My "bezants" have arrived

Yesterday the "bezants" for my green gown arrived. Or at least metal flowers,they're not proper medieval bezants, which were stamped.

So I started sewing them to the dress. Now I have to work and can't sew, but Mysko, our cat, is guarding the dress in the mean time.

Thinking about gold hats

I've been thinking for years that I would like to have a pillbox shaped hat like Uta, Gerburg and Reglindis from the Naumburg cathedral have. 

Markgräfin Uta

Gräfin Gerburg

And, my beloved Markgräfin  Reglindis

It's a tricky thing though. When I started in the SCA, back in the early '90s, it was very popular to make 13th century gowns with matching pillbox hats, though the documentation was virtually non-existent. Or rather, the ill box shaped things were there in the images, but were mostly open on top and white, since they were considered a part of the gebende; the head wraps.

When I wrote my PhD I hadn't seen any colour photos of Reglindis and Gerburg, so while I knew that Uta's headgear was a crown with a hat inside it I wasn't sure if Reglindis and Gerburg wore hats with metal ornmanets, rather than crowns or garlands. So I suggested that maybe two round hats (pileus) belonging to women found in Swedish wills, one from the late 13th and one from the early 14th century, were this type of headwear. One of the hats in question had silver shield shaped bezants on it, which made it plausible to liken it to the hats of Reglindis especially. However, it was also blue, and one thing the above photos show is that all these ladies have gold coloured hats. It also appears that the ornaments are garlands or crowns in all three cases, now that I have access to better photos.

So, all of the women have gold coloured hats, OR stiffened fillets, together with crowns/garlands. The question is: is the gold colour original? It appears to be, but there are  examples of medieval wood sculptures where what were originally white veils have been painted in gold alter in the middle ages to enhance the glory of the saints depicted. 

   Of course, these figures are not saints, but the founders of the cathedral, but maybe someone still wanted to add some extra shiny-ness to them? If that were the case I think that some remnants of earlier colour would be visible where the gold has been worn off, but that doesn't help if that colour was white.

But, there are also written sources to gold-coloured, or yellow headwear in Germany in this period. Historian Joachim Bumke mentions in his excellent book Courtly Culture, clerical attacks on fashionable saffron coloured veils, wimples and the like in the late 13th century.

So, right now I am pondering what colour to make a hat to wear inside my coronet. I don't currently have any fabirc in a yellow colour that matches the baronial coronet of Gotvik, but I think I'll do some experimenting with saffron dyeing this weekend. And if it doesn't work I can always buy some shiny gold silk.

Lastly: Another thing I like with these statues is that they all have gebende under their chins which are edged with gold on both sides. Must make some. 

And the plait(s) : they all have one, or maybe two plaits made close together, hanging down their backs. More on 13th and early 14th century hair options for women here.

Some more pretty photos:

Where to put the decorations on a split 13th- early 14th century tunic?

Havign finished my own embroidered gown I am now going to start on the embroidery for the baron of Gotvik's matching one. I cut it yesterday, and now I have to decide where to put the embroidery: above the belt, about the same height as mine, or at the bottom.

Tunic split in the front an back are of course common in the period - being both practical for horseback riding and through their connection with riding and warfare also symbolizing manliness and knighthood.

Most of these tunics are, however not, shown with more decoration than a narrow line of white around the neck and sleeves, like these cute guys from Spain:

So I had to look around a little.

Matching embroidery at the neck, cuffs and the bottom of the tunic appears to have been most common:

You could also embroider along the split in the tunic. This is the Flight to Egypt from Ms K 26 at Cambridge University. 

This guy from the Freiburger Münster has a narrow gold trim along the bottom and the sides of the split, as well as around the armscyes and neck, on his lovely striped surcoat.

Photo by Uli Frömmich.

The painting is new, but made after previous painting. One should probably note that he symbolizes a sin, so this is not a style for the virtuous among us :) 

The pattern I am going to make is rather wide, so I think that the neck and cuff will have to be slightly different from the bottom edge.

The documentation and the discussion for the embroidered 13th century gown is written

So, just go here for more images, description and discussion.

The embroidered dress is done

Eventually, when I'm not working, which is what I am going to do now, there will be a page for it with more photos, documentation and such. But I wanted to show it, since I do love how it looks.

New outfits and a baronial investiture

So, as is probably clear by now, I "play" in the Society for Creative Anachronism. And in a moment of madness/enthusiasm my friend Måns and I decided to enter the baronial polling of Gotvik, where we live. And we ended up being both chosen and accepted by the King and Queen, which meant that much sewing took place.

We decided to go in for the period c 1250-1330, which we both like a lot. I made a page on our outfits here, with more photos, where you see the clothes better, and info on construction etc. But here are some photos from the ceremony taken by my friend Alfhild de Foxley.

We swear on the baronial coronets.

The Princess of Nordmark puts the coronet on my head.

As the reprecentative of the lands of Gotvik I then choose my baron and place the crown on his head (yes, we like courtly romances).

Ongoing embroidery

This weekend was St. Egon's Feast and Baronial Investiture (I will get back to that in a later post, since I am now the baroness) and I had some time to work on my embroidered cotte while hanging with my friends.

Photo by Alfhild de Foxley

And now only three fleur de lis remains to be made. Then I'm going to make small lozenges inbetween the lilies and then (after I've hemmed it) a row of stitching around the neck.