THE CARLOVINGIAN PERIOD.
752 TO 987.
Reign of Charlemagne—The women of the tenth century wear two
tunics—Judith’s belt—A veil is obligatory—Miniatures in the
Mazarin Library—Charles the Bald’s Bible—Shoes—Dress of Queen
Lutgarde—Dress of Rotrude and Bertha—Gisla and other kinswomen
of the Emperor—The successors of Charlemagne—Cannes—Adelaide of
Vermandois—The dress of widows.
The reign of Charlemagne, and the passing away of the first race of our
kings, to be succeeded by the second, made no essential difference as
to dress. We cannot, in fact, ascribe much importance to the German and
Byzantine influences which succeeded each other at that period, but did
not destroy what we may denominate the Gallo-Roman style.
The most elegant dress of a woman in the tenth century consisted of two
tunics of different colours, one with long, the other with short sleeves;
on the feet were boots laced up in front. Wide bands of embroidery
bordered the throat, sleeves, and lower edge of the skirt. The waist-band
was placed just above the hips. This belt was generally of great value,
being studded with gold and jewels. The belt belonging to Judith, wife of
Louis le Débonnaire, weighed three pounds. At the present day there are
no waist-bands either of that weight or value.
The Carlovingian women wore splendidly embroidered veils, covering the
head and shoulders, and reaching almost to the ground. This lent a
character of severity to the costume, which was especially aimed at by
the women of that period. The veil was indispensable, being regarded as
the penalty of the sin of our Mother Eve, and the hair was concealed
beneath it.
Among the admirable miniatures in the Mazarin Library, there is one of
a queen wearing a triangular diadem, and a veil falling on either side
over the shoulders. The under-tunic is black, the upper, in the style of
a mantle, is violet. Both are bordered with yellow, her shoes are yellow
also, and borderings and shoes alike were probably ornamented with gold.
In the celebrated Bible of Charles the Bald, a most curious historical
treasure, there are paintings of four women wearing the chlamys in
different colours.
The chlamys is always white, with sleeves of gold brocade, with one
exception, when it is rose-coloured. The under-garments are bright
orange, light brown, light blue, and violet, with pale blue sleeves,
trimmed with strips of red embroidery on bands of a gold ground.
We find that gold was used everywhere and always, and while making due
allowance for the imagination of the artist, his pictures throw light on
the costumes of the period.
Observe that the four women all wear shoes, not boots.
The historian has in general but scanty material with which to trace the
dress of the princesses and ladies of the court under the Carlovingians,
on account of the many wars both civil and foreign that took place
between the time of Charlemagne and that of Charles the Simple.
Still less do we know concerning the dress of the women of the people,
for on that point history is almost silent. We learn, however, that their
skirts were extremely long, and that they wore veils much resembling the
veil of nuns, but thicker, and hanging more closely round the figure.
Among women of noble rank the love of dress harmonized with the taste for
needlework displayed by the kinswomen of Charlemagne, as recorded by the
old chroniclers.
They worked with their own hands on silk and wool, but this did not
prevent them from loving and seeking to acquire magnificent possessions,
splendid ornaments and trimmings of excessive richness. The Empress
Judith, mother of Charles the Bald, was considered to have great skill in
embroidery. She gave to her godchild, the Queen of Denmark, a gown made
by herself and adorned with gold and gems. The ladies excelled in the
manufacture of small articles, such as bags, scarfs, sleeves, and belts.
Narrow purple bands were plaited in Queen Luitgarde’s beautiful hair, and
encircled her brow of dazzling fairness. Cords of gold held together her
chlamys, a splendid mantle thrown over her right shoulder. A beryl, that
clear and precious stone of bluish green, was set in her diadem. Her gown
was of fine linen, dyed purple; her neck sparkled with jewels.
Rotrude, the eldest daughter of Charlemagne, wore a mantle with a clasp
of gold and precious stones. Violet bands were plaited with her luxuriant
fair hair. A golden coronet diapered with gems as beautiful as those
in the clasp of her mantle encircled her brow, and gave her a truly
queen-like look. Rotrude had been promised in marriage to the Emperor
Constantine, who had heard of her beauty from beyond seas and mountains.
Bertha, another of Charlemagne’s daughters, who was married secretly to
Angilbert, a disciple of Alcuin, and a member of the Palatine school,
wore her hair confined in a golden fillet, and her head-dress was as
impressive as that of her sister. Yellow-green chrysolites sparkled on
the gold leaves with which her garments were embroidered.
Gisla, the best known of the great Emperor’s kinswomen, wore a purple
striped veil, and a dress dyed with the stamens of the marsh-mallow or
“mauve.”
Rhodaide rode on a superb horse; a gold bodkin set with jewels fastened
her flowing silken chlamys.
The mantle of Théodrade was hyacinth, and trimmed with moleskin; beads of
foreign fabric shone on her beautiful throat; on her feet she wore the
Greek cothurnus, like the Byzantine women.
Such are the descriptions given us by writers of the period, from whom we
also learn that the Carlovingian ladies wore but one girdle, placed very
low. The materials of their gowns were frequently transparent, revealing
the shoulders, arms, and lower limbs, and the gowns themselves were
somewhat clinging, so that the graceful undulating movement of the body
was visible, as in the antique times.
These transparent materials disappeared by degrees under the successors
of Charlemagne, and women’s dress became heavier and more ample. Long
veils were worn.
Under the last Carlovingians the splendour and elegance of female dress
declined. Ladies began to wear extremely simple hoods and copes. They
retained the habit of being delicately shod, shoes being for the most
part black and embroidered in beads. Were they already aware of the
important part played by shoes in the elegant appearance of a woman?
Carlovingian ladies frequently made use in their walks of a cane,
ornamented at the top by a bird; the use of a stick lessening their
fatigue and imparting uprightness to the figure.
If we may judge by the statue of Adelaide de Vermandois, the widow of
Count Geoffrey of Anjou, surnamed “Grisgonelle,” who died in 987, the
dress of aged women in the tenth century was somewhat as follows:—A
mantle was worn over a wide-sleeved gown, under which appeared another
garment, with close-fitting sleeves, buttoning at the wrist. A “guimpe”
covered the upper part of the bust, encircled the throat and was joined
to the veil, which, arranged in two large pads over the ears, presented a
strange appearance.
We may conclude by saying that the women of that period preferred a
rich but severe style of dress. Tightly fitting gowns displayed the
slenderness of the waist. Their ornaments, sometimes of inestimable
value, had none of the gaudiness that afterwards disfigured the dress of
the noble court ladies. Intrinsic value in jewels was much appreciated,
and they were worn, according to a Byzantine fashion, fastened to the
dress of which they appeared to form part. For a long time past jewels
had been worn attached to the sides of the circlet or coronet, and
falling over the hair as low as the shoulders.
It is noticeable that the garb of widows resembled that of our nuns. Ten
centuries have scarcely changed its principal characteristics.
We learn from the romances of chivalry that to have the insteps of the
hose cut open was a sign of mourning, and that damosels and the people
of their suite would make a vow as a mark of mourning to put on their
garments “the wrong side out.” Widows of the highest rank wore their
gowns high up to the throat, and wrapped themselves in a veil.
The fashion of their head-dress was an important point with Carlovingian
ladies. If of noble birth they wore their hair long, falling behind the
ears over the shoulders, and reaching below the waist. It was curled or
waved on the forehead. Their earrings were short pendants ending in a
pearl.
Like the Germans, they united to a love of dress a love of cleanliness,
and were accustomed to make use of the bath, either at the public
establishments, or in their own villas, which were provided with every
necessary for their daily wants. In these respects certain customs of
the East had rather gained than lost ground, and this in spite of the
prohibitions of the Catholic Church, which sought to prevent scandals, or
exaggerated practices hurtful to the public health.
But it would be a great mistake to imagine that baths were taken during
the Carlovingian period in splendidly decorated halls like those of the
Romans; statues, paintings, and mosaics were alike absent.
The thermæ of Julian on the left bank of the Seine, of which the ruins
remain to this day in the Hôtel de Cluny on the Boulevards St. Michel and
St. Germain, included gardens, porticoes, nay, even an immense palace, in
which many kings and queens of the earliest race took up their abode, and
in all probability made use of its baths. Childebert, for instance, set
up his court there with Ultrogothe and his daughters.
But with these exceptions no Merovingian or Carlovingian king has
possessed baths of such size. It is almost certain that the great lords
and ladies built no large bathing establishments in connexion with their
private dwellings; on the other hand, their toilet apparatus, plate,
brushes, fine towels, and other articles were often of very great value.
The bath itself was of wood, marble, or stone.
The public baths served as a place of meeting, where the news of the day
might be ascertained, and business and pleasure discussed.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: CAPETIAN COSTUMES Second half of the 10th Century
CAPETIAN COSTUMES 11th Century]