Fabric and Fur in Early Rus

Fabrics Overview:

The main fabrics used by nobility and peasantry for everyday clothes were linen and wool, both made from local materials and available in a variety of weights and quality. Linen production was particularly well developed. (Kireyeva) and (Stamerov)

The finds from the layers of ancient Russian cities, tombs and rural village burials show all the diverse fabrics of local manufacture, from which were sewn clothing. These were both woolen fabric, woven mainly from sheep wool, and fabric from plant fiber of various structures (linen, hemp). (Kolchin)

In the 9th to 13th centuries, spinning and weaving occupied the majority of women in the villages, and to a surprising extent in the cities, even in elite households. Finds of combs, spindles, distaffs, looms, etc. are numerous in archeological digs. (Rabinovich)

The material for folk costume in the period of the 13th-17th cent., as earlier, served mainly fabric of domestic production – canvas [холст], linen [полотно], and coarse wool [шерсть]. (Rabinovich)

Extremely widened the assortment of expensive fabrics, from which were sewn rich clothing. This was, in the main, imported material. The sources name more than 20 types of silk and cotton material, imported mainly from the east. Wool fabric was imported mainly from Western Europe. In the sources is recorded more than 30 sorts of just broadcloth [sukno]. As visible from these names, only individual types of wool material came from the countries of the East (for example, zuf’), the main source of them came from the West. (Rabinovich, 13-17th cent.)

Besides this, the production of linen, cotton, silk and wool materials of the best quality developed also in Rus. In the 16th cent. among the urban trades is named not only kholshchovniki [linen-makers], but also sukonniki [broadcloth-makers] and shelkovniki [silk-makers] (Chechulin, 1889, p. 339), the name of Dyers Street in Novgorod the Great speaks about the development of dyed fabrics. The very names of colors of material: gvozdichnyj, dikij, lazorevyj, myasnoj, chervlenyj, bagryanyj (orange, gray, light blue, and various shade of red) [literally: clove, wild, lazuli/azure, meat, “cochineal”, crimson] and others were taken at that time from the Russian language, and not from foreign ones, like, for example, the later terms oranzhevyj [orange], fioletovyj [violet], etc. (Rabinovich, 13-17th cent.)

Analysis of finds in the excavations in Novgorod of wool fabrics of the 13-15th cent. showed that they were made from the wool of local sheep, and also from wool of Spanish merino, and English fine-fleeced and thick-fleeced sheep, that is, there are both fabrics of local manufacture, and also imported (Spanish wool came via Flanders, English, in all probability, via Holland). The favorite color of clothing in that time was red, in the second place – black, further – yellow, green, blue and white (Artsikhovkij, B.G., p. 281-282). The latter predominated numerically (linens, shirts [sorochki], etc.). (Rabinovich, 13-17th cent.)

If fabrics were mainly imported, then fur, mainly serving for warmth and decoration of rich clothing, was found in Russia, itself, and abundantly exported. The assortment of it, as in antiquity, was very rich, possessing various forms. Furriers, which also were named in the list of trades in the 16th cent. (Chechulin, 1889, p. 339), often selected fur for clothing from various parts of the skins of animals (“throat”, “belly”, “backbone”, etc.). (Rabinovich, 13-17th cent.)

In general, masters making clothing and shoes, made up a significant part of the urban trademen. In these cases, when is known to us the number of craftsmen and their distribution among professions, these masters occupied in number 2nd or even 1st place (Rabinovich, 1978, p. 34-38). (Rabinovich, 13-17th cent.)

In the ancient Russian language there existed two sets of terms for indicating linen fabric: "xlast", "xolst", "t"lstiny", denoting unbleached fabric, and "bel'", "platno", denoting bleached linen. Characteristically, during excavations the remains of such materials are rarely found, most of all bleached linen ("platno"). (Pushkareva89)

By the 9th-13th centuries, linen fabric was prepared on a horizontal loom using not only simple tabby weaves, but also complex patterned fabrics and bran'e weave. Coarse linen was called tolstina, chastina or uzchina. Thicker fabrics of linen or hemp were called votola or volota. More fine, bleached linen was called bel or ponyava. Coarse linen could also be called sermyaga or opona. More fine linen was called volosen' [I'm not sure why Rabinovich separated these latter two groups of coarse and fine linen from the earlier categories.] It was mainly of white color. (Rabinovich, 9-13th)

By the 13th-17th centuries, kholst, kholstina, uzchina (narrow/tight kholst) are names for linen, and also hemp and cotton materials of domestic manufacture. They could be white or dyed in various colors. Dyed kholst was called krashenina, while more dense dyed hemp fabric, kezhej or kezh’ya (Sav., p. 55, 65, 155, 160). Kholst with a printed pattern, applied with the help of a special carved board, was called vybojka. Patterned material of intricate fabric was called bran’ya (Sav., 16, 23). (Rabinovich, 13-17th)

In the 10th-13th centuries, the Rus were already blockprinting fabric using black, dark blue, bright red, yellow, or white dye on unbleached linen which was then dyed a dark blue or green color. This was used in peasant clothes and the everyday clothing for the nobility. Motifs derived from plant forms were rarely seen in the ancient block-prints, but stylized animals are often encountered: horses, deer, and birds. (Stamerov)

The rough homespun wool used in peasant clothing was called "sermyaga" or "seryachini," however, the fine wool broadcloth "sukno" in the clothes of the nobility tended to be imported. Fabric widths were narrow, 32 to 60 cm widths [12.6 to 23.6 inches]. The cloth could be woven with multicolored thread or printed. (Kireyeva) and (Stamerov)

In the 9th-13th cent., as with linen, wool weaving used complex patterned fabrics and bran'e weaving. Fabric of yarn dyed in different colors gave striking multi-colored (pestrina, pestryad) or checked material. (Rabinovich)

Archeological excavations of burials allow one to make the conclusion that, in 12-13th cent., multicolored checked wool fabric "pestryad" already was known. "Pestryad'" was used as a material for ponevas. (Pushkareva89)

Coarse wool fabric was called "vlasyanitsy" (hairshirt); monks and nuns wore it directly on the body as a form of self-torture. From vlasyanitsy was sewn the caftan, which was in that time both a men's and women's garment. (Pushkareva89)

Among woolen and half-woolen fabrics are found checked and striped fabrics. Known also are patterned fabrics. Among the usual finds for the 10-12th centuries appear patterned and un-patterned ribbons, braids, laces and fringe from woolen yarn. Broadcloth, sukno, had a wide distribution and also objects of felt [voilok]. (Kolchin)

It was determined that in various regions of Rus dominated fabrics with defined weaves[perepleteniya] of threads. Thus in kurgans of the Viatichi more often of all are found wool-blend and wool plaid fabrics (coarse) [pestryad’]. They were woven of wool threads dyed mainly in red, green, blue, yellow and black colors and also of threads of vegetable origin of white color. The pattern of the check/square [kletka] is various. Are met plaid fabrics with openwork bands, formed at the expense of pulled out paskonnykh [?] threads; plaid fabrics with openwork bands, formed during weaving. [Note that some researchers hold that "openwork" fabrics are an artifact of the poor preservation of the parts of the fabric pattern that were woven from plant-based threads.] (Kolchin)

In the Kharlapovskom tomb, where are buried Krivichi [people from an ancient Slavic tribe in central Rus], are found many cloths. Among them, unlike among the Vyatichi, there is no checked cloth (only one fragment in the region of head-gear). As is known, in the various monuments of the Krivichi, the only fragments of checked cloth were found together with the bracelet-shaped temple rings. Nevertheless, it is possible to assert that these fabrics were essentially not used in the funeral clothing of this tomb. Significantly fewer in the Kharlapovskom tomb are woolen figured bands. Here, just as in the kurgans of the Vyatichey, are abundantly represented the woolen single-tone cloths of linen interlacing. They are decorated with a geometric pattern, performed by "branoy" [brocade?] technique. Predominant are fabrics of twill weave, broadcloth and felt, under the remains of which are found tight-woven fabric of plain weave. (Kolchin)

Clothes of wool fabric became predominent in cities approximately from 13th cent. Part of wool cloth was imported (in Novgorod, was known Dutch, English and Flemish smooth wool cloth), but wool openwork, unique in color, was produced by the hands of Russian craftswomen, in particular, Novgorodian. (Pushkareva89)

In the 13th-17th cent., wool undyed fabric of domestic manufacture, as before, carried the name sermyaga, extending also to garments prepared from this fabric (Sav., 125-126). In the beginning of this period, as before, was widely dispersed wool checked fabric, ponyova (Aleksandrov, 1971, p. 119-121), but in the 16-17th cent., its use, it appears, was a bit reduced in connection with the appearance of “shubki” and sarafans. In winter clothing, as earlier, they wore “kurpechatyj mekh” – ovchina, merlushka [sheep fur, sheepskin, lambskin]; for shoes, belts, knives, etc., various types of leather – goat (khoz), sheep (urkha, rovduga)(Sav. 145, 160), cow and horse. At the end of the period appeared also hard thick soles (Shestakova et al.). (Rabinovich)

In the 13th-17th cent., extremely widened the assortment of expensive fabrics, from which were sewn rich clothing. This was, in the main, imported material. Wool fabric was imported mainly from Western Europe – from England, France, Italy, Flanders, Brabant, and the German principalities. In the sources is recorded more than 30 sorts of just broadcloth [sukno] (aglitskoe, lundysh, frantsuzkoe, skorlat, fryazhskoe, limbarskoe, brabanstskoe, impskoe, kufter’, bryukish, amburgskoe, chemskoe, shebedinskoe, grecheskoe, etc.) [аглицкое, лундыш, French, скорлат, фряжское, лимбарское, Brabant, импское, куфтерь, брюкиш, Hamburg, четское, шебединское, Greek, etc.]. As visible from these names, only indifivual types of wool material came from the countries of the East (for example, zuf’), the main source of them came from the West. (Rabinovich)

Analysis of finds in the excavations in Novgorod of wool fabrics of the 13-15th cent. showed that they were made from the wool of local sheep, and also from wool of Spanish merino, and English fine-fleeced and thick-fleeced sheep, that is, there are both fabrics of local manufacture, and also imported (Spanish wool came via Flanders, English, in all probability, via Holland).

In the 9th-13th cent., wool fabrics were the color of natural wool or dyed with bright colors, usually red, green, yellow and black. (Rabinovich)

See also Colors and Dyes.

By the 13th-17th centuries, kholst, kholstina, uzchina (narrow/tight kholst) are names for linen, and also hemp and cotton materials of domestic manufacture. (Rabinovich)

The upper garment of well-to-do city dwellers could also be sewn from imported cotton fabrics. "Buy me good zendyantsu ", - asks a letter dating from the 14-15th cent. "Zendyanitsa" was cotton fabric widely known in Novgorod, produced in the village Zandana not far from Bukhara. (Pushkareva89)

In the 13th-17th cent., extremely widened the assortment of expensive fabrics, from which were sewn rich clothing. This was, in the main, imported material. The sources name more than 20 types of silk (kamka, tafta, kitajka, atlas, pavoloka, ob’yar’, satyn’, kham’yan etc.) [damask, taffeta, china fabric, satin, паволок, moiré, сатынь, хамьян] and cotton (byaz’, kumach, kindyak, mitkal’, sarapat, satyn’, etc.) [calico, bright red cotton, printed/red, muslin, сарапат, сатынь] material, imported mainly from the east – from China, India, Iran, Turkey, Crimea, Trans-Caucasus, and Central Asia. (Rabinovich)

Imported Fabrics:

The upper garment of well-to-do city dwellers could also be sewn from imported cotton fabrics. "Buy me good zendyantsu ", - asks a letter dating from the 14-15th cent. "Zendyanitsa" was cotton fabric widely known in Novgorod, produced in the village Zandana not far from Bukhara. (Pushkareva89)

Besides that, for sewing of clothing, fine wool broadcloth [sukno] was imported from the countries of Western Europe, and silk and brocaded fabrics came from the countries of the Mediterranean, Byzantium and the Middle East, and also gold-fabric ribbon [galloon?]. (Kolchin)

The outer garments and holiday wear of the boyars would be made of fabric imported primarily from Byzantium, but also Asia and Europe. These fabrics included aksamit samite (fabric with golden tracery), taffeta, brocade (silken fabric with monochrome patterned design), velvet with stamped designs, and golden velvet (with gold embroidery). The most common were gold brocade, velvet (with a pattern formed by gold or silver thread tied and woven into a dense silk warp), overall-gold altabas, and also light-weight silken taffeta and kamkha covered with a monochromatic pattern. These expensive imported fabrics were called pavolok. Pavalok were mostly patterned in a typically Byzantine pattern of dark-red (cinnabar), crimson (carmine), purple and azure. (Kireyeva) and (Stamerov) One princess owned dresses of fabrics ranging from silk to brocade to velvet to chiffon, called "cloth of air" in Russian because this cotton fabric was so light and thin. (Pushkareva97)

The over garment of princesses and boyarinas in 10-13th cent. was sewn of eastern embroidered silk ("pavolok") or tightly woven vorsistoj (napped) fabric with gold or silver threads, similar to velvet ("aksamita"). The Arab travelor of the 10th cent., Ibn-Fadlan, noted that noble women of the Slavs wore the "xilu" (oriental robe) - a upper silk garment. Such a garment is mentioned in the chronicles under description of holiday clothes of women and is called "rizy" (chasuble?). (Pushkareva89)

In the 9th-13th cent., imported (mainly Byzantine or eastern) material was mainly silk or gold fabric, aksamite, pavoloki and others. They were very expensive and used only by the wealthy. The Lay of Igor's Campaign included such fabrics among the most valuable war booty. All the same, small pices of such fabrics could be used by the lower classes as decoration or trim for their garments. (Rabinovich)

In the 13th-17th cent., extremely widened the assortment of expensive fabrics, from which were sewn rich clothing. This was, in the main, imported material. The sources name more than 20 types of silk (kamka, tafta, kitajka, atlas, pavoloka, ob’yar’, satyn’, kham’yan etc.) [damask, taffeta, china fabric, satin, паволок, moiré, сатынь, хамьян] and cotton (byaz’, kumach, kindyak, mitkal’, sarapat, satyn’, etc.) [calico, bright red cotton, printed/red, muslin, сарапат, сатынь] material, imported mainly from the east – from China, India, Iran, Turkey, Crimea, Trans-Caucasus, and Central Asia. (Rabinovich)

Textile Weaves and Production Techniques:

Adam Nahlik divides the 400+ fabrics that he analyzed from the excavations of the Nerevskij End of Novgorod into several categories:

A. "Ordinary fabric" of tabby or twill weave. The twills are are either 3 or 4 thread (1/2, 2/1, 2/2). They are not woven with any remarkable thread density, and they are either undyed or a brown-black color which is likely caused by the soil acids they were found in.

B. So-called "openwork" fabric.

C. "Special fabrics" with fine, even threads and a rather high density of warp thread compared to weft, woven in a 3-thread twill.

D. Un-fulled, dyed fabric, usually tabby weave, but sometimes twill.

E. Fulled, dyed fabric, so well done that it is difficult to see the weaved detail, but usually tabby weave, more rarely twill.

F. Weakly fulled, dyed fabric, rather strongly damaged (?) which is called "sukna" and has the same weave as D. and E. above.

G. Plentenki - literally, wicker/weaving - basketweave? bands?

Belts... other categories from the table...

H. "Knitted" goods - actually needle weaving aka naalbinding

I. Individual threads.

Archeological material in Novgorod indicates 2 spinning techniques were used - a) twisting fibers with the palm and b) with a spindle. A third technique, using a spinning wheel, appears in western Europe at the end of the 13th century [?], but no parts of spinning wheels have been found in Novgorod [source = Kolchin?] and the surviving threads do not show any features that could distinguish the spindle vs. spinning wheel. (Nahlik)

The palm-twisting technique was used for the yarn meant for "knitted" items as shown by the yarn itself, and supported by ethnographic sources. The yarn was heavy and irregular and apparently obtained by twisting waste wool. (Nahlik)

There were two methods of spindle-spinning distinguished by whether or not a distaff was used. Both are seen in period art. Distaffs were used with combed and beaten [?] wool. Spinning without a distaff was exclusively for beaten [?] wool. (Nahlik)

The spinner uses the spindle in the right or left hand, depending on the direction of twist needed for the thread. The direction of twist gives the final textile important features. For example, a twill woven with the warp twisted opposite to the weft will have a stronger diagonal texture. Having the same twist will give a smoother fabric. Opposite twists in the warp and weft are required for fabrics that are to be fulled. (Nahlik)

Looms

Adam Nahlik discusses in some depth the question of vertical vs. horizontal looms.

While Nahlik mentions a researcher who believes that horizontal looms were used very early, essentially simultaneously with vertical looms, he expresses agreement with several other researchers that the vertical loom was used first, and then the horizontal loom arived in Rus. [dates?] Wooden parts of horizontal looms are fairly common finds in the Novgorod excavations. (Nahlik and Kolchin "Wood")

There are a only couple of fabric types (includes fabrics with a tablet-woven "3rd selvedge") found in the Novgorod excavations which could only have been woven on a vertical loom. The rest could have been woven on either type. (Nahlik)

"Openwork" fabrics

This fabric is based on the tabby weave and, like the rice-textured weave, seems to have been unique to Rus. It resembles a checked fabric, but the "white" squares are actually openings in the fabric. (Nahlik)

Fabrics of this type, met with everywhere in the excavations, are connected to the period of early Russian Middle Ages, alongside fabrics, completed in “branoj” [brocade?] technique, and represent examples of very high technical artistic achievement in Russian weaving at this time. (Nahlik)

Some researchers thought that they were examples of a special technique, by which the openwork spaces were achieved in the process of weaving. Most seem to consider that “openwork” fabric comes about when wool threads woven together with threads of plant fiber. (Nahlik)

In these case, the "openwork" pattern appears in fabrics as a result of the destructive actions of soil acid on the plant fibers after the fabric is buried. Threads of warp and weft of such fabric are partly wool – partly linen, and when the plant fibers disintegrate, they leave behind a wool net, which is incorrectly interpreted and served as the cause for creation of the term “openwork” fabric. It is necessary to remember that fabrics of this type, where some threads are wool and some linen, were made in Russia right up to the 19th and even 20th century. (Nahlik)

Linen fibers are poorly preserved in Russian archeological digs.

Striped fabrics

Nahlik discusses these on p 253-254. I didn't translate this section, because I didn't see anything particularly surprising/interesting.

Twills in four threads 2/2

Nahlik's discussion included: “ordinary” twill fabrics, fulled and dyed fabrics, dyed but non-fulled, herringbones, and some with fringes. (p 254-258).

Woolen twills in three threads 2/1 and 1/2

Nahlik's discussion includes: a) “ordinary” twill fabrics; b) “special” diagonal twill fabrics; c) fabrics similar to the previous but making a block pattern in the weave; d) fulled fabrics with a closed surface, sometimes dyed; e) dyed fabrics without trace [word?] and also striped fabrics. (p 258-264)

“Other textile items from Novgorod the Great” - Pletenki?

In the Novgorod material, the greatest number of textile items prepared without a loom are unquestionably "weavings" of which there are 16 examples. In 14 cases, they have a plain or ribbed (?) weave. Only one fragment (N-55/10153) has another method of weaving. One weaving in distinction from all others was prepared on weaving tablets with four holes. (Nahlik)

Tablet Weaving:

Among the 16 textile items not prepared on a loom, that Nahlik analyzed, one weaving was prepared on weaving tablets with four holes. (Nahlik)

Another example of tablet weaving is found in at least one fabric found in Old Ladoga. On this example was preserved the so-called 3rd or initial selvedge, perpendicular to the warp. Such a selvedge is characteristic of fabrics made on a vertical loom. The 3rd selvedge of fabric from Old Ladoga was woven on four plaques each with four holes. (Nahlik)

Another very interesting example is Novgorod fabric N-54/4187, from level 17/18. This fabric has the so-called initial, 3rd selvedge, prepared on plaques, connected between two stripes, made on plaques, are visible additional weaving of threads, but unfortunately the report of this weaving did not manage to identify it exactly (Fig. 19). [And I can't quite figure out what this sentence means...] A tablet-woven selvedge of such type often appears in fabrics of the 12th cent. It is possible to name a series of analogous fabrics. In Gdansk, in the layers related to the early middle ages, were also found fragments of fabrics with the 3rd selvedge, prepared on weaving plaques. Fabric decorated with metal rings, the ends and, accordingly, the beginning of which were woven on weaving tablets, frequently appear in ancient Rus and the eastern Pre-Baltic.

The 3rd, beginning selvedge, that we are speaking about, was prepared with help of a special device of the following form. Long pegs were driven into a board, on which was plied back and forth a narrow auxiliary warp. The threads of this auxiliary warp were threaded through the holes of plaques (4 plaques were used in the Novgorod examples). The rotation of these plaques created the fabric shed. In this shed passed threads of the actual warp in such a way that along all the selvedge it forms a narrow braid, from on one side of which hangs down threads to form the warp of the fabric to be woven. Then this braid was fastened to the warp reel on the vertical loom. Selvedges of a similar type are well visible on fabrics found in Tegle. (Nahlik)

The lowest quality of wool is found in the "knitted" items. They use a coarse, thick wool that is more irregular than the wool used in other textiles. (Nahlik).

Nahlik found 9 examples of "knitted" items from the Novgorod excavations in the Nerevskij End. These items were from layers: 28, 20, 16, 15, 14, 13, 11 and 4. They were made of very coarse and irregular thread, “wound” with the help of a weaving needle in a special technique to “knit” warm, thick mittens, and also insoles for shoes. (Nahlik)

Knitted items from Novgorod have a technique of weaving identical to that defind by M. Khal’d as Type II. [I have not looked up this reference.] This is the most simple method of needle knitting. Preparing mittens with this method proceeded by the following form. With the help of a coarse and blunt needle a strip was made, consisting of mutually interwoven loops. When the band reached the length of the cuff, the end of the strip was united with the beginning, giving a ring, and then the strip continues further, simultaneously uniting the edges with the preceding band. (Nahlik)

[I would recommend going to Phiala’s String Page to learn naalbinding. Her directions for basic naalbinding are clearer, and seem to be the same as the instructions Nahlik gives based on Khal'd.]

Knitted items appear in archeological material of Europe from the beginning of our era (i.e. around the time of Christ) and are found until the beginning of the 15th cent., and in some countries production continues until the present day. In Gotland excavations A. Moreh found mittens dating from the beginning of our era. In Sweden mittens were discovered dated to 1400. In Finland items of this type are known in medieval excavations. Mittens with needle weaving are often met with in excavations of Denmark. In the territory of Scandinavia, this technique continues until now. The closest analogues to the Novgorod technique, would be items from excavations in Beloozero, and also early medieval Gdansk. (Nahlik)

Nahlik also mentions, among items prepared with a needle (possibly a hook), another weaving found in Novgorod in level 24/25 – H-53/9581. [?]

Woven-in patterns, such as checks, plaids, herringbones and stripes, are discussed above.

In the 10th-13th centuries, the Rus were already blockprinting fabric using black, dark blue, bright red, yellow, or white dye on unbleached linen which was then dyed a dark blue or green color. This was used in peasant clothes and the everyday clothing for the nobility. Motifs derived from plant forms were rarely seen in the ancient block-prints, but stylized animals are often encountered: horses, deer, and birds. (Stamerov)

The decoration of line printing was simpler and generally geometrical. A typical pattern was a rhomboid lattice with dots or circles in the middle; four-part divisions into smaller rhomboids, rosettes, or stars on a background of small triangles or squares (imitating wood carving); patterns of straight or wavy lines ("pathways"); and with a different figure into its rosettes, braiding, and "suns" for borders. (Stamerov)

Pavalok, expensive imported fabrics, were mostly decorated in a typically Byzantine pattern of dark-red (cinnabar), crimson (carmine), purple and azure. (Kireyeva) and (Stamerov)

Furs:

Fur was used commonly and everywhere in ancient Russian clothing. It was used as a lining to warm winter clothing, and as ornamental edgings and borders, especially on hats. Furs were worn in the winter by even the poorest women. Wealthy women had coats made of fox (silver), ermine, sable, marten, lynx, otter and beaver. The most expensive furs (such as ermine and sable) are mentioned in chronicles only in reference to princely women's clothing. (Fur was used as money in ancient Russia.) Poorer women used less valuable furs such as wolf, sheepskin, fox (common fox, not the silver fox of the wealthy), she-bear, hare, wolverine and squirrel with the most accessible and durable being sheepskin. Unmarried women might wear rabbit or squirrel furs. Wealthy married women considered the wear of such frivolous coats embarrassing. (Pushkareva97 and 89) and (Kireyeva) and (Stamerov).

After the 13th century, it was fashionable to trim dresses and sleeves with fur. 13th cent. Russian noble women adorned the fur trimming of their dresses with little ermine skins, and the most well-to-do made fur "nakladki" ("linings") up to the lap of garments, reaching in width to the knee, forming a border up to half a yard wide, to the astonishment of foreign visitors. (Pushkareva97 and 89) and (Kireyeva) and (Stamerov).

In winter clothing, in the 13th-17th cent. as earlier, they wore “kurpechatyj mekh” – ovchina, merlushka [sheep fur, sheepskin, lambskin]; for shoes, belts, knives, etc., various types of leather – goat (khoz), sheep (urkha, rovduga)(Sav. 145, 160), cow and horse. At the end of the period appeared also hard thick soles (Shestakova et al.). (Rabinovich)

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