Most cloaks were edged with tablet-woven braid. The cloaks were rectangular, body length and about 5 foot broad (1.5m) when pinned on the right shoulder as they appear in most contemporary illustrations, hanging to knee-length. Regional variations show the Angles chose shapes that did not correspond with those of the Saxons unless they were neighbours. Earlier brooches tended to be of a cruciform style with a bowed section to allow the material to be pulled through between the mountings and pins. Style changes are more in the manner of pins and brooches than in the garment itself. Cloak brooches dating back through the period of settlement in southern Britain are common finds. Nevertheless the styles worn by by the Angles and Saxons were very conservative, harking back to the attire of their continental forefathers.Īnglian, Jutish and Saxon males generally wore cloaks styled much the same as those on the Continent. The Angles and Saxons in Britain were better off than those early Germanic tribesmen and wore garments of woollen cloth spun on vertical looms. Tight-fitting under-garments were worn by the wealthier. Everyday attire was also scanty, little more than cloaks fastened with metal brooches or 'thorns', little else than a pin-like carving from bone or wood to hold the cloak together.
He implied the lightness or complete lack of clothing was a matter of standing for the foremost warriors, maybe even a link with the gods. Tacitus wrote of spear-armed warriors either naked or clothed in short cloaks. Germanic tribesmen were noted to have worn hides or short garments of hairy skin.
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