Quadruple costume

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Grave 11 from the cemetery of Selzen with four-brooched costume. A pair of disc brooches is by the collarbones, the two bow brooches by the knees.

The four-brooched costume was an early medieval style of clothing worn by West Germanic women between the 5th and 7th centuries. This costume owes its name to the fact that it was usually worn with two pairs of fibulae, which differ in shape .

development

In the course of the 5th century, the costume of West Germanic women changed from a simple tubular dress ( peplos ) to a tunic-like garment. They were influenced by the clothing style of Roman women in the former Roman territories occupied by Teutons . The West Germanic tunic was sewn on the shoulders and was worn with a belt ( cingulum ). Nevertheless, the Germanic women retained their tradition of carrying conspicuously large fibulae as a symbol of their status . In this way they clearly distinguished themselves from the Roman women who lived with them, whose outer clothing usually got by without fibulae. Despite the fashionable approach to the Roman women, the primers remained a clearly visible sign of their ethnic affiliation for the West Germanic women.

At the transition from the 6th to the 7th century, the bow brooches gradually disappear from the inventory of the Germanic graves and are replaced by large disc brooches. This reflects a renewed change in women's clothing. The four-brooched costume is out of fashion.

Carrying method

Bavarian bow brooch from Waging am See (7th century).

The tunic dress was pulled over a long-sleeved slip and worn with a belt over the hips. The bow brooches , which were worn in pairs and originally held women's outer clothing together at the shoulders, lost their practical function in the four-brooch period. The new tunic dress was sewn on the shoulders. Nevertheless, they were retained by the West Germanic women as a status symbol and still in pairs, but now placed parallel to the body axis below the pelvis or between the thighs. They were tucked into the hem of the tunic or on a sash that was worn over the belt. In the course of the four-brooch period, the bow brooches become larger and the wearer carries them ever lower towards the knees.

From the lower fibula of the couple comes the hanging strap , a magical amulet strap at the lower end, e.g. B. an animal tooth or a key, a decorative disc made of metal, a large Millefioriperle or the like hung for weighting. In some graves there are also small knives. The hanging strap itself consisted of fabric or leather, which could be studded with silver sheet if it was richly furnished.

Pair of disc brooches from the Arnegund grave

Over the tunic dress, the West German woman wore a shawl or a coat that was placed over the shoulders and held by a pair of small fibulae that were attached at chest height. There are small disc brooches covered with almandine , but also bird or S-shaped clasps. The two fibulae could be connected by a string of glass beads. In the 7th century, after the four-brooch period, this pair of small brooches was replaced by a strikingly large disc brooch.

The four-brooched costume was completed by individual jewelry such as finger rings, glass pearl necklaces, earrings and hairpins.

Of the four-brooched costume, only the two small brooches at chest height, the pair of bow brooches in the pelvic area and the inorganic components of the belt and the hanger survive in the inventory of West Germanic women's graves.

Sources

The four-brooched costume is a reconstruction based on archaeological sources. There are no contemporary pictorial documents or descriptions of the four-brooched costume. Only the Byzantine historian Agathias mentions that Franconian women differ from Roman women because of their barbaric costume. Their Franconian or Latin names are also unknown.

Archaeological excavations of Germanic burial grounds must therefore serve as sources . According to Germanic tradition, the dead were buried in their traditional costume. Therefore, the graves would be a meaningful testimony, but the richly furnished women's graves are mostly robbed , so that important objects are missing and the remaining finds are often no longer in their original location. The experience and accuracy of the excavator also play an important role in the difficult questions about how to wear the primer. Naturally, there is all too often room for doubt and speculation. Another disadvantage of archaeological sources is the sparse publication status of the burial fields examined so far. All suggestions for representation were based on a few archaeological findings.

Different possibilities are discussed in the specialist literature, especially with regard to how to wear the bow brooches. However, these mostly relate to individual findings and not to a general examination.

One of the most authoritative sources in this context is the burial place in Cologne Cathedral of a presumed Franconian princess, the so-called Wisigarde grave, from the first half of the 6th century. This grave was found undisturbed when it was discovered in 1959. The good preservation conditions in the crypt and the high-quality grave goods allow an exact reconstruction of the costumes of the dead. She was already dressed in a four-fibula night.

On the other hand, the grave of Arnegunde , found in 1959 in the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris , which was also undisturbed and dated around 570, lacks the bow brooches and amulet pendants typical of the four-brooched costume.

Another important source is a richly designed women's grave from the early 6th century in the cemetery of Cologne - Müngersdorf (grave 91b). Here, too, there were references to amulet straps and the location of the fibulae.

literature

  • Carl Dietmar, Marcus Trier : COLONIA - City of Franconia: Cologne from the 5th to the 10th century. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 2011. pp. 91–93.
  • Karin Krapp: The Alamanni: Warriors - Settlers - Early Christians . Theiss, Stuttgart 2007. ISBN 3-8062-2044-1 . P. 118ff.
  • Rosemarie Müller, Heiko Steuer :  fibula and fibula costume. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 8, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1994, ISBN 3-11-013188-9 , pp. 549-556.
  • Ulrike Müssemeier: Women's costumes and jewelry. In: Gehard Bauchhenß: The Franks in Wesseling. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1997. pp. 54-69.
  • Helga Schach-Dörges: On the four -brooched costume of the older Merovingian times. In: Claus Dobiat (ed.): Reliquiae gentium. Festschrift for Horst Wolfgang Böhme on his 65th birthday. Rahden 2005. pp. 349-357.
  • Mechthild Schulze : Influences of Byzantine pompous robes on Franconian women's costumes. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 6, 1976, pp. 149-161.
  • Frank Siegmund : Merovingian time on the Lower Rhine. Rheinland-Verlag GmbH Cologne, 1998, p. 55f.
  • Gudula Zeller: Women's costume. In: Alfried Wieczorek , Patrick Périn, Karin von Welck , Wilfried Menghin : The Franks - Les Francs. Volume 2. Zabern, Mainz 1996. pp. 673ff.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Müller, Steuer 1994. p. 551.
  2. ↑ Agathia's Histories 1, 2, 4
  3. ↑ Müssemeier 1997, p. 54.
  4. ↑ on this: Siegmund 1998, p. 55.
  5. ↑ Critical on this: Müller, Steuer 1994. S. 551f.
  6. ↑ Otto Doppelfeld : The two Franconian graves under the Cologne Cathedral. In: Otto Doppelfeld, Renate Pirling : Franconian princes in the Rhineland. The graves from Cologne Cathedral, from Krefeld-Gellep and Morken. Rheinland-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1966. pp. 30-49.
  7. ↑ Albert France-Lanord, Michel Fleury: The grave of Arne Gundis in Saint-Denis. In: Germania. Volume 40, 1962. pp. 341-359.
  8. ^ Fritz Fremersdorf : The Franconian burial ground Cologne-Müngersdorf. de Gruyter Verlag, Berlin 1955. pp. 115, 133, 147f, plate 47.