On Thu, 16 Mar 2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
My husband is early period, around 1196-1220 time frame. I'm looking for
period references for clothing for a middle class, or nobility (other than
monarchs) from that era. While I have found MANY references to the armor
and surcoats they wore, I haven't found a lot of references to everyday
clothing. Can someone point me in the right direction for that time period?
Gwenhwyfar
You're going to encourage us to get that website up yet. ;-)
To preface, my SO and I do early 13th c. English (in the SCA, but we're
authenticity nuts).
A middle-class man would wear braies, hose, a shirt, a belted
tunic/cotte, some variety of leather turnshoe, and most probably a linen
coif on his head. A nobleman would wear the same, except not necessarily
the coif, and he might also wear another layer over his cotte.
One of the things that distinguishes a nobleman in the early 13th c. is
the length of his skirts--a man who works for a living, whether he be free
or serf, wears a short cotte that may or may not be slit at the crotch.
It's usually about knee-length when belted up. A nobleman's cotte is long,
about ankle length, and slit to the crotch (ostensibly for riding).
The sherte and braies are linen, the cotte is usually wool. From my
research, a nobleman's cotte would also be lined with either linen or
silk. The hose are also usually wool.
[A moment of pedantry:
"Early period" usually refers to Migration Age, what used to be called the
Dark Ages. 1200 is considered (roughly) to be the end of the Romanesque
era and the beginning of early Gothic at least as far as art history types
are concerned.]
Marc Carlson's website, to which I do not have the URL handy, has useful
info on actual garments. Heather Rose Jones has an excellent article on
the St. Louis shirt, which is as far as we know a 13th c. man's shirt:
http://www.heatherrosejones.com/stlouisshirt/index.html
There's www.thirteenthcentury.com for info on hose and braies.
Nudge me privately and I'll see about getting the most recent info packet
into an electronic form and possibly up where people can actually see it.
Margaret
(for whom it is 1205 until Saturday)
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