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ENGLISH COSTUME
Painted & Described by
DION CLAYTON CALTHROP
Published
by Adam & Charles Black
London . MCMVII
[Illustration: {Scissors}]
Published in four volumes during 1906.
Published in one volume, April, 1907.
Agents
America The Macmillan Company
64 & 66 Fifth Avenue, New York
Canada The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd.
70 Bond Street, Toronto
India Macmillan & Company, Ltd.
Macmillan Building, Bombay
309 Bow Bazaar Street, Calcutta
[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF GEORGE IV. (1820-1830)
Here you see the coat which we now wear, slightly altered, in our
evening dress. It came into fashion, with this form of top-boots, in
1799, and was called a Jean-de-Bry. Notice the commencement of the
whisker fashion.]
INTRODUCTION
The world, if we choose to see it so, is a complicated picture of
people dressing and undressing. The history of the world is composed
of the chat of a little band of tailors seated cross-legged on their
boards; they gossip across the centuries, feeling, as they should,
very busy and important. Someone made the coat of many colours for
Joseph, another cut into material for Elijah's mantle.
Baldwin, from his stall on the site of the great battle, has only to
stretch his neck round to nod to the tailor who made the toga for
Julius Caesar; has only to lean forward to smile to Pasquino, the
wittiest of tailors.
John Pepys, the tailor, gossips with his neighbour who cut that
jackanapes coat with silver buttons so proudly worn by Samuel Pepys,
his son. Mr. Schweitzer, who cut Beau Brummell's coat, talks to Mr.
Meyer, who shaped his pantaloons. Our world is full of the sound of
scissors, the clipping of which, with the gossiping tongues, drown the
grander voices of history.
As you will see, I have devoted myself entirely to civil costume--that
is, the clothes a man or a woman would wear from choice, and not by
reason of an appointment to some ecclesiastical post, or to a military
calling, or to the Bar, or the Bench. Such clothes are but symbols of
their trades and professions, and have been dealt with by persons who
specialize in those professions.
I have taken the date of the Conquest as my starting-point, and from
that date--a very simple period of clothes--I have followed the
changes of the garments reign by reign, fold by fold, button by
button, until we arrive quite smoothly at Beau Brummell, the inventor
of modern clothes, the prophet of cleanliness.
I have taken considerable pains to trace the influence of one garment
upon its successor, to reduce the wardrobe for each reign down to its
simplest cuts and folds, so that the reader may follow quite easily
the passage of the coat from its birth to its ripe age, and by this
means may not only know the clothes of one time, but the reasons for
those garments. To the best of my knowledge, such a thing has never
been done before; most works on dress try to include the world from
Adam to Charles Dickens, lump a century into a page, and dismiss the
ancient Egyptians in a couple of colour plates.
So many young gentlemen have blown away their patrimony on feathers
and tobacco that it is necessary for us to confine ourselves to
certain gentlemen and ladies in our own country. A knowledge of
history is essential to the study of mankind, and a knowledge of
history is never perfect without a knowledge of the clothes with which
to dress it.
A man, in a sense, belongs to his clothes; they are so much a part of
him that, to take him seriously, one must know how he walked about, in
what habit, with what air.
I am compelled to speak strongly of my own work because I believe in
it, and I feel that the series of paintings in these volumes are
really a valuable addition to English history. To be modest is often
to be excessively vain, and, having made an exhaustive study of my
subject from my own point of view, I do not feel called upon to hide
my knowledge under a bushel. Of course, I do not suggest that the
ordinary cultured man should acquire the same amount of knowledge as a
painter, or a writer of historical subjects, or an actor, but he
should understand the clothes of his own people, and be able to
visualize any date in which he may be interested.
One half of the people who talk glibly of Beau Brummell have but half
an idea when he lived, and no idea that, for example, he wore
whiskers. Hamlet they can conjure up, but would have some difficulty
in recognising Shakespeare, because most portraits of him are but head
and shoulders. Napoleon has stamped himself on men's minds very
largely through the medium of a certain form of hat, a lock of hair,
and a gray coat. In future years an orchid will be remembered as an
emblem.
I have arranged, as far as it is possible, that each plate shall show
the emblem or distinguishing mark of the reign it illustrates, so that
the continuity of costume shall be remembered by the arresting notes.
As the fig-leaf identifies Adam, so may the chaperon twisted into a
cockscomb mark Richard II. As the curled and scented hair of
Alcibiades occurs to our mind, so shall Beau Nash manage his clouded
cane. Elizabeth shall be helped to the memory by her Piccadilly ruff;
square Henry VIII. by his broad-toed shoes and his little flat cap;
Anne Boleyn by her black satin nightdress; James be called up as
padded trucks; Maximilian as puffs and slashes; D'Orsay by the curve
of his hat; Tennyson as a dingy brigand; Gladstone as a collar; and
even more recent examples, as the Whistlerian lock and the Burns blue
suit.
And what romantic incidents may we not hang upon our clothes-line! The
cloak of Samuel Pepys ('Dapper Dick,' as he signed himself to a
certain lady) sheltering four ladies from the rain; Sir Walter Raleigh
spreading his cloak over the mud to protect the shoes of that great
humorist Elizabeth (I never think of her apart from the saying,
'Ginger for pluck'); Mary, Queen of Scots, ordering false attires of
hair during her captivity--all these scenes clinched into reality by
the knowledge of the dress proper to them.
And what are we doing to help modern history--the picture of our own
times--that it may look beautiful in the ages to come? I cannot answer
you that.
Some chapters of this work have appeared in the _Connoisseur_, and I
have to thank the editor for his courtesy in allowing me to reproduce
them.
I must also thank Mr. Pownall for his help in the early stages of my
labours.
One thing more I must add: I do not wish this book to go forth and be
received with that frigid politeness which usually welcomes a history
to the shelves of the bookcase, there to remain unread. The book is
intended to be read, and is not wrapped up in grandiose phrases and a
great wind about nothing; I would wish to be thought more friendly
than the antiquarian and more truthful than the historian, and so have
endeavoured to show, in addition to the body of the clothes, some
little of their soul.
DION CLAYTON CALTHROP.
Contents
PAGE
WILLIAM THE FIRST 1
WILLIAM THE SECOND 10
HENRY THE FIRST 21
STEPHEN 29
HENRY THE SECOND 46
RICHARD THE FIRST 55
JOHN 62
HENRY THE THIRD 67
EDWARD THE FIRST 81
EDWARD THE SECOND 92
EDWARD THE THIRD 102
RICHARD THE SECOND 122
THE END OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 141
HENRY THE FOURTH 152
HENRY THE FIFTH 161
HENRY THE SIXTH 176
EDWARD THE FOURTH 198
EDWARD THE FIFTH 213
RICHARD THE THIRD 213
HENRY THE SEVENTH 223
HENRY THE EIGHTH 247
EDWARD THE SIXTH 274
MARY 283
ELIZABETH 291
JAMES THE FIRST 325
CHARLES THE FIRST 341
THE CROMWELLS 359
CHARLES THE SECOND 365
JAMES THE SECOND 378
WILLIAM AND MARY 383
QUEEN ANNE 395
GEORGE THE FIRST 406
GEORGE THE SECOND 414
GEORGE THE THIRD 432
GEORGE THE FOURTH 440
Illustrations in Colour
1. A Man of the Time of George IV. 1820-1830 _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
2. A Man of the Time of William I. 1066-1087 2
3. A Woman of the Time of William I. " 8
4. A Man of the Time of William II. 1087-1100 10
5. A Woman of the Time of William II. " 16
6. A Man of the Time of Henry I. 1100-1135 22
7. A Child of the Time of Henry I. " 24
8. A Woman of the Time of Henry I. " 26
9. A Man of the Time of Stephen 1135-1154 30
10. A Woman of the Time of Stephen " 38
11. A Man of the Time of Henry II. 1154-1189 46
12. A Woman of the Time of Henry II. " 52
13. A Man of the Time of Richard I. 1189-1199 56
14. A Woman of the Time of Richard I. " 60
15. A Man of the Time of John 1199-1216 62
16. A Woman of the Time of John " 66
17. A Man of the Time of Henry III. 1216-1272 68
18. A Woman of the Time of Henry III. " 74
19. A Peasant of Early England 78
20. A Man and Woman of the Time of
Edward I. 1272-1307 88
21. A Man and Woman of the Time of
Edward II. 1307-1327 96
22. A Man of the Time of Edward III. 1327-1377 112
23. A Woman of the Time of Edward III. " 120
24. A Man of the Time of Richard II. 1377-1399 128
25. A Woman of the Time of Richard II. " 136
26. A Man and Woman of the Time of
Henry IV. 1399-1413 152
27. A Man of the Time of Henry V. 1413-1422 164
28. A Woman of the Time of Henry V. " 172
29. A Man of the Time of Henry VI. 1422-1461 180
30. A Woman of the Time of Henry VI. " 192
31. A Man of the Time of Edward IV. 1461-1483 200
32. A Woman of the Time of Edward IV. " 208
33. A Man of the Time of Richard III. 1483-1485 216
34. A Woman of the Time of Richard III. " 220
35. A Man of the Time of Henry VII. 1485-1509 226
36. A Woman of the Time of Henry VII. " 242
37. A Man of the Time of Henry VIII. 1509-1547 250
38. A Man of the Time of Henry VIII. " 256
39. A Woman of the Time of Henry VIII. " 258
40. A Woman of the Time of Henry VIII. " 266
41. A Man and Woman of the Time of
Edward VI. 1547-1553 278
42. A Man of the Time of Mary 1553-1558 286
43. A Woman of the Time of Mary " 290
44. A Man of the Time of Elizabeth 1558-1603 298
45. A Woman of the Time of Elizabeth " 306
46. A Woman of the Time of Elizabeth " 314
47. A Man of the Time of James I. 1603-1625 330
48. A Woman of the Time of James I. " 338
49. A Man of the Time of Charles I. 1625-1649 346
50. A Woman of the Time of Charles I. " 354
51. A Cromwellian Man 1649-1660 360
52. A Woman of the Time of the
Cromwells " 362
53. A Woman of the Time of the
Cromwells " 364
54. A Man of the Time of Charles II. 1660-1685 366
55. A Man of the Time of Charles II. " 368
56. A Woman of the Time of Charles II. " 372
57. A Man of the Time of James II. 1685-1689 378
58. A Woman of the Time of James II. " 380
59. A Man of the Time of William
and Mary 1689-1702 384
60. A Woman of the Time of William
and Mary " 392
61. A Man of the Time of Queen Anne 1702-1714 396
62. A Woman of the Time of Queen Anne " 400
63. A Man of the Time of George I. 1714-1727 408
64. A Woman of the Time of George I. 1714-1727 412
65. A Man of the Time of George II. 1727-1760 416
66. A Woman of the Time of George II. " 424
67. A Man of the Time of George III. 1760-1820 432
68. A Woman of the Time of George III. " 434
69. A Man of the Time of George III. 1760-1820 436
70. A Woman of the Time of George III. " 438
Illustrations in Black and White
FACING PAGE
A Series of Thirty-two Half-tone Reproductions of
Engravings by Hollar 358
A Series of Sixty Half-tone Reproductions of Wash Drawings
by the Dightons--Father and Son--and by the Author 440
Numerous Line Drawings by the Author throughout the Text.
WILLIAM THE FIRST
Reigned twenty-one years: 1066-1087.
Born 1027. Married, 1053, Matilda of Flanders.
THE MEN
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William I.; a shoe}]
Why France should always give the lead in the matter of dress is a
nice point in sartorial morality--a morality which holds that it takes
nine tailors to make a man and but one milliner to break him, a code,
in fact, with which this book will often have to deal.
Sartorially, then, we commence with the 14th of October, 1066, upon
which day, fatal to the fashions of the country, the flag of King
Harold, sumptuously woven and embroidered in gold, bearing the figure
of a man fighting, studded with precious stones, was captured.
William, of Norse blood and pirate traditions, landed in England, and
brought with him bloodshed, devastation, new laws, new customs, and
new fashions.
Principal among these last was the method of shaving the hair at the
back of the head, which fashion speedily died out by reason of the
parlous times and the haste of war, besides the utter absurdity of the
idea. Fashion, however, has no sense of the ridiculous, and soon
replaced the one folly by some other extravagance.
William I. found the Saxons very plainly dressed, and he did little to
alter the masculine mode.
He found the Saxon ladies to be as excellent at embroidery as were
their Norman sisters, and in such times the spindle side was content
to sit patiently at home weaving while the men were abroad ravaging
the country.
William was not of the stuff of dandies. No man could draw his bow; he
helped with his own hands to clear the snowdrift on the march to
Chester. Stark and fierce he was, loving the solitudes of the
woods and the sight of hart and hind.
[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF WILLIAM I. (1066-1087)
Cloak buckled at the shoulder. Leather thongs crossed on his legs.
Shoes of leather. Tunic fitting to his body like a jersey.]
When some kind of order was restored in England, many of the Saxons
who had fled the country and gone to Constantinople came back,
bringing with them the Oriental idea of dress. The Jews came with
Eastern merchandise into England, and brought rich-coloured stuffs,
and as these spread through the country by slow degrees, there came a
gradual change in colour and material, and finer stuffs replaced the
old homespun garments.
The Jews were at this time very eminent as silk manufacturers and
makers of purple cloth. The Britons had been very famous for their
dyed woollen stuffs. Boadicea is said to have worn a tunic of
chequered stuff, which was in all probability rather of the nature of
Scotch plaids.
The tunics worn by the men of this time were, roughly speaking, of two
kinds: those that fitted close to the body, and those that hung loose,
being gathered into the waist by a band. The close-fitting tunic was
in the form of a knitted jersey, with skirts reaching to the knee; it
was open on either side to the hips, and fell from the hips in loose
folds. The neck was slit open four or five inches, and had an edging
of embroidery, and the sleeves were wide, and reached just below the
elbows. These also had an edging of embroidery, or a band different in
colour to the rest of the tunic.
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William I.}]
The other form of tunic was made exactly in shape like the modern
shirt, except that the neck opening was smaller. It was loose and
easy, with wide sleeves to the elbow, and was gathered in at the waist
by a band of stuff or leather.
The skirts of the tunics were cut square or V-shaped in front and
behind. There were also tunics similar in shape to either of those
mentioned, except that the skirts were very short, and were tucked
into wide, short breeches which reached to the knee, or into the
trousers which men wore.
Under this tunic was a plain shirt, loosely fitting, the sleeves tight
and wrinkled over the wrist, the neck showing above the opening of the
tunic. This shirt was generally white, and the opening at the neck
was sometimes stitched with coloured or black wool.
Upon the legs they wore neat-fitting drawers of wool or cloth, dyed or
of natural colour, or loose trousers of the same materials, sometimes
worn loose, but more generally bound round just above the knee and at
the ankle.
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William I.}]
They wore woollen socks, and for footgear they wore shoes of skin and
leather, and boots of soft leather shaped naturally to the foot and
strapped or buckled across the instep. The tops of the boots were
sometimes ornamented with coloured bands.
The cloak worn was semicircular in shape, with or without a small
semicircle cut out at the neck. It was fastened over the right
shoulder or in the centre by means of a large round or square brooch,
or it was held in place by means of a metal ring or a stuff loop
through which the cloak was pushed; or it was tied by two cords sewn
on to the right side of the cloak, which cords took a bunch of the
stuff into a knot and so held it, the ends of the cords having tags
of metal or plain ornaments.
One may see the very same make and fashion of tunic as the Normans
wore under their armour being worn to-day by the Dervishes in Lower
Egypt--a coarse wool tunic, well padded, made in the form of tunic and
short drawers in one piece, the wide sleeves reaching just below the
elbow.
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William I.}]
The hats and caps of these men were of the most simple form--plain
round-topped skull-caps, flat caps close to the head without a brim,
and a hat with a peak like the helmet.
Hoods, of course, were worn during the winter, made very close to the
head, and they were also worn under the helmets.
Thus in such a guise may we picture the Norman lord at home, eating
his meat with his fingers, his feet in loose skin shoes tied with
thongs, his legs in loose trousers bound with crossed garters, his
tunic open at the neck showing the white edge of his shirt, his face
clean-shaven, and his hair neatly cropped.
THE WOMEN
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of William I.}]
Nothing could be plainer or more homely than the dress of a Norman
lady. Her loose gown was made with ample skirts reaching well on to
the ground, and it was gathered in at the waist by a belt of wool,
cloth, silk, or cloth of gold web.
The gown fitted easily across the shoulders, but fell from there in
loose folds. The neck opening was cut as the man's, about five inches
down the front, and the border ornamented with some fine needlework,
as also were the borders of the wide sleeves, which came just below
the elbows.
Often the gown was made short, so that when it was girded up the
border of it fell only to the knees, and showed the long chemise
below.
The girdle was, perhaps, the richest portion of their attire, and was
sometimes of silk diapered with gold thread, but such a girdle would
be very costly. More often it would be plain wool, and be tied simply
round the waist with short ends, which did not show.
The chemise was a plain white garment, with tight sleeves which
wrinkled at the wrists; that is to say, they were really too long for
the arm, and so were caught in small folds at the wrist.
The gown, opening at the neck in the same way as did the men's tunics,
showed the white of the chemise, the opening being held together
sometimes by a brooch.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of William I.; a type of
neckline}]
Towards the end of the reign the upper part of the gown--that is, from
the neck to the waist--was worn close and fitted more closely to the
figure, but not over-tightly--much as a tight jersey would fit.
Over all was a cloak of the semicircular shape, very voluminous--about
three feet in diameter--which was brooched in the centre or on the
shoulder.
[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF WILLIAM I. (1066-1087)
A twist of wool holds the gown at the waist. Under the gown the
chemise shows. The neck of the gown is embroidered.]
On the head, where the hair was closely coiled with a few curls at the
forehead, a wimple was worn, which was wound about the head and
thrown over the shoulder, not allowing the hair to show. These
wimples were sometimes very broad, and were almost like a mantle, so
that they fell over the shoulders below the breast.
Tied round the wimple they sometimes had a snood, or band of silk.
The shoes were like those worn by the men.
These ladies were all housewives, cooking, preparing simples, doing
embroidery and weaving. They were their own milliners and dressmakers,
and generally made their husbands' clothes, although some garments
might be made by the town tailors; but, as a rule, they weaved, cut,
sewed, and fitted for their families, and then, after the garments
were finished to satisfaction, they would begin upon strips of
embroidery to decorate them.
In such occupation we may picture them, and imagine them sitting by
the windows with their ladies, busily sewing, looking up from their
work to see hedged fields in lambing-time, while shepherds in rough
sheepskin clothes drove the sheep into a neat enclosure, and saw to it
that they lay on warm straw against the cold February night.
WILLIAM THE SECOND
Reigned thirteen years: 1087-1100.
Born _c._ 1060.
THE MEN
[Illustration: {A man of the time of William II.}]
About this time there came to England a Norman, who settled near by
the Abbey of Battle--Baldwin the Tailor by name, whom one might call
the father of English tailoring.
Baldwin the Tailor sat contentedly cross-legged on his bench and plied
his needle and thread, and snipped, and cut, and sewed, watching the
birds pick worms and insects from the turf of the battleground.
[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF WILLIAM II. (1087-1100)
Shows the wide drawers with an embroidered hem. Under them can be
seen the long woollen drawers bound with leather thongs.]
England is getting a little more settled.
The reign opens picturesquely enough with William Rufus hastening to
England with his father's ring, and ends with the tragedy of the New
Forest and a blood-stained tunic.
Clothes begin to play an important part. Rich fur-lined cloaks and
gowns trail on the ground, and sweep the daisies so lately pressed by
mailed feet and sopped with blood where the Saxons fell.
[Illustration: The Cloak pushed through a Ring.]
Times have changed since Baldwin was at the coronation at Westminster
on Christmas Day twenty years ago. Flemish weavers and farmers arrive
from overseas, and are established by William II. in the North to
teach the people pacific arts, causing in time a stream of Flemish
merchandise to flow into the country, chiefly of rich fabrics and fine
cloths.
The men adopt longer tunics, made after the same pattern as
before--split up either side and loose in the sleeve--but in many
cases the skirts reach to the ground in heavy folds, and the sleeves
hang over the hands by quite a yard.
The necks of these tunics are ornamented as before, with coloured
bands or stiff embroidery.
The cuffs have the embroidery both inside and out, so that when the
long sleeve is turned back over the hand the embroidery will show.
The fashion in cloaks is still the same--of a semicircular pattern.
The shoes are the same as in the previous reign--that is, of the shape
of the foot, except in rare cases of dandyism, when the shoes were
made with long, narrow toes, and these, being stuffed with moss or
wool, were so stiffened and curled up at the ends that they presented
what was supposed to be a delightfully extravagant appearance.
They wore a sort of ankle garter of soft leather or cloth, which came
over the top of the boot and just above the ankle.
The hair, beard, and moustaches were worn long and carefully
combed--in fact, the length of the beard caused the priests to rail at
them under such terms as 'filthy goats.' But they had hardly the
right to censorship, since they themselves had to be severely
reprimanded by their Bishops for their extravagance in dress.
Many gentlemen, and especially the Welsh, wore long loose trousers as
far as the ankle, leaving these garments free from any cross
gartering. These were secured about the waist by a girdle of stuff or
leather.
[Illustration: {Two men of the time of William II.}]
The ultra-fashionable dress was an elongation of every part of the
simple dress of the previous reign. Given these few details, it is
easy for anyone who wishes to go further to do so, in which case he
must keep to the main outline very carefully; but as to the actual
length of sleeve or shoe, or the very measurements of a cloak, they
varied with the individual folly of the owner. So a man might have
long sleeves and a short tunic, or a tunic which trailed upon the
ground, the sleeves of which reached only to the elbow.
I have noticed that it is the general custom of writers upon the dress
of this early time to dwell lovingly upon the colours of the various
parts of the dress as they were painted in the illuminated
manuscripts. This is a foolish waste of time, insomuch as the colours
were made the means of displays of pure design on the part of the very
early illuminators; and if one were to go upon such evidence as this,
by the exactness of such drawings alone, then every Norman had a face
the colour of which nearly resembled wet biscuit, and hair picked out
in brown lines round each wave and curl.
These woollen clothes--cap, tunic, semicircular cloak, and leg
coverings--have all been actually found in the tomb of a Briton of the
Bronze Age. So little did the clothes alter in shape, that the early
Briton and the late Norman were dressed nearly exactly alike.
When the tomb of William II. was opened in 1868, it was found, as had
been suspected, that the grave had been opened and looted of what
valuables it might have contained; but there were found among the
dust which filled the bottom of the tomb fragments of red cloth, of
gold cloth, a turquoise, a serpent's head in ivory, and a wooden spear
shaft, perhaps the very spear that William carried on that fatal day
in the New Forest.
Also with the dust and bones of the dead King some nutshells were
discovered, and examination showed that mice had been able to get into
the tomb. So, if you please, you may hit upon a pretty moral.
THE WOMEN
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of William II.}]
And so the lady began to lace....
A moralist, a denouncer of the fair sex, a satirist, would have his
fling at this. What thundering epithets and avalanche of words should
burst out at such a momentous point in English history!
However, the lady pleased herself.
Not that the lacing was very tight, but it commenced the habit, and
the habit begat the harm, and the thing grew until it arrived finally
at that buckram, square-built, cardboard-and-tissue figure which
titters and totters through the Elizabethan era.
Our male eyes, trained from infancy upwards to avoid gazing into
certain shop windows, nevertheless retain a vivid impression of an
awesome affair therein, which we understood by hints and signs
confined our mothers' figures in its deadly grip.
That the lady did not lace herself overtight is proved by the many
informations we have of her household duties; that she laced tight
enough for unkind comment is shown by the fact that some old monk
pictured the devil in a neat-laced gown.
It was, at any rate, a distinct departure from the loosely-clothed
lady of 1066 towards the neater figure of 1135.
The lacing was more to draw the wrinkles of the close-woven bodice of
the gown smooth than to form a false waist and accentuated hips, the
beauty of which malformation I must leave to the writers in ladies'
journals and the condemnation to health faddists.
However, the lacing was not the only matter of note. A change was
coming over all feminine apparel--a change towards richness, which
made itself felt in this reign more in the fabric than in the actual
make of the garment.
[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF WILLIAM II. (1087-1100)
This shows the gown, which is laced behind, fitting more closely to
the figure. The sleeves are wider above the wrist.]
The gown was open at the neck in the usual manner, was full in
the skirt and longer than heretofore, was laced at the back, and was
loose in the sleeve.
The sleeve as worn by the men--that is, the over-long sleeve hanging
down over the hand--was also worn by the women, and hung down or was
turned back, according to the freak of the wearer. Not only this, but
a new idea began, which was to cut a hole in the long sleeve where the
hand came, and, pushing the hand through, to let the rest of the
sleeve droop down. This developed, as we shall see later.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of William II.}]
Then the cloak, which had before been fastened by a brooch on the
shoulder or in the centre of the breast, was now held more tightly
over the shoulders by a set of laces or bands which ran round the back
from underneath the brooch where they were fastened, thus giving more
definition to the shoulders.
You must remember that such fashions as the hole in the sleeve and the
laced cloak were not any more universal than is any modern fashion,
and that the good dame in the country was about a century behind the
times with her loose gown and heavy cloak.
There were still the short gowns, which, being tucked in at the waist
by the girdle, showed the thick wool chemise below and the unlaced
gown, fitting like a jersey.
The large wimple was still worn wrapped about the head, and the hair
was still carefully hidden.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of William II.}]
Shall we imagine that it is night, and that the lady is going to bed?
She is in her long white chemise, standing at the window looking down
upon the market square of a small town.
The moon picks out every detail of carving on the church, and throws
the porch into a dense gloom. Not a soul is about, not a light is to
be seen, not a sound is to be heard.
The lady is about to leave the window, when she hears a sound in the
street below. She peers down, and sees a man running towards the
church; he goes in and out of the shadows. From her open window she
can hear his heavy breathing. Now he darts into the shadow of the
porch, and then out of the gloom comes a furious knocking, and a voice
crying, 'Sanctuary!'
The lady at her window knows that cry well. Soon the monks in the
belfry will awake and ring the Galilee-bell.
The Galilee-bell tolls, and the knocking ceases.
A few curious citizens look out. A dog barks. Then a door opens and
closes with a bang.
There is silence in the square again, but the lady still stands at her
window, and she follows the man in her thoughts.
Now he is admitted by the monks, and goes at once to the altar of the
patron-saint of the church, where he kneels and asks for a coroner.
The coroner, an aged monk, comes to him and confesses him. He tells
his crime, and renounces his rights in the kingdom; and then, in that
dark church, he strips to his shirt and offers his clothes to the
sacrist for his fee. Ragged, mud-stained clothes, torn cloak, all fall
from him in a heap upon the floor of the church.
Now the sacrist gives him a large cloak with a cross upon the
shoulder, and, having fed him, gives him into the charge of the
under-sheriff, who will next day pass him from constable to constable
towards the coast, where he will be seen on board a ship, and so pass
away, an exile for ever.
The night is cold. The lady pulls a curtain across the window, and
then, stripping herself of her chemise, she gets into bed.
HENRY THE FIRST
Reigned thirty-five years: 1100-1135.
Born 1068. Married to Matilda of Scotland, 1100; to
Adela of Louvain, 1121.
THE MEN
[Illustration: {A man of the time of Henry I.; two types of shoe}]
The Father of Popular Literature, Gerald of Wales, says: 'It is better
to be dumb than not to be understood. New times require new fashions,
and so I have thrown utterly aside the old and dry methods of some
authors, and aimed at adopting the fashion of speech which is actually
in vogue to-day.'
Vainly, perhaps, I have endeavoured to follow this precept laid down
by Father Gerald, trying by slight pictures of the times to make the
dry bones live, to make the clothes stir up and puff themselves into
the shapes of men.
It is almost a necessity that one who would describe, paint, stage, or
understand the costume of this reign should know the state of England
at the time.
For there is in this reign a distinction without a difference in
clothes; the shapes are almost identical to the shapes and patterns of
the previous reigns, but everybody is a little better dressed.
The mantles worn by the few in the time of William the Red are worn
now by most of the nobility, fur-lined and very full.
One may see on the sides of the west door of Rochester Cathedral Henry
and his first wife, and notice that the mantle he wears is very full;
one may see that he wears a supertunic, which is gathered round his
waist. This tunic is the usual Norman tunic reaching to the knee, but
now it is worn over an under-tunic which reaches to the ground in
heavy folds.
One may notice that the King's hair is long and elegantly twisted into
pipes or ringlets, and that it hangs over his shoulders.
[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF HENRY I. (1100-1135)
His hair is curled in ringlets; he wears a long cloak. The shirt
shows at the neck of the tunic. The small design in the corner is
from a sanctuary door-knocker.]
No longer is the priestly abuse of 'filthy goat' applicable, for
Henry's beard is neatly trimmed and cut round his face.
These two things are the only practical difference between the two
dates--the end of the eleventh century and the beginning of the
twelfth.
The under-tunic was made as a perfectly plain gown with tight sleeves
ending at the wrist; it hung loose and full upon the figure. Over this
was worn the short tunic with wide sleeves ending at the elbow. Both
tunics would have broad borders of embroidered work or bands of
coloured material. The supertunic would be brooched by one of those
circular Norman brooches which was an ornamental circle of open
gold-work in which stones and jewels were set. The brooch was fastened
by a central pin.
The extravagances of the previous reign were in some measure done away
with; even the very long hair was not fashionable in the latter half
of this reign, and the ultra-long sleeve was not so usual.
So we may give as a list of clothes for men in this reign:
A white linen shirt.
A long tunic, open at the neck, falling to the ground, with tight
sleeves to the wrist.
A short tunic reaching only to the knees, more open at the neck than
the long tunic, generally fastened by a brooch.
Tight, well-fitting drawers or loose trousers.
Bandages or garters crossed from the ankle to the knee to confine the
loose trousers or ornament the tights.
Boots of soft leather which had an ornamental band at the top.
Socks with an embroidered top.
Shoes of cloth and leather with an embroidered band down the centre
and round the top.
Shoes of skin tied with leather thongs.
Caps of skin or cloth of a very plain shape and without a brim.
Belts of leather or cloth or silk.
Semicircular cloaks fastened as previously described, and often lined
with fur.
The clothes of every colour, but with little or no pattern; the
patterns principally confined to irregular groups of dots.
And to think that in the year in which Henry died Nizami visited the
grave of Omar Al Khayyam in the Hira Cemetery at Nishapur!
[Illustration: A CHILD OF THE TIME OF HENRY I.
It is only in quite recent years that there have been quite distinct
dresses for children, fashions indeed which began with the ideas for
the improvement in hygiene. For many centuries children were
dressed, with slight modifications, after the manner of their
parents, looking like little men and women, until in the end they
arrived at the grotesque infants of Hogarth's day, powdered and
patched, with little stiff skirted suits and stiff brocade gowns,
with little swords and little fans and, no doubt, many pretty airs
and graces.
One thing I have never seen until the early sixteenth century, and
that is girls wearing any of the massive head-gear of their parents;
in all other particulars they were the same.]
THE WOMEN
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of Henry I.}]
The greatest change in the appearance of the women was in the
arrangement of the hair.
After a hundred years or more of headcloths and hidden hair suddenly
appears a head of hair. Until now a lady might have been bald for all
the notice she took of her hair; now she must needs borrow hair to add
to her own, so that her plaits shall be thick and long.
It is easy to see how this came about. The hair, for convenience, had
always been plaited in two plaits and coiled round the head, where it
lay concealed by the wimple. One day some fine lady decides to discard
her close and uncomfortable head-covering. She lets her plaits hang
over her shoulders, and so appears in public. Contempt of other ladies
who have fine heads of hair for the thinness of her plaits;
competition in thick and long hair; anger of ladies whose hair is not
thick and long; enormous demand for artificial hair; failure of the
supply to meet the ever-increasing demand; invention of silken cases
filled with a substitute for hair, these cases attached to the end of
the plaits to elongate them--in this manner do many fashions arrive
and flourish, until such time as the common people find means of
copying them, and then my lady wonders how she could ever have worn
such a common affair.
The gowns of these ladies remained much the same, except that the
loose gown, without any show of the figure, was in great favour; this
gown was confined by a long girdle.
The girdle was a long rope of silk or wool, which was placed simply
round the waist and loosely knotted; or it was wound round above the
waist once, crossed behind, and then knotted in front, and the ends
allowed to hang down. The ends of the girdle had tassels and knots
depending from them.
The silk cases into which the hair was placed were often made of silk
of variegated colours, and these cases had metal ends or tassels.
The girdles sometimes were broad bands of silk diapered with gold
thread, of which manufacture specimens remain to us.
[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF HENRY I. (1100-1135)
This shows the pendant sleeve with an embroidered hem. The long
plaits of hair ended with metal, or silk, tags. At the neck and
wrists the white chemise shows.]
The sleeves of the gowns had now altered in shape, and had acquired a
sort of pendulent cuff, which hung down about two hands' breadth from
the wrist. The border was, as usual, richly ornamented.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of Henry I.}]
Then we have a new invention, the pelisse. It is a loose silk coat,
which is brooched at the waist, or buttoned into a silk loop. The
sleeves are long--that is, they gradually increase in size from the
underarm to the wrist, and sometimes are knotted at the ends, and so
are unlike the other gown sleeves, which grow suddenly long near to
the wrist.
This pelisse reaches to the knees, and is well open in front. The idea
was evidently brought back from the East after the knights arrived
back from the First Crusade, as it is in shape exactly like the coats
worn by Persian ladies.
We may conceive a nice picture of Countess Constance, the wife of Hugh
Lufus, Earl of Chester, as she appeared in her dairy fresh from
milking the cows, which were her pride. No doubt she did help to milk
them; and in her long under-gown, with her plaits once more confined
in the folds of her wimple, she made cheeses--such good cheeses that
Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, rejoiced in a present of some of
them.
What a change it must have been to Matilda, free of the veil that she
hated, from the Black Nuns of Romsey, and the taunts and blows of her
aunt Christina, to become the wife of King Henry, and to disport
herself in fine garments and long plaited hair--Matilda the very
royal, the daughter of a King, the sister to three Kings, the wife of
a King, the mother of an Empress!
STEPHEN
Reigned nineteen years: 1135-1154.
Born 1094. Married, 1124, to Matilda of Boulogne.
THE MEN
[Illustration: {A man of the time of Stephen}]
When one regards the mass of material in existence showing costume of
the tenth and eleventh centuries, it appears curious that so little
fabric remains of this particular period.
The few pieces of fabric in existence are so worn and bare that they
tell little, whereas pieces of earlier date of English or Norman
material are perfect, although thin and delicate.
There are few illuminated manuscripts of the twelfth century, or of
the first half of it, and to the few there are all previous
historians of costume have gone, so that one is left without choice
but to go also to these same books. The possibilities, however, of the
manuscripts referred to have not been exhausted, and too much
attention has been paid to the queer drawing of the illuminators; so
that where they utilized to the full the artistic license, others have
sought to pin it down as accurate delineation of the costume of the
time. In this I have left out all the supereccentric costumes, fearing
that such existed merely in the imagination of the artist, and I have
applied myself to the more ordinary and understandable. As there are
such excellent works on armour, I have not touched at all upon the
subject, so that we are left but the few simple garments that men wore
when they put off their armour, or that the peasant and the merchant
habitually wore.
Ladies occupied their leisure in embroidery and other fine sewing, in
consequence of which the borders of tunics, of cloaks, the edgings of
sleeves, and bands upon the shoes, were elegantly patterned. The more
important the man, the finer his shoes.
[Illustration: A MAN OF THE TIME OF STEPHEN (1135-1154)
He is wearing a cloak with hood attached; it is of skin, the smooth
leather inside. He has an ankle gaiter covering the top of his
shoes. On the arm over which the cloak hangs can be seen the white
sleeve of the shirt.]
As will be seen from the drawings, the man wore his hair long,
smoothly parted in the centre, with a lock drawn down the parting
from the back of his head. As a rule, the hair curled back naturally,
and hung on the shoulders, but sometimes the older fashion of the past
reign remained, and the hair was carefully curled in locks and tied
with coloured ribbon.
Besides the hood as covering for the head, men wore one or other of
the simple caps shown, made of cloth or of fur, or of cloth fur-lined.
[Illustration: {A man of the time of Stephen; two types of shoe; a
boot}]
[Illustration: {Two types of tunic; two types of cloak; four types
of sleeve showing cuff variations}]
Next to his skin the man of every class wore a shirt of the pattern
shown--the selfsame shirt that we wear to day, excepting that the
sleeves were made very long and tight-fitting, and were pushed back
over the wrist, giving those wrinkles which we notice on all the
Bayeux tapestry sleeves, and which we see for many centuries in
drawings of the undergarment. The shape has always remained the same;
the modes of fastening the shirt differ very slightly--so little, in
fact, that a shirt of the fourth century which still remains in
existence shows the same button and loop that we notice of the shirts
of the twelfth century. The richer man had his shirt embroidered round
the neck and sometimes at the cuffs. Over this garment the man wore
his tunic--of wool, or cloth, or (rarely) of silk; the drawing
explains the exact making of it. The tunic, as will be seen, was
embroidered at the neck, the cuffs, and round the border. One drawing
shows the most usual of these tunics, while the other drawings will
explain the variations from it--either a tight sleeve made long and
rolled back, a sleeve made very wide at the cuff and allowed to hang,
or a sleeve made so that it fell some way over the hand. It was
embroidered inside and out at the cuff, and was turned back to allow
free use of the hand.
Over the tunic was worn the cloak, a very simple garment, being a
piece of cloth cut in the shape of a semicircle, embroidered on the
border or not, according to the purse and position of the owner.
Sometimes a piece was cut out to fit the neck.
Another form of cloak was worn with a hood. This was generally used
for travelling, or worn by such people as shepherds. It was made for
the richer folk of fine cloth, fur-lined, or entirely of fur, and for
the poorer people of skin or wool.
The cloak was fastened by a brooch, and was pinned in the centre or on
either shoulder, most generally on the right; or it was pushed through
a ring sewn on to the right side of the neck of the cloak.
The brooches were practically the same as those worn in the earlier
reigns, or were occasionally of a pure Roman design.
As will be seen in the small diagrams of men wearing the clothes of
the day, the tunic, the shirt, and the cloak were worn according to
the season, and many drawings in the MSS. of the date show men wearing
the shirt alone.
On their legs men wore trousers of leather for riding, bound round
with leather thongs, and trousers of wool also, bound with coloured
straps of wool or cloth.
[Illustration: {A man of the time of Stephen; an alternative hat
for a man}]
Stockings of wool were worn, and cloth stockings also, and socks.
There was a sock without a foot, jewelled or embroidered round the
top, which was worn over the stocking and over the top of the boot in
the manner of ankle gaiters.
The country man wore twists of straw round his calf and ankle.
For the feet there were several varieties of boots and shoes made of
leather and stout cloth, now and again with wooden soles. As has been
said before, the important people rejoiced in elegant footgear of all
colours. All the shoes buttoned with one button above the outside
ankle. The boots were sometimes tall, reaching to the bottom of the
calf of the leg, and were rolled over, showing a coloured lining.
Sometimes they were loose and wrinkled over the ankle. They were both,
boot and shoe, made to fit the foot; for in this reign nearly all the
extravagances of the previous reign had died out, and it is rare to
find drawings or mention of long shoes stuffed with tow or wool.
During the reign of Stephen the nation was too occupied in wars and
battles to indulge in excessive finery, and few arts flourished,
although useful improvements occurred in the crafts.
There is in the British Museum a fine enamelled plate of this date
which is a representation of Henry of Blois, Stephen's brother, who
was the Bishop of Winchester. Part of the inscription, translated by
Mr. Franks, says that 'Art is above gold and gems,' and that 'Henry,
while living, gives gifts of brass to God.'
Champleve enamel was very finely made in the twelfth century, and many
beautiful examples remain, notably a plaque which was placed on the
column at the foot of which Geoffrey Plantagenet was buried. It is a
portrait of him, and shows the Byzantine influence still over the
French style.
This may appear to be rather apart from costume, but it leads one to
suppose that the ornaments of the time may have been frequently
executed in enamel or in brass--such ornaments as rings and brooches.
It is hard to say anything definite about the colours of the dresses
at this time. All that we can say is that the poorer classes were
clothed principally in self-coloured garments, and that the dyes used
for the clothes of the nobles were of very brilliant hues. But a
street scene would be more occupied by the colour of armour. One would
have seen a knight and men-at-arms--the knight in his plain armour and
the men in leather and steel; a few merchants in coloured cloaks, and
the common crowd in brownish-yellow clothes with occasional bands of
colour encircling their waists.
The more simply the people are represented, the more truthful will be
the picture or presentation. Few pictures of this exact time are
painted, and few stories are written about it, but this will give all
the information necessary to produce any picture or stage-play, or to
illustrate any story.
The garments are perfectly easy to cut out and make. In order to prove
this I have had them made from the bare outlines given here, without
any trouble.
THE WOMEN
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of Stephen}]
Though many parts of England were at this time being harassed by wars,
still the domestic element grew and flourished.
The homes of the English from being bare and rude began to know the
delights of embroidery and weaving. The workroom of the ladies was the
most civilized part of the castle, and the effect of the Norman
invasion of foreign fashions was beginning to be felt.
As the knights were away to their fighting, so were the knights'
ladies engaged in sewing sleeve embroideries, placing of pearls upon
shoes, making silk cases for their hair, and otherwise stitching,
cutting, and contriving against the return of their lords.
[Illustration: {A woman of the time of Stephen}]
It is recorded that Matilda escaped from Oxford by a postern in a
white dress, and no doubt her women sympathizers made much of white
for dresses.