I belong to the Living History Society Angelcynn, which aims to recreate, as authentically as possible, the richness of the birth of a nation which has passed into legend and into lore. The Society was formed late in 1995, and aims to portray the life of the English people in the period 400 - 900AD. This is all very well, but I am German, now living in England, and thus have a German accent, and will always have. Therefore, what is more logical, than to portray a Frankish character? Especially since I am living in Kent and the society's centre is in Kent just as well. The ties between Kent and the Frankish kingdoms were very strong, and in cemeteries, like Mill Hill in Deal (near Dover) and Sarre on Thanet there are many examples of Frankish influenced, or Frankish gravegoods, indicating that Frankish, or Kentish-Frankish costume was worn.
Therefore we have to look at continental Merovingian finds, where actually remains of clothes and fabrics have been found, like Queen Arnegunde's grave under the cathedral of St. Denis near Paris, the traditional burial place of French/central Frankish Kings and Queens; or Queen Bathilde's burial shirt, embroidered in chain stitch. But unfortunately, there isn't much I was able to find in regard of the two ladies, let alone Frankish costume in general, and even worse female costume. We do know roughly what the costume would have looked like, BUT for an attempt at re-creating a garment as authentically as possible, 'roughly' is certainly not enough.

Early 7th century	7th century, Grave 177, Pleidesheim	6th century, Arnegunde	Late 6th century

Thus I would like to present on these pages what I have found so far about the costumes of the two ladies, one from the 6th and one from the 7th century.

Thank you for every help and enjoy what is here, Nicole P.S. The costume worn on the photo is 6th century Anglo-Saxon.

Queen Arnegunde died ca. 570

The 6th century Queen who was buried in St. Denis underneath the cathedral, grave 49, could be identified as Arnegunde, consort of Clothar I by the seal ring she wore. Gregory of Tours wrote about her; she was the second wide of Clothar I (511-562) and mother of king Chilperic I (562-584). She obviously died at the age of about 45 years, had fair hair and a prominent lower chin, and was of short build.

Queen Bathilde died ca. 680

The 7th century Queen came to the continent from England not as a wealthy person, but as a slave, a chattel, an object. She was sold into Neustria, where she was bought by a high ranking official. Later she was married to King Clovis II, who was in his late teens at the time of marriage. And yet history knows no romance in this, because it was a well-known and well-liked practice to marry slaves, who did not have powerful alliances, no male kin who could possibly threaten the throne. Nevertheless, she was obviously treated well by Clovis, although he left an unsavoury name in the chronicles. Bathilde used the wealth, which she now had at her command to found and build up monasteries. And what is so important here is that in the seventh century such establishments were not just islands of peace and comparative security amid the violence, but centres of progressive education and mental liberation for men and women alike.
Clovis died in 657 and she had borne him three sons, now becoming the regent for the eldest of them, Clothar III, who wasn't even 7 years old at the time of his father's death. She died in her monastery at Chelles.

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Contents Copyright © N. Kipar 2000. Graphics Copyright © N. Kipar 1999, 2000 apart from the background.
The fibulae depicted on the webgraphics are Frankish, 7th century
Two small photos of reenactors © Angelcynn. With permission.
I do not know who owns the copyright to the drawings. I only had a couple of pages copied from a German book.
Page created on 30th April 2000