Thanks for the input.
the_power wrote:But overtunic + undershirt...I'm really confused. Without destroying a decent over-tunic, I mean.
Lost in translation? I’m theorising that people wore at least 2 layers. What evidence there is points to layered clothing and wool next to my skin make ME itch. So, an underneath garment of linen next to the skin (called shirt or under tunic for men, chemise or smock for women) and an outer layer of either linen or wool (tunic, kirtle, dress, whatever people want to call it.). What I was thinking of originally, was making the chemise with a front opening keyhole neckline with a flap over it like the shirt from Skjoldehamn only much longer. Then a dress, also with a keyhole neckline, with a long slit down the central front to lower sternum level. The neck flap in the under layer would preserve modesty and cut down on breeziness.
The 2 websites that I’v�een� this discussion so far, that have been the most relevant for me, are http://anplica.net/annora/nursing.html and http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/rhuddlan/images/index.html . The first one is much later than I’m i�r�ed �but shows the possibilities with multiple pictorial references. The second one is dead on the period but not specifically on the subject in question, though it does raise a very interesting additional clothing option.
Of the 3 options in the first website, I don’t thi�the�ally �e, low is an option for early 11thC. I don’t know �any e�ence fo�hem in that period and you’re stuck �h it af� the baby’s weaned. T�longer ce�al slit is �t I was thinking of originally and the slit over each boob is one I hadn’t thought of �ore. Both w�d work in an �ly 11thC context. The late 15thC painting of Madonna di Litta referred to on another website shows the slits were, at that time, sewn closed when not in active use, an interesting detail.
The second website has only one pictorial representation of a woman nursing a baby, and it doesn’t show the dres�here the baby� feeding, so we�n’t see whether the�tended central �t or the paired s�s are in use. It does show 2 versions of female outer body garments, however. One is the dress with a veil wrapped around the head. The other shows what appears to be an oval, or sub-rectangular, poncho with the veil. You can’t tell in these dra�gs if the dress i�hown, or the chemis�The poncho doesn’t appear to be a wrap�ound cape/cloak, al�ugh it could be a clo�with a neck-slit cut in it. In some drawings the poncho seems to be as long as the dress, in others it appears to only extend to the bottom of the sternum. It could be even back and front, or longer at the back. The bronze of the nursing mother seems to show a drape of cloth over the top of the breast-in-use that would fit in with her wearing the poncho. When you think about it, that makes a LOT of sense too. I think the poncho was dedicated nursing wear, possibly the women’s cape with a neck slit�t in it that was sewn� when not required.
Mi� post the original request to the Oz groups and see where it leads there as well.
Andrea
