Chats on Costume

by G. Woolliscroft Rhead

He adds: "Critics disagree as to the meaning of the word 'stunna,' but we incline, ourselves, to think it was a bit of Saxon slang, and from the context we imagine it was used by way of compliment."

"TREUTHE'S PILGRYME ATTE PLOW."
From the MS. R. 3, 14 in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge.

A development of the super-tunic was the surcoat, which was worn by either sex during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It assumed a variety of forms, and was either a long loose outer garment, variously shaped and sleeveless, or, as during the reign of Richard II., was a shorter, closely-fitting jacket or coat with sleeves, and usually trimmed with miniver or other fur.

The surcoat, or super-tunic, during the Anglo-Saxon period, was worn by the nobility only, and was therefore made of the most costly material, of silk or of finest linen, and often richly embroidered. As a matter of fact, embroidery always forms a conspicuous element in Anglo-Saxon dress, the Anglo-Saxon women being famous for their skill with the needle. We learn from Eginhart that the four Princesses, daughters of Edward the Elder, and sisters to Æthelstan, were celebrated for their skill in spinning, weaving, and embroidering, and Editha, the wife of Edward the Confessor, was a perfect mistress of the needle.

ANGLO-SAXON DRESS (EIGHTH CENTURY).

A somewhat remarkable feature of Anglo-Saxon dress of the eighth century was the long super-tunic with long sleeves, worn in travelling or during cold weather. The sleeves not only cover the hands, but reach considerably below the tips of the fingers. The sleeves worn by the Chinese mandarins at the present time are identical with the long sleeves of the Anglo-Saxon period.

The tunic, so far as women's dress is concerned, may be said to have finally disappeared by the time of the Tudors, when a woman's dress consisted of kirtle or petticoat, and bodice or stomacher. Indeed, the tunic proper may be said to have disappeared with the general change which came about in costume immediately after the Norman Conquest, the Saxon word "gunna" and the Norman "surcoat" better describing the dresses of that period.