Off Duty Batavian wear

Peroni

Here is some information on "soft" kit that you might want to put together or how you might improve your existing wear.

You have a choice as an auxiliary! You can either go for the more Romanised ‘Sunday best’ as the auxiliaries on the Rhineland tombstones appear, OR wear your native Celto-Germanic clothing. For the Romanised kit you are looking at a large tunic. Ideally it should be elbow to elbow width & sleeveless, (sleeve openings about 30cm long) and when un-belted, should reach just below the knees. Clavi are optional.

Colours?

Anything goes really, but as it is your best it will be either off-white or white. Wool or linen. Popular and commonly available natural dyes at the time were blue yellow and red. Black is not unheard of but not de rigeur for Roman formal wear at all! Linen is much more difficult to dye with natural dyes, so go for more muted/pastel shades of the colour you wish to attain. Wool on the other hand can be very brightly coloured even with natural dyes as it takes the dye much better than linen.

When the tunic is tied or belted it will create its own ‘sleeves’. Top this off with a fascia ventralis (waist band) of approximately one foot wide and 5ft long. This will hide the folds. The common mistake made by the legionaries of the unit is the size of their tunics. They’re way too small! Make sure it is wide as well as long enough. Show them how they should be!

Look at the Rhineland tombstones and note where the bottom hem is worn!! Don’t be tempted to wear it at knee length. (civilian length). Top this off with your military belt.

For further reading see “Roman Military Clothing 1” by Graham Sumner (Osprey publishing) there are some nice illustrations of off-duty soldiers based on the tombstones.

If you would prefer to stay native, then you have the option of wearing your Celto-Germanic clothing and footwear!! (Much more dramatic!) Long sleeved tunicae, braccae and carbatinae are the order of the day here.

Tacitus states that the Germanic peoples wore much plainer clothing than their Gallic cousins,but as the Batavians were a mix of the two races and cultures I see no reason not to mix brighter plaids with plainer wool fabrics.

Variations existed in the shape of the tunics. German tunics could be either big and baggy or narrow with close-fitting sleeves. Or a combination of both! The narrow tunics can have fringed bottom hems (as I wear mine). Some tombstones of provincial cavalrymen show a distict turned-back ‘cuff’ on their long sleeves.


A narrow tunic with close-fitting sleeve and a fringed bottom hem	This re-enactor (Garrelt) is a great example of the baggyGerman tunic. He looks almost early medieval, but that is because German fashions did not change a great deal!

Belts are plainer than the Roman military belt, obviously with no decorated apron. I have details of Germanic belt fittings should you need them. The Batavians were especially fond of the large belt hooks. (These will be commercially available soon!) Belts can also be covered in brass/bronze sheet.

Shoes would be simple Germanic or Celtic carbatinae (late La Tene patterns onwards) Not hobnailed or soled.

Braccae can be either shorter ; ’feminalia’ type or a full length trouser. For Celtic, they are wider in the leg, for Germanic narrow-legged.

Hope this was of some interest, especially for the new members who have yet to make their off-duty wear!

Peroni