he Arnegunde Project:

Conjectural Merovingian clothing construction of the mid 6th century

by Suvia ilia Hereberti

althea@alfalfapress.com

Introduction

n 1959, archaeologists excavating under the Cathedral of Saint Denis in Paris, resting
place of the Kings and Queens of France, found a sarcophagus containing the body of a
woman. he woman bore a ring inscribed with the name Arnegundis. She is thought to
be Arnegunde, wife to Clotaire I (511561) and mother of King Chilperic ( 584) (Perin et
al. 2007, 182).

his project brings together current research to gain a better understanding of the
context of her burial and the textiles that comprised her burial garments. his project
focuses on the garment called the Robe or Katan in current publications. he gold thread
embroidery on the sleeves stands out as a unique textile apart from the Germanic tradition
suggesting an extra-Merovingian origin. he author does not contend that the garments
are exact replicas of the garments in which Arnegunde was buried, but every attempt was
made to make sure that they would be familiar to Arnegunde and acceptable to one of her
station.

Background of Merovingian Period

he period from the late 5th century to the late 8th century northern Gaul is known
as the Merovingian, ater the semi-mythical ruler, Merovech. We know very little
about their daily lives, having to rely on the few written texts that survive and emerging
archaeological evidence. he Franks were a group of Germanic tribes -- the Chatti, the
Ripuarians, and the Salians -- who shared similar laws and customs. In the 4th and 5th
centuries AD, they began settling in the Roman region of Gaul (which included what is
now Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and some of Germany and Italy). At irst they lived in
Belgium; eventually most of Gaul would belong to the Frankish empire. (Geary, 1988)

ery little is known about the early rulers of the Franks. A Salian king named
Merovech (or Merovee) founded the royal Merovingian dynasty, whose kings were
notable for their long hair. At that time the Franks were allies of Rome, and Merovech is
said to have fought with the Romans against Attila the Hun.

he time period of this study was the mid-to-late sixth century and is based on a set of
grave goods associated with Arnegunde, queen and wife to Clothar. he Merovingian
period was one of warfare, on the ield and in the palace. Clothar came to power through
violence and married the royal widow, Guntheuca, taking the widow as he took the
kingdom. At this time, women were a temporary accessory in the kings bed, and only
through the bearing of an heir found any hold on position and power. As Staford (1983)
says, his wives were taken up and put aside as political shits demanded rather than
passions prevailed. (p. 51-2)

etween the 530s and the 550s, Clothar had a succession of wives and concubines:
Radegund, daughter of King Bertacharius; Ingunde was in favor in the 520s, and
again mid-530s; by 537 she was replaced by her own sister Arnegunde; before 540 he had
another mistress, Chunsina. Very little is known about the origins of the sisters Ingunde
and Arnegunde, and the concubine Chunsina. (Staford, 1983)

rnegunde, as the mother of the future king, Chilperic, was aforded a burial place in
the Basilica of Saint Denis, to the north of Paris.

Archeological Evidence

he Basilica of Saint-Denis was the burial location of many of the Merovingian dynasty
starting in the east end of the Basilica, near the grave of Saint-Denis, around 475.
(Fleury & France-Lanord, 1998) he Merovingian graves were excavated over a period of
about 30 years, starting in the 1950s by Eduard Salin and Michel Fleury. he archeological
inds were published in French and German publications over the years and only recently
have articles been published in English. (Rast-Eicher, 2010)

t Saint-Denis, a principal burial place for Frankish kings, a large stone sarcophagus
was found under the choir. he contents of this tomb consisted in great part of a
mass of precious textiles, silks, and other organic materials. he large limestone coin was
found to contain the remains of a womans body which had been embalmed before burial,
so part of the lungs survived. She was about ive feet tall, of slight build, and blonde hair.
(France-Lanord, 1979; Fleury & France-Lanord, 1998; Perin, 2007) A monogrammed
gold inger-ring, ARNEGUNDIS REGINE, identiied the female buried inside as Queen
Arnegunde. (Rast-Eicher, 2010) She is believed to have died around 580. (Prin &
Calligaro, 2005) New studies have been completed both on the skeletal remains and the
conserved textiles. Rast-Eicher (2010) explains that Arnegunde was older at the time of
her death than originally thought and probably died from a dysentery outbreak. She had
childhood poliomyelitis leaving her with a damaged right leg.

urial customs of the middle to late sixth century provide a wealth of metal artifacts,
but textiles are far more rare. For this reason, the extraordinary preservation of the
Arnegunde artifacts provides a rare glimpse into the textiles, and provides clues to a
conjectural clothing construction. By the seventh centuries, burial custom were changing
and grave goods become much more rare. (Owen Crocker, 1986; Efros, 2002) he stone
sarcophagus provided a protected environment, which allowed the preservation of some of
the textiles, both as fragments and as pseudomorphs (mineralized ibers) on the metallic
objects. (Marzinzik, 2008)

he following sections will discuss selected garment fragments found in Arnegundes

tomb. Additional textiles, possibly shrouds, were also found but will not be discussed
in this article. Please see Rast-Eicher (2010) for a longer description of the most recent
investigations into the textiles.
Following this section on the extant textiles, I will discuss the project Katan.

Arnegundes Burial Clothing

Katan

orking from the outermost garment, the katan, we will talk about some of the
most recent theories of iber, textile and construction. Sadly, the garment is
incomplete so there is much let to conjecture. (Perin & Calligro; Rast-Eicher, 2010) he
garment was a front closing katan or robe, probably loor length. Rast-Eicher (2010)
calls this garment a mantle. For the purposes of this research project we will use
katan. he front opening was edged with tablet woven bands and the sleeves had a gold
embroidered band. he hose and garters found with Arnegunde have led to a great deal
of specualation about the length of the outer layers of clothing. Owens-Crocker (1986)
comments that the decorative nature of the garter and shoe beuckles indicate the clothing
would have had a lower length of just below the knee. We now know that the outer layers
were nearly loor length. (Rast-Eicher, 2010)

he textile of this garment is described by Rast-Eicher as the so-called violet piece,

a textile with one system made of animal iber, the other system is of plant iber, but
mostly not preserved. (2010, p. 209) She does not deine the textile structure or colors of
the ibers. However, past publications have described this garment as reddish or purple.
(France-Lanord, 1979; Marzinzik, 2008)

he lower portion of the sleeve was diferent fabric than the body. Rast-Eicher describes
it as samite 2/1 Z with a warp proportion of 2:1. (2010, p. 210) she goes on to
further describe the embroidered gold band as being 7 cm. below the cuf seam. he textile
underlying the gold embroidery has not survived, although a few red threads are visible.

lthough Rast-Eicher (2010) describes the iber content of the textiles as animal
or plant, other researchers have described the iber content as silk, linen or wool.
(France-Lanord, 1979; Marzinzik, 2008) Just how these various layers of textiles actually
were worn is still highly conjectural.

hen it comes to colors used in the textiles, again much is not known. FranceLanord calls this textile violet. (1979) An under layer has been called reddish.

(France-Lanord, 1979; Marzinzik, 2008) Both the silk textile and the purple to red dyes
were imports to the Merovingian territories. hese would have been imported along the
Rhone or Rhine trade routes from the Byzantine empire. he presence of these luxury
items as grave goods marks the high status of the individual buried in sarcophagus 49.
(Marzinzik, 2008)

he front edge of the katan was decorated with a brocaded tablet woven band made of
at least 100 tablets and is approximately 6.5 cm wide. Rast-Eicher describes the band
as brocaded with a triple silk thread (z-spun) and displays a pattern of diagonals and
lozenges (Fig. 33.3). (2010, p. 210) A second band in a simple tabby/repp, 16 warp threads
wide is sewn to the violet textile. he wet has not survived, except for one brocading
wet stitch. he wider band was key in identifying the layers as it lay under the belt and
was found along the skeletal remains down to the lower leg. (Rast-Eicher, 2010)

alton Rogers (2007) suggests similarities between the Arnegunde katan and the
Womans garment found at Sutton Hoo. Both had ornamented cufs, although in
Sutton Hoo the ornamentation was tablet woven bands. he style of a front opening katan
had correlations in other garments of the period from cultures to the east and in artwork
from the period.

wo round brooches were found on the body in a position suggesting their use as a
closure along the center axis above the waist. he period of the later sixth century
is one of fashion change for Merovingian women. he earlier Continental tradition of
four brooches was giving way to the Byzantine-inluenced style of a single brooch at the
neckline holding a mantle over a brooch-less tunic. (Rogers, 2007; Perin, 2000)

he Project Katan Reconstructed

he katan is the outermost layer of the ensemble I created for this project. It also
took the most time because of the various time-consuming pieces such as the gold
embroidery and embroidery edging the front opening. It actually assembled pretty quickly
once the components had been inished. It was mostly machine sewn where the seam
would be hidden in order to save time with a lot of hand inishing on visible portions of
the garment.

he fashion textile is a tabby with a dark red linen warp and a black silk wet. he
lining is silk twill with a gold warp and a purple wet. he garment is bag lined, with
a couple areas that were pieced together because I didnt have quite enough fabric. he
sleeves are lined in the turquoise tafeta that is also on the lower cuf of the sleeves.

he pattern was drated using the rectangular construction method. I made a

compromise on design between a lattering it and a more period style represented
by the Grande Robe of Bathilde. his front-closing garment is the most similar extant
garment available.

Figure 1. Pattern and cutting diagram for the Grande Robe of Bathilde (Laporte & Boyer,
1991)

here is some question about whether this garment could be attributed to Bathilde,
due to its size being much larger than would it Bathilde (personal communication,
Wamers, 2013). And there is some discussion on whether it is actually from a couple
centuries later, but until new information is published, we are using the current
designation at Bathildes Grande Robe. If the academic community makes a deinitive
decision otherwise, I will be happy to make the change to this publication.

he project katan has wedges on each side starting at the sleeve and ending at the
hem. Bathildes Robe has side gores that start at or below the waist, so there is some
diference between the two garments in silhouette. I chose this style because it was more
lattering on my Rubenesque igure.

unning along the front opening edge of the project katan, there is a band of silk
embroidery on a silk/linen tabby woven fabric. he silk embroidery loss is recycled
yarn from silk sweaters purchased at thrit stores.

he design of the embroidery is inspired by the card woven bands in the Chelles
museum. In the original Arnegunde katan, this was card woven, but the technique
is beyond my current skill level. So, taking a cue from Bathilde who used embroidery
on a garment as a representation of her royal jewels, I replaced the card weaving with
embroidery.

round the neckline, is a second embroidered band that I had to create to make up
for the fact that I didnt have enough of the irst embroidered band to go all the
way around the neckline. I used diagonals which are common in Migration period card
weaving as a main design element. he outside edge of the embroidered band is bound
with the same turquoise tafeta that lines the sleeves.

Figure 2. Design for embroidery edging the front opening. Based on the card weaving in
the Chelles Museum.

Embroidery on Arnegunde katan sleeve

he gold embroidery stands out as separate in look and technique from what is
currently known about western Migration era textile traditions. It is possible that the
embroidery was imported as a complete piece, either as trade or as a git, from Imperial
Byzantium. (Crowfoot and Chadwick Hawkes, 1967, p. 55). he gold embroidery on the
cufs was made of a ine spiral wrapped thread. he gold foil was wrapped around a core
of silk, .25 mm thick and .8 mm wide. here were about 13 to 14 turns to an inch. he
diameter of the threads of gold reached about 0.45 mm with a length of up to 150 mm.
he gold was couched down using a very thin silk thread in very small stitches that were
more or less close to one another, depending on the type of pattern. (France-Lanord, 1962)

he decoration is composed of a series of rosettes, which are inscribed in a rectangular

box and are accompanied by spherical triangles. On a single page or a frieze runs
with triangles that are ofset from each other like roof tiles and inlaid with a spiral, which
follows the contour of the triangle. (France-Lanord, 1962)

he rosettes show three variants:

Heart lower with round petals and eight trapezoidal-shapes;
Heart lower with round and six pointed oval leaves, which are separated by spherical
triangles inscribed spiral from one another;
Circle whose inner edge is decorated with small triangles, which are designed with a
spiral; inside the circle are (from let to right): a small, vertical almond, a large, well
vertical half almond (with the straight side let) and three small seeds that are spread
like a fan in the right half of the circle. (France-Lanord, 1962)

nly 17 of the rosettes survived, although there were originally 18 or 19 in total.

Parallel gold threads run along the edge of the band. he band was 30 mm wide and
about 37-38 cm long. (France-Lanord, 1962)

Figure 3. he extant gold embroidery. (France-Lanord, 1998)

Images of the gold embroidery on the project katan

hese images, starting with the pattern of the embroidery, were taken by the author of
the project katan.

he design of the
roundels was altered
slightly to make one of
the designs look more
like bees, which are a part
of my heraldic device.

he base fabric of the embroidery was a natural linen warp and a red silk wet in a
tabby weave. his linen/silk fabric is conjecturally very similar to the textile found in
Arnegundes grave. I used a synthetic metal thread for cost savings and ease of use. he
threads were couched onto the textile using a silk sewing thread.

he same turquoise tafeta used to line the sleeves was used as an edging on the
embroidered band. Narrow bands were cut and hand sewn to the embroidered band
to give it a clean inish. We dont know that the bands would have been bound, but I liked
the clean inished edges.

Conclusion

his project was the culmination of a multi-year process. he katan is one part of
the ensemble, and the irst one completed. Future projects include learning the card
woven brocade technique for the front opening edge, the leather belt with gold leaf and
embroidery, shoes and garters, gold brocaded vitta, and if I feel particularly daring, the
metal buckles for the garter and shoes.

ne of the constraining elements of this project is that very little of the published
resources is in English or accessible to non-academic researchers. It took time to
track down and translate many of the resources used for this project. And there was
always the dangerous distraction of the most recent publication ind.

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