THE MEROVINGIAN PERIOD.
428 TO 752.
Modifications in female dress after the Invasion of the
Franks—Customs of the latter—The Merovingians—Costumes of skins
and felt; cloaks and camlets—The coif, the veil, the skull-cap,
the “guimpe,” the cape—Fashionable Merovingian ladies adorn
themselves with flowers—Various articles of dress—The
“suint”—Young girls dress their hair without ornaments—St.
Radégonde—The hair of married women.
The influence of political events on costume is more decisive than is
generally supposed. Cæsar’s conquest of Gaul had greatly modified the
dress of the Gallic women. After the invasions of the barbarians, and
when the Franks had snatched the most vivacious region of our country
from the Romans, a material change took place in the dress of the women.
Former invasions had generally been of a temporary nature, but the
invasion of the Franks was of a permanent character. This rendered it
highly important in regard to the moral life of the population. The
Franks, like the Romans at an earlier period, made a real conquest of our
country, in which they founded a different state of society from that
which had been established by Cæsar and his successors. The rough, not
to say ferocious manners of the north crossed the Rhine together with
the bold and indomitable warriors whose adventurous exploits have been
made known to us by history, and both private and public life felt their
influence.
The Frankish woman, who was large and coarsely built, wore a long black
gown, or a gown edged with scarlet, but her arms were bare and her bosom
was uncovered. She crowned her head with flowering gorse, and would rush
fully armed into the bloody fray. At times inspired, or filled with the
spirit of prophecy, she sang the deeds of father, husband, or son, or
recounted the victories of the confederacy. She resembled the other
Allemanni women in her dreamy creed and gentle superstitions, and she
possessed quiet energy and comparative sociability which enabled her
to triumph over obstacles. While holding tenaciously to many primitive
customs she was not altogether averse to innovations, nor to art,
industries, and southern civilization. She held her place admirably at
the court of Clovis, who, as tradition informs us, liked to dispense his
favours and had a taste for magnificence.
No sooner were the Franks firmly established this side of the Rhine, on
the northern and eastern territories, than the rusticity of the Germans
began to blend with the refinements of the Latin race, and in some cases
to counteract the elements of corruption in the latter. The customs of
the Franks took root among the Gallo-Romans, and for a time the smaller
details of dress disappeared, or at least held their place with the
utmost difficulty.
During the first period of the Merovingian monarchy, both men and women
were clothed in the skins of animals. At times both sexes would wear
garments of felt, or narrow, short-sleeved silken mantles, dyed red or
scarlet, or garments of a coarse material made from camels’ hair and
thence named camlet. Camlet was sometimes woven with a silk warp.
Generally speaking, the women covered their heads with coifs, not unlike
the ancient mitres that originated in Persia, or they wore a linen or
cotton veil, ornamented with gold and gems, and drew the end of the right
side over the left shoulder. But the Frankish women proper wore a small
skull-cap called an “obbou.” Any person who knocked this cap off rudely
was mulcted in a heavy fine by the Salic law. Respect towards woman was
enforced by Franks and Germans alike.
Queen Clotilde is frequently represented as wearing a tunic, confined
round the waist by a band of some precious material. Her mantle is laced
together across the breast, and her hair falls in a long plait. Later
than this, St. Radégonde wore a sort of “guimpe” called “sabanum,” made
of lawn, rudely embroidered in gold, if we may credit Fortunat the poet,
who was frequently in her company. After her conversion the Queen of
Clotaire I. followed the fashions of the barbarians. Six years after
her marriage she withdrew from the court, in order to devote herself to
religious exercises, diversified by literary pursuits.
The Merovingian women were partial to many-coloured tunics, to
embroideries, to flowered stuffs, and to a sort of cape known to them of
old. This consisted of a piece of striped material of circular shape,
with an aperture for the head, and two holes for the arms; it covered the
chest and shoulders, and was fastened by strings round the loins. They
wore two belts, one above and the other below the bust. Their arms were
bare, as it was the custom of dwellers on the banks of the Rhine.
Sometimes—an instance is supplied by Ultrogothe, the wife of
Childebert—they made use of a large mantle, a sort of chlamys, fastened
at the throat or on the right shoulder by a clasp.
If to this we add an “escarcelle” or purse, in which kings and queens
carried coins to distribute to the poor, my readers will have an exact
idea of the female dress of the time.
In such costumes the fair Merovingians were wanting neither in charm, nor
dignity, nor in a certain modest elegance. They probably borrowed some
details of attire from the Gallo-Roman fashions and added them to their
own.
Bishop Fortunat, a Latin poet of that day, who was present at the wedding
of Siegbert and Brunehilde, alludes to the custom his countrywomen had
adopted of wreathing their hair with sweet-smelling flowers. Another
bishop and historian, Gregory of Tours, who from his position was also
well acquainted with the customs of the Merovingian court, speaks of
silken robes, which he describes as splendid.
Every wealthy woman loaded herself with jewels. They wore pearl
necklaces, jacinths, diamonds, gowns with long trains, mantles, tunics,
hoods, veils, and casques; earrings, bracelets, necklets, and rings;
stomachers and belts of woollen, linen, or silk.
Their dresses on festive occasions sparkled with gold and jewels. St.
Gregory of Nazianzen rebuked them for their innumerable perfumed plaits
of hair, yet they knew of one pommade only—“suint,” an animal grease
which proceeds from the skin of the sheep and clings to its wool.
Such a perfume would be nauseous to the women of our day, but it was
much liked by the Frankish women, either for its novelty, or from its
efficaciousness in giving smoothness to the skin.
A MS. of 660 gives the picture of a Merovingian lady wearing her hair
smoothly parted on the brow and hanging down in two thick plaits,
lessening in size as they fall over her shoulders. A fluted diadem of
gold, placed like a crown on the head, confines the hair, and imparts to
the pictured form a certain air of majesty.
Young girls, with whom it was customary to wear their hair flowing
loosely, were permitted no ornaments on the head. This was so general a
custom that if as they grew older they remained unmarried, they were said
to “wear their hair.” The beautiful Radégonde, after the murder of her
brother by her husband Clotaire I., received permission from the tyrant
to withdraw from the world. As a mark of humility she placed on the altar
her diadems, bracelets, clasps of precious gems, fringes, and golden and
purple tissues. Then she broke in twain her belt of massive gold. The
sacrifice was consummated; Radégonde belonged to God alone. She died in
the odour of sanctity at the monastery of Sainte-Croix, which she had
founded at Poitiers.
One of the councils forbade married women to cut their hair, as a symbol
of their subjection to their husbands. But this prohibition did not cure
them of their vanity; they might still plait their hair with ribbons, and
wear it parted in the middle and falling in two wide plaits, like that of
Swiss peasants at the present day.
Numerous statues have preserved for us this Merovingian fashion, which
was not wanting in grace, while it conferred on women an appearance of
severe simplicity, less majestic than that of the figure I have described
in speaking of a manuscript of the seventh century.
[Illustration: CAPETIAN COSTUMES 1100 to 1364
CARLOVINGIAN COSTUMES 9th and 10th Centuries]