The use of dresses in re-enacting - OpenArch Conference, Foteviken 2012

www.middelaldercentret.dk
The use of dresses
in reenacting
• Interpreting history - living
history - reenactment
• The use of hstorical dresses
when interpreting history

Living history
• Living history is getting more and more popular, both with those who
work seriously with interpreting history and those who are not so
serious.
• The users of historical dresses are museums, medieval markets,
reenacters, roleplayers, the movie industry, illustrators and many
others.
Lets take a look at how the
different groups make use
of historical dresses and
how the approach is to
autenticity and the actual
archeological and
historical knowledge of
today.

Hollywoods version
• Popular literature, cartoons,
computer games and movies all
have their version of the middle
ages.
• Hollywood is no exception.

Robin Hood
• He is a historical person
(maybee). He is mentioned for
the first time in Piers
Ploughman, a manuscript from
the 14th century
• Everybody knows what he
looks like. He is depicted in
countless books, booklets and
in numerous movies.
• He is clad in green, has a
pointed green hat, tights and
pointed shoes.
• He is for many the epitome of a
medieval man.

• In movies he is depicted
corresponding to what they at
the time belived a medieval
man looked like.
Fairbanks in 1922
Kevin Koster in 1991,
Robin Hood: Prince of
Thieves
Russell Crowe in 2010
BBC in 2010

Men in tights, recent movie with a humorous angle and references to
the oldest movies.

Archers in a manuscrip from early 14th century.

Hollywood going serious
• ”Vi have done research on the dresses we used in this
movie. We have references for them all!” A Knights
Tale, 2001

• Yes, sure, but you have mixed serveral centuries og the actors don’t
wear the dresses as they were worn in the medieval period(s)

Reenactors
• Historical reenactment is an educational activity in which
participants attempt to recreate some aspects of a historical
event or period. (Wikepedia)

• Reenactors are often organised
into groups or organisations.
• They are reenactors because
they are interested in history or
because they fell the need of an
alternative role distaned from
their dayly modern life.
• Some are associated with
certain institutions such as
museums and living history
museums.
• Some perform at various
private and public events.
• Most of them are amateurs, but
a few have made a living out of
it.

• You can group reenactors in three
categories:
• 1. ”Progressives”/hard core authentics
eller The Really Serious Ones. They are
the ones that emphasizes authenticity
high. They choose a caracter from a
certain, narrowly defined period. They
read all they can about dresses, status
and performance. They make the
dresses with authentic materials, using
authentic techniques. When reenacting,
they stay in caracter 24hpd.
• 2. ”Mainstream” they do give it a try to
be authentic, but they allow certain
anacronisms, such as make-up, glasses,
modern underwear, cameras...
• 3. ”Farbs”/polyester soldiers eller
Those Who Just Want To Play. They
don’t give a damn about autenticity.
SCA

1. Progressives or
The Really Serious
• I.e. Company of
Saynt George. They
say about
themselves:
• ”At a Company of
Saynt George event
there is no artistic
license or romantic
idealization, we try to
recreate things as
they actually were.”

2. Mainstream
• They do make an effort to look
medieval, but anacronisms are
allowed and they are not that keen
on being correct/authentic in all
details.
– The shoes below: the look is
OK, but the touch is not:
crome, analin leather.

3. Those Who Just Want To Play
Do as you
like
concerning
dresses,
gender roles,
materials, all

Role players
• Role players are not reenactors.
• Role players imagine that they
are some other person in a story
that could be taking place in
somebodys imagination. In role
playing there are no spectators,
only participants.
• Role players often dress up in a
kind of medieval fantasy look.
• Ole players are seldom used in
historical interpretations

German Market Reenactors
(GMR)
• What we see here is
an example of people
displaying a
medieval reality that
has arised from a
fantasy about the
Middle Ages and
which reproduces
itself in infinity
• At these markets they
sell a special kind of
dress and matching
dress assessories to
each other.

GMR kvinder
• A prototype of a ”high rank”
medieval GMR woman
• ”Nervous” velvet,
transparent nylon, loose hair,
laces here and there around
the body, makeup, pointed
shoes with high heels.

• And some less high ranking GRM women
Typical elements
are laces on the
front, loose white
shirts, loose hair,
and lots of
jewellery.

GMR men
• The prototype of a
GMR man
• Loose, often
colored shirt, loose
trousers, very wide
leather belt with a
big leather bag, lots
of heavy
silver/leather
jewellery, glasses,
wrist watch.

Traditional museums
Use of historical dresses:
• Displaying orgiginals
• Displaying rekonstructed dresses
• Hands-on-dresses, especially for children
• very rarely use of historical dresses/costumes for guides
Note
At historical markets (viking/medieval/renaissance etc)
traditional museums often allows a high degree of non-
autenticity. (Why?)

Living history museums /
”oplevelsescentre” og certain
open air museums
I.e.: Archeon, Sagnlandet Lejre, Den Gamle by i Århus,
Middelaldercentret, Foteviken, Guedelon.
• One or more historical periods are depicted in settings of different
levels of authenticit.
• Use of historical dresses
– Reenacting craftysmen, knights etc.
– Guides in historical dresses

• There are basically two
ways that the living
history museums use
historical dresses:
– As an incoorporated part of
the interpretation of history.
The authenticity of the
dresses will most often
correspond to the
authentisity of the making
of houses, crafts performed,
jousting etc.
– As a kind of uniform that
makes it easy to difference
between the employee/
volunteer and the
visitors/audience

The historical dress as an
incoorporated part of the
interpretation of history
• When a high level of
authenticity is performed, the
dresses will reflect this
principle.
• Glasses will not be allowed, nor
modern make-up, OOP
jewellery, gender incorrect
issues etc.

Paradox:
• Even when authenticity is in
focus there are often certain
ecceptions allowed:
– Glasses
– Shoes
– Jewellery
– Make-up
These ecceptions are often
tolerated when certain
shows/events are
performed : jousting,
fighting performances and
the like. A bit like when the
traditional museums make
events.

The historical dress as ”uniform”
• The dress signalizes ”history”,
but is in no way authentic.
• The dress makes it perfectly
clear for the visitors/audience
who is the performing part in
the display.
This example is from Guedelon
The attraction her is the
building of a castle in an almost
100% authentic way.
– The guides and the craftsmen
and workers are dressed in
coveralls in cotton in
white/light blue over their
normal working clothes
– The tools they use are a
mixture of modern tools and
replicas/copies of original tools

Does it mean anything?
• Is it important?
• Will the visitors see historical inaccuracies, anacronisms etc. ?
• And if they see anacronisms such as wrist watches, does that mean
that they then don’t belive in your perhaps very authentic house
reconstructions?

Does it mean anything?
MC experience
• Will the visitors see historical inaccuracies, anacronisms etc. Yes they do!
• If they see anacronisms such as wrist watches, does that mean that they then
don’t belive in your perhaps very authentic house reconstructions? Yet it
does. You have to take your visitors seriously.
Statement
• You must clearly tell the visitors how your place looks upon the use of
historical dresses
– If you have a high level of authenticity, tell the visitors.
– If you use them as ”uniforms”, tell the visitors.
– If you allow certain anacronisms, such as glasses, tell the visitors.
(Glasses were not common in the medieval times, only rich old
men/monks had them, but we allow our reenactors to use modern
glasses)
– If you make a special show or event where you allow a certain degree of
non-authenticity, tell the audience. (today we let our hair down, enjoy the
show)

The Medieval Centres
dresses
The dresses have to be in authentic materials, weaving techniques, colors,
patterns and sewing techniques.
Compromises: The cloth can be machine woven, synthetic colored sloth is
allowed, but they have to look like natural dyes, invisible mashine sewing
is allowed, but not recommended.
The dresses have to be made and worn after the wearer’s sex and status

Workshops, lectures etc
• The Medieval Centre tries to
keep updated with, and
participate in, the current
research in medieval textiles.
• The Medieval Centre offers
education in the making and
use of medieval dresses,
primarily to the centres
volunteers.
• The Medieval Centre and its
support association
Guldborgsundgildet offers
workshops in spinning,
weaving, dying, sewing,
tailoring, tablet weaving, finger
loop braiding, needle binding,
embroidery etc

How do we know all this?
Sources:
•Archeaological finds
•Pictures
•Epitaphs and other figures
•Written sources

Dresses from Greenland
Herjofsnæs, kirkegård på nordbobygd. De døde var indsvøbt
i vadmelsdragter.
Herjolfsnæs, nordbogård i Østerbygden i Grønland. Stedet
nævnes i skriftlige kilder og antages at være identisk med
ruinerne i Ikigaat i Nanortalik Kommune. Anlægget omfatter
bolig, stald, lade, udhuse, kirke og kirkegård. Der er foretaget
arkæologiske udgravninger i flere omgange, bl.a. i 1921 af
Poul Nørlund. Udgravningens vigtigste fund var en i
europæisk sammenhæng enestående samling af
middelalderdragter, der består af kjoler, hætter, hatte og
hoser af uld. Kulstof 14-dateringer tyder på, at Herjolfsnæs
har været beboet frem til midten af 1400-t.
Else Østergård: Som syet til jorden, Aarhus
Universitetsforlag 2003

The London finds

Murals
Disadvantages:
Mainly religious motives
Lots of saints in ”symbolic
clothing”
Very few daily life scenes
Colors depends on the technique
Not so many details
Often made after foreign
(german) model
Advantages:
Nordic original

Illuminations
Disadvantages: Not that many
scadinavian, mostly german, french,
english etc.
Advantages: many details, a variety
of motives

Epitaphs and other tombs
Disadvantages:
Almost only wealthy clerics
and knights are depicted, a
few rich merchants too
Advantages:
Often many details

Materials and techniques
Flax, unbleached and bleached. Local and imported
Hemp
Wool,
Combed or carded, spun, dyed and weaved
Often also fulled
Local and imported
Silk
Plain, brocade and velvet
Imported mostly from Italy.
Cotton
Mostly as padding in jerkins. Also is fustian, a mixture of
cotton and flax

Flax
Mainly used for underwear, aprons, veils and lining
Not for over dresses!
Flax can only be dyed dark blue red and black

Wool
Used for cottes, hoods, hoses,
dublets. Houppelandes etc
Tabby and twill

• Underpant
• Shirt
• Hose
• Dublet
• Cotte
• Houppelande
• Coif
• Hood
• Hat
• Mantle
Dresses - men

• Chemise
• Cotte
• Surcotte
• stocking
• Vimple, veil
• Hat
• Hood
• Apron
Dresses - women

Underwear
Linnedklæder
Undertøj, kunne
også indbefatte
den inderste
hovedbeklædning
af lærred.
Særk
Betegnelse for
kvinders
underkjole.

Skjorte og brog
Mandens inderste underbeklædning
bestående af skjorte og underbukser.
Trøje
Betegnelse for en
langærmet
undertrøje til at
fæstne hoserne i
(doublet)

Der kræves QuickTime™ og
et TIFF (ukomprimeret)-komprimeringsværktøj,
for at man kan se dette billede.
Hoses
Hoser: løse ben, bundet
op til et bælte/broge eller
til en trøje (dublet). Med
fod eller en strop under
foden.
Betegnelse for benklæder båret af mænd og kvinder.
Langhoser
Hoser der dækker hele benet og fæstnes
i livet til et bælte eller en trøje.
Korthoser
Betegnelse for korte hoser der rækker
til knæet eller midt på underbenet.

Cotte
Livklædning
Den mest almindelige
beklædningsdel
for både mænd og kvinder
var den såkaldte kjortel. Der kræves QuickTime™ og
Kjortel
Den mest almindelige
betegnelse for
mænds og kvinders
livklædning.
Surkot
Betegnelse for overkjortel.
Trøje/jakke
En anden betegnelse for
mænds korte,
snævre kjortel.

Surcotte
Surkot
Betegnelse for moderigtig overkjortel
Kåbe
Betegnelse for overklædning båret af både
mænd og kvinder.
Lang kåbe
Kåbe med slæb.

Over dress
Kappe
Betegnelse for
forskellige former for
slag.
Mantel
Betegnelse for en finere
kappeform
i form af en lang kappe.
Mantel var
hovedsageligt et
kvindeligt dragtstykke
til fint brug,
men kunne også bruges
af mænd til
ceremonielt brug.

Headgear, women
Married women wears a veil
Widows (and elderly wone) wear
wimple and veil

Headgear, men
Coif, hat and hood

Shoes and pattens
Vrangsyede lædersko med en filtsål
eller lignende indvendig.

Documentation

Craftsmen

Market people

Celebration

Merchant

Knights

Children

Old people

Winter and bad weather

Winter

Dress and status
Dress is status.
You dress according to your status
Showing your underwear is not good
style
Only people of low status can work in
their underwear.

The medieval woman/man
A perfect woman had fair skin, high brow, small, high up breasts and wide hips.
A perfect man had semilong curled hair, short goatee, broad shoulders, arched chest, narrow hips, long
slender legs and slender feet.

No modern stuff in the houses
Never take modern things with you when you live in the medieval
houses. NEVER try to hide anything there (the visitors will find it, and
then we all will be laughed at).
Never bring coffee, candies, toys, books or mobiles with you into
Sundkøbing.

.. On on your person
And remember, no:
Wrist watches
Modern jewellery, OOP jevellery
Make-up
Nail polish
Eyeglasses
Visible tattoos
Visible bra, t-shirt, socks etc.

Claim: Authenticity and empathy is a good combination for the reenactors
and the audience, and thus also for us!

The use of dresses in re-enacting - OpenArch Conference, Foteviken 2012

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The use of dresses in re-enacting - OpenArch Conference, Foteviken 2012