Late Iron age Clothing in Ireland

[Jason Harris]

I'd like to get started on reconstructing some clothing appropriate for Ireland circa 300 AD. Reconstructing history sites that long ankle length tunics were worn, and hiked up around the belt by warriors, causing the folds to hang over the belt.

Does anyone else have or know of any examples of clothing for the regine around this timeframe?

Thanks
J

[Heather Smith]

I think your talking about what my group calls Leins, but check my spelling on that. I have actually have found a statue of this type of clothing, but it's a few hundered years earlier to your period. I really question if clothing changed much from 100 AD (my period) and yours. Luckily, I do know that at least in the case of shoes, I hear more have survived from Ireland than much of the rest of the Isles esp. Scotland. I am sure many of us can run you through all the basics for what might apply to our periods, but 300 I think is alittle later than many of ours. I will look into some of my books and see if I can find anything from your period, but it probably will apply to Britian.

[Jason Harris]

I think I found most of what I needed on clothing. The main question is if or not I should use a "gusset/gore" in the lower part of the leine to allow for more leg room or to make the overall garment fairly baggy.

I have a question regarding embroidery, as I have read many refferences to embroidery in various "legends", does anyone have any idea what type of embroidery designs would have been accurate for one of these?

Also, weird question but someone might know. As Brehon law dictated the number of colors one could wear, does anyone know if there are any colors ( like white) that don't count?

[Sarida]

I think I found most of what I needed on clothing. The main question is if or not I should use a "gusset/gore" in the lower part of the leine to allow for more leg room or to make the overall garment fairly baggy.

Howdy Folks,

I'll give you some of my observations. A gore added to the lower section of the leine will give you the ease to walk normally. So will leaving a split at the vertical seam. But the leine is or should be a very full garment with lots of fabric to move around in. You should look for linen fabric if you can afford it, as that will give you the right folds and drape. Linen is very comfortable in just about any climate, but the Texas Celts especially love it for its breathable coolness.



I have a question regarding embroidery, as I have read many refferences to embroidery in various "legends", does anyone have any idea what type of embroidery designs would have been accurate for one of these?



We have so few surviving scraps of fabric from this period or any period earlier than the late 1400s. The best example of medieval embrodery is of course the Bayeaux Tapestry. Though it is a product of Anglo Saxon design and execution, it is thought to be the masterwork of a embroidery genre practiced across cultural bounderies within the British Isles.

It is a form of couched embroidery, where the surface yarns are laid and stitched into place to cover more of the background surface. Other decorative stiches are used, but couching is how large areas of color are filled. The Bayeaux embroidery is dyed wool yarn stitched on to a linen background. The handspun linen was woven on a warp weighted loom.
This was the weaving technology used throughout northern Europe from the early bronze age until around and about 1000 AD.

Textiles were highly desirable trade commodities. Cloth made in Eire would be examined by weavers in Caledonia, the weave patterns would be
adopted for local use. Embroideries could have been easily influenced by the other crafts practiced, like knotworks carved in stones.

As a practitioner of these arts, I'm always looking for inspiration and sources for embroidered knotworks and complex weave patterns. I'm willing to bet the women of the Celtic iron age and Roman Britian were
too.



Also, weird question but someone might know. As Brehon law dictated the number of colors one could wear, does anyone know if there are any colors ( like white) that don't count?

This is purely my speculation, but I'd tend to think that white counts as a color because it is difficult to achieve with the fibres of the time. Flax is naturally a beige / blond color. White linen is bleached with lye to get to white. Wools in this time were multicolored as the sheep were multicolored and grew three different hairs in their coats. Guard fibres which shed rain and weather, hairs that were wire like and protected the sheep and soft downy wool that insulated and kept the animal warm. Wool was shed from the animal in the spring, spinners would pluck it from the sheep or gather the tufts from bushes and pastures. Sheep at this time were only marginally tame and were not like our modern sheep. Those white wool fleeces we shear off our flocks every spring are the results of three millenia of genetic tinkering by humans.
Early sheep were brown, tan, black, white & grey. Sometimes all together on one sheep. White wool was highly prized and selectively bred for.

Having garments of white, would have been a sign of status and luxury. Keeping them white in structures heated by wood fires, lit with oil lamps would have required some investment of labor. I'd count it as a color in Brehon reckoning.

[Heather Smith]

Hmmm, I have never really like the whole Brehon law concerning the use of color to determine social rank. I can see where this line of thought would latter support Tartans in the Highlands, but I truly doubt that this idea was upheld by all. We practice it in our group however.

Embroidery? I don't know about latter periods, but card weaving was used up to the Vikings and I am sure latter. The late Iron Age Hochdorf burial from Austria had some beautiful examples of embroidery. I believe there were examples of card weaving with possible silk floss in this grave, but don't mark my words. Here are a few examples of the textiles from this grave:












Now, of course this is Congenital and of much earlier date, but it might give you an idea of what could have been done. I have some other photos of some early work, but alas my book is borrowed so I will have to post that latter. I also believe that what was done on metal work such as bronze mirrors or sword hilts may have also been produced on textiles. I am not sure if Celtic knot work was in full swing as of yet (300 AD), but it does make beautiful needle work. You might also check into metallic floss. I understand that the wealthier Celts would have their clothing embroidered with gold floss. Extremely thin sheets of gold would be wrapped around a thin piece of thread producing gold floss. There is also some documentation from earlier periods that suggests the use of bead work with embroidery.

Check out the following site for some more ideas, but check the dates on some of these outfits because I believe some fall into a later date than yours. Some fall into an early date, but are helpful for ideas.

http://www.forest.gen.nz/Medieval/gallery/gallerypage.html

[Jason Harris]

Do you know of any sites that reproduce this sort of thing?

[Heather Smith]

Are you looking to buy card woven borders or find more photos and info on the subject? You can find where the Hochdorf borders have been reproduced at http://www.weavershand.com/gallery26.html, but this is from an exhibt in the Netherlands. If you were to buy such a border it probably would be costly due to the elabrate design if you were to find some one who could reproduce it, however if you look at the more colorful 'swastika' border at the bottom you might be able to see how it appears to be done. I have heard that some of the borders were card woven, however this appears to be embroideried by running the floss along the weft of the fabric for a few strands before stiching it into the fabric. I could be wrong. I do know of a site where you can purchase reproduced Hallstatt tartan, but it's costly: http://www.district-tartans.com/hallstatt.htm

[David Freeman]

I am not sure if Celtic knot work was in full swing as of yet (300 AD), but it does make beautiful needle work

'Celtic' knotwork is Saxon, if it includes animals it is Viking!. When the Saxons arrived in Southern Britain in the 4th century, we were still under the rule of the Roman empire, and ironage art had stopped being used centuries ago.
There are no knots in the iron age art. If you would like to look through a selection of ironage art from all over Europe, right click and download http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gd.freeman2/Early%20Celtic%20Designs.zip
this book was produced by the British Museum specifically to be a design aid.

David

[Sarida]

Howdy David,

Welcome to the forum. I've referred to your site many times over the years. Its good to have your "hands on" experience. Most of us are folks who like the process of making things and talking about it incessantly. We're glad to have you.

[G-Gulino]

http://livinghistory.ie/index.php?sid=6 ... e4f2dc8f1c
this is a great site to find info on irish, it was were i got most my advice befor finding this forum
beside the long leine (witch is for more upper class nobles) there is the trews and inar combo as well, wich is more fitting for a warrior class.

[Bob Roeder]

Wools in this time were multicolored as the sheep were multicolored and grew three different hairs in their coats. Guard fibres which shed rain and weather, hairs that were wire like and protected the sheep and soft downy wool that insulated and kept the animal warm. Wool was shed from the animal in the spring, spinners would pluck it from the sheep or gather the tufts from bushes and pastures. Sheep at this time were only marginally tame and were not like our modern sheep. Those white wool fleeces we shear off our flocks every spring are the results of three millenia of genetic tinkering by humans.
Early sheep were brown, tan, black, white & grey. Sometimes all together on one sheep. White wool was highly prized and selectively bred for.

In case anyone is interested and doesn't know of this source already, there an interesting article on the development of Iron Age fleece types in
Northern Archaeological Textiles: Nesat VII Textile Symposium in Edinburgh, 5th-7th May 1999 ed. by Frances Pritchard and John Peter Wild. The article is "The Human Development of Different Fleece-Types in Sheep and Its Association with the Development of Textile Crafts" by Michael L. Ryder.

[Andrew Byrne]

Ah, a question I can answer!.

Celtic knotwork, as David Freeman said, is a Saxon style of Art. It derives from an Saxon art styles which the Irish came into contact with through Christianity, meaning that is does not come into play in Ireland until post 5th century at the earliest, and it stays in a christian context moreso than anything - manuscript work, carvings etc.

Irish clothing is pretty much unknown for this period - for the full Iron Age in fact. British clothing examples are used to ascertain what the Irish may have worn. When I mean British I mean native British, not Romanised British.
The Léine is a term that can really be translated as 'tunic'. It denotes, probably originally, a tunic made of linen. The lenght of the tunic differs greatly, depending on status. A high status person, king etc, would have a long flowing, ankle length tunic, while a poor farmer would have worn something that is much much shorter, around waist length perhaps.

Most evidence for clothing comes from pictorial evidence which comes through Christian means (High Crosses, manuscripts) and through literary texts (tales, stories etc), which are all post Iron Age. Post 6th century in fact. Most date from about the 7th - 12th centuries, which puts it well past the date of your time period.

It could be that the the clothing of the Iron Age did not change much. As we know nothing about it really here in Ireland, we cannot say what it is like - is it like the later, medieval clothing which is often described as a tunic reaching to below the knee and hiked up for ease of movement, or a short tunic and trews combo (ionar and truis). Or is the clothing of this period similar to the native British clothing, which it could well be. The safest option is to use British evidence to create clothing for this period.

In relation to the Brehon Law material, it is later again, but may hark back to earlier traditions alright.
It regulates the colours which are allowed:
- Sons of Commoners:
-lachtnae (dun-coloured)
-buide (yellow)
-dub (black)
-find (white)

- Sons of Lords:
-derg (red)
-glas (grey)
-donn (brown)

-Sons of Kings:
-gorm (blue)
-corcra (purple)

the translations of the above colours are given in accordance to our colour terminology, but may not necessarily be reflective of our colour palate - as in, black here may not be a dark black, but a dark colour. find likewise represents light colours, such as offwhite or undied. lachtnae would represent various light shades of browns, and natural colours also. glas may be anywhere from light blues, to light greens and greys. greens may also be in this category. derg likewise may reflect a wide spectrum from oranges to reds etc.

The use of gores is not documented in Ireland this early, but it is reasonable to assume that they were used - saves material (and making a new tunic when the belly starts to build up!! )

Going by later accounts, yet still early med, Wools and lines would have been used to make the clothing - linen is documented greatly in the creation of the tunic, while wool would be used to create the pants and heavier tunics.

shoes are often constructed of leather, though rawhide is thought to have been used by the lower classes.


the use of the later literature is problematic as it is too difficult to ascertain whether or not the material culture described is of the supposed earlier society of the society contemporary to the transcribing, or composition etc. I am doing a thesis on whether or not the spear in the Ulster Cycle tales reflect an earlier Iron Age or a later, medieval culture. It is hell at times ,and nigh on impossible to do. The literature, you have to remember comes from an oral storytelling culture,which is in itself a problem. Storytelling in relation to material culture rarely reflects the truth of the society it is reflecting - a later telling of a tale set in an earlier society is most likely not going to describe earlier material culture, but will a later. Its natural for a story to be brought into the contemporary - it brings the audience into the world of the story much easier.
So that which is being described to us in the medieval tales that are meant to be set in earlier centuries are most likely going to be medieval and not earlier, unless an element of the earlier society is retained, and this can happen, but deciphering which is which is quite hard.

Sorry for the length of this post. I may need to edit is as I recheck some of the facts in the morning.

I hope this helped in some way.

[Andrew Byrne]

A quick ad-on!

In reply to G-Gulino, the léine and inar + trews combo status difference is a difficult one.
In the literature alot of mention is made to the léine no matter what status one is. As i mentioned already it denotes 'tunic' in its basic form - it later became to mean tunic and shirt etc. It still means 'shirt' in modern Irish. The léine is often described as long, though I think it may not have been so in reality. There are a lot of descriptions of the leine being long, and many where lenght is not mentioned. lenght most likely representative of your status- the richer you are, the less physical labour you do, the more you can afford - hence longer clothes. This is just speculation. WE have no way of telling how long they actually were over society as a whole. all we have is a some documentation, and some interpretations of this documentation.

Pants are a lower-class phenomenon for the most part in Ireland. It has been stated that the upper classed of society may not have worn them, and may have worn a longer tunic instead. It is natural to assume that a soldier or someone who moves around quite freely and quickly would need a short tunic and hence a pants to keep the legs nice and warm. Pants also protect the skin from briars and brambles and the like, hence it is thought the lower classes working in the fields etc, and workers in general wore them.

the inar is a less documented form of clothing than the léine. the léine, as can be seen from the tales.
The use of the inar by the warrior classes is seen in the literature, and hence it is often said that it is a warrior clothing piece. inar is suggested as much shorter than the léine, which would make for easier movement - ideal for a warrior based in a society where warfare is mainly light, quick moving and stealthy, with little or no armour.

[Becky Watkins Tien]

Andrew,
In wool, would lachtnae be equivalent to moorit and dub be equivalent to cuchddu?

[G-Gulino]

andrew,thank you for clearing that up, as im still learning my self
that is also the more direct answer and and best explained ive ever got on this topic

[Andrew Byrne]

hmmm....I had a reply to this not more than one hour ago that seems to not have gone up. It was in answer and further explanation to both last posts. I'll see if I can remember it....

Em. first of all, in reply to Becky, the cuchddu sheep could fall under the dub category. The welsh cognate of dub is du - the second element to their name. It would fit nicely

The list of colours and translations I gave above come from Fergus Kelly's Early Irish Farming. I think he gave a very simplified list and translation of the terms. There are few problems to contend with. These colour regulations come from brehon law. what is not known is how strictly these were adhered to. yet we can go on what is laid down and hope that it is truly representative of what was going on back then.

the second problem is that the colour terms for medieval Ireland are problematic. Their basic colour terms are differenet from ours. glas can be translated as meaning anything from 'shining', light greens to light greys to light blues. Gorm is dark blues, and dark shades. gormruad is dark red. etc
Dub can mean dark colours - dark greys, dark browns etc.
Lachtnae , given as dun-cloloured, could also be rendered milky natural colours. ie natural white wool colour?.

the moorit sheep may fall into a bit of this, or perhaps ruad coloured. From photos i've seen they are a kind of reddish brown to light brown? so if you want to take the interprestation Kelly gives, then moorit would fit under lachtnae.

As I said its a huge barrel of uncertainty. I'll see if I can get a better translation of the list up - a fuller range. I had to do some work on the colour palette of medieval Ireland, so half of the research is there. I'll see if i can get a list of fuller translations.



G- Gulino, thanks man. I appreciate it. I'm still only learning too. All I can say is keep reading books and academic papers on the stuff. a wealth of information can be found from even the smallest article or reference.

I'll get back to this within the next few days. Remind me if i forget.

[G-Gulino]

andrew- so what would be a good kit for a warrior class of the iron age , a knee length tunic (with or with out gores?) maybe the short pants that go to right below the knees? and the inar , would you say it safe to have it around waist length? perhaps out of leather?
also the brat i have good idea of but what of a mantle of leather do you think that would be ok?
thank you

[Andrew Byrne]

Hey G-Gulino,
sorry for the late reply. I have been very busy as of late.

To be perfectly honest, I do not know exactly the answer to your question.
To put it quickly, I would say yes, perhaps.
There are more people on this forum who can answer this question better than me, in terms of Iron Age.
From what I know of the arguments already placed out there, this sounds good. Although long pants may also work. Keep gores out, as they seem to be a later usage (can someone correct me on this?)

If you are fighting, think of the practicality in clothing terms, and see what you think. I personally, when fight, use a thigh-lenght or just-below-waist length tunic, and short trews to just below the knee, as I think this is more practical for fighting. But this is my preference.
A knee lenght tunic may not be too bad either. I think perhaps personal preference will dictate.
until concrete evidence comes up for Irish Iron age, we can only really kinda use info from neighbouring countries, but this brings problems and arguments in itself.

Inars made of leather, I cannot answer you on. I have come across this, but never across any good conclusions on it.
The mantle, as far as I gather is a close fitting cloak, no? A mantle of leather would be good yes. I think there was one found made of otter skin, but the date of which is skipping my mind. I'll find it out and pass it on. However, one must be cautious as always, as this is an isolated find and may or may not be accepted as a practice. A mantle of wool would be just as good I reckon.

Does this help, or does it confuse you even more?

Pm if you have any precise questions, and I will do my best to answer

beir bua,

Andrew

[G-Gulino]

andrew- thank you that answered things pretty good, i know finding things on iron age in ireland is pretty darn hard it seems most info comes from briton or the continental celts . iwas also wondering if the iberian celts would be worth looking into sense in the invasions book they say sons of hispano(sp) came to ireland.?

[Andrew Byrne]

Hey Gulino,

that is a later, most likely, pseudo-historic mythology....best to not take that as evidence really....there is a lot of contention and discussion on the Lebor Gabala.

This time period is a pretty damn hard one alright.

[John Olinger]

This time period is a pretty damn hard one alright.

Yeah! but those time periods that are fully documented... well anyone can order a uniform out of a catalog!
John

[G-Gulino]

thank you again for clearing that up.