Having discussed who the early Anglo-Saxons were and what sources we have to study their clothing it is time to consider what kind of clothing you wish to make. 

You need to consider which part of Anglo-Saxon England you wish to represent, and an approximate date, as well as the appropriate social status. #1   A sixth century burial of middle status is recommended, but not obligatory.

I would suggest that you try to find a particular burial to use as the basis of the costume you reconstruct, although you need not worry about copying the finds in every detail.   There are many published cemetery reports available and I will include a selection below.   For those unable to get hold of one of the reports I will include a few sample graves of different levels of wealth and from different parts of the country.

In addition to the various types of cloth for the soft items, you will need certain items of leatherwork and metalwork to complete your outfit.   The next lesson will be discussing what materials were used for clothing and how it was produced.   We shall be looking at the types of cloth woven, dyestuffs used, methods of decoration, as well as the techniques used to join cloth, leather etc.

In that lesson I will also include a list of suppliers who can supply you with items such as brooches, buckles, knives etc., although in each class I will also include details of how to make some of those items yourself if you so wish.

Below is a selection of Reports on Anglo-Saxon cemeteries.  The Majority are East Anglian as this is the best published region of England.   There are many, many more cemeteries than these which have been published, but most were excavated in the 19th and early 20th centuries when archaeological and recording techniques were less thorough than today.   Many smaller cemeteries excavated in recent years have been published in Archaeological Journals such as 'Medieval Archaeology', 'Archaeologia Cantiana', etc.
 

Report Title	Author	Publisher/Date	ISBN	Notes
An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Alton, Hampshire	Vera I. Evison	Hampshire Field Club Monographs, 1988	0907473059	A Saxon/Jutish cemetery in Southern England, mainly 5th-mid 6th century.
Dover - The Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery	Vera I. Evison	HBMCE, 1987	?	A Franco-Kentish Cemetery in South-east England, mainly 6th-7th century.
Two Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries at Beckford, Hereford and Worcester	Vera I. Evison and Prue Hill	Council for British Archeology, 1996	1872414699	Mainly West Saxon cemeteries of the late 5th-mid 6th century.  South-western England.
An Anglo-Saxon Inhumation Cemetery at Sewerby, East Yorkshire	Susan M. Hirst	York University Archaeological Publications, 1985	0946722021	Anglian cemetery of the late 5th-6th century, North-eastern England.
An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Great Chesterford, Essex	Vera Evison	Council for British Archaeology, 1994	1872414370	A Saxon cemetery of the mid 5th-early7th century in East-Central England.
The Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries of Caistor-by-Norwich and Markshall, Norfolk	J. N. L. Myres and Barbara Green	Society of Antiquaries, 1973	0500770220	Two Anglian cemeteries of the 5th-7th centuries in East Anglia.
Morning Thorpe Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Vol 1&2	Barbara Green, Andrew Rogerson and Susan G. White	East Anglian Archaeology, 1987	ISSN03072460	Anglian Cemetery of the late 5th-7th centuries in East Anglia.
Spong Hill Part III Catalogue of Inhumations	Catherine Hills, Kenneth Penn and Robert Rickett	East Anglian Archaeology, 1984	ISSN03072460	Anglian Cemetery of the 5th-6th centuries in East Anglia.
An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Oxborough, West Norfolk	Kenneth Penn	East Anglian Archaeology, 1998	0905594266	Anglian Cemetery of the late 5th-7th centuries in East Anglia.
Bergh Apton, Norfolk	Barbara Green and Andrew Rogerson	East Anglian Archaeology, 1978	ISSN03072460	Anglian Cemetery of the 6th-7th centuries in East Anglia.
Westgarth Gardens Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Suffolk	Stanley E. West	East Anglian Archaeology, 1988	ISSN03072460	Anglian Cemetery of the late 5th-7th centuries in East Anglia.

For those who are unable to get hold of a cemetery report here are some sample graves (they open in a new window for ease of printing):

Westgarth Gardens, Grave 50   An Anglian male grave of middle status, 6th Century.

Westgarth Gardens, Grave 52   An Anglian female grave of middle status, 6th Century.

Sewerby, Grave 15   An Anglian female grave of middle status, late 5th to mid 6th Century.

Sewerby, Grave 35   An Anglian female grave of high status, late 5th to mid 6th Century.

Spong Hill, Grave 27   An Anglian male grave of mid-high status, 6th Century.

Spong Hill, Grave 31   An Anglian male grave of high status, 6th Century.

Spong Hill, Grave 38   An Anglian female grave of high status, 6th Century.

Spong Hill, Grave 46   An Anglian female grave of mid-high status, 5th Century.

Beckford, Grave A13   A Saxon male grave of mid-high status, late 5th to early 6th Century.

Beckford, Grave B48   A Saxon female grave of mid-high status, late 6th Century.

Alton, Grave 37   A Saxon female grave of middle status, late 5th to early 6th Century.

Alton, Grave 42   A Saxon male grave of high status, mid 6th Century.

Great Chesterford, Grave 18   A Saxon female grave of mid-high status, late 5th-6th Century.

Great Chesterford, Grave 51   A Saxon male grave of mid-high status, late 5th to 6th Century.

Great Chesterford, Grave 115   A Saxon male grave of middle status, late 5th - 6th Century.

Great Chesterford, Grave 126   A Saxon female grave of mid-high status, early-mid 6th Century.

Great Chesterford, Grave 135   An Anglian or Saxon female grave of middle status, late 5th-6th Century.

Great Chesterford, Grave 140   A Saxon male grave of mid-high status, 5th Century.

Mill Hill, Grave 25   A Kentish female double grave of mid and high status, mid 6th Century.

It is worth looking at these pages as they give you a good idea of the range of information available from burials (and the range of qualities with which that information is published!)

Footnotes
1 Generally there were three levels of society - theow (slaves), ceorl (freemen) and gesith (noblemen - the better known term thegn tends to be a later one.)   It is sometimes difficult to tell the social rank of the person buried, but seems generally fair to assume that the richer and more ornate the burial, the higher the status of the person. Back

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