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)