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Merovingian Dress

Merovingian dress represents a transition from the classical dress of Rome and
the barbarian dress of the early Franks and Lombards to the more sophisticated
Byzantine-influenced dress of the Carolingians.
Men:
Men wore loose T-shaped tunics sometimes decorated, like those of the
Anglo-Saxons with broad bands o various colors (fig. 1). Some tunics
were of horizontally stripped material. Other sources mention fitted tunics
among the Franks. The gonelle was a knee-length tunic with long or short
sleeves (fig. 2). It was generally edged with braid and belted at the waist.
In the 7th and 8th centuries it is often shown with wide folds (see "The 'A'
Tunic" in EP #4). In the 10th century it is shown with a thick roll at the
neck (fig. 3), like the much earlier Gaulish costume. Thecamisia or
undertunic comes from classical times as well as the various over-tunics;
the dalmatic (fig. 4) and the colobium, or sleeveless tunic (fig. 5).

Early Franks wore knee-length breeches which were hidden by their tunic. Later
they wore tight-fitting breeches made of linen or leather and tied tightly to the
legs with the shoe thongs. The'Hornhausen Horseman' (Fig. 6) wears baggy
bloomer-like pants that appear to be tucked into tight-fitting hose or boots at the
knees, or to be narrowed by stitching from mid-thigh to the knee. By the ninth
century, breeches were worn over linen underpants.
Cloaks...(Fig. 7)
Either rectangular like the pallium or circular like the casula. Men also
wore the rheno, a fur cloak with the fur side out that was decorated with
bands of other skins or fish scales and fastened with a bronze pin. Also
worn was the saie, a short cloak covering only the shoulders (Fig. 8). This
later developed a hood and looked rather like the short, hooded cape of the
14th century.
The clothing of Frankish men required a lot of straps (belts, sword belts, garters,
etc.) each of which ended in a decorative oblong tag (fig. 9a). The decoration
often consisted of leaf patterns, especially acanthus leaves. Where three straps
met, they were joined with a three-lobed metal plate (fig. 9b). These trefoils were
picked up by the Norse and used by their women as brooches. Later the Norse
made the same shape using their own distinct interlace ornamentation.
Men's hair was worn long, especially men of the royal house, thus their title 'The
Long-Haired Kings". Hair was sometimes plaited and worn on top of the head
(fig. 10). The back of the neck was sometimes shaved and the hair was often
dyed red. The only known male headdress was a narrow band tied behind the
head with the two ends falling down the neck behind. This leftover of the Roman
period was also worn by the Byzantines (fig. 11).
Men's ceremonial costume consisted of a short tunic of purple with embroidered
sleeves, seamless hose and short trousers. A scarf was worn wrapped twice
around the waist. The chlamys, also called the Byzantine slit toga, was worn by
kings (Fig. A).

One of the most spectacular discoveries from the Merovingian times was found
by accident in 1653: the tomb of King Chilperic. It contained many pieces of
jewelry as well as armor, weapons, horse harnesses and coins. Unfortunately
most of the finds were lost and are only known from descriptions and drawings
from the 1700's. One object was a royal cloak decorated with 300 gold cicadas or
bees inlaid with garnets!
Not much is known about the actual dress of early Merovingian women. One of
the few windows into this comes from the grave of St. Arnegunde or Arnegonde,
a Merovingian queen who lived sometime between 550-570 A.D. She wore a
knee-length chemise of fine wool and an over-gown of indigo violet satin, also
knee-length. Her legs were covered in woolen cloth hose with cross-garters. Over
this was worn an ankle-length tunic of red silk lined in linen. This garment was
open all the way down the front and was held at the neck and waist with round
cloisonne brooches. It had wide long sleeves and was trimmed at the wrist
openings (see EP #VI for embroidery details). The feet were covered with black
leather boots which fastened with buckles and had metal tags on the strap ends.
Laces attached to the shoes served as garters. The garters were also fastened with
buckles and had metal tags on the strap ends. Hair was worn long and was
covered with a red satin waist-length veil (fig. 12).

In Carolingian times women wore the stole, a long gown pouched at the waist
with a leather belt. It had an embroidered band that decorated the neck opening
and continued down the front of the dress to the feet. The sleeves were often
elbow-length, in which case the undertunic showed (figure 13). Some authors
have argued that dresses may have been sleeveless, as Salic Law ordered a fine to
be paid by anyone who touched a free-born woman's upper arm. Since, to my
knowldge, there are no depictions of naked-armed women, it could also be
interpreted as touching an unclothed woman. Fibulae were worn at the shoulders
for decoration. Hems might be raised by means of a chain and hook attatched to
one of the fibula. The palla was a long scarf wrapped around the shoulders with
one end down the front and one end down the back. It was also used to cover the
head (fig. 14).
By law, married women's hair had to be covered when they were in public.
The ricinium was a veil draped like a turban (fig. 15). The mafors was a large
veil covering the head and falling to the feet (fig. 13). Manuscript illuminations
show women indoors with their hair covered by nets of woen beatds or precious
stones.
Women's shoes were made of leather or linen and were decorated with patterns.
They had tongues and were buckled over the instep. They also wore cloth
stockings held in place with cross-garters.

Sources:
Bronsted, Johannes The Vikings. Pelican, 1965.
Boucher, Francois 20,000 Years of Fashion. Abrams, NY.
Lasko, Peter The Kingdom of the Franks: Northwest Europe before
Charlemange. Thames and Hudson, 1971.
Houston, Mary Anchient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Costume and
Decoration. Adam and Charles Black, 1931.
Norris, Herbert Costume and Fashion: Vol. I. J.M. Dent, 1924.
Wilson, David M., ed. The Northern World. Abrams, 1980.

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