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| Hajdúdorog-Gyúlás |
Headdress
Magyar women of the Conquest Era wore several different types of ornaments on and around their heads. The variety of ornaments or ornamented objects range from headdresses, veils, and hats, to braid ornaments, and earrings.
Mount ornamented headdresses occur in female grave finds less frequently than other types of decorative objects for the head. This could be attributed to either regional preferences or social status; perhaps mount ornamented headdresses were reserved for only the highest ranking women. Headdress mounts of the type described in this article have not been recovered from any male burials to date.
The current theory about the construction of these headdresses is that the metal mounts were riveted or stitched, via soldered loops or holes punched in the ornament, to a narrow cloth or leather band that might also have been embroidered or beaded with elaborate designs. There is evidence that they wore shoulder-length ornamented veils, and these headdresses may have been used together with such an object.
| Hajdúdorog-Gyúlás |
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| Grave 25. Gilt Silver. 1.8 x 2.1 cm and .7 cm |
The lozenge-shaped mounts of the Hajdúdorog-Gyúlás mid- to later 10th century headdress pictured above each had four small loops on the back used for attachment purposes. The smaller rosette shaped mounts have a single rivet attached to the back.
There doesn't appear to be a type of metal mount specifically designated for only the headdress. I believe that these women used whatever type of mount was available and that appealed to their aesthetic sense. Headdress mounts have been recovered in a wide variety of shapes and designs. They may be lozenge-shaped, petaled rosettes, circular, spade or leaf-shaped. Occassionally, they may have had pendants that depend from loops soldered to the base. The ornaments may be cast or pressed out of thin sheet metal much of which, unfortunately, crumbled to dust despite careful excavation.
| Nagyteremia |
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| Silver with gilt. 1.5 cm |
In the Nagyteremia find, which is thought to be part of an aristocratic burial (no date specified), archaeologists theorize that the large number of metal mounts found in the grave (eighty eight in all) indicate the same mount type was used as ornamentation on multiple objects, likely both headdress and tunic or caftan. Each of the mounts in this find have two rivets on the reverse and were evidently attached to leather by means of a rectangular copper washer. These mounts are cast silver with a depressed circular channel gilded with gold.
| Püspökladány-Eperjesvölgy |
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| Bronze. 5 cm X 2.3 cm, 3.4 cm 0.9 cm |
In the Püspökladány-Eperjesvölgy excavation, archaeologists note that these worn headdress mounts had been repurposed from mounts that originally adorned the neckline of a tunic. On ornaments where the loops had broken off and been lost, holes had been punched into the bronze in order to attach them to leather or fabric. This grave site is dated from the early 10th century to the end of the 11th century.
The mid-10th century silver gilt rosettes from the Tokaj find shown below were not recovered through professional excavation, so we don't have any specific information on their actual position in the grave. The Hungarian National Museum displays them as being part of a headdress which is why I have chosen to include it in this article.
| Tokaj |
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| Cast silver, gilded. 2.2 cm |
They are part of particularly beautiful find that also includes a pair of lunular earrings and pendant dress ornaments. These rosettes have three rivet and washer sets on the reverse. It may seem like a bit of overkill, but I imagine they took the lose of such a precious object very seriously.
Note to reenactors - To date, I've found no archaeological or anecdotal evidence of a coronet-like solid metal band in use by Conquest Era Magyars. If you would like to read about the process I used to recreate a headdress of the type described in this article, select this link.
Further Reading
The majority of the information in this article was taken from The Ancient Hungarians, an 1996 exhibition book published by the Hungarian National Museum. This is an essential book every Magyar living history enthusiast should own.
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