The Early Mediaeval period is
usually associated with very rich items like the Tara Brooch and other brooches
made of precious metals. These are often seen as the quintessential ornaments
for the period, but how exactly representative are they of Early Mediaeval
dress? How were status and identities expressed through personal ornaments and
garments at the time? In her lecture, Dr. Maureen Doyle gave us a very interesting
insight into this fascinating topic, which constituted the main body of her
doctoral research.
Our knowledge of Early
Mediaeval dress comes from various sources: literary evidence (e.g. the Táin,
law tracts), pictorial evidence (e.g. illustrated manuscripts, High Crosses)
and archaeological evidence in the form of textiles and artefacts. Each one of
these sources has its limitations and problems and only by carefully using them
together can we gain a better understanding of what Early Mediaeval dress would
have looked like.
In analysing dress in relation
with identity, one must be careful not to apply modern concepts: for instance, the
most commonly depicted garments are léine
(tunic) and brat (cloak), but
trousers do also appear, for instance in the Book of Kells. However, they would
seem to be associated with warriors or foreigners. Thus, trousers would not be
an indication of gender but rather of ethnicity or class. Furthermore, men and
women wore the same personal ornaments, e.g. brooches, necklaces, rings.
From the law tracts, we learn
that dress was codified: for instance, the sons of kings would wear purple and
blue, while the sons of lords would dress in grey and brown. However, how was
this in reality? Can we expect these law tracts – mainly dating to the 8th
century - to have been widely applied across the country and over the whole Early
Mediaeval period. In studying garments, we are faced with the issue of textile
preservation and the lack of “dress burials” as they appear in parts of
northern Europe.
When we turn to personal items,
Dr. Doyle’s study has shown the variety of material used to make brooches,
pins, rings etc. Our image of Early Mediaeval society tends to be biased
towards dazzling artefacts like gold and silver brooches and pins, but other materials
like copper alloy, jet, glass and bone were more commonly used for the
manufacture of dress ornaments. Glass beads and jet bangles are for instance
extremely common on Early Mediaeval sites, many of them found at locations
which also yielded some of the most prestigious and rich items, thus raising
the question of status linked to these ornaments.
Dr. Doyle concluded by
stressing the complex array of identities potentially displayed by the use of
dress and ornaments – eg. gender, status, religious identities, ethnicity – both
on a personal and public level. The interpretation of dress is bound to be
complex and nuanced, and an over-reliance on text will obscure the complexity
of the archaeological record.
By Alexandra Guglielmi
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