DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31962#0034
16
INTRODUCTION.
A striking example of this " fluxus crinium," is presented by the figure of Henry the First's Queen
(cotemporary with that King's reign), which forms a pilaster to the west door of Rochester cathedral.
The figure of the King himself forms another. The Queen's hair depends over either shoulder in
long plaits, below her knees. The kings and queens in the curious ancient chess-men of the twelfth
century, lately exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries, wear the hair hanging over the shoulders in
several long distinct plaits. The west front of the cathedral of St. Denis exhibits a series of the early
Kings and Queens of France, with their hair thus disposed. Mrs. Bray has, in her large collection of
Mr. C. Stothard's original drawings, his beautiful views of these figures. Ancient as they are, Mont-
faucon makes them much more so, and calls them, we believe, " Les Rois Merovingiens."
The like the was, we think, a close-bodied vest. Perhaps it derived its
name from leaving the neck and bosom bare. Mr. Stothard says, " it was a summer-dress with
ladies towards the end of the fourteenth century, and tells the following anecdote in relation to it:
' A certain nobleman had two daughters, but one was fairer then the other. A gallant knight, who
had heard the fame of her beauty, asked and obtained her father's leave to woo her. The day was
fixed; the knight arrived. When the damsels appeared, the plain sister came dressed in the order
of the season; but the fair one, wishing to outvie her, and to show her charms to the best advantage,
wore the co?e-A%7*6Ke, which made her so cold, and her nose looked so red and blue, that the knight
could not fancy her beauty; so he wooed and wedded the other maid.'
" In the thirty-seventh year of Edward the Third, the wives and daughters of esquires, not possessing
the yearly amount of two hundred pounds, are forbidden to wear any purfilling or facings on their
garments, or to use any c?*M2%/es, or The wives and daughters of knights, not pos-
sessing property to the value of two hundred marks a year, were restricted from using linings of
ermine, or Axfaces cgcAm'es, or any kind of precious stones, unless it be upon their heads."
Of the crescent horned head-dress, with its pendant drapery, constructed, no doubt, upon wires,
the figure of Beatrice Countess of Arundel, presents an extravagant instance. The same appen-
dage, arranged in better taste, appears on the female in the plate lettered Sir Robert Grushill and
his Lady: and it will be observed worn under the hoods of the female mourners round Beauchamp
Earl of Warwick's tomb. " The mantle appears to have been given only to married women, in the
monuments of the time of Henry the Fourth." ^
Of the usual Civil Costume of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, excellent examples will be
found in the tombs of William of Hatfield, William of Windsor, Blanch dela Tour, and the mourners
on the monument of Sir Roger de Kerdeston. One of these mourners, a female, and the figure of
the Lady of Sir Miles Stapleton, have long pendant lappets to their sleeves. That of the Judge
in Willoughby church, Nottinghamshire, has a tunic to which very full sleeves are attached, and he
is girt with a rich cemf, or girdle; an appendage of knights, civilians, and ecclesiastics (when unattired
in the sacred vestments), in the fourteenth century.
" Change of clothing every day.
With golden girdles, great an small/'
Plowman's Tale.
There are numerous examples of the Regal Habits in the Monumental Effigies. In those of the
royal effigies at Fontevraud we distinguish the tunic, the supertunic or dalmatic, the mantle, the
crowns, the boots marked as sandals, the jewelled gloves, &c. We trace the variation in the fashion of
these regalia until the time of Henry the Fourth.
The early Episcopal figure in the Temple church shows us the plain low mitre and pastoral staff
used by Bishops of that period.
* Memoir, p. 332.
INTRODUCTION.
A striking example of this " fluxus crinium," is presented by the figure of Henry the First's Queen
(cotemporary with that King's reign), which forms a pilaster to the west door of Rochester cathedral.
The figure of the King himself forms another. The Queen's hair depends over either shoulder in
long plaits, below her knees. The kings and queens in the curious ancient chess-men of the twelfth
century, lately exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries, wear the hair hanging over the shoulders in
several long distinct plaits. The west front of the cathedral of St. Denis exhibits a series of the early
Kings and Queens of France, with their hair thus disposed. Mrs. Bray has, in her large collection of
Mr. C. Stothard's original drawings, his beautiful views of these figures. Ancient as they are, Mont-
faucon makes them much more so, and calls them, we believe, " Les Rois Merovingiens."
The like the was, we think, a close-bodied vest. Perhaps it derived its
name from leaving the neck and bosom bare. Mr. Stothard says, " it was a summer-dress with
ladies towards the end of the fourteenth century, and tells the following anecdote in relation to it:
' A certain nobleman had two daughters, but one was fairer then the other. A gallant knight, who
had heard the fame of her beauty, asked and obtained her father's leave to woo her. The day was
fixed; the knight arrived. When the damsels appeared, the plain sister came dressed in the order
of the season; but the fair one, wishing to outvie her, and to show her charms to the best advantage,
wore the co?e-A%7*6Ke, which made her so cold, and her nose looked so red and blue, that the knight
could not fancy her beauty; so he wooed and wedded the other maid.'
" In the thirty-seventh year of Edward the Third, the wives and daughters of esquires, not possessing
the yearly amount of two hundred pounds, are forbidden to wear any purfilling or facings on their
garments, or to use any c?*M2%/es, or The wives and daughters of knights, not pos-
sessing property to the value of two hundred marks a year, were restricted from using linings of
ermine, or Axfaces cgcAm'es, or any kind of precious stones, unless it be upon their heads."
Of the crescent horned head-dress, with its pendant drapery, constructed, no doubt, upon wires,
the figure of Beatrice Countess of Arundel, presents an extravagant instance. The same appen-
dage, arranged in better taste, appears on the female in the plate lettered Sir Robert Grushill and
his Lady: and it will be observed worn under the hoods of the female mourners round Beauchamp
Earl of Warwick's tomb. " The mantle appears to have been given only to married women, in the
monuments of the time of Henry the Fourth." ^
Of the usual Civil Costume of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, excellent examples will be
found in the tombs of William of Hatfield, William of Windsor, Blanch dela Tour, and the mourners
on the monument of Sir Roger de Kerdeston. One of these mourners, a female, and the figure of
the Lady of Sir Miles Stapleton, have long pendant lappets to their sleeves. That of the Judge
in Willoughby church, Nottinghamshire, has a tunic to which very full sleeves are attached, and he
is girt with a rich cemf, or girdle; an appendage of knights, civilians, and ecclesiastics (when unattired
in the sacred vestments), in the fourteenth century.
" Change of clothing every day.
With golden girdles, great an small/'
Plowman's Tale.
There are numerous examples of the Regal Habits in the Monumental Effigies. In those of the
royal effigies at Fontevraud we distinguish the tunic, the supertunic or dalmatic, the mantle, the
crowns, the boots marked as sandals, the jewelled gloves, &c. We trace the variation in the fashion of
these regalia until the time of Henry the Fourth.
The early Episcopal figure in the Temple church shows us the plain low mitre and pastoral staff
used by Bishops of that period.
* Memoir, p. 332.