garment has been a subject of disputes since it was discovered.
From the skeleton remains of the person buried in this dress, is was
estimated that the owner was approximately 160 cm tall, and rather
strongly built, which suggests it was a man. However, the sex could
not be precisely estimated. Norlund, the scientist from the excavating
expedition, thought this was a mens garment, based on the
pattern. However, later on the dress appeared in the literature as a
woman's cotehardie because of its closefitted sleeves and big
circumference of the bottom hem.
We believe that it was a man's dress, for the following reasons. A
woman's cotehardie would have to be very close-fitted to the body,
which this garment does not satisfy. First, its circumference around the
waist is close to 1 m. Secondly, it has no buttons, so it had to be
put on through the head, so it could not be close-fitted.
The garment was cut with scissors on the back from the neck down, but
that was a usual burial practice to fit a stiff corpse into a costume.
The front and back gores were made of 2 triangles. Each side was made
of 4 pieces that could create an illiusion of a closer fit to the
waist, but the garment was still quite loose, since waist
circumference was 1 m. The dress extended down to the ankles. This is another find from the late 14th century Herjolfnes, Greenland.
Based on: Meddelelser om Gronland, Buried Norsemen at
Herjolfsnes; Dr.phil. Poul Norlund; Copenhagen 1924; C.A.Reitzel