This class will look at the style and construction of women’s clothing in this period, including trims and decoration.   It will cover all layers of clothing from underwear to outer garments such as cloaks.

Women's costume in this period is a lot easier to reconstruct than men's, since it seems to have involved much jewellery which helps determine the whole costume's appearance. There are consistent features of all early Anglo-Saxon women's costume, although there are also several regional variations. These are usually referred to as the Anglian, Saxon and Kentish or Jutish styles (and certainly their distribution coincides with Bede's description of which people settled where).

The majority of this lesson will be looking at the Anglian and Saxon variations of dress, which are very similar to one another.   The last page will take a brief look at the distinctive fashions of Kent, the major 'Jutish' area of England.

A typical female burial in Anglian and Saxon areas of England contains certain distinctive items.    A pair of brooches were worn on the shoulder, usually with a string of glass and/or amber beads between them.   A third brooch is usually found at the middle of the chest.   At the waist or hips a belt or girdle was worn which supported a knife, bag and other items.   In Anglian areas pairs of metal clasps are commonly found at the wrists.    Other items do occur regularly, but tend to be more regional.

Arrangement of brooches and beads in  female graves at the Anglian cemetery at Sewerby, Yorkshire	Arrangement of grave goods in female graves at the Anglian cemetery at Westgarth Gardens, East Anglia

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