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Anglo-saxon dress

Anglo-Saxon dress refers to the variety of early medieval European dress, or clothing, worn by the Anglo-Saxons from the time of their migration to Great Britain in the 5th century until the beginning of the Norman Conquest, when Norman fashions from the Continent began to have a major influence in England. The study of Anglo-Saxon dress includes examination of both textile and costume combined. Textiles refer to the piece of material that survived though time to be found and studied.  The costumes were the type of outfits they wore that were often influenced by community and stature.  Women oversaw the clothing manufacturing.  They also had the influence over the style of clothing they were creating.  

Contents

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• 1Materials
• 2Men's clothing
  • 2.1Common attire
  • 2.2Seventh to tenth centuries
    • 2.2.1General attire
    • 2.2.2King
    • 2.2.3Clergy
  • 2.3Eleventh century
    • 2.3.1General attire
    • 2.3.2King
    • 2.3.3Military attire
    • 2.3.4Clergy
• 3Women's clothing
  • 3.1Fifth to Sixth Centuries
  • 3.2Seventh to Tenth Centuries
• 4Children
• 5Embroidery
• 6See also
• 7References
  • 7.1Bibliography
• 8Further reading

Materials[edit]

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The type of materials used by the Anglo-Saxon women to clothe their communities were mostly materials they had from their farm animals and their farm land.  Wool, flax and hemp were most common.  Hemp and flax were spun for yarn.  Leather was made from slaughtered farm animals.  Woman were responsible for tending to the sheep and their wool was spun for yarn.  Wool was mostly used in natural colors. About 70% of a woman’s year was spent making textiles. Wool was a coarse material which was used for most garments. Lower-class people, such as slaves (theowas) and poorer peasants (geburas), could only use wool for their garments, even for those worn against the skin. Linen, harvested from the flax plant, was a finer material which was used for garments that were worn close to the skin by higher class peasants (kotsetlas and geneatas) and those above them in the social hierarchy. Silk was an extremely expensive material and was used only by the very rich, and then only for trim and decoration.

Women's clothing

The Virgin Mary in Anglo-Saxon dress, New Minster Charter, 966

Queen Ealhswith

An Anglo-Saxon woman's attire

Evidence from burials shows that during the Early Migration Period until the late Sixth or early Seventh Century, women wore something similar to a Greek peplos. They were fastened by brooches at the shoulders, though they have sometimes been found as low as the breasts. The gown could be belted or girdled, and easily adjusted to changes in the woman's physiology (weight change, especially due to pregnancy). An undergown was worn underneath, made of wool for poorer people and linen for richer women. It is unknown what the Anglo-Saxons called the peplos style of overdress, or how long it was; in Grave 74 at Wakerley in Northamptonshire, the underdress appears to have been of patterned twill, suggesting that the peplos was short to allow the underdress to be seen. Archeological finds suggest the underdress had an aperture at the neck. Finds on belt buckles also show that there were three layers of material, opening up the possibility of women having worn underwear beneath the undergown, though that is speculative. Relics from grave sites suggest women wore belts and girdles.  Belts were used to hold the clothing together at their waist and could be adjusted during pregnancy.  Sometimes two belts were worn to help during pregnancy. One of the functions of the brooches at the shoulders would allow for ease of breast feeding. Along with the brooches at their shoulders women sometimes had brooches at their hips as well.  It seems these brooches were used to carry tools.

Seventh to Tenth Centuries

Women’s clothing styles changed and evolved throughout the seventh to tenth centuries.  This was determined by the lack of brooches found in the burial remains.  They would have started wearing a roman style of dress. Women started wearing different gowns that didn’t need to be attached by brooches but cords and stitching. They were also wearing brightly colored clothing. They would have kept their hair under a head-covering. Women were found having some jewelry with them during burial.  Bracelets that may have been used to hold the bottom of their sleeves, and some even wore necklaces with animal teeth on them.  

The main garment for a woman was a woolen gown of calf or ankle length. Normally, it would be brown or black. Occasionally it would be a deep red but only when two gowns were worn, with the inner gown having longer and tighter sleeves, and the outer gown having shorter and looser sleeves. Under this might be worn a linen or woolen underdress. A mantle might be worn over the outer dress, along with a cloak. Usually this cloak was of bright colors, red, blue, or yellow, but sometimes it was of a dingier red or blue and could also be an off-white or black. The women's footwear was often scanty. Unlike the men, they often had bare feet. When they wore shoes, they were usually either a stretchy woolen sock or a gray shoe that was worn with linen or wool socks. Like men, free women would also carry a seax as a sign of their freedom.

After the introduction of Christianity, all women (except for very young girls and occasionally slaves) would wear some kind of head-covering, usually a draped couvrechef called a headrail, the ancestor of the later wimple. Often this headcovering would be black or pale brown. It was almost always made of wool. Brooches were worn, though not only for decorative purposes but functional ones as well. They could fasten the garment or an outer garment to an inner one.

Children

Children wore smaller versions of adult clothing. Children are always found with one knife rather than several, and smaller than the adults'. Children’s clothes were stitched together.  No brooches or buckles were found in their burials.  Children had simple clothing.  

Embroidery

The most famous example of Anglo-Saxon embroidery is the Bayeux Tapestry. Although it was commissioned by a Norman (most likely Odo of Bayeux), the Bayeux Tapestry shows many hallmarks of Anglo-Saxon embroidery techniques, pointing to the likely use of Anglo-Saxon embroiderers in its construction. There are very few pieces of embroidery left from the Anglo-Saxon era.  Just remanence of the actual clothing could be preserved, so there is little known about embroidery from this time.  Even the Embroideries were so fragile that they mostly disintegrated over time.

See also

• Early medieval European dress

References

Bibliography

• Brooke, Iris (2000). English Costume from the Early Middle Ages through the Sixteenth Century. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-41238-5.
• Ohlgren, Thomas H. (1991). Anglo-Saxon Art: Texts and Contexts. Binghamton, New York: Modern Language Association of America, Old English Division; Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, SUNY-Binghamton. OCLC 24485915.
• Owen-Crocker, Gale R. (2004) [1986]. Dress in Anglo-Saxon England (rev. ed.). Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843830818.
• Planché, James Robinson (1879). A Cyclopaedia of Costume Or Dictionary of Dress, Including Notices of Contemporaneous Fashions on the Continent: A general chronological history of the costumes of the principal countries of Europe, from the commencement of the Christian era to the accession of George the Third. Vol. 2. London: Chatto and Windus. OCLC 760370.
• Quennell, Marjorie; Quennell, C. H. B. (1927). Everyday Life in Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Norman Times. New York: The Knickerbocker Press.

Further reading

• Owen-Crocker, Gale R. (1999). "Women's clothing in the 10th and 11th centuries". In Karkov, Catherine (ed.). The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England: Basic Readings. Garland. ISBN 9780815329169.

Category:5th-century fashion Category:6th-century fashion Category:7th-century fashion Category:8th-century fashion Category:9th-century fashion Category:10th-century fashion Category:11th-century fashion Category:Anglo-Saxon society