Kalamazoo Medieval Congress Blog: Friday 10:00

Session 175: Dress and Textiles I: Details from Documents

• Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion)
• Organizer: Robin Netherton, DISTAFF
• Presider: Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Univ. of Manchester

Saints Subverting Early Medieval Fashion - Sarah-Grace Heller, Ohio State Univ

Hagiography offers a rare glimpse of early medieval everyday life, those skewed by the purpose of the documents. Information on attitudes towards fashion is even harder to find in this ear and actual garments are rare and fragmentary. History of costume surveys therefore give this era skimpy coverage. This paper looks for evidence for anything resembling a “fashion system” in this era, defined by atributes like constant and systematic change, priviledging of the “new”, a focus on consumption and appearance, conspicuous consumption, and criticism of these features.

Hagiography often featured a rejection of luxury and comfort, including luxurious clothing. But sometimes these tropes are subverted. This paper compares a set of saints’ lives with respect to this question.

S. Radegund  (6th c Thuringian princess) had early life disrupted by war and becoming a political captive and pawn. Eventually offered marriage by the king when she would have preferred life as a nun. She subverts the rich treasures of clothing she is offered by wearing a hair shirt under the rich royal robes she wears.

Advice to avoid surplus or luxurious clothing dates back to the gospels. Radegund would regularly divest herself of her rich royal garments while in the middle of public display, leaving them on the altar as an offering.

Description of a multi-layered “foreign” outfit involved: a “’stapio’ [style?], including her chemises, sleeves, caps, fibulas, all ornamented with gold and precious stones.” ... “A new veil of coars linen ornamented with gold and gems in the barbarian fashion.”  Here we have references to novelty and consumption. Radegund is descxribed as rejecting these things when they are praised as attractive. The context makes it clear that these donated items are not her only garments but that she regularly receives new ones.

Sainte Bathilde, similarly, is described as taking off her girdle (belt) and giving it to the hold brothers for alms. Some of Bathilde’s garments that were donated survive and show aspects of luxurious cut, such as extravagantly long sleeves. [Reconstructed examples are brought out and Robin Netherton models them.] Such extravagance suggests aspects of a fashion system.

Comparison of the concepts of “fashion” and “treasure”. The latter is “specially valued wealth...scarce, desirable, and stored...mobile, it can be given and negotiated.” Fashion, in contrast, is not necessarily stored up and accumulated, but it is the turnover and newness that is valued.

Quotation from Jerome about how a girl should interact with clothing: homespun, not imported silk and luxury fabrics, clothing that protects and covers, not that exposes the limbs.

Hemp and Hemp Cloth in the Medieval Rus Lands - Heidi Sherman, Univ. of Wisconsin–Green Bay

[This speaker scratched, alas.]

“Luflych Greuez” and “Wedes Enker-Grene”: Clothing and Its Social Implications in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Kara Larson Maloney, Binghamton Univ.

Paper will focus on Gawain because she ran out of time before getting to the Green Knight. 14th c. text in a single manuscript, combining pretty much every trope of medieval romance. There isn’t any specific political critique identifiable, but a general critique of courtly society and chivalry, especially as elevated in romance literature.

Gawain’s quest involves failing almost every test he is set on his quest. But this paper focuses on the passages where he dresses and puts on his armor (all 47 verses of it). The description is detailed and the clothes and armor are rich and overly ornamented.  This is part of a tradition of the public performance of knightly splendor and virtue.

The poem was written during the reign of Richard II who was criticized for foppishness and ineffectualness. This period shows a transition in heraldry between designs simply being adopted and arms being inherited as part of a noble lineage.

When Gawain reaches Hautdesert (a way station on his quest) he is re-clothed. They attendants remove his armor and divest him of his gear, after which he is presented with rich clothing, where he choses embroidered silk lined with fur. He is then wrapped hi in an ermine-lined mantle and say by the fire. This is seen as taking away his volition in dressing himself.

This aspect is continued when Lady Bertilak approaches Gawain in bed, when he is naked, and points out his vulnerability. Gawain asks to be allowed to dress and this is refused. All this emphasizes how the garments of his identity as a knight and a virile man have gradually been taken away from him. The lady presses on him her green girdle, which later is seen as proof of Gawain’s weakness.

Gawain reclaims his status by re-donning his own clothing and armor and does not again remove anything until he faces the Green Knight to receive his blow.

Gawain can be seen as the artificial veneer of performative chivalry, while the Green Knight represents the substance, competent both in court and battle. When the Green Knight originally appeared at Arthur’s court, it was in courtly clothing, not armor. He doesn’t need the artificial signifier of armor to represent his masculinity. When Gawain returns to Arthur’s court wearing the green girdle as a symbol of his failure, the court mistakenly adopts it as a symbol of victory, thus reminding Gawain at every turn of his chivalric weakness. Interestingly, King Arthur’s clothing is not described, despite his importance in the court.

“At Hir Mariage”: Wedding Clothes in Sixteenth-Century England and Scotland - Melanie Schuessler Bond, Eastern Michigan Univ.

Accounts of wedding clothing not only depict the specific styles but give evidence on the social and economic contracts embodied in the marriages. Weddings were a unique opportunity for a family to display and establish status. Although women were often advised to avoid ostentatious dress, sumptuary legislation did not try to limit women’s clothing.

[We get a brief survey of the basics of women’s fashion at this time in England and Scotland.]

In additionu to the wedding clothes, a bride might enter the marriage with a trousseau: a set of new clothing meant to launch her into her new life. We now get some examples of outfits of important women at marriage which I’ll try to keep up with.

Margaret Hamilton (neice to the Regent of Scotland) March 1544

• gown of Lille worsted wool trimmed with fine tawny velvet
• kirtle of violent camlet
• purple velvet sleeves ..
• (I think there was a hood?)

Elizabeth Hamilton (niece to the Regent of Scotland) March 1548

• gown of figured red damask with border of velvet
• kirtle of satin with border of velvet
• partlet
• hood

Lady Jean Lyle

• gown of tawny velvet
• kirtle of tawny satin
• partlet
• hood

Margaret Hamilton’s 2nd marriage April 1552

• gown of fine tawny velvet with a train
• kirtle of purple velvet
• hoods and partlets of fine black velvet lined with black satin garnishing for the hoods
• other gowns
• something?

Dorothy Petre (gentry, England Spet 1555)

• I’m not going to be able to keep up with the typing. Long list of garments with details of the fabric and trimmings. Includes a farthingale which we haven’t seen mentioned in Scotland.

Thomasine Petre (her sister) Feb 1560

• A similarly long list of garments for the wedding clothes. An extensive list of garments in her trousseau with details of fabric and decoration. Details show her family’s wealth as it is comparable to those of noble families.

Katherine Herries (ward to the Regent of Scotland) Feb 1551

• Much longer list of garments than those for the Regent’s nieces.

Jane Herries (ditto) April 1552

• Similarly long list of garments with details of fabric and decoration. Lists of accesories. Mention of gold garnishing for the hood and chains.

Barbara Hamilton (daughte rof the Regent of Scotland) Feb 1549

• Only recipient of garments of cloth of gold and silver. An item described as a “royal robe.” Richest garments for any woman associated with the Regent.

Mary I (Queen of England) July 1555

• Lavish ensemble, probably the only woman in this list who chose her own wedding garments.
• French-style gown of rich brocade, deecorated with pearls and diamonds
• kirtle of white satin tissue embroidered, with sleeves of tissue
• partlet to match the gown
• scarlet stockings
• black velvet shoes

[We get a slide showing symbolic representations of all these wedding outfits arranged by social status.]

Wedding clothes were an important point of conspicuous display, and wealthy friends and patrons of the family might be tapped to help pay for the outfit.