- tied up with 4 leather laces
- fitted with a collar protecting a neck
- fully modifiable (including layers)
- Breton clothing based on historical sources
- short-sleeved gambeson
- thick, vertical quilting on the torso and the sleeves

Breton historical sources for a short-sleeved gambeson

Author of Compillation des cronicques et ystoires des Bretons was the 14th century French historian and priest Pierre Le Baud. He was an advisor, a chaplain and a confessor of the last independent princess of Brittany, Anne of Brittany. Pierre Le Baud is the one who arranged her marriage with the king of France, Charles VIII, which permanently included Brittany to the French Crown.
Pierre Le Baud in the first publication of Compillation des cronicques et ystoires tells the story of Brittany starting from the mythic Brutus from Troy, the great-grandson of Aeneas and the ancestor of King Arthur and the first British King, through the migration of Bretonnians from Britain on the lands of modern Brittany, and ending on the death of Arthur III, Duke of Brittany, in 1458.
A few years after finishing his work on the first edition, Pierre Le Baud on special request of Anne of Brittany wrote the second edition. In the chapter known as Cronique des roys et princes de Bretaigne armoricane (Chronicle of the Kings and Princes of Armorican Britain), he stuck closer to history, limiting the number of legends and myths. Le Baud was about to become a bishop of Rennes. Unfortunately, he had died in 1505, before the documents confirming his candidacy arrived in Rome.

The upgrading of SPES gambesons design

Currently, we are working on implementing to our assortment the upgraded versions of our well-known short-sleeved gambesons. Changes include:
- improving the functionality and mobility of our aketons
- thickness of layers (check the chart with levels of amortization)
- directions and shape of stitchings
- minor changes in the cut (for better fitting)
- and most of all, matching the gambesons to our six-levels size set: XS-XXL (NOTE: you can still order a custom-sized gambeson)

Material :100% Leinen