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Cold Weather Gear

There are several items that you can get/make to keep yourself warm during cold weather campagins.  A cloak, trousers, long sleeve tunics, and socks.  One thing is commonly accepted amongst re-enactors is that some cold weather gear items may have been adopted from "barbarian" styles.  So having a checked or striped pair of trousers is acceptable.  While "barbarian" patterns are acceptable we do encourage everyone to look as "Roman" as possible.

TROUSERS: (BRACCAE)
Both long and short trousers are known from Roman times.  Short braccae, from southern Gual, were known as femenalia (femenalia, from the Latin word femen meaning thigh).  In illustrations they are tight fitting and stop just below the knee.  Modern writers often describe them as being made of leather, but wool is warmer and acceptable. 
 
(FEMENALIA)
Femenalia, from nothern Gaul, Germania, and Brittiania, were close fitting but not as tight as the short braccae.  They could made to ankle length and could have feet sewn on them.  No braccae have survived from Roman sites, but several pairs have been found in Danish bogs.  They are bit complex and have belt loops.  A simpler pattern with a drawstring waist may also be used (but a belt is more comfortable).

Tunic: (Long sleeve)
Long sleeves were traditional only worn by the Celts and other "Barbarian" cultures but was quickly adopted by the Roman as the Empire expanded.  You can wear the long sleeve tunic under your red tunic or create another tunic with long sleeve to be only by it self.  The tunic should fit closer to the body than your regular tunic.  The sleeves should fit close to your fore arm and widen to about 12 inches at the body.  Measure around your balled up fit and add an inch.  At the end of the sleeve roll up the end to make a cuff.  Then cut along the hem of the sleeve, the length of the cuff, to finish it all off.

Cloak:
During this time there were two types of cloaks in use, the Sagum and the Paenula.  Both having been made of wool.  The color seems to be dark or light brown, red being reserved for officers and high ranking officials.
 
The Sagum cloak is rectangular, and of blanket size and shape.  It is pinned by a fibula on the right shoulder.  This cloak can also be used as a bedroll.
 
The Paenula circular, semi-circular, or oval in shape and having a rectangular shape hood.  Having a slit down the front it is pinned at the neck with a fibula.  When complete is should reach to just below the knee. 

Socks: (UDONES)
Socks are known from several written sources and are shown in the Cancellaria relief and a child's sock was found at Vindolanda.  The socks can be made in one of two ways.  Made of wool or thick linen.
 
One, a simple sock beliefed to be more for protection from the caligae, have no toe or heel section.  They should fit tight against the foot. 
 
Two, a "traditional" looking sock made of two or three sections.  If made of three sections they include: the foot section, section from the toes to the leg, and a section rapping around the leg and heel.  If made of two sections they include: the foot section, and combined section includeing the top of the foot and leg. 


 
Here is what “Roman Military Equipment: From the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome” by M.C. Bishop & J.C.N. Coulston has to say about the braccae, long sleeve tunics, and cloak.
 
Under the early Principate, cavalrymen are depicted on sculpture as wearing leggings that reach to just below the knee.  This fashion seems to have caught on and some of the Adamclisi metopes show infantrymen wearing similar garments.  Some cavalrymen, such as Flavius Bassus, also wear a long-sleeved tunic with the cuff turned back and with a split in the hem, apparently identical to that of the Vacheres warrior. 
 
There seems to be little doubt about the form of the sagum.  It appears to have been a rectangular piece of material, usually depicted as haveing one or more fringed edges.  These might be applied fringes, but it seems more likely that the edge of the material had been deliberately picked out to avoidhemming or unsightly fraying of a cut edge.  If specially woven, two of the edges could have been selvedge.  The fastening of the sagum must have been one of the major uses of brooches in the Roman army. 
 
The paenula may have been oval or circular in shape, to judge form the representations, with a central hole for the head.  As worn, it was knee-length, and split up the front, begin fastened on the freast with buttions and toggles (but not brooches, apprantely, a fact revealed by the detailed sculpture on a funerary stela from London.  Wehn the sides of the paenula were folded over two or three times onto the shoulders, to give easy access to side-arms, the front opeing below its fastenings yawned wide, creating the characteristic 'W' profile.  This was often exploited by sculptors of both metropolitan monumental and private funerary works, specifically to exhibit the sword, belt and/ or apron, and thus to emphasise the wearer's military status. 


 
Suppliers:
 
Soul of the Warrior you can find handmade fibula as well as a sagum cloak.
 
La Wren's Nest is probably your best bet to get all of your cold weather gear!  They have the braccae, cloaks, fibula, and long sleeve tunics. 
 
Historic Enterprises makes a great pair of Thorsbjerg trousers that are accurate.
 
Merchant Adventurers goes a fine job with there tunics for the Dominus and Domina. Will do custom work on request.

LEG VI Ferrata Fidelas Constans * 104 Hunters Wood Drive * Summerville * SC * 29485 * 843-437-5587 * The Iron Legion!