Anglo-Saxon dress
Anglo-Saxon dress refers to the clothing and accessories worn by the Anglo-Saxons from the middle of the fifth century to the eleventh century. Archaeological finds in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries have provided the best source of information on Anglo-Saxon costume. It is possible to reconstruct Anglo-Saxon dress using archaeological evidence combined with Anglo-Saxon and European art, writing and literature of the period. Archaeological finds have both supported and contradicted the characteristic Anglo-Saxon costume as illustrated and described by these contemporary sources.
The collective evidence of cemetery grave-goods indicates that men's and women's costume were different. Women's dress changed frequently from century to century, while men's dress changed very little. Women typically wore jewellery, men wore little or no jewellery. The beginning of the seventh century marked the conversion of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to Christianity. Religious art, symbols and writings from the conversion years greatly influenced costumes from this period onward, especially women's dress and jewellery. Historical research has shown that Anglo-Saxon children wore smaller versions of adult garments.
Clothing worn by the military, the elite class and religious orders was initially similar to the daily garments of the common man and woman. Over time, and with the influence of European culture, the spread of Christianity and the increasing prosperity of Anglo-Saxon England, garments and accessories specific to each group became the standard by which they were identified.
During the Anglo-Saxon era, textiles were created from natural materials: wool from sheep, linen from flax, and imported silk. In the fifth and sixth centuries, women were the manufacturers of clothing, weaving textiles on looms in their individual dwellings. In the seventh to ninth centuries, Anglo-Saxon communities changed slowly from primarily small settlements to a mix of small and large settlements, and large estates. Specialized workshops on large landholdings were responsible for the manufacture of textiles and clothing for the estate community. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the growth of urban centre space throughout England expanded the variety and quantity of textiles, clothing, and accessories that were made available to the public and also changed the way in which clothing and accessories were manufactured.
Overview: Anglo-Saxon England
Periods
The end of Roman rule in Britain led to the withdrawal of the Roman armies in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. By the mid-fifth century, an influx of Germanic peoples arrived in England, many leaving overcrowded native lands in Northwestern Europe and others fleeing rising sea levels on the North Sea coast. The middle of the fifth century marked the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon era in England.The Anglo-Saxon era can be divided into three different time periods: an early Anglo-Saxon period, which spans the mid-fifth to the beginning of the seventh century; the middle Anglo-Saxon period, which covers the seventh to the ninth centuries; and the late Anglo-Saxon period, with the tenth and eleventh centuries, up to the Norman Conquest of 1066, though change in costume after that was slow.
Anglo-Saxon identity
In Anglo-Saxon England, clothing and accessories were used to establish identity of gender, age, ethnicity, regionality, occupation and status. Initially, the early migrants to England displayed their Germanic identity through their choices in clothing and accessories. Later, Anglo-Saxon dress was shaped by European costume styles, as well as European art and religious emblems of Christianity. A person's identity as a believer in Christianity was manifested through dress. Cross-shaped designs appear on Kentish disc brooches as early as the late sixth century. Tiny crosses also start appearing on shoulder clasps and on Kentish belt buckles in the seventh century. Clothing and accessories varied from the functional, the recycled, the symbolic, the elegant, the opulent and the elaborate. Commoners typically possessed one main garment, which they wore daily. Their clothes were often recycled from older, out-of-style clothing and handed-down items. Higher-status individuals typically owned multiple items of clothing and accessories, often made with high-quality and expensive materials, and decorated in intricate detail.The archaeological record
Archaeological finds in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries have provided the best source of information on Anglo-Saxon dress. Pagan burial practices in the early Anglo-Saxon era included placing grave-goods with the clothed body. Archaeological excavations from this era have provided a rich supply of artefacts that have been analysed and compared to contemporary Anglo-Saxon and European art, writing and literature in order to reconstruct a standard Anglo-Saxon costume. Archaeological evidence for female burials is abundant in the fifth and the sixth centuries. The cemetery evidence for male burials is limited compared to female burials, with primarily belt buckles and other belt fittings and a few pins.The beginning of the seventh century marked the decline of the pagan tradition of including grave-goods in burials. This change in funerary practice coincided with the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England. Beginning in the eighth century, grave-goods, except for simple items like knives and belts, were no longer included with individual burials. This lack of costume artefacts makes it more challenging for historians and archaeologists to determine what Anglo-Saxons were wearing during the eighth to the eleventh centuries.
Archaeological evidence from Anglo-Saxon cemeteries have alternately supported and contradicted contemporary illustrations of Anglo-Saxon costume. For example, there are burial finds of finger rings, some engraved with names, in both male and female graves; finger rings never appear in Anglo-Saxon illustrations. Alternately, the penannular brooch, arm-rings and neck-rings that show up occasionally in Anglo-Saxon art are not supported by any finds from Anglo-Saxon cemetery excavations.
Women's costume
Fifth to sixth centuries
Fifth and sixth century women's costume has been reconstructed by scholars, based on the archaeological evidence of brooches worn in pairs at the shoulders. Researchers continue to fill current gaps of knowledge about female dress during this time period. The female gown is presumed to be ankle-length. Currently, there is no archaeological evidence to support this belief. Experiments to recreate early Anglo-Saxon female dress have resulted in the creation of a female costume that includes a long under-gown, with a buckled belt that holds suspended items including knives, keys, amulets, and weaving tools. The long gown is covered with a short peplos, which could be easily hitched up to reach the tools.The age of a woman often designated the costume that would be her daily dress. Dress and accessories, specifically the peplos, the pin, a belt or girdle with tools and keys, was relevant to a woman's age and state of life, especially to the child-bearing years and marriage. The peplos was typically worn starting in the teen years and continually worn until a woman was in her forties, past childbearing age. This long garment, with its paired shoulder brooches, was a comfortable garment for breastfeeding and could expand easily when a woman was pregnant. Though most finds are long, it has sometimes been interpreted as possible to wear a short one. Although the peplos was traditionally worn starting in the teens, archaeological evidence indicates that girls as young as eight-years-old wore the peplos, but marked their younger age by fastening their gowns with one brooch instead of two.
Beginning in the fifth century, women in Kent wore a slightly different costume, influenced by fashions from the Frankish Empire, than women from other regions of Anglo-Saxon England. The costume consisted of a front-fastening garment and a Frankish-inspired front-fastening jacket, which was attached by four brooches. In the last third of the sixth century in Kent, women's dresses were fastened by an ornate disk brooch at the throat, replacing "the coat-based costume fastened by four brooches in two matched pair sets down the length of the coat." There were other regional variations of women's dress, notably in Anglian areas, where wrist clasps and a third, central brooch and distinctive 'girdle-hangers' were the norm. Women's costume throughout England was enhanced by beads made of glass, paste and amber and less frequently, crystal. Garlands of beads were typically suspended between the shoulder brooches, and other bead clusters often hung from brooches, attached to girdles and were sometimes worn on their own.
Main garment
The typical women's costume of this era was a long peplos-like garment, pulled up to the armpit and worn over a sleeved under-garment, usually another dress. The garment was clasped front to back by fastening brooches at the shoulders. Anglo-Saxon women in this period may or may not have worn a head covering. The dress could be belted or girdled, and easily adjusted to changes in the woman's weight. It is unknown what the Anglo-Saxons called the peplos-style gown.Linen or wool could be used to make the peplos garment. There has been discussion among historians of whether a preference of one fibre over the other was a matter of fashion changes over time or related to regional differences. Fashion changes tended to begin in eastern England, reflecting contemporary fashion styles in Europe, and those changes would move slowly over time to the West Saxon region.
Survival of fur is rare in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. It is likely that fleeces and furs were used as garment lining or as warm outer garments. Anglo-Saxon textile and clothing historian, Penelope Walton Rogers, has recently identified buckled capes of animal pelt that were found in Anglo-Saxon women's graves. A simple poncho made with a neck-opening for the head could have been made from skins of domesticated sheep or cattle. Literary evidence confirms the use of fur garments, primarily in the late Anglo-Saxon period.