Bonnie's Dress
	This is a typical tunic dress of middle class Norman/English style in the late 11thand early 12th C. This one is made out of a coarsely woven silk blend( which looks like it could have been hand woven), with a silk brocade trim around neck and lining sleeves. The brocade is dark blue with a small black geometric square pattern with a gold dot in the center of each square. Early brocades were not floral, but typically geometric- often repeating squares like a checkerboard, but on their points like diamonds, sometimes with a figure in every other square. The figure could be a cross, a fleur de lis, or animals, or I have seen the apostles’ animal totems on religious articles. The designs on the brocades were similar to the early diapering on illuminations- always geometric. Later in period the floral motifs became popular.
	This image is from the flight into Egypt, Cathedral of Saint Lazare, Autun 1120-1130. Note the similar sleeves to Bonnie's dress, above. The wrinkles on the rib cage might suggest lacing at the back to make the bodice fit tighter.
	To the left is one of 2 women depicted in the Bayeux tapestry, 11th C. Norman wearing a similar dress style as Bonnie’s.
	From the Tree of Jesse, 2nd half of the 12th C. Note the different sleeve styles and that the capes are worn with every outfit, draped or pinned  on one shoulder. Note also the color combinations. The woman third down on left is wearing a “Maunch” sleeve dress. Maunch sleeves are commonly referred to as “angel wing” or “Boat shaped” sleeves.

Judith’s dress:
	This is a simple dress in a popular color of the 12th C. The color combinations that were most appealing at the time include:  Green and gold, orange and green and burgundy, blue and red and orange and green, and many versions thereof. Our modern sense of aesthetics is very different than that of the 12th C. and it sometimes takes us a little while to get used to using these colors together. When you do, however, you will create a more authentic looking article. Putting a cape or cloak over the tunic is often seen in the art of the day. I must admit that I neither make these to sell, nor wear many myself, because it is just to warm where I live to wear a cloak as a regular piece of your outfit
	from a miniature of emperor Otto III, around the year 1000. The color combinations here reflect the aesthetic for a few hundred years
	From the Tree of Jesse, Psalter of Queen Ingeburge, early 13th C. Chantilly. Note the 3 different neckline styles visible, and the lower left tunic is split on the sides. Also note color choices.

You may ask yourself “Why doesn’t my documented tunic look ‘right’??” My first answer is "Have you forgotten Head Gear???" As my lord Efenwealt days “without a hat I am just a guy in a medieval tunic. With a hat, I’m a medieval guy!” This is so true. The prettiest dress will only look like a costume if you don’t put the appropriate headgear with it.

“What IS the appropriate headgear?” you may ask… Well, let me tell you!
 
 

Men's Hats
	For men in the 11th – 12th C. (longer, actually, but that is the time we are looking at here) a pointed cap with a little "doomiflagee-thingy" on the top is typical. (Image from the Rheims Missal, 1285)
	from the foot of a cross from the Abbey of Saint Bertin, 2nd half of the 12th c. By Godfrey of Claire.
	Coifs are another typical piece of headgear for centuries.  (Image from a 12th Century bestiary) The hat could be worn on top of the coif, or the coif alone. Think of the coif as underwear for your head. If you weren’t washing your hair often, you would want to protect your hats from oil and lice. How? By wearing a coif under them. I also believe that the point at the top of the hat came into use so that you only had to touch the loop or tag, and keep your greasy filthy hands off the rest of the hat, thus keeping it cleaner.
	Another style of hat is the Phrygian cap. I have found pictures of these in manuscripts from the 6th and 9th C. as well as the 12th. They were worn extensively. This is a cap just like the smurfs wear, actually, with a bulbous shape hanging over the forehead.(caption: Phrygian cap in a detail of the Tree of Jesse Stained glass window, to the right of the royal portal, Chartres Cathedral, 12th C.)
	A Phrygian cap on the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet in Le Mans Cathedral, 12th C.

 
 
 
 

Women's Headgear
	For Women, there are several ways to wear a veil, but a veil was always worn. In the 11th C. there was a round veil with a face hole cut out of the center, with a circlet of some sort (filet) worn over this, with a square veil tucked into the back of the circlet. Another  style is to tie a long rectangular veil somehow at the left side of the head, draping down loosly around chin. (image from part of the portable altar of Stavelot, 1175)
	In the 12th C. the Barbette and Filet were also worn. A fine example of this is from the tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine at Fontevrault.
	The Barbette is a strip of cloth around your chin and pinned at the top of your head. Over this goes an oval or round veil, and over that goes a filet- which is a ring made of cloth, around 2” tall  that sits on the head like a hat. (image by Gauteir de Coincy, late 13th C. On the left is a lady wearing the barbette and Filet over a snood (hair net) and on the right is a lady in just a filet and veil. The barbette could be worn with this style as well.)
	In the 13th C. the Barbette was still worn, with a filet on top of the barbette, and then the round veil folded in half and the folded edge pinned to the front of the filet.
	veil worn over barbette (From the Rheims Missal, 1285.)
	There is also a picture of a veil being draped over the filet and barbette, around the neck and shoulders. This filet is fluted or crenelated on the top- a 13th c. style as well, often worn without the veil at all, but just over the barbette.(From a 13th C. Bible.)

 
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