The Armour Archive

An image for thos mid to late 14th c guys came to mind:

[img]http://www.wga.hu/art/a/andrea/firenze/calvary.jpg[/img]

Fellow on the horse in the center has a straw hat on.

[img]http://www.wga.hu/art/g/gaddi/agnolo/cross1.jpg[/img]

Another well off looking fellow on the right with a large straw hat

For me, the trick with a wide-brimmed straw hat will be to obtain a shape that looks accurate to period, and at the same time does not look reminiscent of commonly available modern day women's hats (or your average Ren Faire type straw hat). I know I can achieve this trick by careful searching/shopping, reshaping, or by custom fabrication.

I am in contact now with a custon straw hat maker and hope to have a Classical Greek petasos by Pennsic.

Cheers,
Tim

I think the reason we see the hats in those pictures is that the are portraying Jews. (notice the "well off fellow" is giving pointers on constructing the cross) Th artists wold have based these men off of jews they had seen, who, due to religious laws, wore hats.

-+G

The traditional jew hat in medieval painting is usually pointed.

That may be so, but i think it is obvious that the guy in the 2nd painting is supposed to be a jew. I believe the firstpainting to be the same. Note that the obligatory "Jews hat" was region specific.

Also note that jewishness was implied by a variety of techniques. Stereotypical haircuts and beards, for example. Hooked noses and charactures. ETC.

In the top picture, we do see a few "jew hats" on people who look just like the guy in the straw hat. I'm no expert, but that's just my opinion.

-+G

I spotted this treatise on medieval glasses on the counter of an italian bookstore, now it is available through the net too.

http://www.libroco.it/cgi-bin/dettaglio ... &lingua=en

The shopping cart is in english.

The book looked well made

Here instead there are some period images of glasses.

The Monk Giordano da Rivalto dates the birth of glasses at some twenty years before a.d. 1313

Giordano da Rivalto, morto nel 1313, dichiarava: “Non è ancora vent’anni che si trovò l’arte di fare gli occhiali che fanno veder beneâ€Â

As it'ss been talked about, even though it's not relevant to Tim' s situation..

St George in an enormous hat,

Pisanello,

The Virgin and Child with Saints George and Anthony Abbot
mid 1400s
Panel
National Gallery, London

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/p ... index.html

Kettle hat type helm with wide brim or visored bascinet with small oculariums and fight whenever the sun is out.

Or go with a late period Burgeonet with brim and falling buff.

Just out of curiousity, what's the earliest documentable image or record of a wide brimmed hat?



Russ

A Greek petasos is pretty early. Here's an image from approx. 400BC depicting the god Hermes...



He is wearing the wide brimmed Greek hat called a petasos. Hermes is often depicted as a traveller, and sometimes with winged boots. The Romans later adopt him as Mercury.

_____________________________________________________Dig it, Baby!!!

I had trouble finding a decently archaic-looking round straw hat until I went to a Co-op lawn and garden centre, in with the gloves, kneepads, etc.

Alcyoneus wrote:TYou could also go as one of those bird-beaked drs...

Darn. You beat me to it.
"The Plague Doctor"
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Doktorschnabel_430px.jpg[/img]
Caption says "Doctor Schnabel" - Is this the same as Il Dottore" in the Commedia dell'Arte? Or a real doctor?

At any rate, If I had to wear and off-the-shelf pair of sunglasses, I'd pick one with circular lenses. They seem the least obtrusive to me.

I have a straw hat for 16th century very much like the Plaque Doctor is wearing in that illustration. )---It is dyed black. I used to have one that was natural straw colored but it disappeared when we moved to PA.

I also have some cuirbolli-rimmed spectacles (but probably need to replace the clear lenses to make sure they have UV protection, though they probably do since I got them from a modern pair of clear fashion eyeglasses).

...And I have a 16th century Italian Dottore outfit, which is the reason why I made the spectacles in the first place! It's not a great get-up for hot+humid weather though, I must say.

Rev. George wrote:That may be so, but i think it is obvious that the guy in the 2nd painting is supposed to be a jew. I believe the firstpainting to be the same. Note that the obligatory "Jews hat" was region specific.

Also note that jewishness was implied by a variety of techniques. Stereotypical haircuts and beards, for example. Hooked noses and charactures. ETC.

In the top picture, we do see a few "jew hats" on people who look just like the guy in the straw hat. I'm no expert, but that's just my opinion.

-+G

Looking at the first picture, there are three tall conical hats off to the upper left. Those may be symbolic, but they are distinctly different from the wide-brimmed hats in either the first or second picture.

I am going to try and make my own straw hat---a petasos. One technique seems little more than sewing a long spiral of woven straw tape over a form or pattern. Here's the tape I ordered:

http://www.franksupply.com/wheatweaving ... aidedstraw

For your Samurai Jack costume:



Even so, it looks like a nice practical hat for sun and heat.

T. Finkas wrote:I am going to try and make my own straw hat---a petasos. One technique seems little more than sewing a long spiral of woven straw tape over a form or pattern. Here's the tape I ordered:

http://www.franksupply.com/wheatweaving ... aidedstraw

That looks like great stuff. I suppose the form could simply be an upside-down salad bowl and a table top; or make the whole thing out of corrugated cardboard so the crown could be oval-shaped.

I'd add a bit of straw-coloured grosgrain ribbon for a sweatband, because I find them to be irritating on the skin without some sort of fabric or leather band.

T. Finkas wrote:Interesting piece. Thanks, John.

I seem to recall that Odin was reputed to wander about the earth wearing a slouch hat that he pulled down low, partially obscuring his eye patch.

Definitely basis for a hat that would protect your eyes, Tim.

Gavin