12th Century Heraldic Surcoat

This surcoat is patterned after those found in use in England, and most areas of Europe during the 12th Century, in Tournaments and on Crusade.^[1] The style allows the wearer to freely move his legs while fighting, but more importantly, it allows the wearer to sit astride a horse.  This is the manner in which I use the surcoat - while riding and competing in SCA Equestrian events. The use of Heraldic display on the surcoat was very common and frequently documented.  Numerous examples exist showing arms being displayed on surcoats.



This depiction comes from
the Manesse Codex showing
Ulrich von Lichtenstein.^[2

The source, Decorative Heraldry: A Practical Handbook of Its Artistic Treatment by George W. Eve contains several references to the use of arms on surcoats.  This source notes that the use of arms on surcoats lead to the phrase "coat of arms."^[3] A painting found in Westminster, in the Chapel of St Stephen shows the king and his sons and St George, in surcoats with arms displayed.^[4] Prawer's, The World of the Crusaders also noted the use of arms on surcoats.^[5] He noted that by "the early 12th Century, fabric coverings for armor, in the form of surcoats, appear in Europe. The surcoat ‑ a long flowing, sleeveless gown worn over the mail shirt ....As with most clothing styles of the Middle Ages, contemporary depictions in art provide most if not all the evidence since the clothing itself has long ago rotted away and vanished." 

Prawer theorized that surcoats originated in the Middle East. He bases this on the fact that surcoats of this type are not seen prior to the time of the First Crusade. He believes that the Saracens had a longer tradition of a need to protect their armor from the heat of the sun's rays. Originally, surcoats were made of light weight material and were loose flowing like most Middle Eastern clothes, such as the aba, kaftan, etc. "Colorful designs appeared on surcoats by the mid 12th Century, presumably to show off the style and taste of the wearer, but at some point the designs evolved into formal symbols that signified who the wearer of the surcoat was....it served an important role in helping to identify combatants on the field.......Thus, large colorful emblems with symbols associated with particular families came to be embroidered or appliqued onto surcoats, horse trappers, and banners or painted on shields to identify who was on the field so that their own men, as well as the enemy, would be able to tell who was there and identify ally from foe."

Heraldic surcoat and caparison
from the Manesse Codex

Adrian J Boas' book, Crusader Archaeology: The Material Culture of the Latin East contains detailed information about the use of surcoats by Crusaders, as well as other equipment used by these warriors. He notes that over "the hauberk the knight wore a cloth covering called a surcoat, mainly intended to shield the armour from the sun's rays which would otherwise heat it and make it uncomfortable for the wearer. The surcoat also became a means of identifying the heavily armoured knight through the use of heraldic devices."^[6]

Thus the surcoat served several functions. It protected the wearer from the heat of the sun's effects on metal armor, and served as identification of the wearer.

Linen was frequently used for this type of garment.  Because I would be using it in the warmer months, and needed an easily laundered material, I chose to use lightweight cotton cloth.  Arms were most frequently embroidered on the garment, so this is the method I chose to use (as opposed to applique). Silk thread was predominantly used, and this was the material I used for the project.  The stitches include satin, back, split and stem stitches.  I opted to machine sew the garment as opposed to hand sewing due to the need for durability and strength. 

[Editor note: In time, I would come to learn and understand that linen is cooler in warmer temperatures and more comfortable, and that hand-sewing is just as durable and strong if well done.]



From Racinet,
12-14th C.
Western Europe.

The bias tape along the sleeves and neckline is in keeping with examples I found, showing use of a contrasting color for these areas. Besides being in keeping with these examples, I also wanted to protect these edges as they would be subject to considerable wear and tear. The trim was added to denote the fact that I am an Æthelmearc Equestrian Marshal, as I intend to wear this garment while serving the Kingdom in that capacity. The Æthelmearc trim clearly shows my Kingdom of affiliation, and the Equestrian Marshal trim indicates the discipline.  I used this commercially produced trim as it is durable and clearly recognizable. Use of trim on these types of garments seems to be more of an SCA convention, though I did find one example in  a picture online from Racinet's Le Costume Historique and Full‑Color Pictorial History of Western Costume: With 92 Plates Showing Over 950 Authentic Costumes from the Middle Ages to 1800.  This garment is underneath the mail, though.  Several references were found indicating tablet woven pieces were used as trim as early as the Anglo-Saxon times. This trend continued through the period.

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^[1] Wolfgang Bruhn and Max Tilke.  A Pictorial History of Costume from Ancient Times to the Nineteenth Century: With Over 1900 Illustrated Costumes, Including 1000 in Full Color, (Courier Dover Publications, 2004) Available on GoogleBooks at <http://books.google.com/books?id=m_r1PXTTkkYC>. 22 (cites figure showing  Crusaders 1100‑1300, surcoats).

^[2]Barber & Barker.  Tournaments. 55.
^[3]George W.  Eve. Decorative Heraldry: A Practical Handbook of Its Artistic Treatment   (G. Bell & Sons, 1908). 87.
^[4]Eve, Decorative Heraldry. 117.
^[5] Joshua Prawer. The World of the Crusaders. (Quadrangle Books, 1972).129, 237, 238.
^[6]Adrian J. Boas.   Crusader Archaeology: The Material Culture of the Latin East

(Routledge, 1999) available on GoogleBooks at  <http://books.google.com/books?id=IKsJ‑aVmc1EC>. 173.

Sources:
 

Barber , Richard & Juliet Barker.  Tournaments: Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants in the Middle Ages, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2000.

Boas,  Adrian J.   Crusader Archaeology: The Material Culture of the Latin East.(Routledge, 1999) available on GoogleBooks at  <http://books.google.com/books?id=IKsJ‑aVmc1EC>.

Bruhn,  Wolfgang, and Max Tilke.  A Pictorial History of Costume from Ancient Times to the Nineteenth Century: With Over 1900 Illustrated Costumes, Including 1000 in Full Color, Courier Dover Publications, 2004, Available on GoogleBooks at <http://books.google.com/books?id=m_r1PXTTkkYC>

Dent,  Anthony Austen. The Horse Through Fifty Centuries of Civilization. NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1974.

Devries, Doughtery, Dickie, Jestice and Jorgensen.  Battles of the Medieval World, 1000‑1500.  NY: Amber Books, Ltd, 2006.

Eve, George W.  Decorative Heraldry: A Practical Handbook of Its Artistic Treatment ( G. Bell & Sons, 1908, Original from the University of California

Digitized Nov 29, 2007 on GoogleBooks , available at and viewed 18 Feb 2009,  <http://books.google.com/books?id=6MBHAAAAIAAJ>.)

Hopkins, Andrea.  A Chronicle History of Knights. NY: Barnes and Nobles Books, 2004.

LaCroix,  Paul and Walter Clifford Meller. The Medieval Warrior. NY: CL Press/Book Creation, LLC, 2002.

Newman, Paul B. Daily Life in the Middle Ages.  McFarland, 2001. Available on GoogleBooks at <http://books.google.com/books?id=O8GKt_PPjr8C>.

Prawer,  Joshua. The World of the Crusaders. Quadrangle Books, 1972. Available on GoogleBooks, Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized Jun 9, 2008,
<http://books.google.com/books?id=KslmAAAAMAAJ&q=crusader+surcoat&dq=crusader+surcoat&pgis=1>.
Racinet, Auguste. "Le Costume Historique" and Racinet, Auguste Full‑Color Pictorial History of Western Costume: With 92 Plates Showing Over 950 Authentic Costumes from the Middle Ages to 1800. Aavailable from amazon.com, <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/048625464X/thecostumersmani>
Website: Atlantian MOAS site (links), Jan 2009, http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=56