"Any damn fool can be uncomfortable" - British Army saying. Discomfort means fatigue, fatigue means a less effective soldier. I remember the tale of the allied army soldier who came to train with, IIRC, the (British) Royal Marines in the Jungle. He tried to show how tough he was by sleeping directly on the ground, with minimal comforts. The RM went right ahead with setting up their sleeping arrangements involving 'field expedient' hammocks and laughing at him - in the morning they would be fresher and not bitten by potentially poisonous bugs. On top of which, the more uncomfortable equipment is the less it is worn. Its one of the issues with civilian PPE. For example fishing is the pclose to being the most dangerous job in the UK and Lifejackets the simplest and cheapest measure that could reduce the death toll. But a huge proportion of Fishermen don't wear them, even though having them aboard is compulsory. There are a lot of thing involved in this but comfort is certainly a significant factor. I can imagine the commander of a 14th Cent unit being quite keen that the Aventails of all his troops were lined, even though the Knights were providing their own Harnesses. He wouldn't want to be always on the lookout for some 'damn fool' removing his helmet when there was still an enemy threat.

I see one more advantage to a lined aventail: Less friction between the aventail and the rest of the armour and therefore more mobility for the head. I have worn armour with an un-lined coif over maille, and I can tell you: It created a lot of friction, making a really irritating noise and causing the maille of the coif to "bite into" into the maille hauberk at the most inconvenient times restricting your head movement. When you wear a coif or aventail and move your head, the maille tends not to twist or bundle up like cloth would but rather follow your head movement, only if it becomes snagged will it start to twist but with none of the elasticity of cloth. A lining would make sure, that the maille could follow your head movements without unnecessary friction or fear of it becoming stuck, regardless whether you were wearing maille, plate or a cloth or leather covered brigandine/coat of plates underneath. Another benefit, which is perhaps less of an issue, but still worth mentioning is, that the lining also reduces the wear and tear that the aventail inflicts on the rest of the armour.

I MISS YOU SO MUCH PLEASE COME BACK WE NEED YOU 😭😭😭

"Historicity"? Is that a word?... *Googles it*... Well I'll be damned.

Another advantage of having a lined aventail is that it protects the mail from your salty sweat. My mail coifs which came into direct contact with skin during exercise became rusty very quickly in those spots. It may not apply for an avantail as much becuse it hangs further away from the skin but contact with sweaty skin could still happen. Another advantage could be that it protects the skin from cold or heat as the metal in the mail transfers heat and cold much more than the padding (deppending on the outside temperature, like winter or desert conditions). It could also avoid eventual oil from the mail getting on the face.

That effigy around 4:00 is an impressive work, but it's really interesting, that the details stop at the side, because the crowd is seeing the sculpture from the side by default.

+Knyght Errant Here's a suggestion for a video you might like. You once did armour measurement video where you measured the weight of every armour piece from the suit that you own and compared it to the weights of historical armour pieces. Now, how about you do an armour thickness measurement video? I think some people will be interested to know what are the approximate thicknesses of you armour pieces compared to historical ones.

I just want a full suit of armor

What does it do to the temperature inside of the armor? Could you maybe do a video sometime on how weather conditions effect armor wearing and like how they would prepare for rain or cold? I'm loving the videos as usual!!!!! Keep up the great work!

All these primary source examples really just say to me that the prime historical inaccuracy is in leaving your aventail liner linen undyed :) More red gambesons and aventail liners!

+1 for bringing up Tobias Capwell's new book. :)

Really enjoying your presentation and explanation in your videos. Can't wait for more, keep it up!

Epic intro, dude

Alright, you convinced me, I gotta line my Aventail! ...now to learn to sew I guess...

excellent, thank you.

Can you please make a tutorial how to sew aventail at linen please ?

Men this channel was so awesome.

Love how nobody is mentioning the floating bascinet... We have a huge historical breakthrough here people!

You should also remember that this is European armour, most of Europe is pretty cold for the majority of the year, do that warm lining is probably quite nice when you're not fighting.

Thank you

Could you go further on this topic and make a video about mail coifs? I think that they often look stupid and impractical when worn by people today, but I think it's because they're made and/or worn incorrectly and therefore it's plain to the eye that something's wrong. For example, people wearing them with little or no padding underneath, poor fitting, stuff like that.

In regards to ancient/medieval artwork, I sometimes wonder how often the following happened: Patron: "You forgot X." / "X doesn't exist." Artist: "... Oh."

kynght errant what is available a reliable vendor of a full rivited mail harness which can be used in sparring? Also what is a reasonable price i have to pay to for a full suit of mail which is coustom fitted to my joints? I really enjoyed the great hlem video, the fact that the great helm was worn over a another helmet really blew mind. Please keep up the great work.

I figured out the importance of the liner when i grew my first beard.Npt comfortable at all

Knight Errant- Are there other variations of the padded mail coif combo? I seem to recall a full mail coif sandwiched between a layer of padding underneath and what looked to me a suede top cover, with some rivets spaced along the edge and up the side to hold it all together and keep the mail from bunching up inside. I planned make one similar but want it to be truly documented. I could just be misunderstanding some Renaissance tournament kit but I like the idea for my own 13th century combat rig. Any thoughts good sir?

Some viking spectacle helmets had full face aventail. Do you think some of them had liners or not?

Hello. Was just wondering were you got your helmet stand from? Thanks for excellent videos!

Didnt know, that unpadded aventails were an actual considered idea ^^ Of course padded.

Dear Ian, you have spoken about bevor plates in your videos about the transition between the houndskull bascinet and the great bascinet. What I have seen in most artworks is the presence of aventails beneath the bevor plates, in your opinion, would a pizan be recommended as well? If not necessary?

Does anyone know a video were they show how to line an aventail?

Also how effective are joint locks on a person in a 14 century full plate harness?

I know that some Japanese (and some other east Asian countries) mail armors were lined (or sewn between two layer of clothes like brigandines). Is there evidence in medieval Europe of full mail shirts being sewn to a fabric or padded liner? I heard about mail gussets being sewn to the padded vest, but that's about it. Edit: In fact, not only mail, Does any armor have a fabric liner?

While the concept is sound, some people overly pad the liner. I've seen some which are so stiff, they make the aventail stand off the shoulders, which is contrary to the purpose of having the mail. It shouldn't look like a mushroom cap, people.

hey man, will you eventually do videos about weapons too or it will be strictly about armour?

What about in the situation with a coif. Were they typically lined or not?

Is there any type of mail you don't have to oil?

have you considered that the liners could be separate from the aventail? Maby some werent sewn onto the aventail, but were two seprate pieces worn on top of o.e another. although sewn liners might have been more common.

Would love if you could do a video about maille coilfs. as many reproductions today looks a bit wierd. and same with many you see in the movies. Often you see coilfs with very huge openings. It is wide leaving the whole sides of the face unprotected. The opening often reach down beneat the chin. sometimes even leaving a gap belov the chin, an opening to the troath. I highly doubt that was how the historical ones looked. if looking at the historical artwork they seem to have had much smaller opening for the face, much more narrow and often just reaching down to just belov the lower lip. Sometimes even covering the mouth. And often in movies they are seen wearing maille coilfs without any padding

I bought a helm without an aventail, it has the studs protruding for the aventail. How do I attach it? Most aventails do not have holes in the leather, it seems like a do it yourself thing.

Is there by any chance a correlation between explicitly unlined avontails and the Crusades or Reconquista? My understanding is that typically the Arabs and Turks wore mail without padding at least at the beginning of the Crusades and the Europeans wore mail with padding. This sounds to me like a conscious protection/comfort trade off specific to the environment rather than ignorance of the protective benefits of layered linen, and I would expect some crusaders to have followed suit as the affair dragged on.

3:47 the texture didn't load properly

How does it behave when it is time to clean the mail ?

I really need to buy a decently made maille aventail some time...

I would be curious to see your armor tested against bodkin arrows. I know it is a risky thing but most of videos i see are with armors of horrible quality

I have a question that does not belong directly to aventails but while watching this video i found out, that your mail doesn't make you dirty. If i touch my mail shirt my skin is black because of the metal dust. How do you prevent that?

10:22 Whats a Pizan?

what helmet do you own

7:20 I didn't think a smooth male would have any snagging problems.

How did armored knights not constantly have heat strokes in hotter seasons? I'd imagine they would have to wear armor for long periods of time sometimes.

What did Knights do when they needed to poop or Piss? I have read that they did everything inside the armor

With no liner, you do not want to have a beard.

I know next to nothing about this stuff... I would say yes why not? It's clearly more comfortable and offers slightly more protection. Now let's see if I'm right by fully watching this video Edit - yup I am lol

as I have long hair and want to keep it, linning look nicer.

Have you found evidence of tying the aventail down in any way? Seems like it would seriously get in the way if you fell over like those falling knights in the manuscripts.