cl-equestrian-msg - 9/7/10

Period and SCA clothing for horseback riding.

NOTE: See also the files: Women-Riding-art, Sadle-Blankts-art, Horse-Barding-art, saddles-msg, Stirrups-Hist-art, boots-msg, cloaks-msg, wearg-p-fshns-msg.

************************************************************************
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
************************************************************************

Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 21:07:20 +1000
From: Zebee Johnstone <zebeej at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Medieval riders garb
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 8:27 PM, Alys Dietsch <a_sunny_girl at hotmail.com> wrote:
<<< Can anyone give me any pointers as to where to find pictures (or better yet patterns) of garb horse riders might have worn in the 13th, 14th or 15th centuries in England. ?Or anywhere else really.

Men's or Women's are fine. Lots of people are making lots of garb and we need some guidance. >>>

Aside from boots with very soft legs that roll up to the thigh when
riding (which is late 1400s in my understanding), I don't think anyone
had anything much different for riding.  Different clothes seem to be
a 17thC and later thing and then an upper class affectation.  Sortof
like most people don't wear special clothes to go driving...

Unless it's armour, all the manuscripts I saw when looking for
horse-borne luggage seemed to be people wearing normal clothes.

Silfren


Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 19:08:10 +0800
From: Rebecca Lucas <quokkaqueen at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Medieval riders garb
To: <lochac at lochac.sca.org>

<<< Can anyone give me any pointers as to where to find pictures (or better yet patterns) of garb horse riders might have worn in the 13th, 14th or 15th centuries in England.  Or anywhere else really. >>> 

Off the top of my head, an outer layer worn by female horseriders was the Gardecorps.
eg. http://web.comhem.se/~u31138198/gardecorps.html

More images of women horse riders: http://www.larsdatter.com/women-horseback.htm

I'm not so sure about men, sorry.

~Asfridhr


Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 10:50:21 +1000
From: Tiffany Brown <teffania at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Medieval riders garb
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

On 17 May 2010 20:27, Alys Dietsch <a_sunny_girl at hotmail.com> wrote:
<<< Can anyone give me any pointers as to where to find pictures (or better yet patterns) of garb horse riders might have worn in the 13th, 14th or 15th centuries in England. Or anywhere else really. >>>

A bit earlier than you were asking, but...

In the 12th Century, the clothing of the men of the knightly class
(mounted warrior) was a long tunic (near ankle length) slit up to a
very high point in the centre front and often centre back.  This was
the fashionable clothing both on and off horse, but given the
complaints from people not wearign them about their long tunics
getting in the way of the unmounted weapons practise, (In the same
breath as saying their long hair made them look girly), it seems this
clothing was really designed for the horse. I keep hearing that
knights wore hose with leather feet (rather than shoes), which would I
presume be ideal for a person often on horseback (and maybe fit easier
under your leg armour), and not so good if you actually had to walk
far, so this is probably also an adaption for horseriding.

The tunics, as best we know, are cut like a normal t-tunic of the era
(tight on the chest, sometimes side laced), but made long and with the
slits.

Teffania


Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 18:03:36 +0930
From: "Rebecca Tonkin" <bec_tonkin at bigpond.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Medieval riders garb
To: "'The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list'"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

<<< The Larsdatter page is great!

Why don't the women's dresses ride up?  Do you think maybe they have slits
like men's tunics?

Sara >>>

From my experience as a horse rider, in garb, if your skirt is 3/4 circle or
more, there is enough fabric to go around and hang down without bunching up.
Only if there is insufficient fabric will the skirt ride up, to allow
movement.

Collette


Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 02:57:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Vanessa Marsh <kaosv2 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Medieval riders garb
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

My experiences go with Collette's, I made a full circle skirt based on a german style skirt (approx 9m hem) and it drapes brilliantly - just watch the fabric however, I made mine out of wool and it also wicks the sweat from the horse something horrible (if working the horse to a sweat like I did during an endurance ride), it does give it a nice weight being made out of wool, where as silk is a little too fluttery and could end up around your head if the wind came up - not lady like at all.

I have a 14th c cotehardie which works well when riding also, but I did find other skirts with less than 3m of hem meant the skirt was more around my knees once it had made it over the front of the saddle and back of the saddle - which is why the slits (front and back) were most likely so popular.

I don't find a problem with skirts/dresses riding up while riding as such - I tend to find that if they hang when you get on the horse they tend to stay put (barring windy days) but I don't ride sitting on my skirt so that might make the difference. 

Isabell Winter

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	cl-equestrian-msg	3 of 3