The Armour Archive

or any images that could help me in construction. I'm going to try to find some time during the week to go to a library to research it further but am hoping one of the fine people here could set me on the right track. The stuff I've found online hasn't helped me out at all.

Any help is appreciated.

Kate

Lowland Scots would have worn pretty much the same sort of clothing as was worn in England. Some useful links at http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=319

For clothing of Highland Scots, see http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=352; I'd recommend Medieval Scottish Dress and Highland Women's Dress.

In terms of extant 14th century Scottish garments, the only one I'm aware of is the Rogart Shirt (which was a man's garment, but that manner of piecing could probably be used to create a woman's garment too).

I would check out the "Armour: I want to be a...." forum and look into the "I want to be a 14th century Scot!" thread. True, this thread pretty much only concerns itself with mens clothing right now, but I'm sure certain people in that discussion know about womens dress too and can help you out.

The piecing of the sleeves on the Rogart shirt appears somewhat similar to the sleeve piecing of the Kragelund tunic (minus the elbow gore), which is Danish in origin. Carbon-dating places it around 1040-1155. I'm adding this to point out that construction methods, especially non-fitted/geometric ones, were relatively common or at least comparable across multiple European cultures (especially the northern ones) for a bunch of centuries in the central and high Middle Ages. Between ship and foot trade, pilgrimage, warfare, and noble intermarriage, one gets the impression that tailoring methods got around.

As an example, Novgorod's deeper soil layers are littered with the remains of continental trinkets circa 14thc, when the Hansa were cashing in on the fur craze. There is a fascinating woodcut from this time period showing Germen traders and native Russian traders doing business and the only difference in their appearance, IIRC, is the long beards (braided?) of the Russians. Both groups wore continental-style gowns. Unfortunately, the book with this image is now packed, awaiting a move to a new home in a few weeks, so I can't give further detail.

This is just food for thought; not anything one must necessarily apply to Scottish practices.

-Tasha