i am looking for a few pointers from the pro's. im going to make a templar cape and tunic and im not sure of cloth.

1. for this period would it be camel hair or heavy linen?

2. what weight of fabric 7.5 oz. - 10 oz. ?

3. and a good place to get said fabric.



thanks again for the help
jeff

This was posted in the Historic Arms Talk forum which is described as this: "Discussions of reproduction and authentic historical arms and armour from various cultures and time periods"

Moved to off-topic...

Most european cloaks and capes are wool, though I am sure some would have been linen. However, I don't think 10oz is gonna be heavy enough for a cloak. I use 10oz linen for my undertunics :lol: Maybe if you two layers.

I asked a similar question of my professor. He didn’t know the full answer but said that the crusading orders in the holy land would have most likely worn “the best” meaning linen or silk. He also brought up the existence of a fabric called linzy-woolzy made of interwoven linen and wool as a possibility.

I don’t believe wearing silk would have fit with knights like the templar’s. Most of them were born in Europe. There was a cultural difference at the time between the incoming European knights and the old guard who had been born in the holy land and had adopted some eastern customs. The Europe born thought the Jerusalem knights were soft because of there adoption of eastern luxuries like silk and made a point of avoiding them.

I would bet on linen as the fabric of choice

Another thing to consider is that the Templars were monastic knights. They would have shunned anything the believed too luxurious....

the cloak might be made of wool if the templar was home in Europe

I think the real question is where this templar is fighting. If he is on crusade wool would be too worm, linen would protect the armor from heating up in the sun, without causing heat issues itself.
Cotton is an option; they had it in the Middle East if I am not mistaken.
If he is in northern Europe a wool cloak would keep him worm in winter.

Just a thought on what they might have been wearing, although it could be way off base. Cotton was ans is grown in the Nile River valley of Egypt and it was a major crop back into the ancient Egyptian period. Could the Egyptians have been exporting it to their neighbors in Palestine? And, if so, would the Templars have used it. It would have made superior garments for use in the hot sun.

Cotton is mostly inferior to wool in warm weather. Wool retains moisture better than cotton, so you won't sweat out that much water, and the wet wool will act as an aircooler. When cotton gets wet, the moisture evaporates rather quickly, which leads to the body sweating more. As such, you will get dehydrated faster if wearing cotton than if wearing wool. This might not so much be the case with a cloak, versus a tunic, but my own experience puts a wool tunic way above a cotton t-shirt... A woolen cloak worn in the sun also shields you from a lot of the heat.

Johan Schubert Moen

Johan, have you ever worn woolen clothing in really hot weather? By this, I mean at least 35 degrees Centigrade or 95 degrees Fahrenheit. I have a fairly light weight woolen tunic that I simply cannot wear in the Summer or late Spring in the Mid-Atlantic states of the America as it is just too darn hot. I noticed that most living history people in this area wear linen tunics and trousers in the heat. I did finally have a very light weight woolen cloak made so that I could have a cloak to wear in warm weather as I have yet to see a cloak made of anything but wool that hangs properly.

When discussing wool v. lighter materials for cloaks onre thing needs to be remembered: There's also a period in the desert called nightime where the sun isn't shining. It gets pretty cold in the desert at night.

Cotton was available in the mediteranian at the time. It might be used for the surcote, but since the purpose of the cloak is to stay warm, wool would be preferable.
If it's to hot to wear a woolen cloak, you don't wear it.

However, isn't there a conserved equipment list for knights templar? I seem to remember hearing this quoted.

In the desert environments of Outremer, I should think that a linen or reasonably sturdy cotton surcoat would work well over the mail armors worn at the time. Wht you wear under the mail might well be a gambeson of whatever design works best for you in whatever environment and use you are putting it to. Under the gambeson, you would wear a tunic, an undertunic, braies, hose and some sort of shoe, IIRC. I would suspect that the tunic and hose were likely woolen or linen but the undertunic and braies could well have been cotton, but of a harder weave than most underclothes today.

When not in armor, Templar knights wore a white hooded cloak over their clothes. It clasped at the neck and had a red templar cross on the left breast. My guess would be that it was of wool. Templar sergeants wore similar cloaks, but theirs were, IIRC, black with the red cross.

Having just finished a Hospitaller kit circa 1205 wherein I did a LOT of research, I ran across only one equipment list dating to that time. Hense the reason I did that particular year. Yes, it was for the Hospitallers, but I don't see why the Templars would have used anything different. In the list it specifically states only the use of wool for the cloaks. It does state that two seperate cloaks will be issued: one lined for cold weather and one unlined for hot. Just my .02 cents. :D