Thursday, May 1, 2014

Frankish Garb Source - Stuttgart Psalter, c. 900.


One of the best sources for male Frankish garb is the Stuttgart Psalter.  It is said to be made between 820 and 830 AD.  An online copy is here:
http://digital.wlb-stuttgart.de/digitale-sammlungen/seitenansicht/?no_cache=1&tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=1517&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=1&Seite&cHash=813f9adc4abfd45131969ce66b5c8629 Note that many of the drawings may depict clothing concepts known or practiced circa 725 to 825 and have a Byzantine influence.  Some men are dressed as representative of their station including royalty at court, Christ and saintly persons and the clergy.

Generally Frankish men wore a belted tunic that came to the knee and pants of various lengths.  Woolen leg wraps were present under shoes or boots.  A cloak  and a hat were often worn.  Note the variety of placement of decorative trim on the tunics.  A superhumeral collar, shoulder roundels, wide close cuffs, central neckline trim extending to the waist and hem facings or trim sometimes defining a side slit are all seen in the psalter.  Also there is often a trim band on the cloak, the cloak is closed with a large pin or brooch and a few pants have trim attached along the center front of both legs.

 
Check the red pants depicted above.