Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/501

Rh ENGLISH.] COSTUME MM! historically true, to be represented in monumental sculpture. Without introducing much of actual novelty, except in the case oi some of the head-dresses which from this time continued in use under the fourth, fifth, and sixth Henries, the concluding quarter ol the 14th century was distinguished as we learn from contemporary illuminations by the pervading love of lavish extravagance in dress in all classes, and by the excess to which the more fanciful device and fashions of earlier times were carried. Thus, the jagged borders FIG. 35. Civilian, c. 1375. FIG. 36. Lancelot du Lac, c. 1360. From Viollet-le-Duc. of tunics and mantles became more than ever fantastic ; the tunics and mantles themselves attained to a larger size, and the hanging sleeves commonly attached to them drooped to the very ground. Hoods, from being merely pointed, were prolonged in pipe-like extensions ( &quot; liripipes &quot;), and the points of boots and shoes were made sharper, and the boots and shoes were made longer than ever. The singularly quaint and bizarre usage of making dresses party- coloured, the colours being selected in the majority of instances with a view to decided contrast, derived doubtless from heraldic impale ments and quarterings with fields of different tinctures, and carried out in the livery colours assumed by the retainers and dependants of great houses, a fashion which had established itself during the palmy heraldic days of Edward III., became general in the reign of Richard II., and then it was carried out in every variety of the details, accessories, and ornaments of costume. Century XV. Remarkable for a sustained succession of impor tant changes in armour, and also from the fact that after about 1405, and until about 1475, the panoply of steel was worn uncovered byanysurcoat or jupon, this turbulent century also witnessed a variety of changes iu costume changes that maintained a general uniformity throughout the greater part of Europe which in their turn led in the succeeding century to the eqiially general estab lishment of the Tudor fashions. Heraldic devices continued to constitute favourite accessories and ornaments of dress, and in no slight degree determined both its character and its aspect. To the crests of the knightly helms, and to the contoises or scarves and the mantlings displayed from them by the knights, may be assigned, as being the sources whence they were suggested, the more extravagant and quaint varieties of the female head-gear which prevailed at this period. And, in like manner, the &quot; livery colours&quot; of the nobles and other personages of distinction, in traduced during the preceding Qeutury, together with their armorial badges, all of them worn by their partisans, adherents, and dependants, imparted a heraldic character to the costume of the middle and even of the humbler classes. The only royal monumental effigies of this century are those of Henry IV. and of his second wife, Joanna of Navarre, at Canterbury. The king s dalmatic, of ample proportions and ungirt by any girdle, falls to his feet, completely covering his tunic, except at the wrists of its tight sleeves, which have an under row of small buttons set in contact ; over these sleeves are the large and_open sleeves of the dalmatic itself, which is remark able from having at each side a very large opening to give access to the pockets of the tunic. About the shoulders and covering the chest is a cape or tippet ; and, over all, there is a mantle, its hood adjusted about the neck of the wearer, which is secured by a broad and rich hand, with morses, cords, and tassels. Upon his head the first Lancastrian king wears a crown of elaborate splendour. The effigy of Queen Joanna, from which, as also is the case with the com panion effigy of her royal husband, the hands and the greater part of the arms have been broken away, represents her attired in a close-fitting tunic with a narrow very rich hip-girdle, under a long sleeveless and sidelesS cote-hardi, cut low and fitting tightly in the body, but having a loose, long and flowing skirt, and adorned with a row of rich circular studs down the front. The mantle, which fall* over the back of the figure and is not gathered up at the arms, is secured by a cordon attached to two lozenge-shaped studs. As a necklace the queen wears the Lancastrian collar of SS. ; and her hair, which is plaited in bands within golden network, is sur mounted by a truly beautiful crown. Thus the costume of this royal lady shows no change from the ruling fashion of the pre vious century. At this same time female dresses were worn made full, and either gathered into a kind of close collar about the throat, or having a broad collar falling over the shoulders, their sleeves very large and full and sometimes quite open, while at other times they also were gathered in (but not closely) at the wrists ; these dresses, often having a row of small buttons from the throat downwards, were so adjusted by a belt as to have very short waists. _ At this period also, and till the middle of the century, the tunic commonly worn by men, with the exception of being shorter, in form was almost identical with the full-sleeved kirtla also in common use by the other sex. Among characteristic examples of the ordinary costumes of the first half of the 15th century are effigies, some sculptured and some engraved, at Chip- ping Campden, Will mghby, Northleach, Kingston -on-Thames, Great Tew, Highair Ferrers, and Bedington. In the third quarter of the century me male dress in general use underwent but little change, the very long tunics of earlier times still remain ing in favour ,at the female kirtles are seldom seen with very full sleeves, tOS sleeves of the under-tunic being continued in the form of mittens so as partly to cover the hands, the outer sleeves ending in cuffs that are turned back. While the costume of the commonality thus was at any rate comparatively simple and sober, throughout the turbulent period that succeeded the death of Henry V. till the establishment of the Tudors, ii would appear as if the fierce excitement and the terrible vicissi tudes of a prolonged civil war had impelled the nobility and others of the upper classes in England encouraged in such a course, as it would seem, and still further stimulated to pursue it by the con temporaneous fashions of France to have sought a not altogether inconsistent kind of relief in both the revival and the invention of almost every conceivable extravagance and absurdity in dress and personal ornament. Long and loose robes having immense drooping sleeves had as their contemporaries close-fitting tunics reaching down not quite to the knees, with others of looser make which descended midway between the knee and the ankle, and also with jerkins cut short only a few inches below the hips, made very full, and gathered in with a belt about the waist. Of these tunics and jerkins the sleeves assumed an endless variety of form and decoration, being sometimes made to fit tightly, but more generally being large and open, and at their extremities either jagged or bordered with fur. These large sleeves enabled the wearers to display the sleeves of their under garments, and in so doing to emulate the ladies with their sideless cote-hardis and kirtles. Mantles of the richest materials and splendidly adorned, which were made to reach about to the knees, were worn as parts of the regular dress. The half-boots or shoes distinguished aa poulaines continued to be long and very sharply pointed ; and men of rank and fashion actually walked about in clogs, pointed like their poulaines, and exceeding them in length by several inches. The excesses in attire characteristic of this period culminated (in every acceptation of that word) in the female head-dresses, that appear literally to have exhausted the inventive faculties both of the ladies themselves and of those persons who ministered to their tastes and wishes. From their more decidedly characteristic features,, some of the more popular of these strange varieties of head-gear FIG. 37. &quot;Horned Head-dress, c. 1475. TIG. 38. &quot;Mitre&quot; Head-dress, c. 1475. have been distinguished as the &quot;horned,&quot;the &quot;mitre, the &quot;steeple&quot; in France known as the &quot; hennin, &quot; and the &quot;butterfly&quot; (figs. 37-40). Examples of all these head-dresses in their various modi fications of contour, size, accessories, adornment, and adjustment*