[Sca-cooks] Puritans, was: Canadian Friends

[Tara Sersen Boroson]

> Interesting switch. My understanding is that today, folks are usually
> just buried in their best clothes or clothes that are special to them
> such as a military uniform, or for some in the SCA, SCA garb. How
> common was it in period to be buried in special clothes?


It happened in late period at least.  I don't know if it was common,
though.  Several of the pieces of clothing in Janet Arnold's _Patterns
of Fashion, the Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women c.
1560 - 1620_ came from burials.  Particularly gruesome were a few
garments in which the owners had been murdered and subsequently buried.
  All examples were very upper class and not all were garments they wore
to their death.  In the Museum of London's _Textiles and Clothing c.
1150-c.1450_, Elisabeth Crowfoot mentions ranking members of the Church
being buried in ecclesiastical vestments.  She mentions some other
cloths being found in graves, particularly silks, but it's not clear if
these were parts of garments or shrouds or some other item placed in the
grave.  It's possible this was an upper class affectation, since the
lower classes might not have been quite so willing to dispose of
perfectly good clothing.  I haven't researched the issue in detail, I
just happen to know of these examples.

-Magdalena