At 8:55 PM -0700 9/8/05, Kimiko Small wrote:
And to add even more of a mess to the mix, various knowledgeable
Irish re-enactors may or may not adhere to the theory that among the
Irish, one's rank is seen by the number of colors worn in one's
garment, up to seven colors, iirc, for the clan chief. How that many
colors is shown on the garment is unclear. Maybe it was the colors
woven into a multi-colored garment, or maybe it was the embroidery
or trimmings added, or who really knows. This is supposedly based on
Brehan (sp?) laws that I think actually date to an earlier time
frame, but I do not claim any knowledge of those laws or how
applicable they are to any given time frame.
The color thing is a medieval legend about events thousands of years
earlier -- in other words, about as relevant to late medieval Irish
clothing as Old Testament stories are to late medieval Irish clothing.
Specifically, the number of colors = ranks theory among modern
historical re-creators has its origins in entries in the Irish Annals
of the Four Masters which claimed that Eochaidh Eadghadhach in the
"year of the world 3664" -- that is, about 1530 *B.C.* -- "ordered
that the colours of clothes worn should denote the wearer's rank in
society: 'one colour in the clothes of slaves, two in the clothes of
soldiers, three in the clothes of goodly heroes or young lords of
territories, six in the clothes of ollavs [professional men], seven
in the clothes of kings and queens.'" [Dunlevy, _Dress in Ireland_ p.
16] However, this is purely legendary, recorded millennia after the
events supposedly happened, and even if taken as historically
accurate is talking about a time period about three _millennia_
before the era depicted in the woodcuts discussed above.
Sharon
--
Sharon Krossa, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Resources for Scottish history, names, clothing, language & more:
Medieval Scotland - http://MedievalScotland.org/
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