More on women's costume

The very early medieval woman's dress was often called a cote (cotte), gown or tunic. Such loose simple draped material was the everyday wear of both sexes. Somewhat later in the era the gown was called a kirtle, at least in England, usually referring to a garment that laced or buttoned down the front. The basic shape of the early medieval dress has a couple distinguishing features. It is quite long, in a basic A line- that is, narrower at the top and wider at the hem. The neckline is quite high, and is sometimes cut with a small vertical slit at the neck to slip it over the head more easily. This is usually closed with a brooch. The body can be shaped a little by taking the waist in a little but this style of dress was never fitted through the bust and torso. A belt or girdle allowed the wearer to hitch up the garment and drape it over the waistline. Distinctions in class were made by the quality of fabric used and the richness of the dyes used. Some artworks show bands at the neck and wrist which might be embroidered directly into the gown, but were more likely embroidered onto a separate piece of cloth and stitched on. This made it easier to embroider, and made it possible to remove the embroidery and reuse it elsewhere. The shoulders do not have a sleeve hole cut in or set in at the usual armhole. Sleeves are added at the edge of the rectangular body of the tunic, giving a slight batwing shape to the underarms. This gives the dress a basic T-shape, derived from a loose-fitting garment called a cyclas. The sleeves were tapered at the lower arm and tight at the wrist sometimes extending down over the knuckles. It was very common for this style of cote to be worn both as an undergown or chemise. The undergarment was of linen or silk fabric and often contrasted in color with the outer garment. Linen was relatively easy to clean. It protected the outer garment from body oils and sweat. The whole costume was then covered with a surcote (surcotte, tabard), a sleeveless gown with a looser fit. It may have a regular neckline, be slightly gathered onto a decorative band or have a loose V shaped neckline and three-quarter sleeve. If sleeveless, the sleeves are usually high cut just under the armpits. A working class woman would wear a surcote or an apron to protect her clothes underneath from excessive wear and dirt.An upper class woman might wear a sleevess or short-sleeve surcote for warmth or when travelling. Many illuminations and paintings clearly show linings in contrasting colours. In a few paintings of working women, the garments do not appear to be lined. This type of gown is often shown with side seams which were laced to allow for an expanding waistline during pregnancy or weight gain. Sideless surcotes were designed to show off the gown underneath and were quite different than the utilitarian surcote. They were often quite plain, little or no embroidery. Some styles featured string ties at the sides rather than a seam. Women also wore hose or stockings similar to those we desribed for men in an earlier post.

Wimples and Gorgets

The wimple and gorget were widely worn by women of good breeding throughout much of the Middle Ages. Eventually they were dropped for daily wear by the general populace but retained by nuns and older women. Women in Italy abandoned the veil considerably earlier than other parts of Europe and England in favour of elaborate braids and beading which might also utilise a small strip of gauzy veil around the ears. It was not uncommon, however, for a married woman to wear one if she chose. Effigies and paintings from the 13th century right through to the 15th century show women wearing wimples. Wimples were also usually worn by widows regardless of their age. The wimple encircles the entire head under the veil, whereas a gorget covers the neck alone and was usually draped upwards and tucked into either a head-dress or styled hair. The most modest way to wear a wimple was over the chin, not under it, as is generally supposed (see picture below). There were many ways to drape or pin cloth about the head, resulting in a wide variety of styles and fashions. As with veils, wimples and gorgets could be made from a variety of fabrics ranging from fine opaque linens to very fine silks. For the poorer woman, thick wool or linen was both a practical and warm option to provide protection from the elements, warmth in winter and protection from the sun in summer. Contemporary images and artifacts from the 14th century and earlier show that white was the overwhelmingly popular colour. One contempory writer, Robert Mannyng complained about saffron coloured kerchiefs and wimples, as they made it difficult for a man to tell if he was looking at a yellow wimple or yellowed skin, so it must be concluded that coloured veils and wimples were not entirely unknown. A law passed between 1162 and 1202, in the municipal statues of Arles, France, which forbade prostitutes to cover their hair with a veil lest they should be mistaken for a woman of good virtue and encouraged good women to snatch the veils from the heads of women of suspected ill-repute. Many Middle Eastern countries of the world today require that a woman's hair remain covered in public. Discussions with many liberated women in these Muslim countries show that they actively choose to continue to wear a veil as a show of modesty and decency and not as a symbol of oppression by the men of their society. It was only the Western society which discontinued the wearing of the veil and wimple. Thus, wearing a veil was seen as a sign of good breeding, no different than for our grandmothers who were firmly hatted, stockinged and gloved whenever they left the house.


1345 Madonna by Vitale de Bologna shows the gorget across the chin



Multiple styles of  wimples and gorgets (photo from Pinterest)

More about the coif

Today we use the word coif to mean a hairstyle. In the Middle Ages it was a bonnet. According to Rosalie Gilbert (http://rosaliegilbert.com),the coif was nearly universal, worn both during the day and at night,for both men and women. "The coif remained one of the few items of headwear which remained unchanged by virtue of its simple design. It is best described as a close-fitting linen bonnet or cap, usually tied under the chin. It was constantly used as a hair covering in bed, or under hats by the working classes and was the commonest daytime headwear worn by all classes of the community throughout Europe during the 13th century. Many early medieval illuminations show women wearing white coifs to hold their hear in place. Long after they were abandoned by women, men continued to wear the coif under other types of hat. Coifs were generally replaced by wimples and veils in the case of women. Coifs were made of fine or coarse linen, the only difference between those worn by the upper and lower classes was the material from which they were made. Upper classes naturally opted for luxury fabrics such as silk or finer linens. The finer examples were meant to be seen and not hidden under layers of other head dresses." Refer to the previous post picture of a musician with a coif.

Women's headdresses



For the most part, women in the Middle Ages did not let their hair go uncovered. Girls might let their long locks flow free, but that was considered too enticing to men for older girls and women. The nobility allowed the tresses to show for coronation and other ceremonies. Prostitutes were sometimes mandated to show their hair to distinguish them from modest, proper women. Most women braided long hair and covered the head with a coif. The coif, also worn by men, was a simple bowl-shaped piece of linen or cotton, often with strings to tie under the chin. It looked something like a baby bonnet. But, of course, the demands of beauty and fashion could not leave well enough alone. In Murder at the Leopard, we have a scene in which Ysabella and Angelica dress in their best clothes to impress Ferdinand. Angelica's long, dark hair is swept up on the back of her head and covered with a crispine. The crispine is a variation of a caul or coif. The crispine is a mesh net that slips over hair buns. These hairnets served dual purposes, holding hair back and dressing the hair up, as they were adorned with stone, pearls, precious gems or crystal beads. A somewhat later fashion divided the hair into two buns on each side of the head, Princess Leia like, and covered the buns with smaller hairnets called crispinettes. This was often accompanied by a band around the head holding a gauzy veil. More on other head coverings in the next post.

Detail of crispinette from rre-enactment costume

The crispinette with veil