heaters

What is a heater?

The heater is a garment that is worn to heat a specific part of the body, which are usually the legs. In Medieval and Renaissance times, heaters were used to warm the parts of the body that were left uncovered: we can imagine a person wearing a tunic: he needed to provide warmth to the extremities, the ankles and the arms.

History of the heater

The heaters were used in the coldest days of the Medieval Era and gave heat to the less dressed areas of the body. It was a garment widely used by civilians and also by soldiers who went to war in northern Europe. They used to appear as strips of cloth that were wrapped around the lower part of the leg, the ankle and the tibia or the extremities of the arms reaching the hand. Depending on the temperature, they could be made of cotton or wool, without forgetting that animal skin was also used, which provided a lot of warmth.

Today leg warmers can be worn as a complement to the medieval costume, although they are also used by dancers before going out to the show to keep their legs warm.

types of heaters

There are two types of heaters:

Screwed heater: typical of the Medieval period.

Sleeve heater: most used for the arms.

Leg warmers are for men and women. Men usually wear them over pants and women under tunics.

If you go to medieval fairs and you want your costume to be as complete and relevant to the time as possible, surely you cannot miss the heaters, especially in the cooler times of the year. They are a garment that give a special touch to the suit, differentiating it from the others. We have leg warmers in wool or cotton and they are all handmade in Europe. If you have doubts we can advise you.