Designed according to numerous Burgundian, Flemish, French and even English representations, this padded jack is quite flattering for the morphology of the wearer: the waist is slightly slim fitted and the big maheutres (padded shoulders) further contributes to emphasize the silhouette and to make the soldier more impressive.

“Memory shall be kept that the King [of France] wishes that all the Francs archers of his Kingdom be equipped with padded jack, from now on. Because it has never been seen six men killed by hand [weapons] or arrows, in such jacks. Aymar Cadorat’s instructions (around 1466)

“The archer should [...] have a jack with a collar high enough to replace gorget and good sleeves.” Ordinances of Charles the Bold (Abbeville, 1471)

“In every shire with jakkes and salads clean misrule doth rise” John Hardyng

“Indeed, the common soldiery have more comfortable tunics that reach down below the loins and are stuffed with tow or some other material. They say that the softer the tunic the better do they withstand the blows of arrows and swords, and besides that in summer they are lighter and in the winter they are more serviceable than iron.” Dominic Mancini 1483 (Notes : all these archers belong to Richard III and also wear a helmet, a bow and arrows, a sword, always accompanied by a buckler)