Anglo-Saxon wooly ‘ats...

[Martin Smith]

Another daft query, related indirectly to my previous one about shields on early-mid Anglo-Saxon troops.

'Phrygian caps', as often depicted on early English heads, inc. in the WRG publications....
Any clues as to colour (as I have around 40-50 to paint..!!).

[Duncan Head]

Ignoring (since you've got figures wearing them) the theory that such caps didn't really exist but are an artistic artefact copied from headgear in Late Roman or Carolingian manuscripts, I'd look at Tollund Man, a possible early ancestor of the Anglo-Saxons, whose cap seems to have been undyed leather.

[Martin Smith]

Thanks Duncan....
I had it in my head that the caps were like sailors' woollen hats, rather than leather  🙈

[Erpingham]

There are some clues here from other early medieval contexts

http://www.vikingage.org/wiki/wiki/Hats_%26_Hoods_(Men)

It seems that hats might be woven cloth, felt or knitting.  There is an example of a red dyed hat but many don't seem to be able to yield a colour.  Knitted hats seems natural wool colours - grey, brown, black.

[Duncan Head]

Your link misses off the closing bracket, Anthony, thus directing us to the statement that "There is currently no text in this page". At first I thought you wanted us to write it ... but http://www.vikingage.org/wiki/wiki/Hats_%26_Hoods_(Men) should work.

[Erpingham]

Thanks Duncan

[Imperial Dave]

There is the possibility that they are arming caps and because they confer some head protection could be worn by less rich individuals during battle

[Erpingham]

It is a strange feature of our modern perspective that we can overlook that in much, for example, of medieval culture, men wore a head covering - a hat or hood.  This could be functional or fashionable, dependent on wealth.  I think it possible the Saxons wore caps of wool, fabric, felt or soft leather, with fancy materials, colour and decoration for the wealthy, cheaper uncoloured versions for the poor.  How much these resembled Phrygian caps is hard to know, given a lack of surviving material.  I suspect most would be more like Viking examples - four panel hemispherical/slightly conical.  Posh ones may have had more fabric, giving a floppy top.

[Imperial Dave]

Interestingly, night caps tend to be traditionally pointed although floppy and picking up on Anthony's point could just be a reflection of normal head gear

[aligern]

No doubt available from the stores as Cap/ comforter, other ranks for the use of.
Roy

[Imperial Dave]

I know they arent the same but obviously there is a lot of later roman military wearing the Pannonian (or Pillei) cap. These have been variously called out to be made of leather or wool

[Erpingham]

There is a pillbox hat from an Early Medieval context in Holland, and they do occur in Medieval Greenland, so hats of the general type may have been around the North Sea area.  The pillbox hat is made from diamond twill wool fabric in natural wool colours.

If you are a fan of Early Medieval hats, this monograph details the Dutch examples (pp66-70).  Good picture of the red dyed hat (before you get excited, its as grey as the others now) on p.50 - not a type I've seen on any wargames figure.  There's actually quite a bit on dyes and wool colours in the text but you really have to work to pick it out. 

[Imperial Dave]

I've been following this blog for ancient material colours and dyeing techniques
https://www.jennydean.co.uk/category/general-dye-information/

Specifically for Anglo Saxon stuff there is some very nice illustrations below

https://www.jennydean.co.uk/anglo-saxon-dye-experiments-part-1/
https://www.jennydean.co.uk/anglo-saxon-dye-experiments-part-2/
https://www.jennydean.co.uk/anglo-saxon-dye-experiments-part-3/

[davidb]

According to Gale  R. Owen-Crocker in Dress in Anglo-Saxon England, "No headdress appears consistently."  However, she points out that " A little human head in what appears to be a green Phrygian cap decorates a letter in the Tiberius Bede, an eighth-century manuscript ..., but it may be only the colour contrast that makes this fairly typical example of eighth-ninth-century 'Southumbrian' ornament appear like a cap.