ACCESSORIES AND OPTIONS          5/21/02

       Your belt may be leather or fabric, one to two inches wide, with a simple D-shaped buckle, preferably brass.  Instead of a buckle you can cut 2 slits in one end of the belt, and cut the other end into a long swallowtail--the tails pass through the slits and tie.  Keep the tooling to a minimum--straight lines, simple geometric patterns, or a bit of interlaced motif.

       The pouch or purse is a drawsting bag of leather or cloth up to about 6" square, with a double drawstring.  Regia Anglorum has apparently found little or no evidence that pouches were worn on the belt in the 10th to 11th centuries.  The pouch is therefore best hung under the tunic from the braies or trousers, but since wearing one on the belt will be permitted as well since that was definitely common shortly after our period.  Earlier  Vikings and Saxons seem to have worn a more substantial pouch with a flap, and two belt loops on the back.

       You may also wish to wear a knife, but be forewarned that correct belt knives are  difficult to find, and most of those in use or available today are inauthentic.  The typical Anglo-Norse scramasax-type knife had a single-edged blade about 3 to 5 inches long, with a cylindrical wood or bone grip (NOT riveted) and no guard.  The blade was frequently "clipped", shaped much like a modern Barlow knife.  Longer knives did indeed exist, but since it was common to carry one's spear in public, a "fighting" knife  was much less practical than a small, utilitarian blade.  The knife was carried on the hip or in the pouch (NOT at the back or on the wrist or leg!) in a leather sheath with enclosed half of the grip as well as the blade.

       A cloak is just a blanket-sized rectangle or half-circle of heavy wool (the hood is not attached--see "headwear").  An old wool blanket with the texture of an army blanket (ie, not fuzzy) can be found in a thrift shop or surplus store, and the corners cut round on one side to make something like a half-circle.  The cloak is pinned on the right shoulder by a brooch, a common type being the ring-shaped penannular.