“Welcome back! ….a what?”

A Byzanbeanie. Or rather, a kamelaukion, a small round hat that in period, could be coated with bling.

A modern hat of the same name is part of Orthodox Christian clergy attire, and looks like this:

But the look I was going for, was in part, based off of this, the Crown of Constance of Aragon. German (Not Holy. Not Roman.) Empress in the early 13th Century.

This hat is a proper Byzantine era kamelaukion from the period I prefer to represent (900-1204).

I figured it was doable in an afternoon, at least the sewing portion of it. After that, embellishment would take what it would.

The original crown is covered in filagree gold, which is well beyond my skill, and also, well, “Crown”. While I’m a baroness of the court and entitled to wear a coronet, a crown is still above my station. This means that the arches over the seams have to go, too. While they would have hid some sins, arches are symbols of imperial rulership. Constance was an empress, I am not.

I also wanted a hat that I could dress up and down, so the praipendoulia would need to be removable. Cloth was my best bet.

I decided to use some Sartor I used on a tunic of Gieffrei’s a few years back.

 

While I tried to preserve as much of the roundels as I could, the reality is that in period, they would have cut to conserve fabric as a whole, not necessarily the design, so I had to keep that in mind, as well. Sartor silks are EXPENSIVE, and I want to eliminate waste as much as possible. The patterns would not have matched in the 12th Century, and I needed to move beyond the modern aesthetic and remind myself of this.

The only machine stitching was on the curved structural seams. The rest is done completely by hand.

I lined it in bright yellow silk, and applied the same color as a bias strip around the edge to seal up the raw hem.

I found an embroidered sari trim that gave the right amount of pizazz, without looking obtrusively modern. This would be the decorative band around the brim.

But that’s not blingy enough. Time to add bezants. Yay for fitting coronet!

Clearly, the answer is more bezants, and pearls. And Amethyst for a little contrast, of course.

Time for the praipendoulia, which my husband helped me put together with amazing findings I was able to get from Etsy, brass bar we punched and filed ourselves, and chain.

Time for test fittings!

And the obligatory Anna make a new hat, so time for a screamo face:

And then Birka happened, as it always does. And we flew up from Trimaris for the occasion. Here’s me in my persomanikion, with the kamelaukion and diadema (coronet), with Gieffrei and our adopted kiddo, Aethelflied, who rocks that teal sari Byzantine. Jeff and I are technically more in Siculo-Norman, as my personmanikion is based on the collar and overall shape of the Palermo Tunicella of Roger II of Sicily. Add the beanie and I may as well be a Sicilian noble, rather than a true Constantinopolitan one. I guess you can say I Normaned. Again. It makes the Norman Husband happy, at least. Plus, Siculo-Norman is just Byzantine without class, right? #notevenonce

 

I learned there is such a thing as “too much bling”, which is unfortunate. It’s either the praipendoulia, my hair, or my cruciform necklace. I cannot wear all three at once. I removed the necklace relatively early in the day because it was THAT bad, and then it became more manageable for me to pull my hair away from the dangly bits. But since this was worn by a Norman queen, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was worn with a thin silk veil and wimple to protect the hair from tangles. I’ll be exploring this look at a later date.

Speaking of look, nothing says “epitome of grace and nobelese oblige” like me with a can of beer in the back of court.