Thank you Sharon for clarifying that for me. I never did know when it was,
or even that I had a copy of it in my own book (really gotta read the
earlier sections again). Now I know better, and hence, can do better.
Kimiko
At 07:31 PM 9/9/2005, you wrote:
The color thing is a medieval legend about events thousands of years
earlier -- in other words, about as relevant to late medieval Irish
clothing as Old Testament stories are to late medieval Irish clothing.
Specifically, the number of colors = ranks theory among modern historical
re-creators has its origins in entries in the Irish Annals of the Four
Masters which claimed that Eochaidh Eadghadhach in the "year of the world
3664" -- that is, about 1530 *B.C.* -- "ordered that the colours of
clothes worn should denote the wearer's rank in society: 'one colour in
the clothes of slaves, two in the clothes of soldiers, three in the
clothes of goodly heroes or young lords of territories, six in the clothes
of ollavs [professional men], seven in the clothes of kings and queens.'"
[Dunlevy, _Dress in Ireland_ p. 16] However, this is purely legendary,
recorded millennia after the events supposedly happened, and even if taken
as historically accurate is talking about a time period about three
_millennia_ before the era depicted in the woodcuts discussed above.
Sharon
--
Sharon Krossa, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Resources for Scottish history, names, clothing, language & more:
Medieval Scotland - http://MedievalScotland.org/
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