Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/496

464 COSTUME [MEDIAEVAL,, full sleeves reaching to the wrists and pointed at the back. The capes and hoods of bachelors also were bordered with white fur or wool. By various peculiarities of form, colour, and lining, the gowns, capes, and hoods of graduates of all the higher ranks certainly were distinguished ; but in the comparatively rare examples of monumental effigies repre sented in academic habit, whLch almost without exception are destitute of colour, these distinctions are not shown in any regular or marked and decided manner. Throughout the last two hundred years, if not for a still longer period, the academic habits of the University of Oxford have retained their forms unaltered. They may generally be classified in two groups ecclesiastical and civil. The gowns of the former, worn by all graduates in both divinity and arts, and also by all members on the foundation of any college, have loose sleeves, are destitute of collars and gathered in in small plaits at the bade, and bear a general resemblance to what is known of the more ancient habits, the sleeves of the masters gowns still having slits (now cut horizontally, instead of vertically) for the passage of the arms. On the other hand, the gowns of graduates in law and the other faculties, and of undergraduates who are not on the foundation of any college, besides being of less ample proportions, have falling collars and closer sleeves, which latter in the undergraduates gowns have dwindled into mere strips ; and they evidently derive their origin from parts of the ordinary dress of civilians in the 16th and 17th centuries. The gowns of graduates of the University of Cambridge for the most part are the same as those worn in the sister university ; but at Cambridge the undergraduates, not being on the foundation, of almost every college have a gown appropriated to their own college. The hoods of their degrees worn by graduates in the faculties of divinity and arts are distinguished as follows : D.D., Oxford scarlet cloth, lined with black silk ; Cambridge, scarlet cloth, lined with lilac blossom or pink silk , M.A., Oxford, black, lined with cherry-colour or crimson ; Cambridge, black, lined with white ; Dublin, lined with blue ; Durham, lined with purple ; London, lined with brown. B.A. hoods are black and bordered with white fur. EARLY EUROPEAN AND MEDLEVAL. For the purpose of the present article the terms " early European " and " medieval " may be considered to apply to the period ranging from the withdrawal of the Romans from Britain to the accession of the Stuarts to the throne of Great Britain that is, from about the close of the first quarter of the 5th century to the commencement of the 17th century; and the latter term, " medieval," may date the commencement of its application from the establish ment of his Anglo-Saxon dynasty by Egbert at the opening of the 9th century. A prolonged period of total darkness having passed away, at first, and for a considerable time, in addition to written descriptions and indirect notices which frequently are far from being intelligible, and to such actual relics as origin ally were deposited with the remains of the dead without any view either to monumental commemoration or to his torical illustration, the authorities are restricted to the illuminated compositions which so happily are associated with early MSS. After a while, the earliest seals and some ivory carvings lend such aid as may lie within the compass of their power Next follow those invaluable illustrators of costume, monumental effigies of every class, with which may be allied figures represented in architec tural sculpture and painting, upon seals also and coins. Actual relics throughout the era of monumental effigie; gradually increase in both number and variety, until at length the ages of personal portraiture, properly so called, are duly reached. It will be borne in mind that until some years after the close of the 15th century, defensive armour occupied a most important position in what strictly was the "costume" of the men of the higher classes, whose ffigies, with rare exceptions only, appear sculptured, en graven, or painted in their armour, precisely as the men themselves had been armed and equipped when in life. In the Middle Ages in Europe, costume, considered as dress distinct and distinguished from armour, was affected in no slight degree by the prevailing character of the armour of each successive period, so long as a defensive, equipment of any kind continued to be generally adopted. Dresses that had been devised expressly to be worn, some of them under defences of mail or plate, and others over them, suggested much in the way of garments that never would have any direct connection with armour. Again, when not armed, nobles, knights, and men-at-arms naturally would adopt such loose and flowing garments as would combine the greatest degree of ease with a dignified aspect; and their example in this respect would be certain to be very widely followed. The feudal system, also, powerfully aided by the heraldic sentiment that at once grew up in the feudal era and gave to it its tone and colour, exercised a powerful influence upon the costume of the various classes who, under varying conditions, were dependent upon a common feudal superior. And this influence, while adapting itself in matters of detail to personal considera tions, in its general bearing acted with uniform effect upon the entire community. Of the extravagance of so many of the diverse costumes that followed each other in rapid succession during the 14th and 15th centuries, much may be directly traced to the development of heraldry in those ages, and to the enthusiastic delight in armorial devices and insignia then universally prevalent. The singular resemblance in many marked particulars between the dresses of the two sexes, observable in the Middle Ages, undoubtedly was stimulated by the science and art of the contemporary heralds ; as the strangs and often wildly fantastic crests and the mantlings displayed upon their helms and basinets by the one sex were parodied, and sometimes were fairly outdone, by the equally strange and no less wildly fanciful head-gear adopted by the other sex, with a view either to conceal or to enhance the natural glory of their hair. Mediaeval costume, once more, would experience both changes and modifications arising out of the introduction of fresh manufactures, and necessarily resulting from the constantly expanding range of the foreign commercial relations of different countries. Costume, moreover, would be certain to be attracted by the progres sive phases of national civilization, culture, and refinement, even though it might not consistently keep pace with them. Fashion, too, always arbitrary and often inexplicable, would not fail to do its work effectually, under the diversi fied conditions and aspects of advancing centuries, among races by whom to costume it is assigned, not merely to clothe the persons of both sexes, but also to display and adorn the human figure. It will be observed that, in all countries among civilized races, in the degree that climate is more temperate, in that same degree is costume more liable to changes and fluctua tions, and more completely under the sway of fashion. In regions that are very hot or very cold, fashion, however quaint and eccentric, is long-lived and tenacious of its hold, so that the costume of one generation for the most part is reflected in that of its successor. In like manner, costume, and especially in its general character, is comparatively permanent among mountaineers. The history of costume, it must be added, approximately complete and explicit as

it may be, can contain but little more than scant notices of