User:Jeppe/draft/Western Viking Male guide
[This page is a draft work in progress, changes may be made without prior notice]
Tunics summary
Undertunics were made of wool or linen or (for very high status only) silk. Overtunics were usually made of wool. A generic tunic for a basic kit should reach to the knee or just above when belted, and have a round or square neckline with a small front split as an option. Tunics should be made from the same material throughout, there is no evidence for the use of contrasting gores. Tunics should always be well made and hemmed and repaired irrespective of status, repair, reuse, recycle. Status is shown by finer weaves, more intricate clothing construction, more expensive but achievable dye colours[link], and finally by more lavish embroidery[link] or braid[link] decoration. Use embroidery stitches and thread that look like those available at the time. Use designs that are not modern/ripped off Game Of Thrones/The Hobbit/Star trek. A high status kit should be backed up with more expensive looking LHE/weapons/other kit items.
Evidence
Archaeology
In period: Skjoldehamn, Guddal, Hedeby fragments
Out of period: Bernuthsfeld,
The Moselund tunic dated to 1050-1150AD. The material is wool, and the weave is a 2/1 twill, (Z / S, 14/10 tr./cm). The fabric has been fulled. The length is 1240 mm.
The Kragelund tunic dated to 1045-1155AD. The material is wool, and theweave is 2/1 twill, (Z / S, 12/8 tr./cm) with a light gray-brown trend and a white tinge. The length is 1140 mm.
The Viborg shirt is dated to the 11th Century. Made from a tabby woven, single ply Z-spun linen thread. The warp threads are a little thicker and somewhat more tightly spun than the weft threads. The cloth was very evenly woven.
M. Fentz, P. Crabb, KUML 1987, p23-46
Illustrations
Construction
Put something here about the limited evidence for contrasting gores. What was interpreted as evidence before.
How to make a tunic
Gusseted tunic
Sleeves
Based on manuscript illustrations and archaeological finds, sleeves should come at least to the wrist and be tight fitting at the wrist but looser on the upper arm. By the mid tenth century illustrations show Saxons with sleeves pushed back, and puckering on the forearms. The interpretation is that the sleeves of the undertunic should/must as a minimum be long enough to cover the fingertips and could be long enough to reach the knees. The sleeves should be pulled back to the wrist and may, for higher status, be held in place with arm rings. Archeological material from Scandinavia suggest that throughout the period sleeves are tight fitting at the cuff, and the length is never longer than the fingertips, with just past the wrist being more common. If arm guards are to be worn underneath your fighting tunic you may choose to make the sleeves looser to accommodate this, but be aware that this will detract from the appearance of the tunic and you should ideally change out of it when you remove your battle gear. Alternatively you can use visible non-decorated leather arm guards and remove them straight after the battle along with your combat gloves (which lets you have closefitting tunic sleeves).
Length
The length varies with time and status: being shorter for early period or lower status, and longer for later period or higher status. The result being that what may be high status in the 9th century, would be lower status in the 11th century. Anglo-Saxon tunics tend to be longer than the Scandinavian equivalents. Anglo-Saxon tunics must be at least knee length, but no longer than mid-calf and NOT as long as ankle length.
Splits
For Normans from the later eleventh century, tunics for higher status men may be front and rear split. The splits should be from about 2 inches below the groin to the hem. The tunic should reach to the bottom edge of the knee, and have a round or square neckline with a small front split as an option.
Facings
The examples we have for neckline shape are round, keyhole and square. From manuscripts we have good evidence for the use of facings by Saxons. The cuffs, neck and hems may be edged in a contrasting colour which may be the base for embroidery. The borders should not be wider than 2” wide. There is no evidence for large square neck facings, any such trim should folow the neckline shape. For Scandinavia there is little evidence for facings in the same way. There are the very high status cuffs from the Mammen grave, and there is one example of a square panel used as a neck closure from Skjoldehamn – note that this is both functional and decorative. The panel is only just as large as it has to be.
facings is that they were not enormous flat blocks stitched on for decorative sake, but more used as either as edge re-enforcenent, for repair purposes (to replace worn cuffs or necklines for example), or as base panels of embroidery decoration that could be transferred to a new garment when the original wore out.
Decoration
Remember this is not mandatory, there are many ways to show status and wealth, the first (and period cheaper options) would be quality of fabric, quality of dyes used, quality of the sewing, including using more advanced cuts and not just squares and rectangles. Decoration can be done with either simple decorative stitching, figurative embroidery, or narrow wares such as simple braids or tablet woven braids.
Decorative stitching
This is not considered what we refer to as embroidery. Decorative stitching can be either a structural stitching, or an embellishment. Common for these stitches are that they generally are small around 5mm long.
English embroidery
The latest resource on Anglo-Saxon embroidery is 'The Lost Art of the Anglo-Saxon World' by Alexandra Lester-Makin. The book cover finds between the 6th to 11th century. Not all of the finds were religious and they come from across the whole breadth of the country. It can be seen that a large number of the existing finds in terms of actual embroidery that isn't just decorative stitches are made up of either foliage (about 1/3 of the finds) or animal designs (also about 1/3 of the finds. . In terms of surviving threads, about half are made of silk, one quarter is wool, most of the remaining quarter is gold or silver-gilt, with a small amount of linen thread making up the remaining part. The art style used may well be copied from available Byzantine silk patterns, and doesn't seem to have changed during the period. Several of the bird motifs on the Bayeux Tapestry can also be found in Book of Kells for example. Anglo-Saxon tunics may be decorated with embroidery to European designs with vines, leaves or animals and birds (both real and imaginary). Large panels of embroidery should be reserved for High or Very High status characters (level 4 and 5), while simpler bands of vines and leaves may be used by lower status characters (level 3). Embroidery is encouraged on fillets for English ladies.
There is a remarkable lack of embroidery in Scandinavia, as highlighted by this discussion: http://awanderingelf.weebly.com/blog-my-journey/ancient-embroidery-or-the-lack-thereof?fbclid=IwAR21OKHDzylPEq-BitXQ5wNoxr13CuA6NnlgBq68mXGKLvJtHNG4EVZfYxU
Simple braids
These are primarily structural cords, and any decorative effect is a side issue: the main job is to re-enforce the garment. They are placed either as seam reinforcements, or to protect fabric edges at hems. They can be made either by finger braiding, or by weaving a narrow tablet braid directly onto the garment.
Tablet braid
We discourage the use of coarse wool braids as this is not evidenced by the finds. Braids should be tightly packed and suitably thin wool or linen being used. It should almost be like fabric in how its woven. Braids were generally woven either in wool or linen, but luxury braids denoting high status and wealth were achieved either by a technique called soumak, or by brocading with gold or silver thread during the weaving process. Gold work of this kind was probably used for edging garments at wrist, neck or skirt edge.
Neck fastenings
Tunics with keyhole necklines should have an appropriate, authentic fastening at the neck. For undertunics, ties or a loop and bead may be simplest. The ties can be documented to a degree, they are used on the Viborg shirt, and shown on some illustrations, such as depictions of Goliath with a square neckline. For English and Anglo-Danish characters the use of small disc brooches is probably a thing, given the abundance of small finds. For Scandinavia there just isn't the same group of finds of small brooches. Given that single beads are frequent finds in male graves, it is possible that they fulfilled a role other than as a necklace. One of the few surviving Viking period tunics (Skjoldehamn) uses a bead as a neck closure and it is possible that the finds of individual or “odd” beads were used in a similar manner.