Interesting Tidbit...

So I had an interesting conversation with a friend of of mine who happens to be a medieval historian and he revealed an interesting fact that I hadn't heard before and I thought I'd share it with you. This post has nothing to do with ecclesiastical garments but I had to post this now so I didn't forget!

All the upper class women in medieval and renaissance paintings have beautiful long gowns with these great trains. Using a great amount of material was not only a way to show off your wealth as it turns out but a way to ascertain the difference in classes. Apparently it was also the way to differentiate upper and lower class women. Apparently upper class women were taught to walk from a very early age with excessively long skirts and were able to carry things, climb stairs and do normal daily activities without ever lifting their skirts. Lower class women wouldn't be able to function with the longer floor trailing sleeves and skirts because they were used to having free limbs with their shorter skirts and sleeves.  Below is an excerpt from an article posted by Lady Melisande of Hali in regards to an experiment she did to test the theory.

"Ladies did not ever touch their skirts, or so certain experts claimed. They not only crossed halls, they carried objects in both hands and walked up and down stairs without ever lifting their trailing skirts in the least. That's what the miniatures show, too. That's how you spotted a peasant in clothes too good for her: she either handled her skirts, or she tripped.

Lady Kathea von der Eiche and I were fascinated by this dictum, so about the fall of 1977 we made some overlong skirts, and tried to see if it were possibly true. It can be done, but at all times you must "behave like a lady": no rushing, no running, no striding. You move in a placid glide, absolutely erect and not watching your feet, no more than you normally do to check the footing. Standing straight is necessary, especially in a dress which hangs from the shoulders rather than a skirt which hangs from a waistband. If you stoop, the front of your dress drags even more, and you cannot move the skirt in the proper manner with your hips and legs.

Moving slowly keeps you from over-running the front hem. You wear the soft-soled lady's shoes of the period, through which you can feel much of your footing, so you know when your hem is under your foot before your weight is committed to it. We wore ballet slippers or Scottish dancing shoes, but a ladies' dress flat, while hard, is thin enough when you know what you're doing.

At each step, you sweep your foot in a small arc along the floor, in towards your ankle, then outward and forward. This brushes your hem out of your way. Your thigh and hip follow, further pushing the skirts forward so that the hem doesn't drag back towards you. You then have clear ground on which to take your not-overlong step; you pull your toes back from their farthest extent when you do go to put your foot down. The first few steps are the hardest; once the rhythm takes over, the sway of the heavy skirt back and forth works with you, or you work with it.

When walking up or down stairs, you use the moving knee to flick the skirt up, and put your foot down quickly so as to beat the fabric to the tread. Yet the pace is still slow, because you must wait each time for the skirts to settle. Moving the hips in the wake of the foot gives this locomotion a gentle sway, very attractive in the soft, heavy gowns, in an age when the hips, rather than the bust or legs, were the primary focus of sexual attractiveness in women.

This mode of movement is confirmed by dance practices. The pavanne can be danced with bald, straight-forward steps, as is common in many dance classes. This well suits Renaissance gowns with their farthingales. However, the Medieval pavanne was danced with two levels of undulation: one horizontal, one vertical. The first undulation is an exaggeration of this sweeping step, footed by the man as well as the lady. It was, in fact, our clue to surviving the skirts.

Note that Lady Kathea and I had the advantage of dance training, historical information, and lots of determined practice. It still remained a matter for concentration, like doing a tricky dance with one part of your mind while conversing with another part. A noblegirl would have started having her hands slapped for handling her skirts at a tender age, and by her teens would have moved this way without thinking. It took quite an emergency for her to pick up her skirts and hustle.
So any peasant who was going to pass as a noblewoman would not only have to take a couple of years indoors to lose her ugly tan and restore her skin's smoothness and translucent pallor, she would have to have someone teach her how to walk in this very artificial way. Also, a noblewoman putting on a coarse gown is not going to look like a peasant as she strolls down the road, swaying slowly with her toes low to the ground. Well-born fugitives had a very difficult time of it, unless they simply avoided inhabited places. As a result, in this period people really didn't try to pass as other than they were: a nobleman incognito travelled as a nobleman on hard times, not as a commoner.

In artwork, you may notice how the hems of gowns sit on the floor: they do not turn under, but bend to the outside so that you can look inside the rolls of fullness. This is how they naturally lie when either they have trailed you, or been kicked outward by your toes.

Note that this did not continue forever. In the next fashion, a lady always had one hand tied up holding a bunch of overskirt high on the abdomen, showing off the underskirt and giving the full-bellied, "Pregnant Virgin" look. An Italian breviary of 1380 (Boucher, pg. 204 above at left) perfectly shows the start of the transition. Most of the ladies stand in the puddles of their skirts. One alone has drawn up her pink overgown with her wrist (note that her hand is not clenched on the cloth) only to show off the azure undergown, NOT to clear her feet, which are still enshrouded in dragging blue hem. Yet in "Hunting with falcons at the court of Philip the Good" (Boucher, pg 211; this Duke of Burgundy reigned 1419-1467 at right), the lady with the red gloves, directly below the musicians on the left, is strolling blithely towards us with idle hands, a foot of hem on the sward, while the next lady to the right has a handful of hem -- but no show of toes! There must have been a long period, a generation or two, when everyone went through the usual fidgets about whether to be elegant and dignified (old-fashioned) or to be dashingly modern and fashion-forward (handle their skirts)."

I realize this is a longish post but I thought that this was absolutely fascinating. I'm still trying to find more proof but I hope you enjoy this entry!

Ecclesiastical Garments of the 13th Century: The Dalmatic

The Dalmatic of Charlemagne-back

The Dalmatic, an over-sized super tunic,takes its name from Dalmatia. Dalmatia itself is s a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast.* The dalmatic was in use by the general population, by both men and women, of the area from an early period. The dalmatic is shorter than the alb, only reaching the knees, with shorter, wider sleeves and is worn over the alb but under the chasuble. It also has slits up its sides from the hem for quite  a ways. The photos to the right and below shows the front and back of an extant example. This dalmatic is said to have belonged to Charlemagne and is kept in the sacristy of St. Peter’s. It’s not only a great example of an early piece it is a marvelous piece of early needlework. Named because it was said to have been worn by Charlemagne at his coronation it was later proved that the garment is from the fourteenth century.

14th Century Iranian Dalmatic

There is another extant example in the V&A museum collections that also dates to the fourteenth century. The image to the left shows the great detail of the images on the silk dalmatic. What it does not show is the side slits which in this case extends up to the under arm. For a garment like this there would have to have been ties or buttons to keep it on properly.** This one is beautiful though a mixture of symbols. The pelicans depicted on the textile are more of an Italian embellishment where they were used as a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice. In opposition there is the flower scroll motif which is mostly associated with the Chinese influence of the time. Added to China and Italy the V&A experts have determined that the fabric from which the dalmatic is made must have been exported to Europe from Mongol-Iran from the structure of the cloth. I find it fascinating that three different cultures which were quite far apart all fell into this one piece. It’s astounding.

The Dalmatic of Charlemagne-front

*Wikipedia contributors. “Dalmatia.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21
Jul. 2011. Web. 30 Jul. 2011.
**Mary G. Houston, Medieval Costume in England and France: The 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries (New York: Dover, 1996) 28.

Ecclesiastical Garments of the 13th Century: The Chasuble

This looks like it’s going to be a lengthy post so I apologize in advance bit this particular piece has a lot of history!
The chasuble  in it’s original form was perfectly round with a hole cut in the center for the head to go through. The name is said to be derived from the Latin word casula which means little house. A good translation in my opinion since I think of my circular cloak as a small tent. Moving on. There’s a mosiac of Pope Honorius who died in 638 A.D. in the Church od St. Agnese at Rome which depicts him vested in a chasuble that touches the ground all around him. This version of the garment effectively covers his entire figure. During the following centuries the garment became shorter and eventually it was clipped and altered so that there was a considerable diversity in the make of it. I’ve included a photo to the left of varying styles.

Embroidered Chasuble

Figure 29 in the photo (the one in the center) is a measured drawing from an extant extant example in the V&A museum.  (No. 8359 of 1863) I tried to find the image within the V&A collections but there was no image attached to the file. Boo. This particular model is seamed at the shoulders  to fit the pattern (it is made of a striped silk). The chausable in the figure was measured at 59 inches in length and 48 inches in width.* It has been deduced that the cut of the chasuble changed due to its weight. Some of them were heavily embroidered like the one to the right and so got quite heavy. Less material over the arms allowed movement and lightened the burden on the poor man wearing it!

*Mary G. Houston, Medieval Costume in England and France: The 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries (New York: Dover, 1996) 24.

Ecclesiastical Garments of the 13th Century: The Amice

Today is my attempt tog get ahead by a few posts as I will be camping with my in-laws in a couple of weeks and won’t have internet access. So please forgive what may be the next few erratic posts as I’m hyped up on sweet tea!

13th C. Amice Line Drawing

In this post I’m going to tackle the long forgotten amice. The amice was a simple rectangular piece of linen with strings attached to two corners on a long side. (see the picture at left) It was the first of the sacred vestments to be put on, first resting on the head and at the end of getting dressed, adjusted around the neck as a sort of cowl. It was presented to a sub-deacon upon his ordination and so I assume that no cleric below a sub deacon wore this particular piece.* The strings are fairly long having to go under the arms, cross in back and get tied in front. The amice has long fallen into disuse as the tailoring of the alb has improved over time, negating the purpose of the armice. The sole purpose of what I can only think of as a glorified and over sized handkerchief, was to protect the costly silk of the chasuble or dalmatic from touching the skin.

While the simple drawing I have made above is  rectangular there is proof that the measurements for this item varied. The armice supposedly belonging to St. Thomas of Canterbury is square with the apparel (or decoration) running the length of one side. An existing armice located at the V&A museum is more like my drawing to the left. I have included the picture of it from the V&A collections below. At the moment I have no idea what the red thing is. It is folded and you cannot see it well but it is rectangular in shape and has a much smaller apparel. The label reads as follows: “Armice, linen, with crimson silk apparel on which are sewn ornaments in silver and silver gilt. German, fifteenth century, 4 ft. 2 in. by 2 ft.” I have also found an image of an amice being worn with the direction that the right side was always to be worn crossed over the left. I’m not sure how accurate that is but neat to see a modern picture!

15th C. German Armice

Modern day armice

*Mary G. Houston, Medieval Costume in England and France: The 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries (New York: Dover, 1996) 23.
**Thurston, Herbert. “Amice.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 29 Jul. 2011 .
*** JPSONNEN. “The Roman amice: how to vest…” Orbis Catholicvs. Orbis Catholicvs. 28 July 2008. Web. 29 July 2011.

Ecclesiastical Garments of the 13th Century: The Alb

The overall shape of the alb has not changed in many years and, thanks to an alb

11th Century Alb

at the V & A Museum (No. 8710 of 1863 and labeled “Albe, white linen, with apparels of crimson silk, Sicilianfo urteenth century.”*), we can see how the garment was cut and created. The alb was the base garment for bishops, priests, deacons, sub-deacons, acolytes and choristers. The alb to the right is said to have belonged to St. Bernulf who died in 1056 but garment is dated to 12th century** and as such can be counted a the predecessor of the 13th century alb.  While the shape is almost exactly the same, is far more decorative than the extant 13th century alb. The alb that I am talking about was stripped of any superfluous decoration. I have included a simplistic line drawing below for reference. Please note that the under arm gores would have been the same color as the rest of the garment but OO.Draw wouldn’t let me color those sections in.

13th Century Alb Line Drawing

The “apparels” as the decorations were called, were located at the cuffs and at the center front just above the hem. These squares were worked in silk and gold and, at times, lace and measured anywhere from 20 inches by 9 inches to 9 inches by inches for the hem piece. The wrist pieces are said to have measured between 6 inches by 4 inches to 3 inches by 3 inches. The prevailing color was white though some may have been off white or natural and almost exclusively made of fine linen. The extant garment measures a surprising 94 inches wide by 65 inches tall and was made to be belted at the waist and held up from the ground by said belt.***

* Mary G. Houston, Medieval Costume in England and France: The 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries (New York: Dover, 1996) 22.
**”European Medieval, Alb of St. Bernulf.” Extant Orignals. Site created and designed by Martina a Martin Høibovi, 2006.
***Mary G. Houston, Medieval Costume in England and France: The 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries (New York: Dover, 1996) 23.

Ecclesiastical Garb and Religious Personas in the SCA

Over vacation this past week I was going though the hundreds of pictures from my SCA events. I happened to be going through a new book (Medieval Costume in England and France by Mary G. Houston) and noticed that for all SCA folks like decorative garb not may take on the roles of the religious kind. The men in particular have some extravagant robes as archbishops and priests. At all of the Arts and Sciences displays and competitions I've been to I've never seen someone reproduce an Ecclesiastical garment. Perhaps it's something that will be on my to-do list for projects...

I also think that this book is worth reading for anyone who are looking for depictions of the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. There are plates and drawings but not on every page. I would say that this would probably be a good book for those of you that can draft patterns from pictures or enlarge example drawings on their own. There is a lot of great information in the book though and worth reading!

Vacation

I had all the best intentions in the world when I left to come on vacation nearly a week ago. I told myself that I would sit down and be able to work on a post or two while my son ate his breakfast like I do at home. I had not anticipated that he would just up and walk while on vacation. It has made the rental cottage a little more challenging. I'm constantly having to baby-proof and remind our friends that we are vacationing with that certain things can't be placed casually on a coffee table with a baby in the house.

On a completely other note: I am a little disappointed with sheep farmers in Maine. I went to a local farmers market and a number of little farms around our cabin and not a single one of them sold roving. A quick explaination of what roving is for those not "in the know": Roving is the cleaned, carded, wool that is used to spin and make into yarn. Many of the farmers did their own spinning or felted crafts but not a single one of them sold pure roving. M disappointment stems from finding a new blog written by a woman in the UK.

Jenny Dean's Wild Color blog is dedicated to fiber arts and dying. She has a really terrific article on her Anglo-Saxon dying experiments which I thought was fascinating. It's definitely worth reading since she's a great writer and full of information. I wish that offering trim made with hand-dyed yarns was monetarily feasible but unfortunately it's just too expensive for most people and goes against what I'm trying to do. Perhaps later on I can offer it as a special order type deal....definitely worth thinking about!

Location:Mill Pond Rd, Corea, United States

Embroiderers Rejoice!

For all fellow needle craft artisans out there: a new blackwork book has been published to the web!

For those of you who don't know what blackwork is, it's a type of embroidery that is from before the 1500's. The beautiful embroidery gained popularity and the common name of  "Spanish work" when introduced to England by Catherine of Aragon when she came back from Spain with chemises detailed with the intricate work. Geoffery Chaucer references what can be construed as blackwork in his Canterbury Tales but the fashion lost popularity in the 17th century. The image to the right shows two examples of black work. The simpler line design on the left are from the 1530's where as the larger, filled example on the right is from the 1590's.

This new web reference is made available by the author and, while you cannot re-post it without permission, the patterns are great for personal use! The book, Ensamplario Atlantio: Being a Collection of Filling Patterns Suitable for Blackwork Embroidery, is published here in Massachusetts and is filled with dozens of the smaller blackwork patterns used to fill the larger motifs like those used to fill the work on the right half of the image above.

So if you're looking for inspiration for a new project, look no further! Direct your cursor HERE to get your hands on this book!

Standing Collars in the 1300's?

So as I have been going over the images in the Codex Manesse I have noticed robes, not cloaks I think, that have these standing collars. I have included the pictures I've been studying in this post. In some cases they are the same color as the robe and others the are different colors. I am not sure if these are hoods, which they very well may be, or something entirely different. The drape at the shoulders and the general shape lead me to believe that these must be seperated hoods like so many people in the SCA and at ren faires wear.

I was slightly confused at first I have to admit. The neckline of this particular piece of clothing is standing up so I wondered if this was something other than a hood. In the image to the right the hood is blue over the red robe that is worn by the man. Many of the illuminations are of men wearing this item and are in a three-quarter pose so that you can't see what the back is like. As a designer I love three-quarter poses so you can see front and side details however there are times when a rear view is excessively handy. The image to the left has a full side view of a separate hood and it looks like it may have what I took to be a standing collar. I have added two images below That also show the item I'm puzzling out. I am nearly certain that it is in fact a hood, the more I look at it.


I do find it interesting that none of these hoods, if that is what they are, have the bib-type base that we tend to see on people in current re-enactments. Of course these are earlier depictions than hose we are used to seeing. I'm still not quite sure if these are meant to be separate articles of clothing or sewn directly onto the cloak or garment. I will just have to keep digging!

OOOOOooo...

So this just ran across my desktop and I thought I would share it with you. Some of you may not know what the SCA is and if you do well it a neat little video so you should watch it anyways!

Vair Cloak

I received several responses to my post which I have cross-posted on a few of my regular forums. The responses have been varied on how to achieve the look of vair from a labor intensive two-tone fur sewing project to a felting method. While I have gotten a number of ideas I had to share this particular image to the right.

Vair Cloak Belonging to Pal Ian Uzzell, Regia of UK

This particular example comes from Pal Ian Uzzell, Regia from the UK, by way of a response to my post on a forum. The snippit below is from the owner of the cloak himself:

"Hazel has now finished my 12th C tunic and cloak. The cloak is lined with vair - which is the belly fur of squirrels. Manuscripts show several cloaks so lined.The tunic is full length is heavily
embroidered at the neck and has wide lined sleeves."

The skins were gotten from the House of de Clifford, professional furriers. 

Ian notes:
"I quote from the supplier: This squirrel blanket/ plate is made from Baltic winter squirrel necks. it measures 28"w x 44"d This pattern is often used in heraldry and seen in medieval paintings. Squirrel was called 'vair' and the white fur was called 'miniver' . This fur is one of the purest softest furs in the world. The fur trade in Britain was started through the trade in Grey Squirrel pelts across the Hansiatic trade routes, and was probably bought in Novgorod, Russia. Grey squirrels not being native to the UK in medival times and only having red squirrels we wanted something ifferent!!!"

I myself am not a fan of using real fur unless I happen to be able to re-purpose an old fur coat that is still in good condition.This is why I am trying to find a way to make it instead of buying a piece from a furrier. That and it is just far too expensive for regular wear! Though I do have to admit that I am jealous of such a beautiful piece of work!

The Results Are In!

The answers to my previous quandary are in! The white details on the cloaks from the Codex Manesse illustrations I mentioned in this post are vair. Vair is the heraldic representation of patches of squirrel fur in an alternating pattern of blue and white.* So the lining and collars of the cloaks that are represented are the white bellies of squirrels with the black or blue fur from their backs. There is a possibility that it may have been a larger animal but I have no idea as to whether or not that would still qualify as vair or not.

Heraldic Ermine

I was prepared for the answer to be ermine but in retrospect I should have know that it was something quite different as the usual representation of ermine is three dots around a tail looking thing like what is seen to the right. I've seen a lot of that on shields and coats of arms but I suppose I didn't really put two and two together on this one. Now many people have tried with varied success to replicate ermine and I have found the best and longest lasting method to also be the most labor intensive. I start with a chosen white faux fur and then sew in smaller pieces of a black fur. The process includes trimming the area where the black fur tip is to be sewn in and backing the tip with additional black fur. Hot glue won't work for this so hand sewing is mandatory.

My question is now how do I recreate the look of vair. I don't really like using permanent marker to color the fur since it can run and ruin the whole piece. With ermine I can add in little pieces of black fur but I'm not sure that I could do that with this. Does anyone have any suggestions?





*Vair. (2011, June 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11:16, June 21, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vair&oldid=433843956

Ermine or Not

There is a rather wonderful book that was written and illuminated between 1300 and 1340 (the approximate date of completion) called the Codex Manesse or the Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift in German. It was produced in Germany and It is the single most comprehensive source for the texts of love songs in Middle High German. Besides representing over forty poets it has a number of beautiful drawings that depict fashion, life and people of the 1300's. I have taken to studying something that I have found rather interesting in a few images and I am trying to decipher whether or not what was drawn is supposed to represent ermine or not. There's one image that I would like to produce which has brought me to this but that can wait until later.

The fist image I found was this one to the right. (A larger image can be found here.) The Minnesänger or poet depicted on this miniature could be Wilhelm von Gliers The Minnesänger explained on this miniature could be Wilhelm von Gliers who is said to have lived from 1267 to 1317 and was the son-in-law to Walthers von Klingen.  The part I am interested in is the white and black that decorates the cape.

 For all intents and purposes it looks like a great cloak of sorts with a definite collar of this white decorative material. It looks as though the whole cloak is lined in the stuff and so I can only assume that it is some kind of fur. I asked my husband, a historian, and he said that it may have been stoat fur while I thought perhaps ermine. Fortunately it was not the only example of this possible fur.

The second example to the left with both a female and male model wearing the same kind of decorated cloak. While the woman's version is much simpler, the men's version is pretty much exactly the same as the one above and both are clasped over the right shoulder. I think that the cloak itself looks very full and could possibly be a full circle cloak. I'm looking for any input that you may have as to what it may be. Stoat or ermine or or something else entirely?