Dark Ages headscarf

Authenticity for the period 700-1100 poses several major challenges for the reenactor.  Archaeological finds are abundant but fragmentary, and the status and situation of the wearer is often unclear. Visual sources are relatively abundant, but art of the period is stylistically crude, and as such is subject to a good deal of interpretation. Although a wealth of detail is provided by the Sagas, almost all of these were written down as entertainment well after the period. 

What the various record seem to collectively indicate is that while girls and Pagan women were free to leave their hair exposed, married and Christian women covered their heads, and that it was considered positively indecent for an adult woman to show her hair.

The most common type of head covering illustrated was the wimple, which was wound round the head in one of a number of styles. Members of Regia Anglorum and other similar groups have interpreted some of these images as a triangular head scarf (O.E. feax-clath ) knotted at the nape of the neck.

Our headscarf is made of ivory linen, approx 36" across the front edge and 44" deep from center front to point.  The front edge is folded and blind hemmed, and the triangular edges are discretely finished with a rolled hem. Tied at the base of the neck, the headscarf is a simple way to keep a woman's hair neat and out of the way at events, while providing a nice visual finish to any Dark Ages outfit.