Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/500

468 COSTUME [ENGLISH. dresses of ladies of rank, a mode of decoration shown again in a brass at Trotton, 1310. Throughout this century the wimple and coverchef continued to be worn, or the hair was confined within bands of fretwork, or had some light and delicate covering which did not extend to the face and throat. In the second half of the century the hair appears to have been worn partly within the favourite fretwork, and in part falling on the shoulders ; the cover- chef also then assumed the forms of a variety of caps, and some of the more extravagant head-dresses of the following century began to make their appearance. For protection from the cold and wet the hoodsof mantles always were available, and hats wide in the brim were also worn. The hip-belt was universal. Pocket-holes, into which the hands of the wearers often are represented to have been inserted, are shown to have been made in the outer-tunics and robes. Throughout the era of splendid armour, men of distinction so constantly are represented in their armour that the typical and specially characteristic malecostume of the Middle Ages is commonly considered to have been identified with what in reality ought to be distinguished as the military equipment of the period. Rarely, however, as we see the more accessible and popular of their "counterfeit presentments " in peaceful guise, the warriors of those days when circumstances permitted gladly laid aside basinet and hauberk and panoply of plate, in order to assume some less weighty and uneasy garb. Under the armour close-fitting doublets and hose were worn, made either of leather or of some quilted fabric. When withouttheir armour, the dress of nobles and knights in many respects was assimilated to the garments assumed by them over their armour. The general costume of men of all classes at the same period was closely in accord with the style prevalent with their contempora ries of exalted rank, the essential distinc tions of different classes being comparative costliness and splendour of adornment. It will be observed that garments fitting closely to the person were in constant use, as is well exemplified in fig. 28, and also such others as were Oriental in their length and flowing looseness. Early in the 14th century two- or three surcoats were worn over the armour ; but later the short jupon, generally jagged at the edges and sleeveless, but sometimes plain and having sleeves reaching only to the elbows, superseded them, when a similar jupon made of some rich material and often having a hood, was adopted to be worn with a hip-belt, without the armour. The hip-belt, as was the case with the other sex who borrowed it from the men, was uni versal. The hose, shoes, boots or buskins, always sharply pointed, became very long as the century advanced. Rows of buttons, also, some of them very small and closely set, were in great favour. Heraldic devices, assumed as military insignia, became the favourite ornaments of the dress of peace. The military camail, again, the representative of the mail-coif of earlier times, found a parallel in 2S -( C - " Fia. 29. The Black Prince. FIG. 30. Lionel, duke of Clarence. the hood when resting on the shoulders, and in the cape which so frequently was associated with the peaceful attire of this century. See fig. 28, which also gives a characteristic illustration of the pro longed sleeve-lappets that still held their ground with resolute tenacity. Six of the original beautiful bronze statuettes, repre senting two of the daughters and four of the sons of Edward 111., which still remain in situ on the south side of that monarch s monument in Westminster Abbey, form a group so happily illustrative of both male and female costume in the second half of the 14th century before it had degenerated into the extra vagancies of the reign of Richard II., that it has appeared desirablu here to introduce the accompanying sketches of the entire group (figs. 29-34). One of these statuettes (fig. 29) is especially Fid. 31, Son of Edward III. FIG. 32. Son of Edward III. interesting, since it is a contemporary portrait of the Black Prince when he was not armed, which consequently may be agreeably associated with his noble armed effigy upon his own monument at Canterbury. The doublet and hose, doubtless worn by the Black Prince under his voluminous mantle with its deeply jagged lower border, is effectively shown in the statuettes of two of his brothers, Lionel, duke of Clarence (fig. 30), who also wears his mantle ; and a younger brother (fig. 31), not now to be identified in conse quence of his shield of arms having long been lost. The effigy of the fourth brother (fig. 32), enveloped like the Black Prince in his mantle, has also lost the armorial shield which would have declared his name and title. With the costume of these royal FIG. 33. Daughter of Edward III. FlG. 34. Daughter of Edward III. brothers may be compared the habit of a civilian, who lived at the same time with them, as it is shown in his monumental brass at Shottesbroke (fig. 35). The corresponding French costume of a few years earlier, which continued in fashion till the close of the century, is well exemplified in figs. 28 and 36. The effigies of the two royal sisters (figs. 33, 34) speak for themselves as expressive and authoritative typical illustrations of the female dress of their era in its simplest and most characteristic forms, as the entire group in which they appear attests the dignified simplicity which the artists of the Middle Ages, with such excellent taste, have shown that they

held to be appropriate for the costume, in itself always accurate