12th Century Dress

This is my impression of  a 12th century dress. Every summer Claíomh has one or two shows that require Norman impressions so I decided it was time to make some suitable attire. This dress is based on art from the 12th century and portrays a general style of dress; with long hanging sleeves, fitted torso, full skirt and a v-neck. It is made from green linen. 

Some sources

Layering for a Gaelic Irish Woman

I get many emails from reenactors asking how they begin getting together a costume that represents a Gaelic Irish woman. So here is my educated guess as to how the layering on a generic Gaelic Irishwoman's costume should be;

White/cream linen chemise with baggy sleeves (as in DeHeere).

Sleeveless V-neck saffron linen kirtle (as in DeHeere).

Shinrone/Moy Gown in thick wool of an earthy colour (archaeology - National Museum of Ireland).

De Heere's Illustrations of Irish men and women

 Shinrone Dress

Moy Gown

In my opinion choosing good rustic materials is half the battle for creating realistic costumes for living history work. Material that is too refined or too brightly coloured doesn't look very authentic. I wash all my wool and linen at high temperatures and occasionally before I wash them I will rough them up with a steel comb brush which loosens some fibers which then full up during the washing process, giving them an older, home spun look.

A Viking underdress and hangerock (right) made by Historical Recreations for the UCD School of Archaeology on show at the RDS.

Hiberno-Norse Outfit

This is a red linen overdress for use during the summer months. A woolen one would be more common in colder climates and essential in cold weather. Evidence for woolen women's 'tunics' have been found at various grave sites.

Seen below is a crios belt, a typically Irish style of belt which has been in use from at least the Bronze Age and is still in production in rural areas of Ireland today. It is possible that the early Viking settlers would have acquired Irish accessories through trade and Irish women who married these new settlers may have kept on certain aspects of native Irish dress mixed with Scandinavian fashions.

Accessories include a woolen Brat, copies of beads found in the Kilmainham excavations and a knife sheath found in excavations at Fishamble Street.

Viking Dublin Knife Sheath

This is a reproduction of a B1 type knife sheath (see Scabbards and Sheaths from Viking and Medieval Dublin by Esther Cameron) by Dave Swift. This sheath was made to fit my existing knife so it is elongated but its form was based on a sheath found during the excavations at Fishamble Street in Dublin which dates to c.960-980. The tooling is based on another find of the same type of sheath from Christchurch Place. The B1 type sheath has a date which spans from the tenth to the twelfth century. It is not the most popular type of sheath found during the excavations but it has the greatest longevity (apart from E1 scramasax sheath). 

Viking Dublin Bone Pin

This is my newly commissioned replica of a Viking bone pin. The original is on display in the National Museum. It's lovely and elegant. The Vikings were such talented craftsmen!

Replica

Original

Gaelic Woman On The Shores Of Lough Corrib

This photo was taken on a roadtrip in Connemara at the end of the summer. The costume features a replica of the iconic Gaelic Brat.

Sumptuary Laws Imposed on the Irish and the English in Ireland

'Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc' ¹

Sumptuary laws were imposed in Ireland by the English at various stages throughout it's medieval and early modern history in an attempt to control the Gaelic Irish. In the 16th century the Lord Deputy Sir John Perrot under Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century, for the purpose of restraining native Irish dress, banned the wearing of woollen mantles, 'open smocks' with 'great sleeves' (leine), and native headdresses, requiring the people to dress in "civil garments" in the English style.

Going back to the 13th century the English imposed sumptuary laws against their own subjects in Ireland firstly banning the excessive use of fur in the merchant class. The English merchant class that existed at this time had been early Planters but as time passed and England was distracted by foreign disputes these English settlers were left to their own devices in Ireland and began to adopt Irish customs and the Irish language. It's from here that we get the saying "they became more Irish than the Irish themselves". From the Parliament of Ireland in 1297 we get the quote; 'all Englishmen in this land must wear, at least in that part of the head which presents itself to view, the mode and tonsure of Englishmen'. Irish hairstyles, most notably the culan were forbidden. In 1537 another Gaelic hairstyle was banned, the glib, where the hair was shaved above the ears except at the front of the face where it was grown long to cover the eyes. This hairstyle was describes as 'fit masques as a mantle for a thief'.

 In the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366 Englishmen were prohibited from intermarrying with the Irish or adopting the Irish language or Irish customs of dress. Notably in the Parliament in Trim, 1447, it was said that a 'man that will be taken for an Englishman shall have no beard above his mouth.' This was re enforced on various occasions up to the 17th century. The moustache was seen as an extremely Gaelic fashion. Many contemporary illustrations and descriptions of Irish warriors such as Gallowglass and Kern are generally sporting moustaches and over time it became a form of defiance against the English to wear one.

In 1462 a tax was imposed by the Parliament in Dublin on Irish mantles and in 1466 it was decreed that anyone found wearing one was to be fined a sixpence. Also in 1466 it was declared that if a woman wore a saffron smock in Dublin she would be fined a sixpence. The dying of garments in saffron was another particularly Irish custom and  it became synonymous with the Gaelic Irish. Henry VIII first banned the use of saffron in Galway in 1536 and then throughout the rest of the country in 1537. He said that it could not be use in any shirts, smocks, head coverings, or linen caps. Ironically in 1577 sufficient amounts of saffron were still being sold on Galway to warrant a tax per pound to help pay for maintenance in the town.

In the 16th century laws were imposed on how many garments people of certain classes could own and of what fabrics and decoration they were to be made of. Henry the VIII's Prohibitive Act of 1537 banned overly voluminous leine which could be no more than 6.4m of cloth, and again banned the wearing of the Irish mantle. (Some leine's were reputed to have been made of up to 32m of cloth before the act was passed).

Over the years various sumptuary laws were passed in Parliaments in London and Dublin in an attempt to bring the Gaelic Irish and the old English Planters under control but as we can see they had to be repeated quite regularly because it seems to be that however hard the English tried to civilize the Irish, they became more and more stubborn in their defiance to the Crown, resulting in certain infamous Irish clothing traditions surviving through many centuries.

***

“For can the sword teach them to speak English, to use English apparel, to restrain them from Irish exactions and extortions, and to shun all the manners and orders of the Irish? No it is the rod of justice that must scower out those blots...justice without the sword may suffice to call all those to her presence...to defend the English from all Irish spots, to settle him in the quiet estate they were in before they so degenerated.”
~Lord Chancellor Gerrard to the Privy Council, 1577.

“It will be necessary to call a parliament to enact new statutes for establishing the articles ensuing...Irish habits for men and women to be abolished, and the English tongue to be extended.”
~Sir Henry Sidney, A Discourse for the Reformation of Ireland, 1585.

 ^{1 Black's Law Dictionary}

Medieval Three Finger Gloves

Shepherds in The Nativity by Robert Campin, 1425

Beige/yellow (the picture doesn't show true colour) three finger gloves based on pictorial evidence from the 15th and 16th centuries. I predict that these will come in very handy during the coming autumn days! Made from wool and sewn with linen thread.

1. Shepherds from Nativity by Nikolaus Stürhofer, c. 1505-1515

2. Detail from The Crucifixion from the altarpiece at St. Florian in Austria, c. 1475-1500

3. Landsknechte by Jörg Breu, c. 1525-1530

Irish Gallowglass and Gaelic Lady

Gallowglass from Claíomh

Viking Hangerock

A hangerock is basically a pinafore or apron. An outer garment that makes up the second or third layer of a viking woman's daily outfit. I chose to make one because tortoise brooches, which form a functional as well as decorative part of the apron dress, were found in the excavations at Wood Quay in Dublin so it seems fitting to create a hangerock as part of my Hiberno-Norse Viking woman's outfit.


There are two popular interpretations of the hangerock, by Agnes Geijer and Inga Hägg respectively. Geijer concluded that the hangerock was made from one piece of fabric which wraps around the body leaving an opening on one side. Hägg's interpretation was that the hangerock was not open at the side but rather closed like earlier dresses found in Danish bogs. A conclusion drawn from her study of a fabric remnant from Birka grave Bj. 597. My preferred  interpretation is by Hägg and her research was the starting point for my own study.

From the archaeological evidence alone we cannot conjecture what length the hangerock extended to. I would suggest that the underdress extends to at most ankle length for working women and the hangerock could be the same or shorter, and shorter dresses are in fact often depicted over longer dresses on carvings etc. 

Gold foil figure with short overdress/apron. Drawing by F. Bau

It is quite likely that longer garments existed for high status women. In fact we have references in the sagas to clothing of very long lengths. In Njál's Saga (CH 123), Njáll gave Flose a large payment of silver in compensation for the death of Flosi's nephew. Njáll, desiring peace, added a silk cloak and a pair of boots to the pile of silver as an additional gift. The cloak was a slaedur, a word which has the meaning of a garment that is so long that it trails on the ground. 

It is ultimately unknown how the hangerock was constructed but looking at the fabric piece from Hedeby we can see clearly that there was a seam running down the length of the remnant (evidence for a similar garment with a side seam was found in grave 597 at Birka) with needles holes on the length of the perpendicular right side, which means that this was a rectangular panel inserted into the side of the garment. So it is my opinion that certain reconstructions which depict the hangerock as a simple 'wrap around' dress are not correct as it seems that archaeology is telling us that some sewing was involved.

This is a scrap of material from Hedeby that is assumed to be part of a side panel from a hangerock. There was evidence of holes from sewing on the perpendicular right side. Unseen here is a hole on the top right which is proposed to have been where a strap was attached and providing a proposed placement of the remnant on the body.

My reconstruction (right)

There is no archaeological evidence for the bottom of apron dresses so I looked to contemporary art to try to fill in the details. In many images of Valkyries and Norse women from the time we see dresses that sweep to the back with quite angular patterns inside the shape of the garment going in a backwards direction. Whether this is purely artistic or representative of the garment's actual shape we cannot know however I chose to recreate that look as best as is possible by placing waist high gores to the back of the side panel, as in the Hedeby scrap, which would create more volume towards the back of the garment. (See images of dresses below for shape comparison). It is also possible that the folds at the back of the figures may be representative of  a 'backcloth'.

A 9th century stone from the island of Gotland, Sweden: A Valkyrie in a wide ankle length dress (inside the box) greets Odin as he arrives on Sleipnir.

Figures from the Oseberg Tapestry (Visible tortoise brooches and layered garments at end of skirt.)

In the future I will create replicas of both Geijer and Hägg's interpretations but for know I will work on my own reconstruction based on the Hedeby find. At the moment my Hangerok is it's original natural wool colour awaiting dying. It will be dyed blue since from grave Bj. 563 in Birka a blue dress with red trim has been found. It will be worn over a linen dress also in conjunction with the find in grave Bj. 563.

Note of interest for fabric choices: when fabric types found at Birka were counted almost 60% of clothing fabric was linen.

Granuaile

"The Sea Queen of Connacht"

Gráinne Ní Mháille, Grace O'Malley, or Granuaile (1530 – 1603) as she is more commonly known, was Queen of Umaill, Chieftain of the Ó Máille clan and a pirate in 16th century Ireland. Her exploits on the sea, her conquers on land and her promiscuity make her one of the most infamous women in Irish history. Her seafaring family was based in Clew Bay, County Mayo.


For further information I recommend reading 'Granuaile' by  Anne Chambers

Grace O'Malley with one of her Scottish Redshank mercenaries.

These images were taken by the sea in Connemara during the summer months.

Irish Woman

16th century impression of a rural Gaelic woman featuring reconstructions of the Moy Gown and a Brat which are copies of artifacts in the National Museum of Ireland.

Irish Brat

The Irish Brat, or cloak, was typically made of homespun fulled twill wool in 4 segments due to the width of the weave available at the time. They were 'cottoned' by using wire cards to draw out the fibres creating a matted effect on the surface which made them almost waterproof. The lower two pieces of fabric were added from the cut-off's of the two long rectangular pieces to create the semi-circular shape. The Brat below is a 17th century example found in Leigh, County Tipperary. Similar claoks have been found in bogs in Derry, Donegall, Sligo and Mayo. (The Donegall cloak is believed to have been associated with a woman.) The wear on the cloaks would suggest that they were worn at equal lengths over the shoulders.

The cloaks measure between 90" and 105" in width and around 50" in length. The rectangular lengths of fabric are about 28" long each.

 Brat in the National Museum

Reproduction

Rough stitching was typical.

Weiditz Irish Woman

This unusual illustration comes from a book on costume entitled Trachtenbuch written by Christoph Weiditz in the 16th century. He was a well known traveller but there is a lack of evidence pertaining to the fact that he ever actually visited Ireland, however this image is plate no. 152 in the book.

The description accompanying the image is the following;

"Head-dress greyish white, silver embossed; shawl brown; upper garment (mantle) light violet, gold embossed,with red, silver embossed facings and the same lining; undergarment yellowish, strongly gold embossed; shoes red, silver embossed."

The Moy Gown

The Moy Gown was found in a bog in Co. Clare in the 20th century. It is now housed in the National Museum's Archaeology branch. No testing has been done on the garment but comparing it to similar styles in Europe and studying pictorial evidence from Ireland I would conjecture that it could date from between the 14th to 17th centuries. There is much continental inspiration in aspects of this dress.

I did a large amount of research before starting on this project as authenticity was my highest priority. I did a huge study of 14th to 16th century Irish and European fashion so I could make informed decisions about filling in missing aspects of the Moy gown as it is in a very fragmentary condition. I created my pattern using information from the museum only.

As per the original garment I included European inspired 'grand assiettes' for ease of movement over the back, shoulder and underarm area. There are double gores at the sides and back. The front of the dress is missing and while Kass McGann states that there may have been a gore at the front, she gives no proof in her description to qualify her assumption, so I chose to leave it out (plus I think that when coupled with the buttoning a frontal gore gives an unsightly hang to the front of the dress - not ideal in a century where showing one's figure was becoming increasingly important). It is unknown how far the buttons extended downwards at the front of the dress so I copied the length from contemporary European dresses. There are buttons on the sleeves which extend up to the armpit. It seems buttons came very much into fashion in male and female clothing on the continent and in Ireland from the 14th century onwards.

The whole garment is hand sewn with linen thread, hand dyed, and made from 100% wool.

***

(Above is the official tracing and photographs of the dress from the National Museum of Ireland and as such are the most essential sources to base the reconstruction of the garment on.)

Irish Examples:

1.Detail from Strade Tomb in Co. Mayo (late 15th century)

2. Illustration from the Book of Ballymoat (1400's)

3. Buttons can just about be seen on the neck and sleeves on both the man and woman in this effigy in Knocktopher, Co. Kilkenny. (Late 14th century)

European Examples:

Deposit from London of a 14th century sleeve with buttons and button holes

13th/14th century illustrations

(An example from Europe of grand assiettes)

Duncannon Military History Show

At a recent Living History Show in Duncannon Fort, Co. Wexford.


Items of clothing: 
Chemise & Kirtle (based on manuscript illustrations)
Brat (Irish semi-circular cloak copied from examples in the National Museum)
Coif


Duncannon Fort was built in 1588. It was of vital strategic importance as it commanded the bay giving sea access to Waterford Harbour. As a result it was centrally involved in wars and sieges during the 17th and 18th centuries.

During the Irish Confederate Wars (1641-1652), the fort at Duncannon was initially occupied by English soldiers and used as a base for an attack on nearby Redmond's Hall (now Loftus Hall). During this period it was besieged three times. In 1645 it was taken by an Irish Confederate army under general Thomas Preston. Its English garrison surrendered after lengthy bombardment, during which their commander was killed and a ship trying to bring supplies to the garrison was sunk. During the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland Duncannon was besieged again, as part of the Siege of Waterford in November 1649 by Oliver Cromwell. The fort's Irish garrison held out and the siege was abandoned in December of that year.

Medieval Pouch

My pouch is based on a few different references. The overall shape is based on the pouch in the image above. The floral border is an attempt to copy of the alms pouch below. I have to practice embroidery a bit more!

My pouch is made from a double layer of linen. It's sewn with linen thread and embroidered with a silk/wool mix. 

Epistolae: Medieval Women's Letters

(click image for website)

This is a great collection of letters to and from women over many centuries. It's not strictly medieval but it's a really interesting resource none the less.

Animals in the Middle Ages: Donkeys

Donkeys and Mules were used as pack animals mainly but both could be ridden however they are noted for their rarity in medieval documents. John Langdon in 'Medieval Farming and Technology' notes that there were only 11 donkeys and 1 mule in his survey of 406 manor houses in Britain in the 11th century making up only 3.9% of the working horse population. When he surveyed over 4000 other rural holdings the figure was even lower at 1.9%. Shoeing donkeys seems to only have been carried out for journeys in wet weather and on 'modern' roads. A writer in the 1300's comments on one hard working donkey going about his business 'withoute nail and scho'.