Plated jack, or doublet of linen, padded with wool and lined with around 800 iron plates sewn into the fabric with crossbow twine, of peascod form, England, 1575-90

A plated jack or armoured doublet made of two layers of unbleached linen, with overlapping metal plates and a layer of wool in between. The plates are square with clipped corners and a hole in the centre, overlapping each other and stitched in place with crossbow twine through the centre of each plate. The edges of the front, hem, sleeves, collar are bound with linen tape. The jack has a peascod front with narrow skirts at the waist, and fastens with points (now missing) on the right front and lacing holes on the left front. The thread count of the exterior linen is 48 x 48 per inch (no visible selvedges).

Bought with the assistance of the Farquharson Bequest, the Hildburgh Bequest and the Horn Bequest

This plated jack (or jack-of-plate) and two individual armoured sleeves acquired with it (T.49:1-2-2017) are extremely unusual examples of sixteenth-century, English clothing. They are not only not good examples of Elizabethan men's fashions but also, even more rarely, were designed for men of relatively low social rank.

The plated jack was a stab-vest designed to protect foot soldiers against swords and pikes in the heat of battle. Similar in shape to a modern gilet, this example is lined inside with around 800 iron plates, each a small square with cut-corners and a hole in the centre for sewing into the jack. The garment weighs over 10kg, nearly half the weight of a full plate armour. Extra padding and insulation is provided by a layer of thick woven wool, firmly stitched with waxed crossbow twine between two layers of tough unbleached linen. Under the collar survive thick decorative tufts of twine with traces of green dye; indeed there is evidence that these were once all over the jack.

It is possible that the armourerd plates inside the jack were cut up from bits of old armour. Although we know English soldiers wore jacks from the early sixteenth century, this jack can be dated to around 1575-90. It has been shaped with a 'peascod' or swollen belly that echoes the shape of fashionable doublets and armoured breastplates of the period. It dates from the last period when infantrymen wore jacks before the garments were replaced by cheap, metal breastplates. This plated jack is therefore a fine example of the sometimes indistinct line between military and civilian fashion towards the end of the 16th century. Its painstaking and labour-intensive construction and its exaggerated peascod form have, historically, been more commonly associated with clothing for men of much higher social status.

The jack is an extremely rare survival. It is one of only 16 remaining jacks in the world, of which eight are in British collections (including the Royal Armouries, British Museum, Nottingham Castle Museum, and Warwick Castle) and only five, including this, are complete. It is considerably less hard-wearing than when it was new and the linen has deteriorated in places making it quite unstable to handle. Even so, given its age and its utilitarian purpose, it has survived in remarkably full condition.

Although the early history of the jack is unknown, it has only changed hands twice since around 1765. It was recorded in an eighteenth-century inventory of the collection of Sir William Farington (1704-81) of Shaw Hall (later Worden Hall), Lancashire, who had enlarged his house in 1742. It was later described as a 'large irregular stuccoed pile, containing a suite of apartments used as a museum stored with natural curiosities, busts, marbles ... paintings ... some of them frescoes found in the ruins of Herculaneum'. The jack was recorded in an eighteenth-century inventory of the house and illustrated in a 1793 catalogue compiled by the antiquarian, Thomas Barritt (now in the Manchester City Library). It remained at Worden Hall until 1948 when it was sold to a private collector. It was from his collection that the V&A acquired it at auction in December 2016.

Plated jacks can be distinguished from another type of doublet lined with metal plates called a 'brigandine' by the fact that the plates are sewn into the doublet rather than rivetted. The more expensive construction of the brigandine made it a garment primarily worn by the aristocracy as an alternative to plate armour. Given the labour that went into the production of jacks it is easy to forget that they were produced in large numbers for low-paid, foot soldiers who might be conscripted at short notice. William Harrison, chaplain to Lord Cobham and Rector of Radwinter in Essex, claimed in his 'Description of England' in 1577 that there was hardly a village so poor that it could not muster at least 3 or 4 able-bodied men to be equipped, within an hour, with basic 'armour and munition' including 'Jacks quilted over wyth leather, fustian or canvas over thicke plates of iron that are sewed into the same, and of which there is no towne or village that hath not her convenient furniture.'

The connection between men's fashion, armour and military uniform is a narrative crucial to dress history but is frequently overlooked. This relationship is particularly important to sixteenth-century men's dress and armour. One of the key garments in the ensemble of fashionable men's dress was the doublet, which developed out of both the padded, protective clothing worn under metal armour and defensive garments like jacks and brigandines made of linen and reinforced with small iron plates.

Although humble in materials, plated jacks were made in the same styles as the most fashionable of men's doublets and breastplates. The peascod or swollen belly of the 1570s and 80s had no military function. On a steel breastplate it may have offered a thickened and extremely strong area of armour but for a cavalry officer on horseback, the stomach was in less danger of attack than the head and legs. For civilian doublets the fashion could be taken to the extreme. The famous miniature by Nicholas Hilliard, 'Young Man Among Roses' (V&A, Museum no. P.163-1910) shows its subject wearing a doublet so swollen it almost extends below his hose. For the Puritan writer, Phillip Stubbes, whose booklet, 'The Anatomie of Abuses' published in 1583, railed against everything from gluttony, promiscuity and gambling to alcohol, theatre and football, the peascod belly was a perfect example of how fashion distracted people from Christian teachings. 'What handsomeness can there be in these doublets which stand on their bellies like, or much bigger than, a man's codpiece ... for my part, handsomeness in them I see none and much less profit. And to be plain, I never saw any wear them but I am supposed him to be a man inclined to gourmandice, gluttonie and such like.'

For legislators, the plated jack held another threat regardless of its shape. Military fashions worn as civilian clothing meant a plated jack worn around town aroused the suspicions of lawmakers who assumed its wearer was looking for trouble. Worn away from the battlefield, a jack posed a challenge to Elizabethan sumptuary laws that governed what people could wear because its protective qualities were hidden. In 1579, 'Secret Doublets of Defence', were targeted in 'A Proclamation against the common use of Dags, Handguns, Arquebuses, Callibers and Cotes of Defence' expressing horror that '... divers of late years have used to wear privy Coats, and Doublets of defence, thereby intending to quarrel, and make affrays upon other unarmed.' It promised immediate arrest and a heavy fine for any who, 'presume audaciously to apparel themselves with the said privy Armour, not only in Cities, Towns, and public assembly, but within her Majesty's Court wheresoever, to the great offence and contempt of her Highness and of her Laws.'

By the late sixteenth-century, the use of plated jacks and sleeves for lower-ranking military wear was declining, replaced by cheap metal breastplates which could be produced in large numbers much more quickly.

This plated jack (or jack-of-plate) is a sixteenth-century stab-vest designed for low-paid foot soldiers to wear in battle. Similar in shape to a modern gilet, this example is made of linen padded with wool and lined inside with around 800 iron plates, each a small square with cut-corners and a hole in the centre for stitching into the jack. The garment weighs over 10kg.

The jack is an extremely unusual surviving example of Elizabethan men's clothing especially as it equipped men of relatively low social status. The jack dates from around 1575-1590. It has been shaped with a 'peascod' or swollen belly that echoes the shape of fashionable doublets and armoured breastplates of the period. The jack is therefore a fine example of the sometimes indistinct line between military and civilian fashion towards the end of the 16th century. Indeed when such jacks were worn about town by civilians it aroused the suspicions of the authorities. In England in 1579, a law threatened heavy fines for anyone wearing 'Secret Doublets of Defence' on the assumption that they must be intent on causing trouble.

T.48-2017