Dress in Anglo-Saxon England

Abstract

Dress in Anglo-Saxon England. By GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER (Woodbridge: Boydell P., 2004; pp. xix + 400. £30). ORIGINALLY published in 1986, this book became a key text for anyone studying Anglo-Saxon society, and will be welcomed in this revised and enlarged edition. It is almost twice as long as the first edition, for three reasons. First, new data have appeared, principally as a result of the increase in the publication of archaeological reports, particularly those on cemetery excavations, which had fallen badly behind in the 1960s and 1970s; secondly, re-enactment has become a very popular activity, and practical experience in making and wearing costume has been gained; thirdly, academic interest has grown in how identity—of family, folk or other loyalty—and gender are created and expressed. What people wore is fundamental to these questions. Reviewing the first edition of this book in Medieval Archaeology, Ross Samson said that anyone excavating an Anglo-Saxon cemetery who had not read it ‘would be guilty of gross negligence’. It has been referenced in almost every cemetery report since, so the lesson has been learnt. That women in the fifth and sixth centuries wore a cylindrical peplos that required a pair of shoulder-fasteners has entered the canon, so it is almost a surprise to be reminded not only that Kent may have been different, with front-opening costume, but also that the length of the peplos is unknown and may have varied. Other variations are suggested by sleeve-fasteners, for sleeves cannot easily be added to the peplos, which may therefore have been worn with an under-tunic. Re-enactors have found it a more practical garment than it might look, so it was probably not just reserved for funerals. All this shows that, just as artefacts like brooches vary greatly in type, number and position in the graves (mention of Sam Lucy's book with its descriptions and distribution-maps would have been useful here), so too there may have been widely differing ways in which women could vary their costume-fittings, embroideries and other finishes to express family and other allegiances.