cl-Rom-Brit-art - 10/17/95 "Basic Romano British Costume" by Sion Glas. NOTE: See also the files: Roman-Wales-bib, Roman-Recipes-art, Roman-hygiene-msg, Arthur-msg, Arthur-bib. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: pp003060 at interramp.com (Laurie Brandt) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Basic Romano-British Costume Date: Wed, 19 Apr 1995 18:16:21 -0500 Organization: the Polyhedron Group Basic Romano British Costume By Sion Glas Art by Lovenia O'Bannon Overview In an Era of legend and Myth, very little is known about the Romano-British. The clothing of late Roman and Post Roman Britain is well documented in coins, stone carvings, and written descriptions. So too is the garb of the early Welsh, and early Saxon England. I will not go into the attire of Ireland of the period, for others have done a far better job, and the most of what I could say would be mearly repeating their work. The focus of this class will be on three cultures, the Romano-British, the Continental Germanic Tribes, and the Byzantines. Though there is a great deal of overlap, as well as late Roman/Greek survivals in attire. The Doric Chiton continues to be worn, as well as the Roman Stola, Dalmic, and Palla. However, all of these are worn in decreasing frequency so as to be all but gone by the end of the Romano-British Era. The Sagum The Sagum was a simple cloak worn by almost everybody in the period. It was a rectangle of material approximately three meters long and 1.3 to 1.5 meters wide, made most commonly of wool, linen, or fur. The Sagum could be just a simple piece of fabric, or a ornately decorated and lined garment. the seeming only group not to use the garment were the Byzantine men, who commonly wore a semicircular cloak with a pair of highly decorated panels. The cloak is called a Paludamntum, and the panels are called Tablion. The Paludamntum seemed to be for formal wear, but could just as easily have been for daily wear. British/Byzantine Men The men of both Constantinople and Britain, seem to wear, basically the same clothing, differing only in decoration and the cloaks they chose to wear. The British men wearing the sagum, and the Byzantine men wearing the Paludamentum. The tunics worn by came in two types, the Byzantine Dalmic, and the Coptic Dalmic. The Byzantine Dalmicis a modified T tunic with long moderately tight sleeves, coming at least to the wrist, and flaring at the waist, coming to a bell shape, and falling to the mid-thigh, or to just below the knee, depending on the preference of the wearer. The Coptic Dalmic on the other hand was a very baggy T tunic that belted and bloused at the waist to suit the wearer's needs and desires. Both of these garments were usually decorated at the collar, cuffs, and hem, with embroidery or simple bands of fabric. These tunics often had matching strips of decoration running from both shoulders to the hem, these decorated strips were called Clavi and were related to the old roman decorations of the same name. The Pants, sometimes called Braies, Trews, Bracce, or any of a half dozen other names, can be best described as pajama pants coming to just below the ankle, though in western Britain, the hill tribesmen, often wore the length to just above the knee. Also in western Britain, a type of pants were worn that looked very much like a pair of modern dancers leg warmers. The final mens garment is the supertunic. The supertunic is basically a shorter version of the womans supertunic to be discussed late The coptic, dalmic, could, and often was worn as a supertunic by Byzantine men. Romano-British Women The British woman had a much wider choice in clothing than her Byzantine, Irish, or Germanic sisters. Whereas she would wear the same under tunic as a Byzantine woman, a floor length version of the mens dalmic, with fewer decorations, she could wear several styles of over tunic or gown. The first style of over tunic for the British woman was a early model of the Romanesque gown, having, short sleeves, and a hem that fell between the mid thigh and the floor, This tunic also had a gentle bell shape, starting just below the arms. The next style was the Byzantine Stola, a gown very similar to the first style, but having long sleeves that had a tapering angel-wing. This tunic also usually came down to the ankle, and sometimes to the floor. The third womans over tunic is a bell shaped, floor length, sleeveless gown, with little, if any, decoration or trim of any kind. Any of the above gowns could, and in the case of the Byzantine stola would, be trimmed as much as any mans tunic. The next garment a British woman could wear was... The Supertunic. Whereas the other gowns could be made of linen, silk or in Constantinople, cotton, the supertunic was most often made of heavy wool. the reason for this was the primary purpose of the over tunic, WARMTH!!! In a cold and damp climate such as Britain, this was very important! The second purpose for the supertunic seems to be a reason that we can all understand, conspicuous consumption. The supertunic came in three basic styles, the gathered, the pleated, and a version that was a combination of the first two. The gathered supertunic is made by making a sleeveless chemise, a tube with arm slots and a drawstring. The pleated supertunic on the other hand, is made by making a box tunic and then pleating the "shoulders" with a odd number of matching pleats on each side. The third style of supertunic, I am unsure as how to make, but it should not be too difficult to work out. As mentioned earlier the supertunic was also worn by men, the major difference between the way that men and women wore the supertunic was that, women could wear it loose or belted and bloused, whereas the men would normally wear the supertunic in the bloused style. The only other difference was that the womans supertunic was usually longer in length. Over all the British woman would wear the sagum. Germanic Men The Germanic man is the easiest to describe the costume for, being well documented in bog finds, carvings, and literary sources. These sources range from the writings of Julius Ceaser, the Canterbury Psalter the carvings of Germanic prisoners of war in Rome, to the Sutton Hoo grave ship. In the early part of the period the average Germanic tribesman wore only three basic garments, a simple T tunic, a pair of pants of either knee or ankle length, and finally the near ubiquitous sagum. All of these garments are described by Julius Ceaser as being made of leather, or fur. The bog finds on the other hand show that while the sagum was often made of fabric lined fur, the other garments were often made of linen or wool. It could be that the bodies found were wearing ritual clothing, or they could have been wearing their daily clothing. I am unsure as to which to believe, the researchers in the field often disagree on the matter. As time goes on, contact with outside cultures cause a change from the old "Traditional" attire, to clothing more like that of their British enemies, differing only in workmanship, and decoration. Germanic Women The Germanic Woman's clothing of the Romano-British era is very difficult to document. The bog finds and literary reports show that Germanic women wore only four simple garments. These garments were, a gathered wraparound skirt, a short sleeved tunic coming just below the woman's breasts called the camasi, a vest with a extremely plunging neckline, and a sagum of either heavy wool, or fabric lined fur. The carvings of captured German women in Rome however show the tribeswomen wearing Greek style chitons, and manuscript illuminations them wearing the latest in local fashion. The reasons for this could be that the artist had never seen a German woman in proper attire, or that the artist had only seen the women in the garb shown. In the case of the manuscripts however, it was most likely that the monks thought that such clothing was sinful and illustrated these women in more modest attire. The camasi and vest, I feel need more comment. Though the vest was most commonly worn by a high ranking woman, it and the camasi have in common, the easy access to the woman's breasts. The reasons for this could be many, enticement, comfort, fashion, or any number of other reasons. My personal belief is for a much more practical reason, in short, Baby must be fed! These garments would make nursing an infant much more easy than most other garments available to women in the period. Once in Britain the Germanic woman, like the men, start wearing the same clothing as the British women. Again, like the men the main difference between Saxon and Celt is in the area of decoration. The only real holdover is the camasi, which lengthens and becomes highly decorated. Byzantine Women The clothing of Byzantine women is both easiest to describe. and the hardest. The reason for this is. while the basic garments did not change for over one thousand years. the accessories changed on a near constant basis. The base clothing of the Byzantine woman is simple to describe a palla, stola, and undertunic. The under tunic is a simple bell shaped tunic, with close fitting overlong sleeves. The hem of the over tunic would be long enough to reach the ground. The Stola is a bell shaped gown, of ankle length. with tapering angel wing sleeves that reach to the wrist. The palla is our old friend the sagum, but normally of a fine grade of fabric. All of these garments are to be highly decorated. In many cases they are trimmed in much the same way as the mens clothing, but in some cases the stola was used to show the height of decadence. In the mosaics in Ravanna Italy one of the attendants of the empresses Theodora is shown with the twelve apostles embroidered on the hem of her stola. There are also stories of prostitutes having their specialty displayed on the cuffs and hem of their gowns. How accurate this last story is I am unsure. because I only found it once during a search for another subject, and was not able to find it again. On her head a well dressed woman would wear a decorated roll of fabric that was worn over a light veil. References Bigelow, Mary S. Fashion in History Boucher, Francois 20,000 Years of Fashion Fairfax, Proudfit, Walkup Dressing the Part Payne, Blanche History of Costume Stibbert, Fredick Civil and Military Clothing in Europe Plates # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. GIFs to follow -- Laurie E. W. Brandt|aka Her Ladyship, Pegasus Devona, A.o.A., G.d's. 5814 Gloucester Ln.| Barony of Bryn Gwlad, Kingdom of Ansteorra Austin, Tx 78723 |Gules, a pegasus rampent within a bourder argent. |Society for Creative Anachronism Membership #04720 From: blktauna at netaxs.com (Donna Bowers) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Basic Romano-British Costume Date: 22 Apr 1995 13:58:31 GMT Organization: Philadelphia's Complete Internet Provider I have a bit of trouble agreeing with your comments about the Rhomanoi <byzantines>. The actual shape of the stola did change quite a bit over 1000 years, and has emerged into 4 distinctive overall shapes -the chiton -the A line dress with bell sleeves, like Theodora's in Ravenna -The high necked, sleeves tight to the elbow then flaring, slimmer bell shape like Empress Irene -The beginning of the Kaftan shape with narrower sleeves and buttons down the front. The accepted spots for decoration were varied over the centuries as well. I also take exception to your use of decadence.<G> Conspicouos consumption, a need to impress the lesser folks with the superiority of Rome and the actual ability to pay for imperial silks do not really add up to decadencs... As for the cloak, yes I too find that the semi-circular cloak was more popular in Rome, but the tablions were reserved for the Emperor and at times members of the Imperial family alone. Very bad form for a commoner to be wearing those... Men's clothing also varied quite a bit over the thousand years of Rome. Sorry for wasting the bandwidth on a long reply but this is my area of interest. See the CA on the Eastern Roman Empire #75 I think. I wrote it... Tauna -- blktauna at netaxs.com <the end> Edited by Mark S. Harris cl-Rom-Brit-art