The Ionar: The Traditional Irish Jacket

The Ionar is a truly fascinating and unique piece of traditional irish clothing that is little known. It was worn by Irish men across the island as well as the Scots at the same period.
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[@IrishMedievalHistory]

Great work man!! really looking forward to the follow up video to this.

[@GallowglassAxe]

I still need to make me one of those. I have the Leine just like yours and its really comfortable. I need to also go back and check the color chart to know what colors I can make my Ionar out of.

[@ramblingkern]

There are a lot of colours in the after the quick image and some references to the preferred Irish colours of the time too

[@TrihardGamesWorkshop]

Whilst there is some good record of what irish people wore, I wish there was definitive answers for a suitable time period and how far we can stretch Ionars backward in time, you know yourself there's a definite time period when they go out of style but not necessarily a seperate definition of when they were begun to be used. A leather one would be very practical for traversing rivers and Loughs etc. I think a leather one would look very different though, not much different to a waist coat or sea coat with short sleeves . Im tempted to try and make a leather one, waterproofing necessary as a re-enactor myself I find wool incredibly cumbersome, especially in a humid and wet environment. Linen and leather however....much easier to wear. great video as always Nathan !

[@ramblingkern]

Thank you kindly. I would love to make a leather one for combat and test it out. Sad thing is we have basically a dark age period of Irish history where we know little about what was going on in Ireland and it makes a lot of research very tough to do.

[@enfield6645]

I have a leather one that I made from elk hide (it was the leather I had on hand) a while back. I have been fighting in my leine, but not with that particular ionar. Now I will have to, but will probably wait until fall here in the US.

[@ramblingkern]

Sounds like a nice bit of kit.

[@Stephen_Curtin]

I remember reading somewhere that, even in a bog, linen doesn't survive as well as wool. That could be why the Kilcommon outfit had no léine. As for the leather jacket you mentioned, that's from Edmund Spenser's A View to the Present State of Ireland. I don't have the quote to hand but I personally don't think that Spenser was talking about an ionar, I reckon a leather covered cotún is what he meant.

[@ramblingkern]

Yeah from what I could see it seemed more like a gambeson or arming jack in leather. Yes interesting note on the linen too. Thank you mate.

[@Rabhadh]

The ionar seems to have survived after the leine fell out of fashion, theres an image from the 9 years war showing what appears to be Irish troops in contemporary shirts with ionars.

[@ramblingkern]

@@Rabhadh would you know what the image is I would love to see it.

[@cooldaddy2877]

@@Rabhadh the léine was worn long after the Nine Years War.

[@cooldaddy2877]

linen is a vegetable fibre and that is why it breaks down fast and rarely survives. Wool and leather are much better at surviving so that is why we have no léine with the Kilcommon outfit.

[@evelynlamoy8483]

I'd love slightly more robust sleaves. maybe with some buttons by the ribbing, so it an be closed up for non-baggy sleeved shirts. It'd give it a bit more weather protective. having just a couple at the cuffs doesn't do much to keep it it closed.

[@ramblingkern]

Unfortunately no surviving examples or artwork seem to show anything along those lines.

[@huntclanhunt9697]

To me it seems more like a vest, with the sleeves existing to keep the giant sleeves from getting in the way. I wouldn't be surprised if it started as a vest.

[@cooldaddy2877]

Yes, it is a bit like a vest I suppose but the sleeves were not designed to "keep the giant sleeves from getting in the way". They were designed to let the léine sleeves hang freely. I suppose you need to actually wear the stuff for a prolonged time to fully understand. I have no problems with wearing these items except to say that you do occasionally get the sleeves (both ionar and léine) trapped in car doors etc...but you just have to be aware.

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

Might the PH or whatever of the bog act differently on linen and wool?

[@ramblingkern]

Yes after some research it seems to be that linen does not survive yet wool does due to the nature of their fibers.

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

@@ramblingkern That may explain why so many bog bodies appeared to be naked. Thanks.

[@lumikel215]

Do you know if the colors of the ionar held any significance? The one you’re wearing is dark green, and in some of the pictures you show, they are red.

[@ramblingkern]

Sadly not most of the information we have comes from non Irish sources. However most of the colours tended to be bright and vibrant.

[@CommissarMoody1]

What would be the colours this would come in. Because I would like to order one myself.

[@ramblingkern]

You can ask for any colour combination you want just let the spes team know I sent you and what to make. If you want inspiration the after the quick painting is a good start.

[@CommissarMoody1]

Will do.

[@archeofutura_4606]

Would we know what the Ionar looked like in the early medieval period?

[@ramblingkern]

there are earlier garments that are somewhat similar a good number actually but there is a lot that make the ionar unique and very much of this period.

[@archeofutura_4606]

@@ramblingkern ah okay. Honestly I prefer medieval fashion from the 13th century and earlier aesthetic-wise, but it’s important to learn about this period too since it was closer in time to when the English banned our traditional clothing

[@ramblingkern]

@@archeofutura_4606 in time I will be covering these periods too. But most of the fashion of that period was very similar across all of Europe it was in this period that Irish clothing really became distinct.

[@Doyle_Lorean2105]

Any idea as to the original colour

[@ramblingkern]

Sadly the bog turned all of the clothes brown however this was a lighter shade so likely a lighter colour of some sort.

[@cooldaddy2877]

When originally found, the jacket was of a lighter colour than the trews and hat. When I investigated the item personally in 1990 for a museum research study I noticed a centimetre square patch of lighter colour under the armpit. Also a found a series of small minute dots of the same colour running in a line. This suggests that the original colour was covered by wool thread and this helped it to survive. Investigations some twenty years later showed that the colour had faded away and no longer visible. This "colour" was probably the overall colour of the ionar. However, if further future research points to a different colour, then the colour that I found may have been a dye fusion from any decoration that may have been on the ionar at some point. The colour in question was light blue.

[@anthonycordato7118]

​@@ramblingkern paintings and illustrations can be a great way to see

[@ramblingkern]

@@anthonycordato7118 yes there are a few illustrations out there such as the famous after the quick one.

[@theghosthero6173]

My big question about these is how old they are, I really wish we knew.

[@ramblingkern]

That's the big question we have a few hundred years in Ireland with little to no good historical evidence on many aspects of Irish history which is super frustrating.

[@cooldaddy2877]

As the Rambling Kern said....a few hundred years.

[@iamnoman85]

All of the art that depicts them is from the 16th century, I believe. Don't know if there is any evidence for them any earlier than that.

[@cooldaddy2877]

@@iamnoman85 they are made to be worn with the hanging sleeved version of the léine, as was the Cóta Mór.....so 15th, 16th, early 17th centuries.

[@iamnoman85]

@@cooldaddy2877 that would make sense that this style of ionar would correspond with the hanging sleeved leine! I have heard or read that the larger sleeves may have come into fashion in the 15th c, but have been unable to find any documentation to confirm it. I would love links if you have any good sources!

[@The_Gallowglass]

Inner, in the best...I mean west of Ireland. ;)

[@cooldaddy2877]

the buttoned up sleeve is not designed to stop the léine sleeve from running down your arm or getting in the way because the proper léine sleeve does not reach that far down. Please look at your own version of the Drawn After The Quick. Look at the guy in the red ionar. It is plain to see that his sleeve opening is at his elbow area. Also look at the guy on the far left. His sleeve opening is at the bend at the elbow...plain and simple. The same goes for the guy on the far right. The evidence is 100% that the sleeve opening was at the bend in the elbow. That was also the opinion of Dunlevy and McLysaght, both of whom I have discussed this issue with. The "idea" of a sleeve coming down to the wrist comes from American attempts at recreating the léine at Renfares etc since the 60's. The Americans are slowly turning away from this idea, at last.

[@huntclanhunt9697]

Doesn't appear particularity practical... Is it purely fashion?

[@ramblingkern]

Hard to say there are a few examples of big sleeves like the Leine and open sleeves like the ionar but it seems a unique fashion in Ireland as to why it's hard to say.

[@cooldaddy2877]

Unless you have actually worn this stuff on a daily basis like myself, you will always wonder. It is actually very practical. The open sleeves can be buttoned or tied at the wrist and this keeps it out of harms way. There is a fashion angle to it also as it was designed to be worn with the léine which has large hanging sleeves and they need to go somewhere.

[@addeenen7684]

Geluid was slecht. Beeldkwaliteit was slecht. Presentatie was slecht. Onze kultuur is weg, als Nederlandse Kelt verwacht ik daarom dat u beter uw best doet.

[@ramblingkern]

Glad my worked helped you thanks for the support.

[@addisoncaren7987]

Outstanding video!!! You could get the engagement you deserve with Promo>SM!!!