Dress in Anglo-Saxon England, Revised and Enlarged Edition [Hardcover]

Gale R. Owen-Crocker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2004

This is an encyclopaedic study of English dress from the fifth to the eleventh centuries, drawing evidence from archaeology, text and art, and taking account of re-enactors' experience. It examines archaeological textiles, cloth production and the significance of imported cloth and foreign fashions. Dress is discussed as a marker of gender, ethnicity, status and social role, and its contemporary significance in terms of symbolism and stylistic messaging is examined - whether Anglo-Saxons were dressing a corpse for its (pagan) grave, condemning frivolous dress among persons in holy orders, bequeathing their own clothes or commissioning them for a king. The book discusses what modern observers can and cannot deduce from medieval representations of clothing, questioning stereotypes. Generously illustrated with 25 plates (12 colour) and 140 drawings, it demonstrates clothing in contemporary art (manuscripts, ivories, metalwork, stone sculpture, mosaics), and focuses! on surviving dress fasteners and accessories, explaining types and geographical/chronological distribution. There are colour reconstructions of early Anglo-Saxon dress and a cutting pattern for a gown from the Bayeux tapestry (by Robin Netherton). Old English garment names are discussed throughout and a glossary is appended. It updates and develops the author's groundbreaking Dress in Anglo-Saxon England in 1986, adding many new illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

New material has contributed not only new examples but also deeper insights to this edition. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEWThis new version is doubly welcome, both as a largely intact reappearance of a valued text and a very substantial and deftly added text of totally new material.. Justif(ies) totally the term `encyclopaedic'... This most valuable up-dating is long likely to be an invaluable tool for historians of Medieval costume and (those) who have practical interests related to it. MEDIEVAL DRESS & TEXTILE SOCIETY NEWSLETTERA well-documented and clearly organized source for all aspects of medieval clothing. (...)a perfect companion for both the serious scholar of period dress and...enthusiasts who desire to wear historically authentic garments. RENAISSANCE MAGAZINE (US).Splendid...the major overview of Anglo-Saxon clothing and textile from the 5th to 11th centuries. (...) Owen-Crocker has become the authority reconstructors call upon... A wise and scholarly book. TOEBI Newsletter

About the Author

Gale Owen-Crocker is Senior Lecturer in English Language, University of Manchester.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Boydell Press; 2nd edition (November 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843830817
• ISBN-13: 978-1843830818
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,652,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Concentration of Information, March 15, 2005

By 

Catherine Raymond (Malvern, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dress in Anglo-Saxon England, Revised and Enlarged Edition (Hardcover)

This revised edition of Dr. Owen-Crocker's 1986 book does not disappoint. It incorporates vast amounts of new research, archaeological material, and reenactor feedback and includes many more illustrations as well as reconstruction sketches and intelligent discussion of the available evidence for Anglo-Saxon costume between the fifth and eleventh centuries. A must-have reference for any Anglo-Saxon scholar, as well as for anyone with a serious interest in northern European costume during the so-called "Dark Ages."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and well-organized, December 12, 2011

By 

Marie Prudence Gagne - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dress in Anglo-Saxon England (Paperback)

I eagerly awaited this book's addition to my reference library, having encountered many positive comments about it in the serious living history community. I was not disappointed. Author Gale Owen-Crocker manages to construct the near impossible: a narrow ground shared by archeological data and practical reconstruction. As a scholar and a reenactor, I found a wealth of material in the book to inform my understanding and guide my interpretation of Anglo-Saxon clothing, ornament, and accoutrements. In particular, I found useful the author's preliminary historical framework. The era and region today nominated "Anglo-Saxon Britain" are by no means cohesive, clearly definable, or set in stone. With every new research finding they shift and redefine themselves. Owen-Crocker succeeds, concisely, in making sense of this shifting historical landscape by first locating the extant body of knowledge and then exploring men's and women's dress (separately, as we can know them from archeology and supported conjecture)for three time periods: 5th and 6th, 7th to 9th, and 10th/11th Centuries.

The hallmark of a book's quality on this subject may be the unanswered questions it leaves. A poor book will answer more queries than the scholarly evidence can support. A fine book - such as this one - will answer enough questions to satisfy the eager learner and spur enough inquiry to encourage continued research into the deeply cached field of Anglo-Saxon cultural history.