One of the late 13th c. tomb swords in ROTMS (sword of Sancho IV of Castille) has a scabbard with an interesting and relatively simple suspension. The scabbard attachment consists of two broad bands of leather joined by a separate, diagonal band of leather that keeps the other bands separated. The textile belt is attached to the bands by coarse stitching. There appears to be a small slit in the scabbard covering near the edge of the lower band, but the photo isn't clear. This appears to be a much simpler suspension than the complex arrangement of split belts and slits in the scabbard covering I tend to associate with scabbards of the period. I might try this with my Type XIV project, but I don't know where to find a textile belt.

The belt is described as "galloon," which is a woven, patterned material. Does anybody know of a modern equivalent suitable for this application? In theory, I suppose one could approximate the Sancho IV belt by making a long tube of heavyweight linen or cotton, pressing it flat and applying silk ribbon edging. It would be better, obviously, to have a purpose-made fabric belt of usual construction. Maybe a 2" wide cotton web belt? What about an appropriate buckle and strap end for this type of belt?

---

 Attachment: 21.51 KB

Hiya

It looks like a nice simple scabbard hanger design. I suspect that the textile belt would have been "tablet woven". A process for making woven strips, strap, belts and edges.

If you know anyone into living history or the SCA they may be able to make one for you and you may even be able to choose the pattern and the colours.

Cheers

Boyd

But, certainly cheaper than a professional who works with medieval designs: http://www.petercollingwood.co.uk/twgallery.htm

Jess

Even easier...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-VImNBJvA0

and you can take it anywhere, work, on the train, on a date...

Or you can get an inkle loom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2gmUDmZAY

You make textile belts for all of us!! :D

Try a craft fair or something similar - you may find all the hard work is done for you and at a reasonable price.

If you do decide to go down the track of making it yourself, head towards a craft/wool/spinning shop run by elderly ladies, they are more than happy to set you off in the right direction and will give you a vast amount of information, but you may have to drink copious amounts of tea!

Sean....

Gallooning refers to metallic gold braid, perhaps, but not often in my experience, silver. It is the ornamental braid added to either leather or perhaps velvet baldrics, sword belts, hats, gloves, uniforms. It is sometimes scalloped, twisted, or straight with a woven design. Check out the website for Hand and Co. in London. They have been in business since the 18th C. and are suppliers of many kinds of galloon used today by the UK military and have many styles.

Hope this helps.

Glenn

Awesome Glenn - a quick googlesearch returned this gem;

http://www.istok.net/church-product/diagonale-galloon.html

Apparently, it's not always metallic. I see references to lace gallooning as well. That's a great site, by the way. Thanks for the tip! Beautiful material and cheap, too, at around $3 per meter.

Part of the problem with the term "lace" in 18th C. parlance is that it refers to any decorative edging. The woven wool around the buttonholes of a soldier's uniform were referred to as "lace." Velvet trim around a hat brim was "lace." Gallooning, on the other hand, seems to have been used exclusively for metallic trim that we would call "braid" today.

This 1920 quarterly from the Brooklyn Museum might be worth paging through in the 150 to 170 range,

http://books.google.com/books?id=eWMYAAAAYAAJ

I know I have it bookmarked and may never pull it off to the shelf to look again but there is an overview of textiles from ancient to post renaissance.

Cheers

GC

Sean....

I know the term "galloon" referring to metallic braid goes back to at least the 16th century and possibly earlier.