Concept: Belted Plaid Relation to Leine?

[Bugbear]

I wear one of these:



It's plenty long. And in reality, I wear a feilidh-beag, which is more period correct for me.

Oh, ok.
I was worried you were wearing the belted plaid, and only the belted plaid...

[Mark E.]

* Raises an eyebrow *
You don't have a leine for reenacting, and you wear the belted plaid?

Anyway, Matt's article said thick linen was used for the leine in the Highlands, if I remember correctly.

I wear a style similar to that in the Rob Roy movie with Liam Neeson...It is of what some term "tent linen"-REALLY heavy stuff, not the hanky linen a lot of the shirt are made of from the occasional wear sites. The hem hits about 16" below my waist (I'm 6'-3"), and there is enough to tuck around and belt without a brat/kilt length over. Ended up having a pair of them made, since I couldn't find them readily available the way they should be made.

Test running, I have worn a belted plaid sans "leine", as well as "leine" sans belted plaid. No one who says they go sans shirt due to heat is telling the straight truth-there is an amount of friction under the belt that can make a day most uncomfortable. I understand that farmers of the era would tie their shirts between their legs in the fields-this is possible, but not if your hem is square cut-at least, I have tried, and it gets mighty waddy. As far as martial action, the leine without the plaid is a very good choice of clothing, as long as you belt it. Just remember to stay on your feet, or...You get the picture.(Though the shock factor could work in your favor, as long as the folk about don't know you.)



I'm on the left.

If you are looking for heavier linen material, Jas. Townsend & Son has a good bit, in natural colors, as well as William Booth Draper (www.wmboothdraper.com), including descriptions, patterns and hardware that may come in handy. If they can't match a pattern to your era, call them-they are well connected. I can spare a square of the two types of linen I used, if you are comparing materials, too.

[Bugbear]

Oddly enough, Hawk, I seem to remember reading that clothing was worn under the toga, as well.

Um... your grape leaves are showing...

[Bugbear]

Then it's settled. We demand pictures... and hopefully written descriptions.

[MacSpadger]

OK, this pic is from Stuart Reid's 1994 book, Like Hungry Wolves, which has many good illustrations, but the actual clothing is in possesion of the National Museums of Scotland. Because the bodies were recovered from bogs, all the clothing has been stained varying shades of brown. That said, tests have shown that the two bonnets had been dyed with indigo, so they would have been dark blue when new. The head band of the bonnet from Lewis also was decorated with small knots of red wool. It has been suggested that this may be the precursor of the diced headband that came in later, but ah dinnae' ken aboot that ma'sel.

From left to right, these clothes were taken from bodies found in Barrock in Caithness, Arnish Moor on Lewis and Gunister in Shetland. The men from Caithness and Lewis were, unfortunately, both murder victims. They had been killed by heavy blows to the head and then their bodies hidden in the bog. The two fellahs on the right are both wearing what appears to be knee length léine/léinte/shirts, with coats on top.

[Morris at Heathfield]

Thank you! I'm not certain what distinction (if any) there is between the léine and the ordinary long shirt worn in the early 18th century. Do you know anything about the color or material of the shirts/léinte worn by the Lewis and Shetland bodies? Also, is the plaid or cloak worn by the Caithness body tartan or solid color? I can't make out any tartan from the photograph. I note that none of these 18th century men appear to have been "redshanks".

[MacSpadger]

To my understanding, the léine and the long shirt are one and the same.
I'd suggest that it might be up to your own personal interpretation as to when a long shirt becomes a tunic.
Museum specimens I have seen have always been linen, woven on a handloom, (obviously), and are the usual white/off white colour that you would expect from such a garment.



{EDIT} As far as I know, there is no evidence of tartan in the clothing found on the bodies.

[OC Richard]

We have a few good depictions of the pre-invasion traditional Irish dress.

The costume consisted of the leine, a long saffron-dyed shirt reaching the knees with huge sleeves, the ionar, a short jacket, and the brat, the woolen mantle.

Here it is in 1521, the fellow in centre wearing leine and ionar, the fellow on the right with the brat worn as a cloak.



I think it's clear that in Ireland the brat evolved into a cloaklike garmet but in the Highlands it evolved into the breacan-an-feile. Both were wool, often patterned, and both often had a border either plain, fringed, or fur. It's the images of early fur-trimmed "belted plaids" which most clearly reveal the link to the brat.

There is that one early puzzling description of Highlanders wearing pleated/patched shirts daubed with pitch. It's unclear just what that was referring to.

Around 25 years ago, when I was regularly attending the Ren Faire, my costume was that "missing link" thing. I made a plaid wool plaid and trimmed it with fur. It could be worn as a cloak/brat or belted around the waist. My leine could be worn floor length or hiked up with my crois to be knee-length.

[Bugbear]

Thanks.