THE WOMEN OF THE TRANSITION PERIOD
The authorities upon whom we depend for information as to
the condition of the industrial classes--particularly the
agricultural--during the fifteenth century are in such hopeless
conflict that it is impossible to do more than follow the views
of some one of them, with such modifications and checks as may be
reasonably introduced from the others. The picture already drawn of
the utterly miserable condition of the peasantry during that century
is not ratified by all the writers, and yet the interpretation of
the data, conflicting as it is, must lead to the conclusion that the
condition of that class of English society was far from being roseate,
and that, in the main, it would be difficult to overdraw the misery
which existed; but this condition was ameliorated to some extent
by the introduction into rural districts of domestic manufactures,
after the decay of agriculture. The compensation that accrued to the
peasantry by a growth in the clothing trade counterbalanced, in a
measure, their other losses, while it also brought the rural districts
into industrial relation with the towns and aided in bridging the
chasm between the two. The industry was of a nature to enlist the
activities of the women of the households and to bring them into
contact with the commercial life of the nation, in a lesser degree
than their sisters of the craft guilds, it is true, but still in a
way that had an important bearing upon the industrial history of the
country.
The Wars of the Roses, which had been so destructive to the nobility,
and the tendency of the crown to depend upon the gentry as a balance
to the power of the feudal barons, aided in making more certain and
rapid the advance of the middle class. The style of living is a sure
index of the degree of prosperity; there was a great increase in the
number as well as in the size of the houses which ranked in importance
between the castle of the baron and the cottage of the peasant. Also,
we meet with a change for the better in the equipment of such houses.
Instead of a few pieces of furniture, rude and primitive, it is not
unusual in the inventories of this time to find complete suits of
furniture for the various rooms of the house. All of the country
gentlemen and more prosperous burghers possessed quantities of plate.
The custom of having but one bedroom, or two at most, and obliging
guests and servants to sleep in the great hall or in rude shacks
temporarily erected for their accommodation, was no longer common in
this class of society. With the increase of the number of rooms in the
houses, the importance of the hall diminished. Town and country houses
alike were now generally built around an interior court, into which
the rooms looked, and the windows opening upon the street and country
were small and unimportant. This was not simply an architectural
change, but was due to the necessity of studying security on account
of the disturbed state of society. Men were beginning to appreciate
good houses, and the women had greater resources in the way of
household utensils and furnishings, particularly in those pertaining
to the kitchen. The glittering rows of pewter and plate were a source
of great satisfaction to housewives, and were largely depended upon to
establish their claim to social distinction. The art of making bricks,
which had been lost since the departure of the Romans from Britain,
was revived, and the establishment of brickkilns stimulated building.
By the end of the fifteenth century, the domestic house was entirely
differentiated from the castle. The materials for dwellings were of
the sort readiest to hand. In the eastern counties, where clay was
more abundant than stone, bricks were commonly used, while elsewhere
the houses were built of stone or wood.
The dwellings of the fifteenth century were commodious and convenient.
A typical country house may be described as follows: a door on the
ground floor led into the hall, while a staircase on the outside led
to the first floor proper. Inside the door at the head of the stairs
was to be found a shorter staircase, which led to the floor on which
were situated the chambers. Passing into the hall, the visitor would
find himself in the most spacious apartment of the house. It remained
as it had been throughout the Middle Ages, the public room, open to
all who were admitted within the precincts of the establishment. The
permanent furniture consisted chiefly of benches, and a seat with a
back to it, which was used by the superior members of the family. In
the hall there was usually at least one table which was a fixture, but
the other tables continued to be made up from planks and trestles when
needed. Cushions and ornamental cloths to place over the seats and
backs of benches were in general use, and on special occasions the
tapestries, some of which had been in the families for generations,
were brought out, though apparently they were not used on ordinary
occasions. The sideboard was one of the most familiar articles of
furniture, and upon it was arranged the plate, which was in charge of
the butler, and was intended as much for display as for use. In the
large mansions, as in the castles, the hall was not complete without
the minstrels' gallery and a dais; though inconveniently large, it
was well warmed and lighted, and the walls were often decorated with
stags' antlers on which to hang the men's hats and caps, hunting horns
and such accessories of the chase, beside which were suspended arms
and armor and fishing nets; while on the sideboard might be found
writing materials and a book or two. The fresh rushes with which the
floor was strewn gave forth, when first placed, a refreshing smell
when crushed by the foot.
The setting of the table was much the same as it had been. Knives
were not ordinarily placed upon it, because of the custom of the
times for each person to carry his own knife. Salt was regarded with
superstition, and it was thought desirable that it should be placed
upon the table before other comestibles. There was little attempt to
keep the tiled floor clean except by strewing it with rushes, and for
guests or members of the household to throw bones or other debris of
the table upon the floor was not looked upon as an offence against
manners; indeed, dogs were almost invariably present, and awaited,
as customary, their meals at the hands of the guests. However, the
directions for behavior at table instructed the person not to spit
upon the table, by which intimation it was delicately hinted that the
proper place upon which to expectorate was the floor. Again, the guest
is told that when he makes sops in the wine, he must either drink all
the wine in the glass or else throw it on the floor. The uncleanliness
of the seats is also suggested by the instruction given the learner
in etiquette that he should always first look at the seat before
occupying it, to be sure there was nothing dirty upon it. Table
manners had lost some of their ceremony, but had retained all of their
rudeness. Forks were not used to convey food to the mouth, fingers
answering every purpose, but it was considered bad manners to eat with
a knife. Other rules for the table are curious enough, but are also
important as illustrating the manners of the century. Some of them
are too disgusting to mention; others, not open to this objection,
may be instanced. The guest was directed not to dip his meat in the
saltcellar to salt it, but to take a little salt with his knife and
put it on his meat, not to drink with a dirty mouth, not to offer
another person the remains of his pottage, not to eat too much cheese,
and to take only two or three nuts when they were placed before him.
Still other rules are not without point, such as not to roll one's
napkin into a cord or tie it into knots, and not to get intoxicated
during dinner time!
Let us now take a glance at the table service of a noble dame of the
period, where the extreme of etiquette may be expected to prevail. The
hunting horn having announced that the meal awaits the guests, squires
or pages bear to them scented water for the customary ablutions. This
is served in delicately wrought ewers, placed in silver basins. A
further touch of delicacy to the repast is often provided by perfumed
herbs scattered over the rich damask tablecloth. The guests are not
inconvenienced by the crowding of decorative vessels on the board. The
numerous courses are well served, for a superior domestic is charged
with this duty, and he is assisted by two varlets. At the sideboard
is a squire or page whose sole duty is to serve the wines and drinking
vessels; he too is assisted by a varlet, who places them before the
several guests. None of these attendants are required to leave the
hall, to which the officers of the kitchen and the cellar bring the
dishes and the wines. During the meal the gallery is occupied by
the musicians, who, it is to be presumed, will serve to enliven the
formalities attendant on the scene. The parlor was a more pretentious
room than the hall, and was ornamented with more care. While it was a
usual feature of town houses of the period, it had been introduced so
comparatively late that its final position in the plan of the house
had not become fixed; sometimes it was upon the ground floor, and
sometimes upon the floor above, while the larger houses had several
such apartments. It had open recesses with fixed seats on each side
of the window, and the fireplace was smaller and more comforting than
those of the hall. When carpets came into use, the parlor was the
first room to be treated to the luxury, and it had the additional
distinction of being the only room that contained a cupboard. An
inventory of the furniture of the parlor of a fifteenth-century
house includes the following: a hanging of worsted, red and green; a
cupboard of ash boards; a table and a pair of trestles; a branch of
latten, with four lights; a pair of andirons; a pair of tongs; a form
to sit upon, and a chair. It will be seen from this list that the
furnishings for a parlor were not numerous, but they are suggestive
of a degree of comfort greatly in advance of that of prior centuries.
This paucity of household furniture did not arise so much from the
inability to procure it as from the insecurity of the times. Margaret
Paston, in a letter to her husband, written in the reign of Edward
IV., says: "Also, if ye be at home this Christmas, it were well done
ye should do purvey a garnish or twain or pewter vessel, two basins
and two ewers, and twelve candlesticks, for ye have too few of any of
these to serve this place; I am afraid to purvey much stuff in this
place, till we be sure thereof."
Wall paintings had come into use in the houses of the better sort,
and the hardwood finishings of the parlor and other important rooms
displayed elaborate carvings and a massiveness and dignity of scheme.
Among the newer styles of chairs was one of the folding sort, which
exactly resembled our camp stools. Griffins, centaurs, and the like
were patterns for candle and torch holders, which were often of
wrought iron of an elaborate design. The branch of latten with four
lights, mentioned in the inventory quoted, referred to a sort of
chandelier, holding four candles, which was suspended from the centre
of the ceiling and was raised and lowered by means of a cord and
pulley.
As the people began to lose taste for the hall, on account of its
publicity, they gradually withdrew from it to the parlors for many of
the purposes to which the hall had been originally devoted. The recess
seat at the windows was the favorite place for the female members
of the household when employed in needlework and other sedentary
occupations, and the apartment was commonly used for the family meals.
In a little treatise dating at the close of the fifteenth century,
one of the speakers is made to say: "So down we came again into the
parlor, and there found divers gentlemen, all strangers to me; and
what should I say more, but to dinner we went." The table, we are
told, "was fair spread with diaper cloths, the cupboard garnished with
goodly plate." Also, the parlors relieved the bedchambers of many
of the uses to which they had been put, and secured to them greater
privacy. Largely because of the lack of any other place, ladies had
been accustomed to receive their friends in their bedchambers, but now
the parlor was used for a reception room, and there was spent much of
the time which the female part of the family had previously passed in
the bower or the chamber.
Young ladies of even the great families were brought up very strictly
by their mothers, who kept them constantly at work and exacted from
them an almost slavish respect. It appears from the correspondence of
the Paston family, to which reference has been made, that the wife of
Sir William Paston, the judge, was a very harsh mother. Jane Claire,
a kinswoman, sent to John Paston, the lady's eldest son, an account
of the severe treatment of his sister Elizabeth at Mrs. Paston's
hands. The young lady was of marriageable age, and a man by the name
of Scroope had been suggested as her husband. Jane Claire writes:
"Meseemeth he were good for my cousin, your sister, without that ye
might get her a better; and if ye can get a better, I would advise you
to labour it in as short time as ye may goodly, for she was never in
so great a sorrow as she is now-a-days, for she may not speak with no
man, whosoever come, nor even may see nor speak with my man, nor with
servants of her mother's, but that she beareth her on hand otherwise
than she meaneth; and she hath since Easter the most part been beaten
once in a week, or twice, and sometimes twice in a day, and her head
broken in two or three places. Wherefore, cousin, she hath sent to me
by friar Newton in great council, and prayeth me that I would send to
you a letter of her heaviness, and pray you to be her good brother, as
her trust is in you." Elizabeth Paston's matrimonial desires were not
realized at this time, as she was transferred from the household of
her parents to that of the Lady Pole; this was in accordance with the
custom which we have already noticed of sending away young ladies to
great houses, where they received their education and served to fill
up the measure of pride of the great lady to whose train they were
attached. The larger the number of such maidens a lady could boast of,
the greater was her importance; nor did she hesitate to accept payment
for the board of those of whom she thus took charge, and from whom
she derived further profit by employing them at lace making or other
suitable work.
Young ladies were taught to be very demure and formal in their
behavior in company, where they sat bolt upright, with their hands
crossed, or in other constrained attitudes. In a poem, written about
1430, entitled _How the Good Wife Taughte Hir Dougtir_, we have the
rules which were enforced upon girls for their conduct in society, and
particularly the advice which was tendered the girl with regard to her
marriage and her subsequent conduct. The love of God and attendance
upon church were enjoined, and in the performance of the latter duty
she was not to be deterred by bad weather. She was to give liberally
to alms, and while in attendance upon divine service was to pray and
not to chatter. Courtesy was recommended in all of the relations of
life; and when the time came that she was sought in marriage, she was
told not to look upon her suitor with scorn, whoever he might be, nor
to keep the matter a secret from her friends. She was not to sit close
to him, because "synne mygte be wrought," and a slander be thereby
raised, which, she is informed, is difficult to still. She was
counselled, when married, to love her husband and answer him
meekly; she was to be well mannered, not to be rude, nor to laugh
boisterously--or, to give it as it is expressed in the poem, "but
lauge thou softe and myslde." Her outdoor conduct also was regulated
for her. She was not to walk fast, nor to toss her head, nor to
wriggle her shoulders; she was not to use many words, nor to
swear, for all such manners come to evil. She was to drink only in
moderation, "For if thou be ofte drunke, it falle thee to schame." She
was to exercise due discretion in all of her relations with the other
sex, and to accept from them no presents. She was herself to work and
to see that those under her were kept employed; to have faults set
right at once, keep her own keys, and to be careful whom she trusted.
If her children gave her trouble and were not submissive, she must not
curse or scold them, but "take a smert rodde, and bete them on a rowe
til thei crie mercy." Besides all these enjoinments, she was impressed
with the duty of benevolence, and was to act as physician to all those
about her.
The position of woman at this time was clearly defined. Certainly the
woman of the middle classes had taken her proper place in society. She
did not disdain to look after the affairs of her establishment, nor
was this regarded as in any way derogatory to her dignity; and this
was also true of women in the highest rank. It is said that, as a
rule, the husband and wife were in full accord, and confided in one
another upon terms of equality. The wife was careful of her charge at
home, and heedful of her husband's purse; she generally made her own
as well as her children's clothing, if the material were to be had.
No wife of to-day could show greater solicitude for the comfort and
well-being of her husband than did Dame Paston, the wife of John
Paston, who in 1449 wrote to her husband a letter from which we may
extract the following: "And I pray you also, that ye be wel dyetyd of
mete and drynke, for that is the grettest helpe that ye may have now
to your helthe ward."
The wife was the companion of her husband when he was at home, and in
his absence entertained his guests with all the graces of hospitality.
The duties of the day did not leave her a great deal of time for
leisure, for, besides directing the conduct of the establishment and
looking after her maidens, teaching them the arts of housewifery,
spinning, weaving, carding wool and hackled flax, embroidery, and
garment making, there were the pet birds and squirrels in cages to be
looked after and fed. But life was not all labor, nor were the maidens
of the household surfeited with instruction. In their periods of
relaxation, they danced, played chess and draughts, and read the
latest thing in romances with as keen interest as the modern society
girl evinces in the most recent novel. To be informed in all such
matters was essential to the standards of culture of the day.
One of the pleasantest features of the country life of the period
was the garden. The English women of to-day are no fonder of outdoor
recreation and exercise than were their predecessors of the fifteenth
century. Alone, or in parties of their own sex, or with male company,
they wandered over the fields, gathering wild flowers and picnicking
in the woods, spreading upon the grass their lunch of bread, wine,
fish, and pigeon pies. They rode on horseback, and went hunting,
hawking, and rabbit chasing. Their presence at the tournament gave
it its greatest interest, and the successful contestants considered
the awards that were made them by their ladies doubly valuable, as
indicating at once their prowess upon the field and their conquests in
that no less interesting sphere of sentiment where Cupid bestows the
favors.
Perhaps at no other time in English history have ladies shown such
fondness for pets as in the fifteenth century. There are frequent
references to them in the literature of the day, and they appear in
many of the illustrations; parrots, magpies, jays, and various singing
birds are often mentioned among domestic pets. Various kinds of small
animals were also tamed and kept in the house, either loose or in
cages, squirrels being especially in favor because of their liveliness
and activity. Gambling was one of the most popular vices of the day.
It was not until after the middle of the fifteenth century that cards
came into very general use, but by the beginning of the following
century card playing had passed from the stage of fad and become a
passion. After the table was removed, one of the servants would bring
in a silver bowl full of dice and cards, and the company would be
invited to play. So general and widespread was the practice that early
in the reign of Henry VIII. an attempt was made to restrict the use
of cards to the Christmas holidays. Women were hardly less inveterate
devotees of this and other games of chance than the men, although
it is not to be concluded that they took such games as seriously or
risked as large sums as did the other sex. Dinner was served at noon,
and the games, along with dancing, usually occupied the time of the
leisure classes until supper, which seems to have been served at six
o'clock. There was, of course, no other form of amusement that was so
well adapted to polite circles, or that could be participated in with
as much pleasure by the ladies, as dancing. Many new dances had been
introduced and become fashionable, and these were much more lively
than those of the earlier period, some so spirited, indeed, as to
scandalize the moralists of the time. After supper the amusements were
resumed, and continued until a late hour, when a second, or, as it was
called, a "rere-supper," was served.
After the members of the household and the guests were surfeited
with amusements, or the lateness of the hour made sleep welcome, they
retired to rest in the upper chambers. These bedrooms were much more
private than they had formerly been. In the poem _Lady Bessy_, when
the Earl of Derby is represented as plotting with Lady Bessy in aid of
the Earl of Richmond, he tells her that he will repair secretly to her
chamber:
"'We must depart (separate), lady,' the earl said then;
Wherefore, keep this matter secretly,
And this same night, betwixt nine and ten,
In your chamber I think to be.
Look that you make all things ready,
Your maids shall not our councell hear,
For I will bring no man with me
But Humphrey Brereton, my true esquire.'
He took his leave of that lady fair,
And to her chamber she went full light,
And for all things she did prepare,
Both pen and ink, and paper white."
The bedstead now came to be much more ornamental than in previous
times. The canopy which had formerly adorned the head of this article
of furniture was now usually enlarged so as to cover it entirely.
It was often decorated with the arms of the owner, with religious
emblems, flowers, or some other form of ornamentation. The bed itself
consisted of a hard mattress, and was often made only of straw,
although feather beds were used to some extent throughout the century.
Chaucer describes a couch of unusual luxury as follows:
"Of downe of pure dovis white
I wol yeve him a fethir bed,
Rayid with gold, and right well cled
In fine blacke sattin d'outremere,
And many a pilowe, and every bere (pillow cover)
Of clothe of Raines to slepe on softe;
Him thare (need) not to turnen ofte."
This description of a bed in the latter part of the fourteenth century
holds good for the succeeding century, although the bed increased in
luxuriousness of hangings. Feather beds and bed covers are frequently
mentioned in the bequests of the times; by their description, they
show the increase in the comfort and richness of beds, and, by their
mention in wills, the value that was placed upon them. With the
increase of privacy which the bedchambers afforded at this time, the
practice of several people sleeping in the same room was less general.
The women of the manor house, who may be regarded as succeeding the
women of the castles, were notable for their intelligence, purity,
and good sense, as revealed to us by the letters and literature of the
times. Their features, as depicted in illustrations, give evidence
of refinement and culture as well as beauty; to these attractions was
added that of graceful carriage. Although their dresses fitted closely
to the figure, tight lacing had not yet become the custom. Paris was
then, as now, the glass of fashion for the women of Europe, and the
English woman considered her form to approach perfection the more
nearly as it conformed to the model established in France. At this
period, the ladies were given to similar extremes of dress and
adornment to those which have furnished an indictment against them
since fashion first held sway over the feminine mind. All classes of
society were influenced by the all-important matter of style, and the
women of each grade of the social scale found their chief contentment
in copying the manners and dress of those above them. Earlier we found
occasion to notice, in brief, the sumptuary legislation by which it
was sought to limit extravagances in fashion; but the laws have yet
to be framed which can serve permanently to control woman's desires.
So that we shall, perforce, have to continue our discussion of the
evolution--or as the moralists of the Middle Ages would have expressed
it, if they had possessed the facility of verbal coinage which is
common enough with us, the "devilution"--of woman's attire, just as
though law had never attempted its regulation.
The intricacies of the women's coiffure were many. The practice of
dyeing the hair or otherwise altering its color is of ancient date.
Among the Saxons and Normans it seems to have been confined to the
men, for during those periods the women kept their heads so completely
covered that there was no inducement for them to resort to such
practices; but at the time of which we are now treating the custom
had some vogue among the ladies, although it does not appear to have
become general until the reign of Elizabeth, when the ladies had
reduced the art to such a nicety that they were able to produce
various colors and, indeed, almost to change the substance of the hair
itself:
"Lees she can make, that turn a hair that's old,
Or colour'd, into a hue of gold."
A religious writer of the fifteenth century, declaiming against the
various adornments of the hair and the arts which were employed to
stimulate its growth as well as alter its color, and against the
practice of wearing false hair, says: "to all these absurdities, they
add that of supplying the defects of their own hair, by partially or
totally adopting the harvest of other heads." To point a moral, he
then gravely relates an anecdote to the effect that during the time
of a public procession at Paris, which had drawn a great multitude of
people together, an ape leaped upon the head of a certain fine lady,
and seizing her veil, tore it from her head; with it came her peruke
of false hair, so that it was discovered by the crowd that her
beautiful tresses were not her own; thus, by the very means to which
she had resorted to attract the admiration of the beholders, she
received their contempt and ridicule.
A preposterous form of headdress arose in the time of Henry IV. and
became more exaggerated throughout the fifteenth century; this was
styled the horned headdress. It began with a heart-shaped headdress,
which rose higher on either side until, in the reign of Henry V.,
the points of the heart had become veritable horns. This ungraceful
coiffure assumed all sorts of extravagant and absurd varieties. It
became a favorite mark for the shafts of the satirists and the jests
of the wits, to say nothing of themes for sermons; but the fair
ladies, invulnerable to all such criticisms, were not to be deterred
from indulging their pet follies. One of the first references to the
prevailing style was that made by John de Meun in his poem called
the _Codical_: "If I dare say it without making them [that is, the
ladies] angry, I should _dispraise_ their hosing, their vesture,
their girding, their head-dresses, their hoods thrown back with their
_horns_ elevated and brought forward, as if it were to wound us.
I know not whether they call them _gallowses_ or _brackets_, that
prop up the horns which they think are so handsome; but of this I am
certain, that Saint Elizabeth obtained not Paradise by the wearing of
such trumpery." But this style of hair dress was not made by the hair
after all, but by the wimple, which was raised on either side of the
head and supported by a frame or by pins. John de Meun flourished
at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and had he lived in the
fifteenth, when the horned headdress _par excellence_, made up of
prongs of hair protruding forward from the forehead, was in vogue,
he would have been still more aghast. These horns were carefully
constructed with the aid of rolls of linen. Sometimes they had two
long wings on either side, and received the name of "butterflies."
The high, pointed cap which was worn was covered with a piece of fine
lawn, which hung to the ground, and the greater part of which was
tucked under the wearer's arm. By a writer of the day we are told that
the ladies of the middle rank wore caps of cloth which consisted of
several breadths or bands twisted round the head, with two wings on
each side "like asses' ears." As one wanders through the mazes of
description of the hair dress of the period, he is prepared to agree
with the author to whom we have just referred, that "it is no easy
matter to give a proper description in writing of the different
fashions in the dresses of the ladies"; and so we shall submit the
case in terms of still another writer's description; Philip Stubbs
says: "Then followeth the trimming and tricking of their heads, in
laying out their hair to the show; which, of force, must be curled,
frizzled, and crisped, laid out in wreaths and borders, and from one
ear to another; and, lest it should fall down, it is underpropped with
forkes, wires, and I cannot tell what; then, on the edges of their
bolstered hair, for it standeth crested round about their frontiers,
and hanging over their faces, like pendices or vailes, with glass
windows on every side, there is laide great wreathes of gold and
silver, curiously wrought, and cunningly applied toe the temples of
their heads; and, for feare of lacking anything to set forth their
pride withal, at their hair thus wreathed and crested, are hanged
bugles, I dare not say bables, ouches, ringes of gold, silver,
glasses, and such other gew-gawes, which I, being unskillful in
woman's tearmes, cannot easily recompt." He then discusses the
"capital ornaments" upon the "toppes of these stately turrets," which
he informs us consisted of a French hood, hat, cap, kerchief, and such
like. He laments the fact that to such excesses did the fashions
go, and so widely were the women influenced by them, "that every
artificer's wife almost will not stike to goe in her hat of velvet
every day; every merchant's wife, and meane gentlewoman, in their
French hoods; and every poor cottager's daughter's daughter in her
taffeta hat, or else wool at least, well lined with silk, velvet, or
taffeta." He adds that they had other ornaments for the head, "made
net-wise," and which he says he believes were termed "cawles," the
object of this tinsel being to have the head with its ornaments
glisten and shine like a mass of gold. He then dismisses with a word
the "forked cappes" and "such like apish toyes of infinite variety."
Face painting, which came in direct derivation from the tattooing of
the ancient Britons, is a practice that at the time of which we are
writing was very prevalent in England. It came under as vigorous
arraignment by the writers of the fifteenth century as did the
ridiculous forms of hair dress. The cosmetics in use were of many
sorts, and were usually injurious to the skin of the user.
The dress of the women also fell under censure and satire, although
that of the men was even more strongly reprobated by contemporary
writers. It does not do to accept too readily the strictures passed
upon the dress of any age without considering the source of the
criticism. Throughout the Middle Ages, the clergy found dress a
convenient topic for their moralizing, and there is no doubt that the
strictures were often excessive, although the activity with which the
matter was discussed indicates the importance in which it then was
held and also makes it an important subject for our investigation as
a determining element in the study of the manners and customs of the
period as they relate to woman and reveal her to us.
The great variety of fabrics, many of them imported, which were in use
enabled women to make a wide choice in the selection of material for
their clothing, while it also afforded the women of the lower orders
an opportunity for almost as varied a display as was made by those
in higher ranks. In the reign of Henry IV., who revived the sumptuary
legislation of the kingdom with regard to dress, Thomas Occliff, the
poet, in rebuking the extravagances of the times, speaks of those
who walked about in gowns of scarlet twelve yards wide, with sleeves
reaching to the ground and lined with fur, of value beyond twenty
pounds, and who, if they had been required to pay for what they wore,
would not have been able to buy enough fur to line a hood; and he adds
that the tailors must soon shape their garments in the open field
for lack of room to cut them in their houses. He mourns chiefly the
extravagance of dress on the part of the wealthy, because "a nobleman
cannot adopt a new guise, or _fashion_, but that a knave will follow
his example."
After the middle of the fifteenth century, the ladies ceased to wear
the long trains which they had formerly affected, and substituted
excessively wide borders of fur or velvet. By the end of the century,
the dress of the two sexes was so nearly alike that it was difficult
to distinguish between them. The men wore skirts over their lower
clothing, their doublets were laced in front like a woman's stays, and
their gowns were open in the front to the girdle and again from the
girdle to the ground, where they trailed slightly. At first, the
ladies imitated the men, who wore greatly padded trunks, by extending
their garments from the hips with foxes' tails and "bum rolls," as
they were called; but as they could not hope to keep pace with
the vast protuberance of the men's trunks, they introduced the
farthingales, which enabled them to appear as large as they pleased.
Such were the manners and styles of the period with which the Middle
Ages closed and the modern era began. They were not markedly different
from those of the later Middle Ages generally, but that was because
fundamental changes in society do not find their first expression in
matters which are superficial. The great revolution which had been
going on in the basic forms of society, through peaceful processes as
well as social upheavals and the prowess of arms, had its reflux more
in the morals than in the manners of the age. Nevertheless, one cannot
pursue the theme of custom and manners throughout the mediaeval period
without being conscious of a progress or development significant of
more than mere caprice. This, in fact, was the case. Any philosophic
treatment of English society during the Middle Ages would have to
take cognizance of manners and customs as indices of the growth of
political, constitutional, and religious principles; and in this
growth would appear the consistently developing status of woman.
While it is difficult to fix upon any one fact as comprehending the
condition of women in English society at the close of the Middle
Ages and the beginning of the new era, there is one which challenges
attention. In reaping the harvest of the narrow and bigoted times
through which she passed, woman found herself possessed of one sort of
fruitage, namely, public rights. The essential equality of the woman
and the man, which first appeared in the castle, had become a general
fact of English society. Feudalism and its vassalage of the female
sex had disappeared, and the women of the industrial classes, whatever
their economic condition, became sovereigns of themselves. The women
of the towns, largely through the instrumentality of the guilds, had
established precedents which marked the path of their progress as
"persons" before the law. Associated industry drew them out of their
homes, or at least out of the limited sphere of home life, and placed
in their hands the loom and the spindle of the world's industry. "The
candle" of the goodwife "that went not out by night" no longer burned
for the provident industry of household needs, but became a veritable
torch to illumine the paths of England's commerce and to add to that
glory of civilization which constitutes her commercial greatness.
Out of the whole body of womankind, the Church had chosen to select
a class of women who were dedicated to its service and who taught by
their acts the responsibility of the prosperous toward their needy
brethren; while this does not appear to have been a benefit to women
generally, but simply a training in charity for the classes who were
consecrated to that object, nevertheless the influence of these chosen
women upon their sex, in awakening their keener sensibilities toward
poverty and distress, aided in placing upon the brow of woman
the queenly crown of compassion which has made her so largely a
ministering force in modern society.
The elegance and refinement of the women of the manors, as well as the
stability and resourcefulness of the wives of the wealthy burghers,
already gave indication of the development of the splendid type of
modern English society known as the country gentry and the no less
admirable class of the English tradespeople. Indeed, the evolution
of the middle class as a conservative force is one of the greatest
factors to be considered in mediaeval study. "Blue blood," once
regarded as a peculiar strain of vital fluid by which, through some
mysterious means, the upper stratum of society was marked off from the
lower, came to be detected in the veins of those whose only pedigree
was poverty and whose only claim upon the consideration and respect of
their fellows was real worth of character. An aristocracy which could
be repleted from the plebeian ranks of the middle classes of society,
upon whose members titles were bestowed, not because of their
readiness to respond to the needs of the privy purse of a monarch, but
because they had assumed leading and important positions in relation
to England's honor and power, was an aristocracy that did not become
archaic or degenerate. The equality of opportunity, which is the pride
and promise of modern society, had its beginnings in those early days
when the gate of emergence from lower class conditions was so seldom
opened far anyone to pass out to where the ascent of Parnassus might
quicken his ambition.
Long after feudalism had ceased, however, it was difficult to disabuse
the minds of people of the idea that the blood which flowed in
the veins of a gentleman was different from that of a peasant or a
burgher. It is curious to note one of the legendary explanations of
the division of blood as given by Alexander Barclay, a poet of the
reign of Henry VII. According to his story, while Adam was occupied
with his agricultural labors, Eve sat at home with her children about
her, when she suddenly became aware of the approach of the Creator,
and ashamed of the number of her children, she hurriedly concealed
those which were less favored in appearance. Some she placed under
hay, some under straw and chaff, some in the chimney, and some in a
tub of draff; but such as were fair and comely she kept with her.
The Lord told her that He had come to see her children, that He might
promote them in their different degrees. When she presented them,
according to age, one was ordained to be a king, another a duke, and
so on through the list of high dignities. The maternal solicitude of
Eve made her unwilling that the concealed children should miss all
the honors, and she brought them forth from their hiding places. Their
rough and unkempt appearance, which was due to the nature of their
places of concealment, added to their unprepossessing personalities,
disgusted the Lord with them. "None," He said, "can make a vessel
of silver out of an earthen pitcher, or goodly silk out of a goat's
fleece, or a bright sword out of a cow's tail; neither will I, though
I can, make a noble gentleman out of a vile villain. You shall all be
ploughmen and tillers of the ground, to keep oxen and hogs, to dig and
delve, and hedge and dike, and in this wise shall ye live in endless
servitude. Even the townsmen shall laugh you to scorn; yet some of
you shall be allowed to dwell in cities, and shall be admitted to
such occupations as those of makers of puddings, butchers, cobblers,
tinkers, costard-mongers, hostlers, or daubers." This, so the story
informs us, was the beginning of servile labor; and such a view of
caste was no more displeasing to the peasantry, who knew nothing
better, than it was to the baron, whose pride it pampered.
A poem of the latter part of the fifteenth century gives the wishes
appropriate to the men and women of the different ranks of French
society. Those of the women are most characteristic. Thus, the queen
wishes to love God and the king, and to live in peace; the duchess, to
have all the enjoyments and pleasures of wealth; the countess, to have
a husband who is loyal and brave; the knight's lady, to hunt the stag
in the green woods; the lady of gentle blood also loves hunting, and
wishes for a husband valiant in war; the chamber maiden takes pleasure
in walking in the fair fields by the riversides; while the burgher's
wife loves, above all things, a soft bed at night, with a good pillow
and clean white sheets. This statement of the characteristic desires
of the various classes of French women holds good as well for the
English women of that period.
The court of Burgundy, which, during the fifteenth century, was
notable for its pomp and magnificence and its ostentatious display
of wealth, was regarded as furnishing the models of high courtesy
and gentle breeding; and it was the centre of literature and
art. Circumstances had brought the court of England into intimate
connection with it, so that England was more affected by Burgundy
than by any other part of Europe. The social character in England
and France, which, to some extent, had followed parallel lines since
the Norman conquest, now began to diverge widely. The breakdown of
feudalism in England, where it had never been so fully developed as
in France, was not contemporaneous with French conditions in this
respect. Consequently, in the latter country, the chasm between the
lower and the upper strata of society grew ever wider, the lower
classes becoming more and more miserable, and the upper more immoral.
In England, as we have seen, serfdom disappeared, or existed in name
only, and the relation between the country gentry and the peasants
became increasingly intimate and kindly. The growth of commerce had
spread wealth among the middle classes and had added much to their
social comfort. Although social manners were still very coarse, the
influence of religious reformers, such as the Lollards, was being felt
in an improvement in the moral tone of the middle and lower classes
of society. Moreover, the discussion of great social questions had
become general among the people. Even in the middle of the fourteenth
century, the celebrated poem of _Piers Plowman_ took up such
discussions, and one of the tenets of the Lollards was the natural
equality of man. In England, conditions were ripe for the advent of a
new era, and in the fulness of time there came forth the spirit of new
learning, of new industry, of exploration, of investigation, and of
religious freedom, to lead the English people into the inheritance for
which they had been prepared by those centuries over a part of which
hung such a pall as to secure for them the title of the Dark Ages.