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I suspect that what monks ate depended a LOT on the Abbot in charge but...

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How Did Medieval Monks Survive On Such A Lacklustre Diet?

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What did PEASANTS EAT in medieval times?

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In French but with good subtitles and a nice short but more complete overview.

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Building a Medieval Castle in Modern Times

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He's kind of fun.

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Worst jobs in Middle Ages   04   Stone masons and builders

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Real Castle being built with medieval tools and methods

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Real Castle being built with medieval tools and methods

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Great to watch (skip through) to see stone masons, and lots of other stuff (they have more videos). Castle Guédelon

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You can just skim - I put highlights on the most interesting or useful parts!

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medievalists.net-Sustainable and Innovative The Medieval Art of Fishing

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A good short video on Jesters historically - not specifically middle ages but sort of an overview - useful for a narrative!

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How dangerous was it to be a jester? - Beatrice K. Otto

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Edpuzzle video lesson. Make any video your lesson. Take a video and crop it, add your voice or embed questions at any point.

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If you are a clergy female, this is an interesting group.

beguines nuns

+9

A Lost World Made by Women - The New York Times

"Beguines were medieval lay religious women in Western Europe who formed self-sufficient communities (Beguinages) for prayer, work, and service to the poor, but unlike nuns, they were not bound by permanent vows, allowing them to leave and marry, though few did..."

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Beguine of Ghent. Excerpt from a manuscript of the beguinage of Sint-Aubertus, Ghent, c. 1840.[1]

Print of a Beguine in Des dodes dantz of Matthäus Brandis, Lübeck 1489.

The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th-16th centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take formal religious vows; although they promised not to marry "as long as they lived as Beguines," to quote one of the early Rules, they were free to leave at any time. Beguines were part of a larger spiritual revival movement of the 13th century that stressed imitation of Jesus' life through voluntary poverty, care of the poor and sick, and religious devotion.

The term "Beguine" (* Latin: beguinas; Dutch: begijn) is of uncertain origin and may have been pejorative. Scholars no longer credit the theory expounded in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911) that the name derived from Lambert le Bègue, a priest of Liège. Other theories, such as derivation from the name of St. Begga and from the purported, reconstructed Old Saxon word beggen, "to beg" or "to pray", have also been discredited. The origin of the movement's name continues to be uncertain, as are the dates for the beginning of the movement itself.

There is likewise no evidence that Beguines ever formed part of the Cathar heretical groups. Encyclopedias, when they mention this latter explanation at all, tend to dismiss it.[better source needed ]

Beguines (laywomen)

A house in Bad Cannstatt formerly used as a beguinage. It was built in 1463 and restored in 1983.

At the beginning of the 12th century, some women in the Low Countries lived alone and devoted themselves to prayer and good works without taking vows. At first there were only a few, but in the course of the century, their numbers increased. In the Middle Ages there were more women than men due to the structure of urban demographics and marriage patterns in the Low Countries. These women lived in towns, where they attended to the poor. During the 13th century, some of them bought homes that neighbored each other. These small communities of women soon attracted the attention of secular and clerical authorities. Moved or inspired by the women's commitment to prayer, the sacraments, and charitable service in the world, local clergy sought to channel and deploy the women's spiritual fame in response to contemporary problems, especially the institutional church's war on heresy. Several clerics sought to promote these mulieres religiosae (or religious women) as saints after their deaths. Probably the most famous instance of this was the relationship between James of Vitry and Marie d'Oignies, who is sometimes referred to as the prototypical Beguine, in the early 13th century. Marie d'Oignies inspired James. She encouraged and improved his preaching and many of her miracles served to promote the sacramental program of Lateran IV. After Marie's death, James traveled to Rome on behalf of the "religious women" in the diocese of Liège, seeking papal permission for the women to live in common and incite one another to live good Christian lives.

Beguines were not nuns, but they are sometimes conflated with nuns. Beguines took personal, informal vows of chastity. Animated by the ideals of the vita apostolica-the same ideals that led to the formation of the mendicant orders-Beguines pursued a life of contemplative prayer and active service in the world. As women, Beguines were forbidden to preach and teach, yet they actively exhorted their fellow Christians to live lives of penance, service, and prayer.

Beguines were never recognized as an official, papally approved religious order. They did not follow an approved rule, they did not live in convents, and they did not give up their personal property. In fact, Beguines were free to abandon their religious vocation at any time since it was not enforced by any binding monastic vow. In many cases, the term "Beguine" referred to a woman who wore humble garb and stood apart as living a religious life above and beyond the practice of ordinary laypeople.

In cities such as Cambrai, Valenciennes, and Liège, local officials established formal communities for these women that became known as beguinages. Beguinages (Begijnhoven in Dutch-speaking areas) tended to be located near or within town centers and were often close to the rivers that provided water for their work in the cloth industry.

While some women joined communities of like-minded lay religious women, adopting the label "Beguine" by virtue of entering a beguinage, many women lived alone or with one or two other like-minded women. Beguines engaged in a range of occupations to support themselves. Women in the Low Countries tended to work in the cities' lucrative wool industry. Parisian Beguines were important contributors to the city's burgeoning silk industry.

Beguinages were not convents. There was no overarching structure such as a mother-house. Each beguinage adopted its own rule. The Bishop of Liège created a rule for Beguines in his diocese. However, every community was complete in itself and fixed its own order of living. Later, many adopted the rule of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

Beguine communities varied in terms of the social status of their members; some of them only admitted ladies of high degree; others were reserved exclusively for persons in humble circumstances; others still welcomed women of every condition, and these were the most popular. Several, like the great beguinage of Ghent, had thousands of inhabitants. The Beguinage of Paris, founded before 1264, housed as many as 400 women. Douceline of Digne ( c. 1215-1274) founded the Beguine movement in Marseille; her hagiography, which was composed by a member of her community, sheds light on the movement in general.

This semi-monastic institution was adapted to its age and spread rapidly throughout the land. Some Beguines became known as "holy women" ( mulieres sanctae), and their devotions influenced religious life within the region. Beguine religious life was part of the mysticism of that age. There was a beguinage at Mechelen as early as 1207, at Brussels in 1245, at Leuven before 1232, at Antwerp in 1234, and at Bruges in 1244. By the close of the century, most communes in the Low Countries had a beguinage; several of the great cities had two or more.

Some influential Beguinages were Begijnhof (Amsterdam), Begijnhof (Breda), Begijnhof (Utrecht).

As the 13th century progressed, some Beguines came under criticism as a result of their ambiguous social and legal status. As a conscious choice to live in the world but in a way that effectively surpassed (at least in piety) or stood out from most laypeople, Beguines attracted disapprobation as much as admiration. In some regions, the term Beguine itself denoted an ostentatiously, even obnoxiously religious woman; an image that quickly led to accusations of hypocrisy (consider the Beguine known as "Constrained Abstinence" in the Roman de la Rose). Some professed religious were offended by the assuming of "religious" status without the commitment to a rule, while the laity resented the implicit disapproval of marriage and other markers of secular life. The women's legal standing in relation to ecclesiastical and lay authorities was unclear. Beguines seemed to enjoy the best of both worlds: holding on to their property and living in the world as laypeople while claiming the privileges and protections of the professed religious.

On the other hand, admirers such as the secular cleric Robert de Sorbon ( died 1274) noted that Beguines exhibited far more devotion to God than even the cloistered, since they voluntarily pursued a religious life without vows and walls, surrounded by the world's temptations.

The power of the Beguine label is evident in the "watershed" moments of Beguine history, from its first appearance in the sermons of James of Vitry (the Beguine movement's earliest and perhaps most famous promoter), to its reference in the trial of the doomed mystic Marguerite Porete (who was burned at the stake in Paris on charges of heresy in 1310), to its centrality in the condemnation of lay religious women at the Council of Vienne in 1311-1312.

Sometime during the early to mid-1290s, Marguerite Porete wrote a mystical book known as The Mirror of Simple Souls. Written in Old French, the book describes the annihilation of the soul, specifically its descent into a state of nothingness-of union with God without distinction. While clearly popular throughout the Middle Ages and beyond (perhaps dozens of copies circulated throughout late-medieval western Europe) the book provoked some controversy, likely because of statements such as "a soul annihilated in the love of the creator could, and should, grant to nature all that it desires," which some took to mean that a soul can become one with God and that when in this state it can ignore moral law, as it had no need for the Church and its sacraments, or its code of virtues. This was not what Porete taught, since she explained that souls in such a state desired only good and would not be able to sin. Nevertheless, the book's teachings, for some, were too easily misconstrued, particularly by the unlearned.

Also at issue was the manner in which Porete disseminated her teachings, which was evocative of actions and behaviors some clerics were finding increasingly problematic among lay religious women in that era. Indeed, Porete was eventually tried by the Dominican inquisitor of France and burned at the stake as a relapsed heretic in 1310. In 1311-the year after Porete's death-ecclesiastical officials made several specific connections between Porete's ideas and deeds and the Beguine status in general at the Council of Vienne. One of the council's decrees, Cum de Quibusdam, claimed that Beguines "dispute and preach about the highest Trinity and the divine essence and introduce opinions contrary to the catholic faith concerning the articles of the faith and the sacraments of the church."

After the Council of Vienne in 1312, the Beguines declined. By the 14th century, some communities were absorbed by monastic and mendicant orders. Many, however, survived the aftermath of the Vienne decrees.

Most of these institutions were suppressed during the Reformation of the 16th century or during the stormy years of revolutions and social unrest of the French Revolution. A few béguinages persisted until the early 20th century in parts of Belgium, including those of Bruges, Lier, Mechelen, Leuven and Ghent, which last numbered nearly a thousand members in 1905.

Béguinage of St Elisabeth, Kortrijk

Surviving Beguines

The community of Begijnhof, Amsterdam, credited with having considerably influenced the development of what was the city's southern edge in the late Middle Ages, survived the Protestant Reformation staunchly Catholic. Their parish church was confiscated and given over to exiled English Puritans. The last Amsterdam Beguine died in 1971, but the Begijnhof remains one of the city's best-known landmarks.

Marcella Pattyn, the last traditional Beguine, died on 14 April 2013 in Kortrijk at the age of 92. Born in the Belgian Congo in 1920, she was accepted into the Holy Corner of Elizabeth of Hungary at Sint-Amandsberg, Ghent, in 1941 and moved to the Béguinage of St Elisabeth at Kortrijk in 1960, where she became one of a community of nine.

Second and third waves

Writer Jean Hughes Raber, a student of medieval women's movements, posited a second wave of the Beguine movement, which occurred in the 17th century, when it was supported by Archbishop Mathias Hovius. His involvement included helping improve the Great Beguines at Mechelen. Raber says there was no clear end to the Second Movement. She suggests that Catholic lay movements, such as those of Dorothy Day in the United States, the Company of St. Ursula and communities of women initiated by Francisca Hernandez,[who? ] can be seen as extensions of the Beguines into the 20th century.

Raber suggests the Beguines' response to social and economic forces in the 12th century offers a model that can meet current conditions: economic uncertainty or worse, single women comprising a larger section of the population, and loss of wealth in the form of deflated values of housing. She cites a California-based group, the American Beguines, as an example of the revival of the Beguine Movement, with notable but not necessarily problematic differences. In recent decades, a new Beguine movement has arisen in Germany.

Recently, the Beguines of Mercy were founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is a contemplative third order of educated Catholic women whose roots are in spiritual community. Their affiliations are good works, quiet contemplation, and living out their spiritual values.

Among Beguines who have become well-known representatives of the movement in contemporary literature are: Christina von Stommeln, Douceline of Digne, Hadewijch, Marguerite Porete, Marie d'Oignies, and Mechthild of Magdeburg. Modern Beguines include Marcella Pattyn, and perhaps Dorothy Day.

Beghards (laymen)

A widespread religious revival inspired several societies for men which were kindred to the Beguines. Of these, the Beghards were the most numerous and the most important.

The Beghards were all laymen and, like the Beguines, they were not bound by vows, the rule of life which they observed was not uniform, and the members of each community were subject only to their own local superiors. They held no private property; the brethren of each cloister had a common purse, dwelt together under one roof and ate at the same board. They were for the most part men of humble origin-like weavers, dyers, and fullers-who were closely connected with the city craft-guilds. For example, no man could be admitted to the Beghards' community at Brussels unless he were a member of the Weavers' Company. The Beghards were often men to whom fortune had not been kind-men who had outlived their friends, or whose family ties had been broken by some untoward event and who, by reason of failing health or advancing years, or perhaps on account of some accident, were unable to stand alone. If "the medieval towns of the Netherlands found in the Beguinage a solution of their feminine question",[citation needed ] the growth of the Beghard communities provided a place for the worn-out working man.

The men had banded together in the first place to build up the inner man. While working out their own salvation, they remained mindful of their neighbors and, thanks to their connection with the craft-guilds, they influenced the religious life. They are credited with shaping the religious opinion of the cities and towns of the Netherlands for more than 200 years, especially for the peasant.

Religious authorities believed the Beguines had heretical tendencies and sometimes tried to bring disciplinary measures against them. The Synods of Fritzlar (1259), Mainz (1261), and Eichstätt (1282) brought measures against them and they were forbidden as "having no approbation" by the Synod of Béziers (1299). They were condemned by the Council of Vienne (1312), but this sentence was mitigated by Pope John XXII (1321), who permitted the Beguines to resume their mode of life after reform.

The Beghards were more obstinate; during the 14th century, they were repeatedly condemned by the Holy See, the bishops (notably in Germany) and the Inquisition. Ernest Gilliat-Smith, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia said that men of faith and piety were found among the Beghards. In their behalf, Pope Gregory XI (1374-77) and Pope Boniface IX (1394) addressed Bulls to the bishops of Germany and the Netherlands. The doctrine of Quietism is believed to resemble the stance of these community members.

Before the close of the Middle Ages, Beghard communities were in decline. Their numbers diminished with the waning of the textile trade and, when that industry died, gradually dwindled away. The highest number of such medieval foundations in Flanders and Wallonia was 94, but in 1734 they had been reduced to just 34. Pope Gregory XVI referred to them critically in his 1832 encyclical letter . There were 20 remaining foundations in 1856.[citation needed ]

Joyce Hollyday's 2020 novel Pillar of Fire offers a well-researched fictionalized account of Beguines based in part on the writing of Marguerite Porete.

In his multi-volume novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-1767), Laurence Sterne has his character Corporal Trim describe a Beguine.

In Charlotte Brontë's 1853 novel , Beguines and a beguinage are mentioned in Chapter 17, "La Terrasse".

Françoise Mallet-Joris's first novel was Le rempart des Béguines (1952) (published in 2006 in a new English translation as The Illusionist). The title is the name of the street where Tamara, a courtesan, lives apart from the bourgeois society of Gers, a fictional Flemish town.

The 2012 novel Ink & Honey (revised and reissued 2022) by Sibyl Dana Reynolds, tells the fictional story and journey of a group of beguines, the sisters of Belle Coeur, set in medieval France.

In Umberto Eco's 1980 novel The Name of the Rose (1983 in English), the Beghards are frequently mentioned among the heretical movements which the Inquisition is persecuting.

Bernard Cornwell in his 2003 novel has a character, Genevieve, who is a condemned Beguine heretic rescued by the main character, Thomas of Hookton.

Karen Maitland in her 2009 novel The Owl Killers portrays a group of Beguines in the fictional early 14th-century English village of Ulewic.

Ken Follett in his 2012 novel World Without End mentions the life of Beguines in the Netherlands.

Helga Gielen in her 2019 virtual tour in the Grand Beguinage of Leuven explains the difference between Beguines and nuns.

Burnham, Louisa A., So Great a Light, So Great a Smoke. The Beguin Heretics of Languedoc, Cornell University Press, 2008.

De Cant, Geneviève, Majérus Pascal & Verougstraete Christiane, A World of Independent Women: From the 12th Century to the Present Day: the Flemish Beguinages, Riverside: Hervé van Caloen Foundation, 2003.

Deane, Jennifer Kolpacoff, Beguines' Reconsidered: Historiographical Problems and New Directions, Monastic Matrix, 2008.

Simons, Walter, Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, 1200-1565, Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 2001.

McDonnell, Ernest W., The Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture: With Special Emphasis on the Belgian Scene, New York: Octagon Books, 1969 (1954 edition online at HathiTrust).

Miller, Tanya Stabler, The Beguines of Medieval Paris: Gender, Patronage, and Spiritual Authority, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014

Murk-Jansen, Saskia, Brides in the Desert: The Spirituality of the Beguine, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998

Neel, Carol, The Origins of the Beguines, Signs, 1989.

Petroff, Elizabeth Alvilda, Body and Soul: Essays on Medieval Women and Mysticism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994

Philippen, L.J.M., "De Begijnhoven: Oorsprong, Geschiedenis, Inrichting. Antwerp, Belgium: Ch. and H. Courtin, 1918.

Reichstein, Frank-Michael, Das Beginenwesen in Deutschland, 2. Auflage, Berlin, 2017.

Simons, Walter, Staining the Speech of Things Divine: The Uses of Literacy in Medieval Beguine Communities, Thérèse De Hemptinne & Maria Eugenia Gongora (eds.), The Voice of Silence: Women's Literacy in a Men's Church, Turnhout, Brepols, 2004.

Swan, Laura, The Wisdom of the Beguines: the Forgotten Story of a Medieval Women's Movement, BlueBridge, 2014.

Van Aerschot Suzanne & Heirman Michiel, Les béguinages de Flandre. Un patrimoine mondial, Brussels: éditions Racine, 2001.

Von Der Osten-Sacken, Vera, Jakob von Vitrys Vita Mariae Oigniacensis. Zu Herkunft und Eigenart der ersten Beginen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010 (=VIEG 223).

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The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th-16th centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take formal religious vows; although they promised not to marry "as long as they lived as Beguines," to quote one of the early Rules, they were free to leave at any time.

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Don't worry about matching the name - just find one that fits your character!

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Armorial Gold Family and Heraldic Family Mottoes - A

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Family and Heraldry Mottoes - A Free Resource. Names starting with A

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Nat Geo - actually about fashion in general

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When men's fashion had a revolution—in medieval times

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When Women Became Nuns to Get a Good Education

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When Women Became Nuns to Get a Good Education

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When Women Became Nuns to Get a Good Education _ HISTORY

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Did many people work like this in the Middle Ages?

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The Knight with the Lion - an interactive educational resource for children and others based on medieval french stories about King Arthur and his Knights. Translation and adaptaion of poems by Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. Contains historical link material on medieval life and society.

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The walled town of Carcassonne in France

The Lady of Noroison's town is like some of the others described in this story, a walled town attached to a castle. Many towns in the Middle Ages belonged to a lord, or to a bishop or an abbot (being built on land belonging to an abbey, monastery, or cathedral).

Carcassonne from the air

Carcassonne is a typical medieval fortified city, easy to defend against attack. You can see how neatly the town fits inside its two sets of walls. In England some towns, like York, still have almost all of their medieval walls. Even in towns where the walls are no longer there, you can often still follow where they have been. A lot of towns still have traces of older Roman walls as well.

Yet not all towns belonged to castles or had been there since Roman times. During the Middle Ages, around 700 towns were built in England, and many that already existed grew larger. The population of England was getting bigger, and by the early 14th Century it had reached 3 million. Forests were being cleared, and swampy land drained for people to live on and grow crops.

More and more people came to the towns to work and live. If a serf (a peasant who belonged to a feudal lord) ran away from his lord and lived inside the walls of a town for a year and a day, he became a free man. People working in the same trades often lived in particular areas of a town: all the potters were together, all the weavers, the silversmiths, the leatherworkers and so on. You can sometimes guess which trades were carried on there from the street names today.

Laying roads out of a walled town

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What might the Lady of Noroison's walled town have looked like?

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The Knight with the Lion - an interactive educational resource for children and others based on medieval french stories about King Arthur and his Knights. Translation and adaptaion of poems by Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. Contains historical link material on medieval life and society.

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Chivalry was a set of ideas about how a knight ought to behave. The word comes from the old French word 'chevalerie', which was used for men who fought on horseback, like our English word 'cavalry'.

A Perfect Knight

A knight was supposed to show bravery, strength and skill in battle (this was called prowess), to respect women, to defend the weak and the poor, to be generous to others and loyal to his lord, his family and his friends. He was meant to behave at all times with courtesy - which meant not just being polite or having good manners but showing kindness and respect and thinking about the feelings of others.

Courtesy also involved acting correctly when fighting. For example, it was not courteous to try to injure an enemy's horse. If a knight knocked his enemy off his horse, he should wait until the other knight mounted again before attacking. If the horse had run away, the knight should get off his own horse and fight his opponent on foot. It was not courteous to kill an enemy if he begged for mercy and agreed to be a prisoner.

A knight rescuing a damsel in distress from a monster.

Stories and poems like the one you are reading by Chrétien de Troyes show Arthur and his knights acting chivalrously. A lot of knights did not behave as well as this in real life, particularly in war. However, the idea of the perfect knight was a very important one in the Middle Ages. In the 12th Century, a writer called John of Salisbury declared that it was a knight's duty 'to protect the Church, to fight against treachery, to reverence the priesthood, to fend off injustice from the poor, to make peace in your own province, to shed blood for your brethren, and if needs must, to lay down your life.'

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What was chivalry and what were its 'laws'?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Knight with the Lion - an interactive educational resource for children and others based on medieval french stories about King Arthur and his Knights. Translation and adaptaion of poems by Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. Contains historical link material on medieval life and society.

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In the early days of knighthood, in the 10th and 11th Centuries, a young man was made a knight by his father or liege lord, often on the field of battle. The new knight's sword would be 'girded on' (strapped to his waist) and the older man would give him a blow to the cheek with the flat of a sword. This was calling 'dubbing' and was the only blow a knight must take without fighting back.

Later on, the Church became more involved in knighthood. From around 1200, a priest or a bishop often took part in making a new knight, and it became a religious ceremony.

Taking a bath before becoming a knight

The evening before being made a knight, the young man would have a bath to wash away his sins, and put on white clothes and a red cloak. All night he would kneel in prayer before an altar with his weapons laid upon it. In the morning there would be a Mass in the Chapel with many knights and ladies there. The priest would bless the young man's sword and fasten it round his waist. The young man would take an oath to fight against wrong-doers and to protect widows, orphans and the poor. Then his spurs would be attached to his heels, and the priest would dub him a knight. In rich households there would be feasting and tournaments in celebration lasting for days.

Putting on a knight's spurs as part of the ceremony of knighthood

A version of this ceremony still takes place today when someone receives a 'knighthood' from the Queen.

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What was the ceremony for making a knight?

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The Knight with the Lion - an interactive educational resource for children and others based on medieval french stories about King Arthur and his Knights. Translation and adaptaion of poems by Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. Contains historical link material on medieval life and society.

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The son of a knight did not usually go to school (in fact, very few children in the Middle Ages did). Until he was seven he might be taught a little by his mother or a priest at home. Then he would be sent to live in the castle of another knight and his family as a page. A page had to learn how to serve at his master's table, and how a castle was run. He also learnt how to ride well and to handle weapons.

Boys learning to joust on a wooden horse

When he was fourteen, if his master was pleased with him, the page might become a squire. The word 'squire' comes from the French word 'escuyer' meaning 'shield-carrier'. The young squire learnt about how to be a knight by going with his master to war, carrying his shield, putting on his armour before the battle, looking after his horses. The squire had to keep his master's equipment ready and bring it to him when it was needed, even in the midst of a battle.

By the time he was twenty-one, the squire might be made a knight, and hope to be given some land by his liege lord. Otherwise, he would have to find some other way to make money, since horses and armour were expensive, and knights were expected to be generous. He might try to marry a rich woman, or hire himself out for pay as a mercenary fighter.

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How did a boy get to be a knight? What was the training for becoming one?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Knight with the Lion - an interactive educational resource for children and others based on medieval french stories about King Arthur and his Knights. Translation and adaptaion of poems by Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. Contains historical link material on medieval life and society.

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What kind of armour did Yvain and his horse wear?

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The Knight with the Lion - an interactive educational resource for children and others based on medieval french stories about King Arthur and his Knights. Translation and adaptaion of poems by Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. Contains historical link material on medieval life and society.

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Calogrenant is knocked off his horse by the other knight's lance. A lance was a long wooden spear with a sharp metal point. When knights fought, they would charge at each other on their horses from as far away as possible. They would try to spear each other with their lances or knock each other to the ground. A knight had to protect himself with his shield with one hand while trying to use his own lance against his enemy (as well as steering his horse).

Still, lances weren't much use after the first charge - they often broke in the clash and were difficult to use in close-up fighting. So then the knights would fight with swords, standing up in their stirrups and hammering at each other's helmets or trying to cut through each other's mail.

If one knight fell from his horse, the other was supposed to get down too and they would carry on fighting on foot. If the loser was not killed, he often had to declare himself the prisoner of the other and do what he asked.

Sometimes knights would fight as entertainment for other people to watch. These pretend fights were called tournaments.

Two knights might fight each other alone (this was called single combat) while a huge crowd watched and cheered. Or else a large number of knights might form two teams, like two enemy armies, and try to beat one another at jousting (fighting on horseback with a lance) and sword-fighting.

Ladies often gave favours or tokens (a scarf or a flower or part of their sleeve) for their favourite knight to wear. Sometimes they would be the judges, deciding who had fought the best and giving prizes.

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The Knight with the Lion - an interactive educational resource for children and others based on medieval french stories about King Arthur and his Knights. Translation and adaptaion of poems by Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. Contains historical link material on medieval life and society.

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What did the clergy do in the Middle Ages?

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What did the clergy do in the Middle Ages?

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In Medieval times, people saw society as divided into three groups, called the 'three estates': the nobility (knights, their lords, the king); the clergy (bishops, abbots, monks, nuns, etc.); and the labourers (everyone else - see picture right). God must have put people into these estates for a reason, people thought, and each had a task to perform.

'God's house is threefold,' a French bishop wrote, 'some pray in it, some fight in it, some work in it.' The labourer had to work to provide food and the other basic things needed to live on. The noblemen, in return for living in much greater comfort than the labourer, was expected to defend the poor and to set a good example in the way he behaved. The clergy, meanwhile, was in charge of the religious life of the community and had to please God by serving Him every day.

So the main purpose of the life of monks and nuns was to serve God through prayer and praise. This meant getting up at midnight for the first service of the day (called Matins) which could last until nearly dawn. The monks and nuns might stand and sing as many as fifty psalms from memory. After Matins came Lauds, then Prime, and so on every few hours throughout the day until Vespers and Compline in the evening.

Monks copying

In between these services - called 'God's Work' - there was barely time for a few hours' sleep, for meals of pottage (thick grain and vegetable soup) or fish (monks or nuns were supposed to eat meat only when they were ill), for work in the garden (monks and nuns grew their own food and often made their own clothes) or copying books.

A richly decorated letter (called an illuminated letter)

Yet many monks and nuns had other duties which meant they could not follow the strict life of prayer all the time.

Nuns looking after people in an 'almshouse', a home for old people

They cared for old people, for the sick, even for lepers, who were not allowed to go near other people as the disease of leprosy was catching. There were over four hundred hospitals in England run by monks and nuns.

Friars looking after the sick

They ran orphanages and taught boys (and occasionally girls) to read and write. Many monasteries had guest-houses where travellers could spend the night.

There were many different kinds (or 'Orders') of monks and nuns: Benedictines, Cistercians, Dominicans, Franciscans, etc. There wore different clothes and had different rules. (Monks and nuns made vows that they would keep these when they joined the Order.) Some, like the Friars founded by Francis of Assisi, were not supposed to live in monasteries at all, but to go about preaching and to live off what people gave them. There were even soldier-monks like the Templars who went on Crusades to capture the Holy Land from the Muslims.

Some of these Orders became very rich. They owned land and made a great deal of money from selling crops or things that they made (such as beer, liqueurs and perfume). The Cistercian monks of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, for example, were sheep-farmers and made a large fortune dyeing and selling their wool.

Not everyone thought it was right for monasteries to be so wealthy, and for abbots and bishops to live like lords, feasting and hunting. People could see that some monks and nuns lived an easy life but not a holy one. Not all of them kept their vows.

A monk stealing some wine

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In Medieval times, people saw society as divided into three groups, called the 'three estates': the nobility (knights, their lords, the king); the clergy (bishops, abbots, monks, nuns, etc.); and the labourers (everyone else - see picture right). God must have put people into these estates for a reason, people thought, and each had a task to perform.

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Short video about life in a castle (which actually includes Nobles, but also the people who worked for them...)

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(written for teachers but good background info)

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In the early Middle Ages, craftsmen served their most local village populations and were far less specialized than later. Smiths who worked iron tended to handle smelting and refining, and then made all of the basic iron implements like edges for plowshares or heads for spears. Weapon making was the first specialization, but even then, swordsmiths were uncommon and only found near royalty. The same rule generally applied to all trades, and many crafts were still based in the home, like spinning and weaving.

Towns were first established as feudal-free zones, allowing craftsmen to devote all of their time to business without needing to go cut the lord's hay or mend his stone walls. So from the start, they were congregations of, by and for craftsmen. Most towns were organized around craft zones according to what each one needed, such as water or wood. Town centers and roads grew up around the needs of tradesmen.

By the late Middle Ages, trades had specialized to a high degree and had formal structures. Life in one of these trades followed a mapped out pathway: apprenticeship, journeyman (in some trades), junior partner, senior partner, guild official, and maybe at the end, head of the guild or even mayor of the town (elected from among the guild chiefs). A craftsman would rarely leave his town, since specialized merchants handled distance sales. Most craftsmen had a shop window with a shutter that hinged at the bottom, opening into a counter. Town ordinances specified how far into the street a shop was allowed to move display tables or awnings. When these rules weren't strict enough, precious little sunlight reached the ground.

Prosperous guilds built freestanding, single-purpose guild halls in imitation of manor halls. Guilds held regular meetings to regulate their trade, so they needed a large room with tables to hold everyone. A good guild hall also had quite a kitchen out back, and even a chest full of musical instruments (eventually, guilds developed those European town bands of the early modern period). Poor guilds had to rent space or borrow church halls.

The guild members divided up the work of approving new members (usually local apprentices as they graduated) and overseeing the town's craft products. Weights and measures were hugely important in the Middle Ages. Cities had officials whose only job was making sure that the weights and measures used around town all matched the official set. Guilds had sets to match to individual shops, and they carried out frequent random checks so that their craft would not get a bad reputation. Every shop marked its products, from bread to bricks to hats, and every guild inspected and imposed fines. Essentially, so much of the town's governance took place right at this level that elected government naturally evolved out of the guild structure.

Guilds helped their elderly and sick members. They also paid for funerals and tried to help guild widows if possible. They had other social functions, like parades and plays. Some towns had an annual fundraiser in which each guild hosted a piece of one long religious drama. The one held on Corpus Christi Day (mid-summer) in York, England, was the most famous and perhaps most highly developed. It has been recreated in modern times.

This entry was posted in Medieval cycle of life and tagged guilds. Bookmark the permalink.

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In the early Middle Ages, craftsmen served their most local village populations and were far less specialized than later. Smiths who worked iron tended to handle smelting and refining, and then made all of the basic iron implements like edges for plowshares or heads for spears.

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The position of the medieval Blacksmith or metalworker is often innately connected with that of the knight for whom he is immortalised as supplying with a steady stream of swords and weaponry. To accurately describe this trade in the context of the medieval period, the blacksmith must be detached from the knight and analysed as a separate entity. Essentially, it must be asked 'what was there in the life of a blacksmith aside form hammering out swords for lords?' What sort of world did he inhabit and what were the rules he had to play by?
Far from the perception of them as creators of weaponry, there existed a bona fide trade industry and a conscientious effort to create an administration to preserve it. This article will focus on the other aspects of the Blacksmith's life, it will show that there was a complex industry surrounding who was able to become one and how they maintained their craft throughout the changing medieval world.

Carolingian records extol the virtues of his black and metal smiths. A capitulary from 802 stipulates that lords must have these workers to produce chainmail for them on military campaigns. It was, as a direct result of this exposure to conflict that the smiths were able to innovate and receive the most praise from their feudal lords. The Carolingians were particularly impressed with the horse-shields created for them which would have afforded them even greater superiority in battle. It is easy to view these records as confirming the Smiths' commitment to producing the tools of war and to the sole employment of the lords who directed it.

It must however be observed that the records of Charlemagne pertain to warfare and as such, will reflect his emphasis. His tenure as the King of the Franks from 768 A.D. and later as Holy Roman Emperor from 800 saw him expand his territory with unprecedented success and maintain the loyalty of his nobles by promising the riches of annual summertime invasions into enemy territory. With such a heavy emphasis on conflict to establish and maintain his crown, it is no surprise that blacksmiths are recorded primarily as catering to this. Here we see the conception of the Blacksmith as primarily a producer of arms and armour that was to endure to the present day.

Charlemagne and his successors did recognise the other values of smiths to the extent that smith-produced goods such as armour and plate were amongst items he counted as Wergild. This was a price placed on every item and living being within his domain, it was the price that thing or person was worth if killed or injured and had to be paid by the guilty party. For example, the Lex Ribuaria records a 'good breast plate' as being valued at '12 solidi'. This process required the intervention of a court to determine the outcome and clearly places the work of smiths as being viewed as of physical value to the empire and as being able to serve a legal purpose. It was in this sense a type of currency in that it incurred financial discomfort to those who stole it or were forced to offer it as compensation.

While we have discussed the inception of the Blacksmith as a weapons producer under Charlemagne, it is important to note that they were recognised as having other uses with regard to what they made. As a result, the Blacksmith became a highly valuable member of the lay society as they had the means to produce items of such value. It is also crucial that this tradition was in existence at the same time as the wars of the Caroligians and so the Blacksmith never existed as either a weapons producer or a valued member of society but as both simultaneously.

Away from the battlefield, the smith learnt his trade from a Master, who often employed several apprentices from a young age. Advancement from apprentice to Master was by no means guaranteed and rested entirely upon being noticed as a talented worker who was likely to be worthy of patronage or of lending money. The Master himself would have been raised through the ranks in this manner, which was designed to forge the best blacksmiths as well as to regulate the number of workers to reduce competition and preserve the prestige of the business. Masters were unlikely to be too lenient towards their apprentices as it was only the master who would suffer financially in turn. It is interesting to note the basic parallels between smiths at this stage and the same process of advancement for young knights seeking recognition. The industry itself, like many others, assumed legitimacy by creating a guild that was administered by the Masters which served the purpose of regulating the number of smith apprentices permitted and the materials allowed.

The development of these institutions is important to understanding smithing and metalwork as being a staple part of medieval life because it shows an active attempt to prevent it from becoming saturated or exploited. It is clear that they served a societal purpose that was independent of the production of weapons, hence the attempt to formalise and preserve it. This is was continued consistently into the high and later middle ages as blacksmithing assumed a major position in international trade. Evidence for this lucrative development can be found in the German city of Dinkelsbuhl, which prospered largely on the trade brought in by its Smiths.

Further demonstrating the development of blacksmithing as integral to the medieval town and economy was the admission of their elite to positions of authority within a region, such as a town council. This move represents a synthesis of the practice of blacksmithing and metalworking with legitimacy and recognition. Dinkelsbuhl was one of the first such cities to implement this, granting Smiths the right to stand on the town council in 1387. This official move reflects that the city officials now recognised the blacksmith as an important domestic asset that was useful in international trade and civic development.

On balance, the image of the blacksmith cannot be totally separated from the feudal caricature that has endured and this is because despite the establishment of smithing as a major aspect of the regional economy, it maintained a latent ability to provide for the military and this cannot be ignored. However, they also existed as separate entities with legal, institutional and economic interests. Even in times of war, they performed other functions in society that were no less distinguishing features of their trade.
Timothy R. Jones is a graduate student in Medieval Studies at the University of Lincoln. Click here to read more articles by Timothy Further Reading:
Alan Harding, England in the Thirteenth Century
Top Image: A medieval blacksmith at work in this 14th century manuscript. BNF Français 24364 fol. 61r
Norman Zacour, An Introduction to Medieval Institutions

Catherine Moriarty, The Voice of the Middle Ages: In Personal Letters 1100-1500

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What was the role of the Blacksmith in medieval society?

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It must be asked 'what was there in the life of a blacksmith aside form hammering out swords for lords?' What sort of world did he inhabit and what were the rules he had to play by?

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Primary Source with a bunch of pics of Medieval Jobs

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Primary Source with a bunch of pics of Medieval Jobs

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Urban Crafts. One of the qualities that distinguished a city from a village or even a market village was the diversity of crafts that could be found in a city. Specialties and sub-specialties in almost any area of manufacture could be found in a regional center. Moreover, as the European economy expanded in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the demand for diverse artisanal skills also grew. One way in which scholars can track the variety of crafts is through last names, which were just coming into use at that time. Many craftsmen took names that identified their family with their trade; for example, families working in construction included the Smith, Schmidt, Faber, Tinker, Plumb, Houseman, Mason, Maurer, Thatcher, Glazer, Turner, Carpenter, and Dauber. Craftsmen often dominated urban governments, and certain crafts and their guilds were more prestigious and prosperous than others. The following description of an artisan's household is based on that of a master craftsman in a less-prestigious craft, such as shoemaker or candlemaker.

A Craft Master's Household. The household of a craft master was different than that of a burgher, although it could approach the same size. Craftsmen frequently had smaller families because they married later and had poorer living conditions and nutrition than nobles and burghers, but their households were frequently quite large because they included apprentices and journeymen as well as a servant or two. The size of a craft master's household depended on his ability to support it; a poor craftsman was unable to maintain more than a journeyman and/or an apprentice, while a large, prosperous shop might have several of each.

At Home. While craft masters aspired to houses like those of urban burghers, generally their homes were smaller and less elaborately furnished. A successful craftsman might own his house outright, but some rented them. Moreover, by the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, urban craftsmen were unlikely to have large yards attached to their homes unless they were in professions that needed space-such as butchers, bakers, and blacksmiths. In some cases their workshops might be on the outskirts of town or in specific, marginal neighborhoods, while their homes and shops were in a different quarter. The average medieval craftsmen lived only slightly better than a prosperous peasant. His house consisted of two rooms, one for general living and a sleeping chamber. Journeymen and apprentices might have their own chambers or might have to sleep in the main room, which at least had the advantage of a hearth. Wooden tables, benches, and chests were the most common furnishings, and cooking was done on an open fire in either the center of the room or, increasingly, against one of the outside walls. An artisan's home followed the same model as that of a burgher, but it was often shorter and narrower and consisted of only two stories. Floors in the downstairs were most likely packed dirt, while the walls were similar to wattle and daub.

Integration of Home and Work. A craft master's household integrated work and family life. The front of the house was often the workshop; sales took place in that room or at a market stall nearby. The bulk of most craftsmen's wealth was in their tools and supplies, which were stored in the workshop or in small cellars or outside sheds. The craftsman's family included not only biological relatives but also those bound to him under long-term work contracts. Generally apprentices paid for their apprenticeship. They received no wages, but they were given training,

REGULATIONS FOR PARIS BAKERS

Begínning in the late twélfth century, the town council of Paris passed a series of regulations for bakers. The following excerpts from twelfth- aiid thirteenth-century kws show the widespread goverranent concern about certain crafts.

Mastery cetetnony : "The new baker... , shall take a new clay pot and fill ít with nuts. and wáfers; and he shalt come to the house of the master of the bakers, and he shall luye with him the tax collectar, and all the bakm, and the master journeymen..., And this the new baker shall hand his pot and nuts to the máster of the batees, and say, 'Master, I have finished and compfeted my four year.' And the master shaü ask the tax-coEector whether this is trae. And if he says that it is truc, the máster shall hand the new baker his pot and nuts, and comniand thát he throw them against the wall, and then the new baker shall throw his pot and nuts and wafers against the outside wall of the house, and then the máster, the tax-coEector, the new baker; and all the other bakers and journeymen shall enter the inaster's house, arid the máster shall provide them wMi wine and a fire, and each of the bakers, and the new*ne, and the master-joumeymen, all owe a penny to the paaste* of the bafcers for .theirwine and the fire."

Judging breads : "And at the windbws where they fiad bread for sale the máster takes the bread and gives it to the jurors, and the jurors examine Ít to see if it is adequate or not, and if ít is adequate, the jurors return it to the window, and if it is not adequate, the jurors put the bread in the hand of the máster; and if the máster determines that the bread is not adequate, he can confíscate til the rest of it, even that which is in the oven. And if there are several types of bread in a window, the máster wul háve each one assessed. And those which are found to be too small, the máster and jurors will have them doáatecj to charity,

Provisions for sales : "The bakers Hying within the región of Paris can sell their defectíve bread (that is their fejects, such as damaged bread that rats dt mice have gnawed on, excessrvely hard bread, burnt or, scorched bread, overrisen bread, doughy bread, ill-turned or undersized bread, which they are not allowed to sell in the stall) on Sunday in the Halles, at the place where iron is sold in front of the eernetery of Saints-Innocents; or, if they like, they ean sell ít on Sunday between the pórtico of Notre-Dame and St.-Chrístopher: The bakers ... can carry their bread on Sunday in these places in their baskets or iñ their panniers, and carry their stall or boards or tables, provided the staljs are no more than 5 feet long."

Soorce; Jeffrey 1. Singtnan, Daily Life in Medieval Eumpe (Westport, Conn.: Grsenwood Press, 1999), pp. 1ÍS-196,19S-W.

room, and board. Sometimes their master gave them some small change, but it was not required. Journeymen's contracts provided for salaries, but when cash was tight the craft master was often behind in payments. Wives and daughters were involved in managing the shop and sometimes in producing goods.

Crafts and Neighborhoods. Originally attracted to a location because of its amenities, such as water or good roads, crafts concentrated in specific neighborhoods and along certain roads. Street names in modern Europe perpetuate these medieval patterns; most European cities have a Carpenter, Furrier, or Saddlery Street. Streets were also named after churches and religious communities that existed on them, such as the Road of St. Genevieve or Mary Magdalene, or for activities that occurred in the area, such as the "rue ou Ten cuit les oeufs" (the road where they cook eggs) of medieval Paris. These neighborhoods allowed members of a similar craft to band together for mutual protection and at the same time to police each other for violations of craft statutes. These practices are reflected in medieval laws. The laws of many medieval towns and crafts made the person who failed to report a crime just as guilty as the person who committed it and liable to the same penalties.

Money. Cash was a rare commodity in medieval Europe, and much trade in rural communities was conducted through barter and credit. Not until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries did a cash economy trickle down to the village level. Because of their commercial nature, however, cities had always been much more dependent on coins than villages. The problem facing the development of cities and the medieval economy in general was the variable worth of such coins. In the ninth century many lords had the right to mint their own coins, and it took centuries for kings and major lords to reserve these rights to themselves. Moreover, the worth of a coin was based on its precious metal content, which meant that all but the smallest coins were worth more than most peasants or smaller artisans might earn in a week. For example, a single ounce of silver was generally a week's wages for a skilled worker. Because of this standard, people shaved or otherwise diluted the precious metal content of a coin, and, as long as it still contained the seal attesting to its value, they could make their own money by reminting the metal into additional coins; such counterfeiting occurred and invoked stiff penalties. A merchant in medieval Europe needed to know the value of gold, silver, and copper coins minted by many sovereign states at different periods. Moreover, he or she needed to be able to translate this value into one of the standard units of account used throughout Europe. Given the complexities of such conversions, the development of coins with guaranteed and stable values, such as the Florentine florin and the Venetian ducat, was of inestimable value to European trade.

Wages and Prices. Wages and prices varied according to many factors: the current economy, the size of the local work force, the availability of a product, the quality of the worker or product, and the negotiator's skill. Inflation was far less a factor than in the modern world, and, on average, prices stayed the same for centuries. These averages, however, conceal sizable annual variations-especially in the prices of foodstuffs, which could increase up to ten times their normal cost in several months if the weather had been especially bad and supplies had become short. During these times town councils attempted to fix prices and patrol cellars to prevent hoarding and price gouging, both from a sense of Christian charity and to prevent riots by starving urban residents. Wages also differed. Some workers were paid by the year; some were paid by the number of days they worked; and others were paid by the piece. Pay varied according to the time of the year, in part because the length of the working day varied depending on the hours of daylight. An employee generally received at least one meal a day from his employers, and it was not unheard-of for a worker to earn housing and clothing as well.

The Reseller. Although it was not a prestigious profession, selling used goods was a widespread trade in medieval Europe. Medieval people rarely threw away clothing and other goods. When one person considered something too old or unfashionable, it was sold to someone else. The resellers or used-goods dealers acted as middlemen in these transactions and made provisions to have the goods repaired if necessary. Although a prosperous reseller might have a storefront attached to his house, many operated from a cart or a table near a market square. The regulations for resellers were generally less stringent than those placed on other professions, but a used-goods dealer was not supposed to misrepresent his goods. Women could also work as resellers, and they continued to practice this profession even after they were barred from many others in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The Apothecary. The apothecary's job was a prestigious profession, and some apothecaries became burghers and town councilors in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The coat of arms of one of the wealthiest and most powerful Italian families during the Renaissance, the Medicis of Florence, includes the balls that stand for their ancestor's membership in the apothecary's guild. An apothecary's job carried such status because of the education and training it required, the value of his goods, and its lack of manual labor. Much like modern pharmacists, apothecaries dispensed a wide variety of medicines. For example, St. John's wort, mandrake root, and ground seed pearls were all obtainable at an apothecary shop and had assorted medical uses. The apothecary also dealt in a wide variety of goods, generally small and expensive. He stocked spices and sugar, which were seen as having medicinal properties, as well as lye for making soap or washing clothing, and the dyes and solutions for making ink. Every household of any standing needed to buy goods from an apothecary. Because of the expenses of obtaining these products and their costs to buyers, apothecaries also often had a substantial store of coin, at least according to medieval standards. It was not a large step, therefore, for apothecaries to serve to some extent as community bankers, tendering loans and safeguarding other residents' resources. Because an apothecary's work was rarely dirty, he could dress and carry himself like the prosperous tradesman that he was, an appearance that further affected perceptions in medieval society.

The Baker. Because urban bakers supplied basic foodstuffs, they belonged to one of the largest guilds. It was also one of the most tightly regulated. Master craftsmen working for the town council generally inspected shops and bread weekly, setting the prices for each kind of bread produced. In the early Middle Ages bakers were paid much like millers; residents brought their own flour to the bake-shop, and the baker made it into loaves and baked it, reserving a percentage of the flour as his pay. Increasingly in the Middle Ages the system became less complicated, especially in larger towns whose governors feared grain shortages. There central grain markets or barns were established, and a member of the baker's household went there daily to collect that day's supply of grain. The baker then produced several kinds of loaves, differentiated by weight and grain, and he sold them for set prices. To minimize the danger of fire from their large, hot ovens, bakeshops were concentrated in set locations within the city. Few urban residents could afford private baking ovens and did not have time to watch their fires all day. Because bread was so essential to the medieval urban diet, bakers worked long hours, and the regulations about when they could work were more relaxed than for other professions. For example, bakers were not allowed to bake on Sundays or major holy days, but they were allowed to open their shops for sales. Moreover, many medieval crafts were not allowed to work after dark or before dawn, but bakers could work at any time. Given the hundreds of loaves a medieval bakeshop was expected to produce in a day, it was common for a baker to have at least one assistant from outside the family. His wife and daughters managed the shop, while the baker focused on preparing the dough and watching the oven. Although the size of his household definitely placed the baker in the ranks of prosperous craftsmen, it was rare for a baker to ascend into the higher levels of urban society. For one reason, the baker's craft was manual; he kneaded dough, formed loaves, and pulled them in and out of a hot oven throughout the day. In the process bakers might strip to their shirts and tunics, thereby losing the appearance appropriate to a prosperous burgher. Moreover, although a baker sold many loaves, his profit margin was not high. He might live comfortably, but he was unlikely to have the riches of a goldsmith, cloth dealer, or apothecary. Finally, by the nature of his profession, a baker was unlikely to deal with and, therefore, know the most influential members of urban society, burghers and bankers sent servants to buy their bread.

The Butcher. The butcher inspired mixed reactions in the urban community. In the medieval mind a butcher's profession was necessary but smelly and coarse. Located near a water supply, a butcher's yard contained livestock waiting to be slaughtered, carcasses in the process of being carved, and meat ready to be sold. Puddles of blood seeped into the dirt, offal was piled into baskets, and skins were set aside to be sold to tanners. The smells were strong, and the noise at times was overwhelming. Yet, a butcher's goods were in demand, and their sale could be quite profitable.

Sometimes a butcher might accumulate enough wealth to be admitted to burgher status. This craft was often closely regulated, in part because butchers had ready access to long, sharp knives and cleavers and were believed to be ready to use them as weapons.

John Blair and Nigel Ramsay, eds., English Medieval Industries (London: Hambledon Press, 1991).

Steven A. Epstein, Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991).

Barbara Hanawalt, Growing Up in Medieval London: The Experience of Childhood in History ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

Jacques LeGoff, Medieval Callings, translated by Lydia G. Cochrane (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990).

James Masschaele, Peasants, Merchants, and Markets: Inland Trade in Medieval England, 1150-1350 ( New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997).

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urban living: craftsmen and tradesmensources

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Urban Living: Craftsmen and TradesmenSources Source for information on Urban Living: Craftsmen and Tradesmen: World Eras dictionary.

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The common people were divided into peasants and serfs. There was a huge difference between being a peasant and being a a serf.

Serfs were bound to the land. They were almost like slaves. The people could not be bought and sold, but they could not leave their land without permission. Their land could be bought and sold. The land and all the food they grew belonged to the manor (noble). A serf's job was whatever the noble told them it was, carpenter, blacksmith, baker, farmer, and tax collector, serfs did it all. A serf could buy their own freedom if they could get the money, but where could they get the money? They were uneducated and mostly unskilled.

Peasants were free sort of. Sometimes they owned their own business or small plot of land, again most were uneducated and unskilled. They were in the same boat as the serfs.

Taxes: Everyone had to pay taxes. The peasants paid taxes to the lord or noble; they paid taxes up to the local duke or count who paid taxes to the king. Sometimes the taxes were paid in crops, sometimes in money, plus they had to set aside a number of days every year to work for the noble.

Festivals: Festivals were a big deal. This was the only time a peasant or serf could relax and socialize. All Festivals were church festivals usually to honor a saint or holy day. At a festival, a peasant could watch a play or take part in contests like archery or wrestling, and maybe even see a juggler or magician. The noble paid the local church to put on the festival.

Power of the Church: During medieval times, the church was all powerful. The only way to get to heaven was to follow the Bible. However, since most people couldn't read. the local priest had to read it to them. The local priest could tell people that the Bible told them how to behave, who to obey, even who to marry.

New Ideas: Since most people never left their village area, ideas spread thoughout Europe through the priests and wandering musicians and traders. This was a slow process.

Commoner Homes: Peasants homes were usually one room huts, made of logs held together with mud, with thatched roofs. There was a hole in the roof for the smoke to get out so people could cook inside. Homes had little furniture, perhaps a three-legged stool and beds made of straw covered with a leather toss. There were pegs on the walls to hold clothes. They usually had iron cooking pots and pans.

Food: Peasants grew their own food. Three days a week, they worked to provide food for the lord of the manor. Three days a week they worked to provide food for themselves. Sunday was a day for prayer. They kept bees to make honey. They drew water from the village well, or if they were lucky, from a nearby stream. They kept fruit trees. They grew vegetables. They kept chickens. A peasant might own a cow for milk.

Animals: Because winters were cold, animals were brought inside at night, to keep them warm.

Clothes: Their clothes were made of wool. They were held together with a rope tied around their waist. They usually went barefooted, even in the winter. Shoes took leather to make. Leather was made, but it was used to make shoes and clothing for the lord of the manor and his family. If there was any leather left over, they could make shoes for themselves.

Baths: Both peasants and nobles took infrequent baths. There was no running water or hot water heater. They bathed in a creek or river. Most had a barrel outside to catch rainwater. The soap was made of lye and was very rough on your skin. The peasants slept and worked in the same clothing for days and even weeks at a time, especially in the winter. There was no toothpaste or toothbrushes. People used watered spices on their lips and teeth, but all that did was to briefly hide the smell of rotting teeth.

Garbage: In the towns and villages, people threw their garbage in the streets. They handled cattle and then directly handled food.

Death: Peasants died young from malnutrition and the simplest of diseases. Women died in childbirth from ignorance. There was almost no medical help, although they did have doctors. But they believed in blood letting, cutting you to let your blood run out. The idea was that the disease would run out with your blood. Naturally, many people died because they lost too much blood.

On a typical day: Peasants and serfs got up, while it was still dark usually. The first thing they did was say their morning prayers. Then the men left to get their assignement for the day from the reeve, the manor lords' who directed their work. Usually the peasant's wife stayed home, fed the livestock, collected eggs, milked the cow, pulled water from the well or river, and cooked and washed. Women were responsible for weeding the garden near their home, picking vegetables, and spinning cloth. Kids did not go to school. Children worked with their mother. When the boys got old enough, they worked with their father. At night, they ate a simple meal of stew and black bead and sometimes cheese. Right after sunset, they went to bed.

Peasants were content. They knew nothing else. The Middle Ages was time of violence. Peasants and serfs were glad to have the protection of the manor lord.

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The Middle Ages for Kids - Manorial System, Commoners, Peasants - Middle Ages for Kids

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The common people were divided into peasants and serfs. There was a huge difference between being a peasant and being a a serf. Serfs were bound to the land. They were almost like slaves. The people could not be bought and sold, but they could not leave their land without permission.

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Medieval Queens | Realities Of Power, Agency, Relationships & Image | HistoryExtra

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Dr Elena Woodacre answers key questions about the extent to which royal women exerted their influence during the Middle Ages, the ways in which female rulers chose to portray themselves and the importance of relationships to queenship – from the threat of mistresses and mothers-in-law…

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Although the first Queen of England is widely considered to be Mary Tudor, throughout the medieval period there were many women who ruled as Queen…

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This educational video is a visual version of this article and presented by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Please see our AI ethics and diversity policy for more information on how we use AI and select presenters on our website.
After the fall of the Roman empire in the fifth century, the Medieval Church saw a rise in status and power. With Roman Catholic ideals, the Church in the Medieval ages was seen as an intermediary between God and the people, as well as the idea that clergy were the so-called 'gatekeepers to heaven', filled people with a combination of respect, awe and fear.

This was coupled with there being a power vacuum in Europe: no monarchy rose to fill the space left. Instead, the Medieval Church, began to grow in power and influence, eventually becoming the dominant power in Europe (although this was not without struggle). Like the Romans they had their capital in Rome and they had their own emperor - the Pope.

1. Wealth

The Catholic Church in Medieval times was extremely wealthy. Monetary donations were given by many levels of society, most commonly in the form of a tithe, a tax which normally saw people give roughly 10% of their earnings to the Church.

The Church placed value on beautiful material possessions, believing art and beauty was for the glory of God. Churches were constructed by fine craftsmen and filled with precious objects to reflect the Church's high status within society.

This system was not without fault: whilst greed was a sin, the Church made sure to financially profit where possible. The sale of indulgences, papers which promised absolution from sin yet to be committed and an easier route to heaven, proved increasingly controversial. Martin Luther later attacked the practice in his 95 Theses.

However, the Church also was one of the main distributors of charity at the time, giving alms to those in need and running basic hospitals, as well as temporarily housing travellers and providing places of shelter and sanctity.

2. Education

Many clergy had some level of education: much of the literature produced at the time came from the Church, and those who entered the clergy were offered the chance to learn to read and write: a rare opportunity in the agrarian society of the Medieval period.

Monasteries in particular often had schools attached, and monastic libraries were widely regarded as some of the best. Then as now, education was a key factor in the limited social mobility offered in Medieval society. Those accepted into the monastic life also had a more stable, more privileged life than ordinary people.

3. Community

By the turn of the millennia (c. 1000AD), society was increasingly orientated around the church. Parishes were made up of village communities, and the Church was a focal point in peoples' lives. Churchgoing was a chance to see people, there would be celebrations organised on saints' days and 'holy days' were exempt from work.

4. Power

The Church demanded that all accept its authority. Dissent was treated harshly, and non-Christians faced persecution, but increasingly sources suggest that many people did not blindly accept all Church teachings.

Monarchs were no exception to papal authority, and they were expected to communicate with and respect the Pope including monarchs of the day. The clergy swore allegiance to the Pope rather than to their King. Having the Papacy on side during a dispute was important: during the Norman invasion of England, King Harold was excommunicated for supposedly going back on a holy pledge to support William of Normandy's invasion of England: the Norman invasion was blessed as a holy crusade by the Papacy.

Excommunication remained a sincere and worrying threat to monarchs of the time: as God's representative on earth, the Pope could prevent souls from entering Heaven by casting them out of the Christian community. The very real fear of hell (as often seen in Doom Paintings) kept people in line with doctrine and ensured obedience to the Church.

The Church could even mobilise Europe's most wealthy people to fight on their behalf. During the crusades, Pope Urban II promised eternal salvation to those who fought in the name of the Church in the Holy Land.

Kings, noblemen and princes fell over themselves to take up the Catholic standard in the quest to reclaim Jerusalem.

5. Church vs State

The size, wealth and power of the church led to increasingly great corruption in the course of the middle ages.

In response to this dissent arose eventually formed around a 16th century German priest Martin Luther.

Luther's prominence brought together disparate groups opposed to the Church and led to the Reformation which saw a number of European states, particularly in the north, finally break away from the central authority of the Roman Church, although they remained zealously Christian.

The dichotomy between Church and State remained (and remains) a point of contention, and by the late Middle Ages, there were increasing challenges to the Church's power: Martin Luther formally recognised the idea of the 'doctrine of two kingdoms', and Henry VIII was the first major monarch in Christendom to formally separate from the Catholic Church.

Despite these changes in the balance of power, the Church retained authority and wealth across the world, and the Catholic Church is believed to have well over 1 billion adherents in the modern world.

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5 Reasons Why the Medieval Church Was So Powerful

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After the fall of the Roman empire in the fifth century, the Medieval Church saw a rise in status and power. With Roman Catholic ideals, the Church...

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During early Christianity, bishops sometimes acted as the leader of the local congregation but during medieval times, he assumed a position of authority and did not serve individual congregations.

Instead, he would generally appoint priests to serve congregations. The priest in such cases would act as a delegate of a medieval bishop.

Duties of a Medieval Bishop

Life of a Medieval Bishop

Definition of a Medieval Bishop

Where did Medieval Bishop Live?

What work did a Medieval Bishop Do?

What were a Bishops Duties

A medieval bishop enjoyed considerable power and prestige and even the king would consult him about important matters. Other than the responsibilities of consultation with the king about the affairs of the state, a medieval bishop was responsible for a diocese which was composed of deaneries headed by various deans or priests.

He listened to the requests of the priests and the clergymen, levied taxes on the peasants, and looked after the spiritual matters of his diocese.

Daily Life of a medieval Bishop

A medieval bishop belonged to the nobility and as such lived a luxurious life. He would have a special position in the king's court and his daily life included attending the council where he was consulted by the king.

Sometimes they would visit churches and parishes around the country and listen to the requests of the clergymen. His daily life was thus spent in administering the matters of his diocese in addition to attending councils with the king.

Where did a Bishop Live

Since a medieval bishop hailed from nobility, he had his own castle and the led the life of aristocracy. His castle or palace would usually be situated near his cathedral and he also controlled the estate around his castle or palace.

While attending the royal court, the bishopric of a medieval bishop would be left in charge of an archdeacon or an arch-priest.

Bishops levied taxes on Peasants

Bishops lived a life of luxury

Medieval Bishop attended the Kings council

Bishops dealt with the requests of clergymen and priests

Bishops status in the Clergy

In the hierarchy of the Church, there was one Arch Bishop after the Pope and Cardinals. After this came the priests, monks, and nuns. Thus the status of a medieval bishop was quite high in the hierarchy of Church and this made him a very powerful individual.

Sometimes, even the kings would be obliged to consult the bishop about the matters of the state. A medieval bishop would thus lead a life which was nothing short of the life of aristocracy.

Clothes of a Bishop

Various pieces of garments were used as clothing of a medieval bishop during different times. A white tunic with long sleeves accompanied by various ornaments, known as "alb", was the most common clothing of a medieval bishop.

A clothing accessory called a "cincture" was used in conjunction with the alb. The Cincture was usually made of linen, silk, or wool. Other important components of the clothing of a medieval bishop included a dalmatic, ring, Episcopal, pectoral cross and mozetta etc.

Medieval Bishop - Summary

During medieval times, a medieval bishop was considered one of the most important individuals in the hierarchy of Church.

His important position in the Church also allowed him to exert considerable influence on matters of the state considering that Church was the most important institution during the medieval times.

A medieval bishop led a lavish life and usually owned his own castle or palace.

Arch Bishops were very powerful and in Church hierarchy came after Cardinals and Popes

Bishops led the same kind of opulent lives as medieval aristocracy

Bishops usually wore a long sleeved robes known as an "alb"

Bishops could own a castle or palace

We hope that you found this article on medieval bishops interesting, we have tried to include the most interesting Medieval Bishops facts and information. If you want to add to your knowledge of medieval Bishops please look at the links at the bottom of this medieval Bishops page that will take you to other pages about people in the clergy.

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A medieval bishop was someone who enjoyed considerable authority in the hierarchy of the Church.

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I'd mute the music after the beginning because it plays over and over and there's no talking but this is a good overview of women's (mostly) clothing in the Middle Ages!

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Probably more for nerds like me but 11 minutes and interesting things like "No, they didn't wear all dull colors...."

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Probably more for nerds like me but 11 minutes and interesting things like "No, they didn't wear all dull colors...."

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10 Misconceptions About Medieval Clothing - Ft. The Turnip Of Terror

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Easily create beautiful interactive video lessons for your students you can integrate right into your LMS. Track students' progress with hassle-free analytics as you flip your classroom!

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Pretty sure hoods were common with peasants but also sometimes nobles

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Pretty sure hoods were common with peasants but also sometimes nobles

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Medieval hoods: A funny thing about medieval hoods and an amazing discovery!

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What did PEASANTS EAT in medieval times?

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How did Knights dress when they weren't in battle?

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How did Knights dress when they weren't in battle?

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How did Knights dress when they weren't in battle?

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What did RICH PEOPLE EAT in medieval times?

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beauty,
health &
hygiene

general
healthcare
skincare

cosmetics

body hair

cleanliness,
bathing &
perfumes

hair care

hair styles

oral care
& dentistry

intimate
feminine
hygiene

Medieval Hairstyles HAIRSTYLES - BRAIDS - CORNETTES - RAMSHORNS - EUROPEAN STYLE

FALSE HAIRPIECES & WIGS - HAIRNETS - EYEBROWS & HAIRLINE

Hairstyles Medieval movies have a great deal to answer for when it comes to the accurate portrayal of women's hair styling during the Middle Ages. Characters are usually shown with very long, flowing tresses and nothing or little more that a metal circlet around the forehead.

Reality, however, was usually far from that. This page covers hair styling and what to do about the hairline itself. To learn more about hats, crowns, circlets etc, please visit the headdresses page.

Women's hair has long been associated with sinfulness and temptation, and with medieval life centering heavily around the church, it was the general opinion that the less it was displayed, the better.

Hair in art
Any decent, God-fearing woman in England, France and some of Europe for the most part, went to great pains to conceal her hair in public. Even the upper classes and royalty restrained their hair. At right above is a detail from the Luttrell Psalter from 14th century England which shows women dressing their hair.

Flowing tresses can be seen in some illuminations with some styles of costume, although it is more usual for only unmarried, young women to have hair loose.

Generally, during the bulk of the medieval period, a married woman would have covered her head with veils, wimples, cloths, barbettes, hairnets, veils, hats, hoods or a combination of them to avoid her hair showing.

The notable exception on this hair-covering trend is Italy, where women usually tied their braids criss-crossed over the top of the head. Italian women abandoned the veil considerably earlier than her other counterparts and during the 14th and 15th centuries chose to adorn the hair with elaborate plaits, beads and wound ribbons.

Elaborate hair dressing also gave a woman the opportunity to show off her taste in hair accessories.

The images shown at right are dated to 1365-1380 and show Jeanne Burbonne who has a ribbon-encased hairstyle of folded braids. It is interesting to note in this case the entire fold of hair is not encased, only the front section is tied before the remainder of the hair is brought up behind and then upwards again.

The Roman de la Rose mentions sadly the advice of Friend, which talks of how:

Broadly speaking, only a woman of very poor breeding or a prostitute did nothing with her hair and even peasant women made an effort to appear modest and decent. Only in some circumstances, like the marriage of a royal couple, can the bride be seen depicted with her hair out.

Braids and plaits
Plaited and braided hairstyles were extremely popular during the medieval period for women of all ages and all classes.

Shown at right is a detail from a painting The Nativity dated around the 1400s. It shows a young girl with a popular medieval hair style for workers- two plaits brought from the nape of the neck and crossed over the top of her head and tied together.

Not only was this style easy to dress at home oneself without assistance, it looked pleasing to the eye, was considered modest and kept the hair tied up and clean when performing manual chores.

Often these plaits were interwound with ribbon for decoration and also for securing purposes. Very often, these ribbon-encased plaits are mistaken for a padded roll of some kind with ribbon woven around it, which was not the case. Later in the later 15th century, some padded rolls attached to heart shaped hennins did have decorative features, but they are entirely different.

By the early decades of the 14th century, fashionable women in England discarded the barbette and fillet combination in favour of plaits worn in front of the ear on each side of the face. The hairstyle originated in France before the end of the 13th century.

The bust at left is dated between 1327 and 1341 is of Marie de France and shows this hairstyle although worn with a fillet.

Cornettes
Cornettes were the name often given to the hairstyle where the hair is either plaited or raised up onto the temples into horn-like shapes.

In the Townley Mysteries by the Surtees Society in 1460 a woman's hair is described-

In 1350, Bishop Gilles li Muisis was greatly displeased by the vanity of women who adopted these hairstyles which he called cornes and headdresses of a similar style known as hauchettes, and repeatedly sermonised against them.

The Van Eyck painting known as the Aldolphini Wedding dated at 1434 shows the young woman with her fashionable cow-like cornettes under a veil with rows of pleats at the edges.

Ramshorns
Around the end of the 13th century, a very popular form of hairstyle was the ramshorn, which was created by parting the hair down the centre and coiling the hair over the ears around into a scroll like that of a ram's horn.

This style became popular again in Europe in the later 15th century with the addition of silks, ribbons and veils interwoven into the side horns.

Jeweled brooches were often included as part of the dressing at the top of the head. Shown at left, a detail from the Portrait of Battista Sforza from 1465-1466 by Francesca showing the later ramshorn as it was worn by fashionable noble ladies.

This style of hairstyle was not suited to the working classes, who would have found it most impractical.

Hair Dressed European Style
While hair tended to be covered with veils and elaborate headdresses throughout France and England, veils seem to be discarded in Italy in favour of hair dressed with pearls, ribbons, beading and brooches.

As with the later ramshorn style, these hairstyles would have been worn by the upper classes only as the time and effort required to dress and finish off these hairstyles would not have suited the lifestyles of the working classes

Marian Campbell, in her publication Medieval Jewellery in Europe 1100-1500, discusses the number of 15th century paintings in Europe showing young girls without veils and with elaborately-dressed hair-

Shown at right is a detail from a painting from 1465, Pollaiulo's Portrait of a Young Woman, showing a transparent veil containing some of the hair, wrapped over the ea.rs and secured with both cords and beads with a decorative jeweled brooch at the top

Hairnets
Hairnets were known and extensively used in medieval times as the way of restraining a woman's hair. A hairnet could be used in conjunction with many of the beautiful and strange medieval headpieces.

Hairnets were almost always worn under a veil of some kind during the medieval period. During the renaissance, the hairnet known as the snood was worn alone. The snood tended to be less fine and often set with jewels.

Shown at left is a hairnet found at a London dig, dated in the 1300s, which looks like the type that is available today. Four examples of hairnets have been discovered in London excavations- one made of silk from the late 13th century and three knotted silk ones from the 14th century.

These are all the finer kind, hand knotted and with fingerloop braid around the edges which were popularly worn before the heavier mesh cauls became sturdier and jewels were attached.

Eyebrows & hairlines
During a large portion of the medieval period, the beautiful woman emphasised her high, round forehead. If a woman was unfortunate to have been naturally cursed with a low hairline, the correct and fashionable look was artificially enhanced by the plucking of the hairline back up towards the crown of the head. This look was accentuated by reducing the eyebrows to a barely-there line.

Even though plucking the eyebrows and hairline at the top of the forehead was commonplace for many women, the church was, as always, extremely unhappy about this. In Confessionale, clergymen are encouraged to ask those who came to confession:

Many books cite small tweezers made from copper alloy or silver as part of medieval toiletry sets. The tweezers above are dated from the 15th century and feature brass tweezers, an earscoop and a nail pick, all hinged to fold away when not in use.

False Hairpieces & Wigs
In a time where modesty and virtue were embraced and desired, it seems unlikely that additional hair would be called for, but it appears that wigs and false tresses were in vogue and the makers of such were regulated and had a guild of their own. Hair extensions have been found in archaeological digs dating from early times although only one or two examples date to the medieval period specifically. A plaited silk hairpiece attached to a silk fillet which was probably jeweled, was found in London and dates to second quarter of the 14th century.

The Old Woman from the Roman de la Rose offers this advice for a woman whose hair is lacking:

Stella Mary Newton, in her book Fashion In The Age Of The Black Prince, has this to say about the wearing of false hair:

None to surprisingly, the clergy tried to discourage the wearing of false hair by women by denouncing false hair as the sin of vanity. Gilles d'Orleans, a preacher from Paris in the 13th century reminded his parishioners that the wigs they wore were likely to be made from the shorn heads of those now suffering in hell or purgatory. False tresses were known to be made of flax, wool, cotton and silk.

Copyright © Rosalie Gilbert
All text & photographs within this site are the property of Rosalie Gilbert unless stated.
Art & artifact images remain the property of the owner.
Images and text may not be copied and used without permission.

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Rosalie's Medieval Woman - Medieval Hairstyles

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beauty, health & hygiene general healthcare skincare cosmetics body hair cleanliness, bathing & perfumes hair care hair styles oral care & dentistry intimate feminine hygiene Medieval Hairstyles HAIRSTYLES - BRAIDS - CORNETTES - RAMSHORNS - EUROPEAN STYLE FALSE HAIRPIECES & WIGS - HAIRNETS - EYEBROWS & HAIRLINE Hairstyles Medieval movies have a great deal to answer for when it comes to the accurate portrayal of women's hair styling during the Middle Ages.

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wrapped braid (fast forward - you'll get the idea!)

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wrapped braid (fast forward - you'll get the idea!)

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Early in the 1400's, the ( liripipe) hood remained a common component of dress for all classes, although it was frequently worn around the neck as a cowl or twisted into the fantastical shapes of the chaperon. Hats of various styles-tall-crowned with small brims or no brims at all, hats with brims turned up on one side for variations of the coif, or low-crowned with wider brims pulled to a point in front-began to compete with the draped chaperon, especially in Italy. A brimless scarlet cap became nearly universal for young Florentines in particular, and was widely worn by older men and those in other cities.
I gather pictures of head-gear. I find them in illuminated manuscripts, sketches and in paintings. Some of the pictures are quite small and a bit blurred, but I thought it was important to have pictures from different sources rather than just the famous high quality ones. I gather pictures of head gear. I find them in illuminated manuscripts, sketches and in paintings. Some of the pictures are quite small and a bit blurred, but I thought it was important to have pictures from different sources rather than just the famous high quality ones.
Men throughout the 1400's still wore bycokets, the colors tend to be darker colors.

In the early 1400's hoods were still common in all parts of society, often worn around the neck as a cowl or either alone or with other headgear.

Hats of imaginary styles were popular. Tall-crowned with small brims or no brims at all, hats with brims turned up on one side for variations of the coif, or bycotes with low-crowned with wider brims pulled to a point in front. A brimless scarlet cap became nearly universal for young Florentines in particular, and was widely worn by older men and those in other cities.

By the late 1470's men in Northern Europe wore their hair longer with shorter caps.

The tall brimless hat

Tall brimless hats, often black or red was popular though out the century.

Chaperon with liripipe

A (liripipe) hood, originally covering the head and shoulders with a hole was cut in the fabric to frame the face. The point of the hood was often very long - called a liripipe.

In the 1400's changing masculine fashion dictated that the head should go right through the visor and the neckpiece be raised to form a crest on the head, often on a padded ring (bourrelet). The point of the hood was then worn round the neck or round the head. Worn in this manner it was called a chaperon. Inside church or in the present of high ranking nobility men would wear them over their shoulder. I kind of think of it as a baseball cap worn backwards for fashion purposes.

Hairstyles

By mid century a bowl haircut with the neck shaved became popular. In Germany a a fussy of blond hair was breifly popular in romantic pictures. By the end of the century should length hair had come into style and continued into the early 1500's.

Male commoners' head gear

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Male hair styles and head gear in the 1400's - Postej & Stews

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Early in the 1400's, the (liripipe) hood remained a common component of dress for all classes, although it was frequently worn around the neck as a cowl or twisted into the fantastical shapes of the chaperon. Hats of various styles-tall-crowned with small brims or no brims at all, hats with brims turned up on one [...]

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This covers many subjects! (music, clothing, food...)

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This covers many subjects! (music, clothing, food...)

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Decent info - slightly annoying page ads but ok

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Medieval Clothing
C lothing and fashion like everything else during the Middle Ages was dictated by the Pyramid of Power which was the Feudal System. Clothing provided information about the status of the person wearing them. This section provides information about the type of clothes and fashions worn during these times.

The History of Medieval Clothing and Clothing Sumptuary Laws The history of Middle Ages clothing provides details of the Sumptuary Laws and an overview of fashion through the ages of the period. The Sumptuary Laws distinguished seven social categories and made members of each class easily distinguished by their clothing. Only the wealthy could dress in fashionable clothing. Laws dating back to the Romans restricted ordinary people in their expenditure. A history of clothing is detailed in a timeline charting the history of fashion. Articles in this section include an overview of the major changes in dress, costume and clothing.

Medieval Clothing - Clothing worn by different people The following links provide interesting facts and information about the fashion and clothes worn by different social classes throughout the Medival period. From the 11th through the 14th centuries, medieval clothing varied according to the social standing of the people. The clothing worn by nobility and upper classes was clearly different than that of the lower class. Medival clothes provided information about the status of the person wearing them. The clothing and fashion during the times of the Middle Ages was dominated and highly influenced by the Kings and Queens of the era. Only the wealthy could dress in fashionable clothes.

Medieval Women - Fashion and Clothes
The Women's Fashion of the early Middle Ages was still influenced by the classical styles of the Greek and Roman women and their clothing was at times so tight as to display all the elegance of their form. The female clothing of the time consisted of two tunics, the under one being longer but less capacious than the other. Women also wore a long cloak over their clothing and closed shoes, which had then begun to be made pointed. During the period of 1200 - 1300 luxury was at its height when gold and silver, pearls and precious stones were lavished on clothing. During the period of 1300 - 1400 Women's coats and surcoats often trailed on the ground. Hats consisted of a frame of wirework covered over with stuff which was embroidered or trimmed with lace. During the period of 1400 - 1500 the women wore long trains to their dresses which were eventually shortened. Sleeves became long, hanging and embroidered or fringed. Fashion dictated that women's dresses and clothing became shorter and were trimmed in the most costly manner.

Medieval Clothing in Europe
Amongst European nations, during the Medival times of the Middle Ages, there was always one common standard of fashion and clothing , which varied from time to time according to the particular custom of each country, and according to the peculiarities of each race. Each European country would imitate the fashions and clothes of another but still manage to retain its own identity. In Italy, for instance, clothes and dress always maintained a certain character of grandeur, ever recalling the fact that the influence of antiquity was not quite lost. In Germany and Switzerland, clothing and garments had generally a heavy and massive appearance; in Holland, still more so. England uniformly studied a kind of instinctive elegance and propriety in clothes. It is a curious fact that Spain invariably partook of the heaviness of clothing peculiar to Germany because the Gothic element still prevailed there. Fashion in France was fickle and capricious, always ready to borrow from every quarter any style of clothes and fashion.
Medieval Clothing
The Medieval Life and Times website provides interesting facts, history and information about great people and the clothes and fashion which scatter the History books. The Medieval Times Sitemap provides full details of all of the information and facts about the fascinating subject of the lives of the people who lived during the historical period of the Middle Ages. The content of these articles on the Medival fashion provide free educational details, facts and information for reference and research for schools, colleges and homework for history courses and history coursework.

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Medieval Clothing! Get Medieval facts, information and history about Medieval Clothing. Fast and accurate facts about Medieval Clothing.

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1300-1400 in European fashion - Wikipedia

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Fashion in fourteenth-century Europe was marked by the beginning of a period of experimentation with different forms of clothing. Costume historian James Laver suggests that the mid-14th century marks the emergence of recognizable " fashion" in clothing, in which Fernand Braudel concurs.

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The only type of medieval house that survive today are those of the wealthy. They have survived because they were made out of stone.

The Medieval House in the Early Medieval Period - Noblemen and Women

The medieval house was certainly a class and status symbol. This medieval cottage from the thirteenth century, has been reconstructed by the Weald and Downland Museum, Sussex, England. It was inhabited by the Lord of the Manor, his family and servants. It has two rooms, one containing the hearth that would have been the main living area. The other room contains a stone oven.

The house would have been very dark and smoky inside as there is no chimney and only a small window. The animals would have been housed in a separate building, probably a wooden barn, and another building would have been used to store crops which were grown on the land around the house.

The Medieval House in the Later Medieval Period - Noblemen and Women

In the later medieval period the houses of the rich were made out of brick. However, brick was very expensive so many chose to make the half-timbered houses that are now commonly referred to as Tudor houses.

Tiles were used on the roofs and some had chimneys and glass in the windows. These houses had two or more floors and the servants slept upstairs.

"Did Medieval Women Really Wear Chastity Belts?"
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The Medieval House in the Early Medieval Period - Peasants

Peasants' houses from this period have not survived because they were made out of sticks, straw and mud. They were one-roomed houses which the family shared with the animals. They made their houses themselves because they could not afford to pay someone to build them. The simplest houses were made out of sticks and straw. This was the general design of the medieval house.

Later Medieval Period - Peasants

The Black Death of 1348 killed a large number of the peasant population. This meant that there were not enough peasants to work in the fields. Landowners desperate for workers to harvest their crops began offering wages to anyone who would work on their land. Peasants were, for the first time, able to offer their services to the landowner that would pay the highest wage.

As with today, wealth played a role in the medieval house. With more money, peasants were able to afford better housing and many now lived in wattle and daub houses.

Wattle and Daub houses were taller and wider than the simple stick and straw houses. They also offered better protection from the weather. They were made by first constructing a framework of timber, then filling in the spaces with wattle (woven twigs). Finally, the twigs were daubed with mud which, when dried, made a hard wall.

This article is part of our larger selection of posts about the medieval period. To learn more, click here for our comprehensive guide to the Middle Ages.

This article is also part of our larger selection of posts about Medieval Life. To learn more, click here for our comprehensive guide to Medieval Life .

Cite This Article

"How Did A Medieval House Look In Medieval Life?" History on the Net
© 2000-2023, Salem Media.
October 24, 2023 <https://www.historyonthenet.com/medieval-life-housing>
More Citation Information.

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How Did A Medieval House Look In Medieval Life? - History

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The only surviving type of medieval house is the domain of the wealthy, but early sources provide clues on peasant dwellings

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Names (has list of occupation based surnames!)

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Names (has list of occupation based surnames!)

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by Julian Goodwyn (Janell K. Lovelace)

edited by Arval Benicoeur (Josh Mittleman) Ed: This article appeared originally in the 1997 Known World Heraldic Proceedings. It was published on the web shortly thereafter. I offer here a short supplement, presenting the name data in a slightly different format.

Masculine names listed by frequency
Masculine names listed alphabetically

Feminine names listed by frequency
Feminine names listed alphabetically

edited by Arval Benicoeur from the web version of the article.

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English Names from Pre-1600 Brass Inscriptions

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edited by Arval Benicoeur (Josh Mittleman) Ed: This article appeared originally in the 1997 Known World Heraldic Proceedings. It was published on the web shortly thereafter. I offer here a short supplement, presenting the name data in a slightly different format.

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From: Chris Laning Newsgroups: alt.fairs.renaissance Subject: (NEW!!) Faire Names for English Folk NEW RESOURCE!! Are you tired of people named "Chastity Sweetlips" or "Merlin Wolfhawk"? Do you want a source of REAL names for Elizabethan England? Here it is! Based on new studies of Elizabethan naming practices, and formulated in consultation with name specialists of the Academy of St.

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Religious practice in medieval Europe (c. 476-1500) was dominated and informed by the Catholic Church. The majority of the population was Christian, and "Christian" at this time meant "Catholic" as there was initially no other form of that religion. The perceived corruption of The Medieval Church, however, inspired the movement known today as the Protestant Reformation.

Early so-called proto-reformers such as John Wycliffe (l. 1330-1384) and Jan Hus (l. c. 1369-1415) inspired Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) and they were inspired by earlier religious sects, condemned as heresies by the Church, such as the Bogomils and Cathars, among many others, who called attention to the corruption and abuses of the Church. Even so, at the same time these criticisms may have had merit, the Church kept sight of its vision of working for the benefit of the people through its various institutions caring for the sick, poor, widows and orphans, and providing educational and vocational opportunities for women.

While it is true the Church focused on regulating and defining an individual's life in the Middle Ages, even if one rejected its teachings, and the clergy were often not the most qualified, it was still recognized as the manifestation of God's will and presence on earth. The dictates of the Church were not to be questioned, even when it seemed apparent that many of the clergy were working more in their own interests than those of God because, even if God's instruments were flawed, it was understood that the Creator of the universe was still in control.

A dramatic blow to the authority of the Church came in the form of the Black Death pandemic of 1347-1352 during which people began to doubt the power of God's instruments who could do nothing to stop people from dying or the plague from spreading. Although the Black Death was hardly the only cause of the fracture of the Church's power, it challenged the claim that it understood and represented the will of God. This challenge went unanswered and encouraged clerics such as Wycliffe and Hus to question further and, finally, Luther's objections which launched the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) and broke the power of the medieval Church.

Church Structure & Beliefs

The Church claimed authority from God through Jesus Christ who, according to the Bible, designated his apostle Peter as "the rock upon which my church will be built" to whom he gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:18-19). Peter was therefore regarded as the first pope, the head of the church, and all others as his successors endowed with the same divine authority.

By the time of the Middle Ages, the Church had an established hierarchy:

Pope - the head of the Church

Cardinals - advisors to the Pope; administrators of the Church

Bishops/Archbishops - ecclesiastical superiors over a cathedral or region

Priests - ecclesiastical authorities over a parish, village, or town church

Monastic Orders - religious adherents in monasteries supervised by an abbot/abbess

The Church maintained the belief that Jesus Christ was the only begotten son of the one true God as revealed in the Hebrew scriptures and that those works (which would become the Christian Old Testament) prophesied Christ's coming. The date of the earth and history of humanity were all revealed through the scriptures which made up the Christian Bible - considered the word of God and the oldest book in the world - which was understood as a handbook on how to live according to divine will and gain everlasting life in heaven upon one's death.

Interpretation of the Bible, however, was too great a responsibility for the average person, according to the Church's teachings, and so the clergy was a spiritual necessity. In order to talk to God or understand the Bible correctly, one relied on one's priest as that priest was ordained by his superior who was, in turn, ordained by another, all under the authority of the pope, God's representative on earth.

The Church hierarchy reflected the social hierarchy. One was born into a certain class, followed the profession of one's parents, and died as they had. Social mobility was a rarity since the Church taught that it was God's will one had been born into a certain set of circumstances and attempting to improve one's life was tantamount to claiming God had made a mistake. People, therefore, accepted their lot and made the best of it.

Church in Daily Life

The lives of the people of the Middle Ages revolved around the Church. People, especially women, were known to attend church three to five times daily for prayer and at least once a week for services, confession, and acts of contrition for repentance. The Church paid no taxes and was supported by the people of a town or city. Citizens were responsible for supporting the parish priest and Church overall through a tithe of ten percent of their income. Tithes paid for baptism ceremonies, confirmations, and funerals as well as saint's day festivals and holy day festivals such as Easter celebrations. Further, they supported social institutions including poor houses, orphanages, schools, and religious orders that could not support themselves.

The teachings of the Church were a certainty to the people of the Middle Ages. There was no room for doubt & questions were not tolerated.

The center of a congregation's life in a small-town church or city cathedral was not the altar but the baptismal font. This was a free-standing stone receptacle/basin used for infant or adult baptism - often quite large and deep - which also served to determine a person's guilt or innocence when one was charged with a crime.

To clear one's name, a person would submit to an ordeal in which one was bound and dropped into the font. If the accused floated, it was a clear indication of guilt; if the accused sank, it meant innocence but the accused would often drown.

Under the reign of the English king Athelstan (r. 924-939), the procedure for the ordeal was codified as law:

If anyone pledges to undergo the ordeal, he is then to come three days before to the mass-priest whose duty it is to consecrate it [the ordeal], and live off bread and water and salt and vegetables until he shall go to it, and be present at mass on each of those three days, and make his offering and go to communion on the day on which he shall go to the ordeal, and swear then the oath that he is guiltless of that charge according to the common law, before he goes to the ordeal. (Brooke, 107)

There was also the ordeal of iron in which the accused was forced to hold or carry a hot poker. If the person could hold the red-hot iron without burning and blistering their hands, they were innocent; there are no records of anyone being found innocent. The ordeal of water was also carried out by streams, rivers, and lakes. Women accused of witchcraft, for example, were often tied in a sack with their cat (thought to be their demonic familiar) and thrown into a body of water. If they managed to escape and come to the surface, they were found guilty and then executed, but they most often drowned.

Ordeals, like executions, were a form of public entertainment and, as with festivals, marriages, and other events in community life, were paid for by the people's tithe to the Church. The lower class, as usual, bore the brunt of the Church's expenses but the nobility was also required to donate large sums to the Church to ensure a place for themselves in heaven or to lessen their time in purgatory.

The Church's teachings on purgatory - an afterlife realm between heaven and hell where souls remained until they had paid for their sins - generated enormous wealth for various clergy who sold writs known as indulgences, promising a shorter stay in purgatory for a price. Relics were another source of income, and it was common for unscrupulous clerics to sell fake splinters of Christ's cross, a saint's finger or toe, a vial of water from the Holy Land, or any number of objects, which would allegedly bring luck or ward off misfortune.

The teachings of the Church were a certainty to the people of the Middle Ages. There was no room for doubt, and questions were not tolerated. One was either in the Church or out of it, and if out, one's interactions with the rest of the community were limited. Jews, for example, lived in their own neighborhoods surrounded by Christians and were regularly treated quite poorly. The French king Charles Martel (r. 718-741), defeated the Muslim invasion of Europe at the Battle of Tours (also known as the Battle of Poitiers, 732), and Muslims in Europe were rare at this time outside of Spain and the traveling merchants conducting trade.

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A citizen of Europe, therefore - who did not belong to either of these faiths - had to adhere to the orthodox vision of the Church in order to interact with family, community, and make a living. If one found one could not do so (or at least appear to do so), the only option was a so-called heretical sect.

Corruption & Heresy

The heretical sects of the Middle Ages were uniformly responses to perceived corruption of the Church. The immense wealth of the Church, accrued through tithes and lavish gifts, only inspired a desire for even greater wealth which translated as power. An archbishop could, and frequently did, threaten a noble, a town, or even a monastery with excommunication - by which one was exiled from the Church and so from the grace of God and commerce with fellow citizens - for any reason. Even well-known and devout religious figures - such as Hildegard of Bingen (l. 1098-1179) - were subject to 'discipline' along these lines for disagreeing with an ecclesiastical superior.

The priests were often corrupt and, in many cases, only held their position due to family influence and favor. Scholar G. G. Coulton cites a letter of 1281 in which the writer warns how "the ignorance of the priests precipitates the people into the ditch of error" (259) and later cites the correspondence of one Bishop Guillaume le Maire from Angers, who writes:

The Priesthood includes innumerable contemptible persons of abject life, utterly unworthy in learning and morals, from whose execrable lives and pernicious ignorance infinite scandals arise, the Church sacraments are despised by the laity, and in very many districts the lay folk hold the priests as [vile]. (259)

The medieval mystic Margery Kempe (l. C. 1342-1438) challenged the wealthy clerics to reform their corruption while, almost 200 years before, Hildegard of Bingen had done the same as had men like John Wycliffe and Jan Hus.

Some of those who objected to the policies of the Church joined alternate religious sects and attempted to live peacefully in their own communities. The best-known of these were the Cathars of Southern France who, while they interacted with the Catholic communities they lived near or in, had their own services, rituals, and belief system.

These kinds of communities were routinely condemned by the Church and destroyed, their members massacred, and whatever lands they had confiscated as Church property. Even an orthodox community which adhered to Catholic teachings - such as the Beguines - was condemned because it was begun spontaneously as a response to the needs of the people and was not initiated by the Church. The Beguines were laywomen who lived as nuns and served their community, holding all possessions in common and living a life of poverty and service to others, but they were not approved by the Church and were therefore condemned; they were disbanded along with their male counterparts, the Beghards, in the 14th century.

These groups, and others like them, attempted to assert spiritual autonomy based on the scriptural authority of the Bible, without any of the Church's ritual. The Cathars believed that Christ never died on the cross and was therefore never resurrected but that, instead, the son of God had been spiritually offered for the sins of humanity on a higher plane. The gospel stories, they claimed, should be understood as allegories using symbolic language rather than static histories of a past event. They further advocated for the feminine principle in the divine, revering a feminine principle of the godhead (known as Sophia), to whom they devoted their lives.

Living simply and serving the surrounding community, the Cathars amassed no wealth, their priests owned nothing, and were highly respected as holy men even by Catholics, and Cathar communities offered worthwhile goods and services. The Beguines, while never claiming any beliefs outside of orthodoxy, were equally devout and selfless in their efforts to help the poor and, especially, poor single mothers and their children. Both of these movements, however, offered people an alternative to the Church which the Church's teachings condemned.

Reformation

John Wycliffe and his followers (known as Lollards) had been calling for reformation since the 14th century, and it might be difficult for a modern-day reader to fully understand why no serious attempts were made at reform, but this is simply because the modern era offers so many different legitimate avenues for religious expression. In medieval Europe, it was inconceivable that there could be any valid Christian belief system outside of the Catholic Church.

Heaven, hell, and purgatory were all very real places to the people of the Middle Ages, and one could not risk offending God by criticizing his Church and damning one's self to an eternity of torment in a lake of fire surrounded by demons. The wonder is not so much why more people did not call for reform as that anyone was brave enough to try.

The Protestant Reformation did not arise as an attempt to overthrow the power of the Church but began simply as yet another effort at reforming ecclesiastical abuse and corruption. Martin Luther was a highly-educated German priest and monk who moved from concern to outrage over what he saw as abuses of the Church. Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517) famously criticized the sale of indulgences as a money-making scheme having no biblical authority and no spiritual worth and opposed the Church's teachings on a number of other matters.

Luther was condemned by Pope Leo X in 1520 who demanded he renounce his criticism or face excommunication. When Luther refused to recant, Pope Leo moved ahead with the excommunication in 1521, and Luther became an outlaw. Like Wycliffe, Hus, and others before him, Luther was only calling for a reform of Church policy and practice. Like Wycliffe, he translated the Bible from Latin into the vernacular (Wycliffe from Latin to Middle English and Luther from Latin to German), opposed the concept of sacerdotalism whereby a priest is necessary as an intermediary between a believer and God, and maintained that the Bible and prayer were all one needed to commune directly with God. In making these claims, of course, he not only undermined the authority of the pope but rendered that position - as well as those of the cardinals, bishops, archbishops, priests, and others - ineffectual and obsolete.

According to Luther, salvation was granted by the grace of God, not by the good deeds of human beings, and so all of the works the Church required of people were of no eternal use and only served to fill the Church's treasury and build their grand cathedrals. Owing to the political climate in Germany, and Luther's own charisma and clever use of the printing press, his effort at reform, unlike earlier initiatives, was successful. Other reformers, such as Huldrych Zwingli (l. 1484-1531) and John Calvin (l. 1509-1564) continued the movement in their own regions and many others followed suit afterwards.

Conclusion

The monopoly the Church held on religious belief and practice was broken, and a new era of greater spiritual freedom was begun, but it was not without cost. In their zeal to throw off the authority of the medieval Church, the newly liberated protestors destroyed monasteries, libraries, and cathedrals, the ruins of which still dot the European landscape in the present day.

The Church, as its own representatives understood at the Council of Trent, had failed to be its best and its clergy was frequently characterized far more by a love of worldly goods and pleasures than spiritual pursuits but at the same time, as noted above, the Church had initiated hospitals, colleges and universities, social systems for the care of the poor and the sick, and maintained religious orders which allowed women an outlet for their spirituality, imagination, and ambitions. These institutions became especially important during the Black Death pandemic of 1347-1352 when the Church did its best to care for the sick and dying when no one else would.

The Protestant Reformation, unfortunately, destroyed much of the good the medieval Church had done in reacting to what reformers understood as corruption and its perceived failure to meet the challenge of providing a reason, and solution, for the plague outbreak. Eventually, the different movements would organize into the Christian Protestant sects recognizable today - Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and so on - and set up their own institutes of higher learning, hospitals, and social programs. When the Reformation began, there was only the Church, the monolithic powerhouse of the Middle Ages, which afterwards became only one option of Christian religious expression among many.

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Religious practice in medieval Europe (c. 476-1500) was dominated and informed by the Catholic Church. The majority of the population was Christian, and "Christian" at this time meant "Catholic" as...

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Christianity became the leading religion in the Medieval Times, while Christian doctrine of divine right and salvation by suffering provided the basis for the establishment of feudalism and feudal society. The Christian Church was organized in a strict hierarchical structure of a pyramid and remained practically unchanged until nowadays. The Pope was on the top of the hierarchy and below the Pope were the ordained clergymen: bishops, priests and deacons. Bishops (including metropolitans, archbishops or patriarchs) exercised authority over priests and deacons who were on the bottom of the churchly hierarchy.

Members of the clergy were also the monks and other religious officials who obtained the Holy Order and had been ordained or appointed to offices of pastoral leadership in the church. The unordained monks, nuns, friars and religious brothers and sisters were not members of the clergy. Clergy could had been either regular and secular.

The members of the regular clergy were all who belonged to a religious order and followed the religious rule under the leadership of a religious superior, while the members of secular clergy were not bound to religious rule and were not members of any religious orders.

The monarchs and feudal lords donated to the Church large estates because of its role in the medieval society and because of its support to secular authorities. Thus bishops and other high officials of the Church were also the feudal lords. Large estates enabled the high officials of the Church to live a leisurely life comparable to the life of high nobility.

For that reason the majority of the high officials of the Church originated from the local noble families and were considered noble. In contrary to bishops and other high officials of the Church who were often also military leaders and lived the life of other high nobility, the clerics of a lower rank were not members of nobility.

Church gained possession of the land through donations of deeply religious people as well as in exchange for the "salvation of the soul" of its donor and for performing various post-mortal memorial ceremonials. Most of the medieval churches and monasteries were built by local noble families for various reasons.

Very important role had the custom of noble families to send at least one of its family members (a son or daughter) in service of the Church or into a monastery. Noblemen in service of the Church often took advantage of their position to implement the interests of their families.

The Church had great influence and power in feudal society. Its influence and power greatly increased during the political, economic and spiritual crisis which marked the period after the Fall of Rome in 476. The Church was only the only centralized institution surviving the Fall of Rome and eventually emerged as the leading spiritual guide and played an important role in restoration of institutionalized government. The decline of a strong central government and further disintegration of governmental institutions was prevented by bishops who began to replace the secular authorities and took over the administrative affairs.

The influence and power of the Church in the early medieval political affairs became obvious at the deposition of Childerc III who was deposed by Pippin the Younger with Papal support in 751. Pippin the Younger was anointed in coronation ceremony at Soissons by Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz who was along with his niece Saint Leoba also a court advisor.

Anointment performed by the Pope or (arch)bishop symbolized the conferring of religious sanction of the monarch's divine right to rule and for that reason anointment was desired by all medieval monarchs and kings. The Church was also the only institution that could confer the Imperial title which was considered the highest of all monarchical titles and was supposed to be performed by the Pope in Rome. Thus the Church had important instruments through which it could acquire certain privileges from the secular authorities and to implement its interests.

The Church exercised its power also by regulating conduct and by insisting on punishment for sins of all classes of society which was achieved by creating guilt for conscious act of sin, by depicting the horror of sinners in the afterlife, by excommunication or banishment from the church and sometimes by interdict or excommunication of a whole area. Forgiveness as well as lifting of excommunication could have been achieved by repentance (expressing regret for committing sin) and atonement (repayment) for sins.

The Church and its institutions also represented social and cultural centers of the medieval society. Education was carried out only by the priests who were often also the only literate individuals in predominantly illiterate communities.

The monasteries throughout Europe evolved from institutions of life of prayer and self sacrifice into centers of culture, art and education. Besides praying and devotion to religious matters the monastic life also included projects of writing, copying and decoration books. Monastic communities also often took care for social services such as education and healthcare.

With the movement Peace and Truce of God the medieval Church endeavored to Christianize and pacify the medieval society through nonviolent means, to protect the noncombatants who could not defend themselves (in first place the peasants and clergy) from violence and to prevent the violence between the Christians. However, the movement to limit the violence turned out to be ineffective, while the Church with its call and support to the Crusades even encouraged violence.

Close collaboration between the Church and the highest political and military officials was followed by occasional struggles for supremacy. The tensions between the Church and secular authorities became evident already in the 9th century and reached their height with the Investiture Controversy, the dispute between Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Gregory VII over appointments of church officials in the 11th century. Besides struggles for supremacy with secular rulers the Church also put a lot of effort to prevent priestly marriages and simony (purchase of church offices).

First major step towards introduction of celibacy of the clergy was made by Pope Gregory VII by publishing an encyclical which absolved the people from their obedience to bishops who allowed priestly marriages. However, the compulsory celibacy of the clergy and ban of priestly marriages was formally introduced with the First Lateran Council in 1123. That way the Roman Catholic Church avoided an eventual division of the land and heritable offices in case if married clergymen produced heirs.

The Christianity and churchly doctrine had an absolute "monopoly" over mentality of all classes of feudal society during the period of highly developed feudalism. Any theological or religious opinion which opposed to the official churchly doctrine was considered heretic and was persecuted, while religious believes dominated in all aspects of a life of a Christian.

The Papacy reached height of its power and prestige during the pontificate of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216), while his successor Pope Honorius III (1216-1227) gave papal sanction to the Dominican Order, Franciscan Order and Carmelite Order - the mendicant orders which successfully stopped the spread of heresy for a while.

However, the Papacy slowly lost its power to the national monarchs by the 14th century which became obvious with the so-called Avignon Papacy between 1305 and 1376 when the residence of Papacy was moved to Avignon, France. Although the Popes who resided in Avignon were probably less under French influence than it was commonly believed they were brought into discredit in other countries and the Church lost respect and support in great extent.

Dissatisfaction with the Avignon Papacy, corruption and immorality of the clergy (selling of church offices and indulgences, concubines, drinking, gambling), the Papal Schism from 1378 to 1417 and the Conciliar Movement resulted in the further decline of Papal prestige and power as well as in general decline of Church organization which never recovered in its former strength. The Council of Constance (1414-1418) and Council of Basel (1431-1449) made some efforts to reform the church but failed to implement the reforms in practice.

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Life of Clergy in the Middle Ages - English History

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Christianity became the leading religion in the Medieval Times, while Christian doctrine of divine right and salvation by suffering provided the basis for the

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What Was Life like for Women in the Middle Ages?

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Our medievalists answer your biggest questions

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What Peasants and Laborers Wore in the Middle Ages

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An extensive and informative look at the undergarments, overgarments, accessories, and everyday clothes for members of the medieval working-class.

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Want to make yourself an easy Medieval tunic?  Or just learn about a bunch of fashion?

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Want to make yourself an easy Medieval tunic?  Or just learn about a bunch of fashion?

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All material is © 2000-2011 Cynthia Virtue. See below for copyright issues .

Articles are in four groups: Hats & Hair -Clothing - Accessories -Guest Articles - Miscellanea -Why Most of them are class handouts; some are descriptions of things I've made, which may help you if you want to make similar things.

Upbraid your friends! The basics of 3-strand and 4-strand braids.

Basic Garb (1000-1300)- Men and women's costumes, hats, accessories; an overview and instructions for newcomers (class)

How to wear a veil, or a veil and circlet (or just a circlet) gracefully(1000-1300 or so) Plus The Dreaded Muffin-Head Effect

Tunic Worksheet (1000-1300) -- More specifics on the period cutting plan of the glorious T-Tunic -- properly cut, it's one of the most elegant garb choices. (class)

Easy Men's Hats - (1200-1470s; concentrated on the later range) Yup, even the men wore something on their heads.

The rotated-point, Circle-plan Houppelande (1390-1470)- an alternate to the 'just like a big dress' method. Pattern schematics and pictures of both men's and women's houppelandes.

A 13th Century hat for women (1200s)-- What I call the "coffee filter hat" sometimes called a "toque," "fillet," or "porkpie hat."

Cautionary note about modern bag sleeve patterns (1390-1470) for houppelandes

Crespinette cylinder cauls: very medieval or Victorian invention? (1325-1375)

Extant clothing of the middle ages -- a compilation of inspiring photos from many sources of medieval garments and accessories which have survived to the present day.

Men's Rolled (stuffed) Hats (1390-1470)- and variations thereon.

Complex Women's Hats (my favorite subject): (1400-1470)

How to make a Reticulated Headdress - Women's fancy wireframe construction. Fairly advanced.

Jingle all the way: Adding bells to your garb (14th & 15th c.)

My second fancy wireframe; heart-shaped.

Poor People's Poulaines (1400-1470)- Pointy shoes for everyone.

Arnolfini headdress, Truncated-cone henins, butterfly henins and other information about semi-rigid headresses and the veils that go with them.

Medievaloid Jewelry with PMC -- making your own jewelry from Precious Metal Clay.

Butterfly Hat construction basics - for the relatively new costumer.

Girdle books (1300-1450+)(or belt-books) I keep one of these for writing down people's names, and other things I shouldn't forget, like my lines in plays! Very useful.

Hat construction materials: theories

The Little Black Band -- a possible method of keeping these hats attached.

The Last Straw -- and the Last Dryer Vent -- using rigid materials for hats; men's & women's

Guest Articles hosted here for their authors

Archeological Sewing by Mistress Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn/Heather Rose Jones is now at her new website!
Mary of Hapsburg's Gown : cutting diagrams & measurements. Also her husband Louis' outfit.

Essays, Trip Reports, and Miscellanea

Modern Medieval Home Companion , ideas for decorating your living space in a medievaloid fashion.

Further Reading: A bibliography of useful books.Do you want to knowwhat constitutes a primary source for costuming ? There's some misinformation out there, which this article hopes to correct.

Stuff from my Laurel ceremony , including a wonderful piece of calligraphy. "Mistress of the Laurel" is one of the three highest SCA awards. It's more or less an "arts knighthood."

A Birthday Pas d'Armes that I attended in the West, April 14, 2001

Using modern "costume" patterns (Simplicity, McCalls, etc) to make believable costumes. Many are quite good, some are terrible. Updated Feb '01

Approach modern versions of medieval stuff with caution; examples from 1947

Costumes for your pets! Here are pictures of my cats in the "medieval" hats I have made for them. Sicorro , Sicorro again, and Aricebo

Line drawing #1 and#2 done by me for newsletters. High percentage of interesting hats. How surprising.

You might be interested in my bookmarks for other garb pages, museums, and misc. medieval stuff.

Oslo , Norway: how I spent my summer vacation, with special attention to medieval sites.

Ever notice that Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty is wearing a black-and-purple houppelande? I made one that is similar for a friend. We never got around to making the horned hat, alas.

Why these articles are here:
Most of these were written for folks interested in the High Middle Ages in Northern Europe; mostly England and France plus Burgundy. Here's a map, (not on my site) of France in 1429
The SCA, as referenced, is The Society for Creative Anachronism , which aims to recreate various aspects of the Middle Ages. Some folks concentrate in costuming, some in cooking or brewing, some in fighting and other areas of interest. There are a lot of folks who don't concentrate on researching much at all. But it is a fun group.

My name in the SCA is Cynthia du Pre Argent; I'd be delighted to hear if you find this material useful, and still glad to hear if you think it needs improvement.

If you are new to reading things on the web, remember that most of the tiny pictures you see in these pages can be clicked on for larger versions.

And if you have no idea about fabric, much less costuming, but you'd like to know more, you might be interested in my Fabric for Bachelors series.

Copyright information:
All articles are original writing, and the contents reflect my many teachers, as well as a small amount of original thought. Please contact me if you want to reproduce the articles in any way. Permission will probably be granted, as long as you credit me, and it's not for profit.
Some courts think that a museum or other owner of a medieval (ie, out of normal copyright) item can not claim copyright, nor claim it on photographs of that item which do not add "art" to the representation of it. The Bridgeman vs. Corel decision is one example. Some museums disagree, in part because they need funding and this sort of thing is the only way to get it.

If you're curious about my web statistics , they're available.

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All material is © 2000-2011 Cynthia Virtue. See below for copyright issues . Upbraid your friends! The basics of 3-strand and 4-strand braids.

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Hair History: 5th - 12th Century | Early Middle Ages

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How to wear a medieval "chaperone" (weird men's hat!)

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How to wear a medieval "chaperone" (weird men's hat!)

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Unlike females in the middle ages, men didn't always wear hats, but it seem they were more likely to wear them that not. The fashion for headgear changes at least as much as the clothing fashion. At times it seems it changes more.

I have made a little overview of cool images I have found of male headgear and hair styles. Most of the images are of people from the upper classes but it isn't exclusive to that. If you want to know more about the female fashion you can find that here.
I gather pictures of head gear. I find them in illuminated manuscripts, sketches and in paintings. Some of the pictures are quite small and a bit blured, but I thought it was important to have pictures from different sources rather than just the famous high quality ones. They are organized by century and by style.
The different styles of hats and headgear

Coifs

Among working men it would seem that the coif has been one of the most common pieces of headgear from the late 1100's and fell out of popularlyt in the 1300's. It is a simple linnen coif tied under the chin. Sometimes it is worn under other pieces of headgear.

Capuchon

The capuchon in the form of hood and attached shoulder-length cape with a hole was cut in the fabric to frame the face. Sometimes they have a very long tail - it is actually the tail that is called a liripipe.

Worn from the 1100's onward. In the 1300's people started wearing them on top of their heads and that is called a chaperon.

Kufi style hats

A brimless, short, rounded cap

Strew hats

Strew hats were made in a number of shapes from the typical round crown wide brimed sun hat to conical type assoiciated with East Asia. They were worn by travlers and peasants in the field. They keep rain and sun out of your face quite effectely.

Bycoket

From the images I gather that bycockets (or chapeau à bec) became quite popular in the 1300's and 1400's. The bycocket, is what we would think of as a Robin Hood hat - it has a wide brim that is turned up in the back and pointed in the front like a bird's beak. They were worn by men and woman and was in use between the 1200's and the 1500's. They started as a hat worn by nobility but the growing merchant class took to it. Some of them have quite tall crowns.

Barretina

Baglike hat that fits right around the head. It has a padded or upturned edge and the crown is soft and hangs to the side of the head. Kind of like a small santa hat. The crown can extend into a tail - like on a night cap.

Chaperon with liripipe

From the 1300's the chaperon transformed from a utilitarian hood ( liripipe) with a small cape to becoming a complicated and fashionable hat worn by the wealthy in town settings. This came when they began to be worn with the opening for the face placed instead on the top of the head.

In the 1400's changing masculine fashion dictated that the head should go right through the visor of the liripipe and the neckpiece be raised to form a crest on the head, often on a padded ring (bourrelet). The point of the hood was then worn round the neck or round the head. Worn in this manner it was called a chaperon. Inside church or in the present of high ranking nobility men would wear them over their shoulder. I kind of think of it as a baseball cap worn backwards for fashion purposes.

Tall hats with no brim

In the 1400's quite tall what looks like felted hats come into fashion. They are mostly black.

Hats with a small folded brim

Often soft hats with the brim folded up. They seem popular in the 1400's. Sometimes the all of the edge is folded up like in the picture and sometimes it is only in the back almost like a bycoket but with a tall crown.

Round cap

Soft-crowned, round-brimmed cap or bonnet

Beret

A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat.

Biretta

The biretta (Latin: biretum, birretum) is a square cap with three or four peaks or horns, sometimes surmounted by a tuft. Traditionally the three peaked biretta is worn by Roman Catholic clergy and some Anglican and Lutheran clergy.

More on medieval male headgear - useful links

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Medieval male hair and headgear - Postej & Stews

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Unlike females in the middle ages, men didn't always wear hats, but it seem they were more likely to wear them that not. The fashion for headgear changes at least as much as the clothing fashion. At times it seems it changes more. I have made a little overview of cool images I have found [...]

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DRESS ACCESSORIES TIPPETS BELTS & GIRDLES PURSES & BAGS HEADWEAR COIFS CROWNS AND CIRCLETS HATS AND HENNINS HEADDRESSES VEILS AND WIMPLES HOODS FOOTWEAR JEWELLERY GLOVES APRONS Headwear of the Middle Ages CHAPLETS & GARLANDS - FILLETS, BARBETTES & TORQUES As one might imagine, a woman's outfit was not complete without some kind of headwear.

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hat _ Styles, Materials, History, & Facts _ Britannica

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BEAUTY, HEALTH & HYGIENE

SKIN CARE

COSMETICS

HAIRSTYLES

BODY HAIR

CLEANLINESS

HAIR CARE

ORAL CARE & DENTISTRY

FEMININE HYGIENE

GENERAL HEALTHCARE

Medieval Cosmetics
FOUNDATION - EYELINER & EYESHADOW - LIP BALM - ROUGE

Many debate the use of cosmetics to enhance the female appearance during medieval times, but there is a considerable amount of evidence for make-up during this period.

The statue at right is dated at 1350 and shows a well-made up woman, her skin fashionably pale with plucked eyebrows, high hairline and round forehead and a rosy glow which could not be due to anything other than a generous amount of rouge. We could suspect that this was just artistic endeavours to make an attractive sculpture, but written records also support the use of cosmetics for the medieval woman.

Respectibility
Opinions varied even between members of the clergy as to the respectability of wearing cosmetics. It was felt that it was generally not a desired state, although it was mentioned that women who had been afflicted with illness and were thereby made unattractive, were excused from the sin of vanity by using cosmetics.

The desire to not repel others or their husbands was deemed an acceptable excuse for enhancement.

Thomas of Aquinas was questioned about the use of cosmetics by woman and also grudgingly conceded that for a woman to make herself as attractive as possible to her husband so that he might not stray into the sin of adultery was itself not a sin, however, it was cautioned that a woman should not make herself so beautiful that she should attract other women's husbands.

Foundation
Studies have shown that women in England 'painted their faces white' to achieve a paler-looking complexion. Women often painted their faces with blaunchet or wheaten flour or used lead-filled cosmetics. It was assured that the root of the Madonna lily would whiten the face.

Research also suggests ground lily root made a powder for faces, although it does not specify what kind of lily was recommended. The Compendium Anglicus from 1240 written by Gilbertus Anglicus recommends cyclamen root.

One recipe for a flour-based cosmetic to whiten the face comes from the L'ornement des Dames in the 13th century. The method is as follows:

' There is a white make-up that is very easy to make. Put very pure wheat in water for fifteen days, then grind and blend it in the water. Strain through a cloth, and let it crystalise and evaporate. You will obtain a make-up which will be as white as snow. When you want to use it, mix it with rosewater, and spread it on your face which has first been washed with warm water. Then dry your face with a cloth.'

Eyeliner and eyeshadow
Many books say that eyecolours and eyeliner were available during the medieval period, and it is commonly known that since early antiquity, Egyptians, Spainish women and later the woman of the Rus at Staraya Ladoga in the 10th century were using eyeliner and eyeshadow.

Paintings and sculptures for the High Middle Ages like the one at left, show women with pale and unadorned eyes and eyebrows heavily plucked.

It would seem, therefore, that although the technology to produce eyeliner and eyeshadow was available, fashion dictated that it wasn't used.

Lip balms, lipsticks and stains
Lip tinctures and balms seem to be the lip treatments most commonly referred to.

One recipe for a medieval lip balm described as a ' sweet smelling grease that will keep the lips and hands from chapping and make them moist and soft' comes from the book Secrets of Don Alessio Piemontese, published in 1557.

'Take 12 oz of fresh suet and 6oz of marjoram and pound them together. Form into balls and sprinkle with good wine. Next put into some vessel and seal it tightly so that the odor of the marjoram does not escape. Place in the shade for 24 hours and then put into water. Cook slowly, then strain. This process must be repeated 4 or 5 times always adding another 9oz of suet. Finally a little musk or civet can be added.'

There appeared also available a lip stain in use, but I have no information about those at this point.

Rouge
The ground leaves of angelica, Angelica archangelica, were the principal ingredient for the manufacture of 'ladies' red powder'. Dried flowers of the safflower, Carthamum tinctorius, were also used in the making of rouge. In a poem by a monk of Montaudon from 1180-1215AD, the writer stated that the statues of the churches complain to God:

'that there is not enough paint left to adorn them because of all the ladies who use rouge and cream.'

The Compendium Anglicus from 1240 written by Gilbertus Anglicus, mentions brazilwood chips soaked in rosewater would give a clear, pink dye which can be rubbed on the cheeks. Shown at right is the Bust of Saint Juliana Circle of Giovanni di Bartolo dated 1375.

A 13th century French song described in Love Lock'd Out, A Survey of Love, Licence and Restriction in the Middle Ages by James Cleugh refers to a peddlar who carries for sale:

'razors, tweezers, looking glasses, toothbrushes and tooth-picks, bandaus and curling irons, ribbons, combs, mirrors, rosewater... cotton with which they rouge themselves and whitening with which they whiten themselves.'

showing the large range of grooming cosmetics and tools which were in use and available at the time.

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BEAUTY, HEALTH & HYGIENE SKIN CARE COSMETICS HAIRSTYLES BODY HAIR CLEANLINESS HAIR CARE ORAL CARE & DENTISTRY FEMININE HYGIENE GENERAL HEALTHCARE Medieval Cosmetics FOUNDATION - EYELINER & EYESHADOW - LIP BALM - ROUGE Many debate the use of cosmetics to enhance the female appearance during medieval times, but there is a considerable amount of evidence for make-up during this period.

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When you imagine a medieval man or woman, what do you see? Foul teeth? Greasy hair? Dirty, bumpy skin? Hairy armpits and sweat stench?

Well, for some of them, this might have been true. For some people today, this is still true. But medieval sources prove, that it could be and has been different for large parts of the population. Medieval people know far more than we think today.

In this article I want to talk about aspects of (female) beauty routine and cosmetics, as we find them in medieval sources (mainly the Trotula).
Concerning all the recipes I mention: I slightly changed some of them since many of them do their job in their original mixture but on a long term use will impact your health quite badly. Others are working with 3 usefull ingredients and one absolutely absurd ingredient, which does not contribute to the outcome in any way and of which I can not say, whether it is in the recipe due to faulty copying the original texts, due to superstitious reasons or simply because the author had no clue.
Also I simply left out a whole bunch of recipes which seemed to have no noticable use or impact from a modern point of science.

The daily morning routine as described in some of the texts we documented in this video:

The subject areas:
Daily wash
The rough basics: Bathing was not a daily habit in late medieval time. But the same goes for most of society up until the 50s. A quick bath with hot water and a sponge or washcloth was sill common in my grandmother's time. Medieval people visited the bathhouse maybe once or twice a week. We explain a thing or two about Viennese bath houses in our video „ In the bathhouse" and in Nikolaus' accompanying article.

For daily hygienic routine, the Trotula suggest to their female readers, to wash the body with cloth or sponges and take a steam bath.

„ Take burning hot tiles and stones and with these placed in the steambath, let the woman sit in it. [...] Then let hot water be poured in so that steam is produced, and let thewoman sit upon it well covered with cloths so that she sweats. And when she has well sweated, let her enter hot water and wash herself very well, and thus let her exit from the bath and wipe herself off well with a linen cloth."

For washing, oftentimes a washbowl and a jug was in use.

Towels were in use to dry the body. We know this from many finds and original pictures of medieval towels in their very characteristic shawl-like form featuring woven-in blue or black stripes. Especially famous are italian Perugia-Towels and their beautiful blue and white patterns.

The face gets special attention in the Trotula. You are supposed to wash your face with french soap and then do a face scrub with wheat bran. Something you still do today. Wheat bran is a nice alternative to modern peeling lotions containing nasty microplastics.
„First of all, let her wash her face very well with French soap and with warm water, and with a straining of bran let her wash herself in the bath."
By the way, they also mention a face mask made with wheat starch. Also something still done today .

After washing the face, thorough skin care is necessary, so our lady uses a delicate hydrating cream after a recipe from the roman physician Galien. Why a roman recipe? Because Galien's works are still taught in the Viennese University in mid 14th century.

It is made from bees wax, rose oil and almond oil and feels really nice on the skin.
Deodorant:
On her temples, our lady wears a bit of violet-ointmen t against headaches.
„There are some women who have sweat that stinks beyond measure. For these we prepare a cloth dipped in wine in which there have been boiled leaves of bilberry"
So now that we are all fresh and clean, we want to keep it that way. And the Trotula also offer a recipe for that purpose:
Hair care:
We don't know, how exactly this deodorant is supposed to work. We think it might be due to the antibacterial properties of the wine and the adstringent tanning agents in the bilberry leaves that cause the pores to tighten. So it may very well be a solution for a few hours.
„After leaving the bath, let her adorn her hair, and first of all let her wash it with a cleanser such as this. Take ashes of burnt vine, [...] boil the chaff and the sowbread in water. [...] Let a pot having at its base two or three small openings be filled. Let the water [...] be poured into the pot, so that it is strained by the small openings. With this cleanser let the woman wash her head. After the washing, let her leave it to dry by itself, and her hair will be golden and shimmering."
To wash the hair (which certainly was not done every day), lye from ash was most likely used. The Trotula mention ash from vie stems to wash the hair.

Afterwards, some medieval conditioner can be used, in the original recipe this is made from lizzard grease and some nice smelling substances. But even if you could get the lizzard grease, it would not do any better work than any other kind of oil or grease to make the hair shiny and healthy. We used olive oil, spiced with lemon peel.
„But when she combs her hair, let her have this powder. Take some dried roses, clove, nutmeg, watercress, and galangal. Let all these, powdered, be mixed with rose water. With this water let her sprinkle her hair and comb it with a comb dipped in this same water so that it will smell better."
To make the hair smell even nicer, you can use this hair powder:

The powder smells really nice and kind of oriental. As a modern human, even I could imagine smelling like that occasionally.
„Also, noblewomen shouldwear musk in their hair,or clove,or both, but take care that it not be seen by anyone. Also the veil with which the head is tied should be put on with cloves and musk, nutmeg, and other sweet-smelling substances."
And you can do even more to leave a lovely smell in the air your beloved smells when you walk by:
Hair removal:
More about hair care and hair styles here.

Concerning the rest of the body hair, the hairless body was not unknown to medieval people.
„Take Greek pitch and wax, and dissolve them in a clay vessel. And these things having been dissolved, let a small drop of galbanum be added, [and] let them cook for a long time, stirring with a spatula. Likewise, take mastic, frankincense, and gumarabic, and let them be mixed with the rest. Having done this, let it be removed from the fire, and when it is lukewarmlet her smear her face; but let her take care [not to touch] the eyebrows. Let her leave it on for an hour until it becomes cold. Then let her remove it. This refines the skin and makes the face beautiful, and it removes hairs and renders every blemish well colored and clear."
A woman would use tweezers to remove unwanted facial hair or even use a medieval variation on modern waxing.

So you mix wax with different resins and gums and apply it as hot as possible to your skin. Surprisingly, some modern waxing mixes are still made from wax and resins. We did however not try this recipe for obvious reasons :-)
„In order that a woman might become very soft and smooth and without hairs from her head down, first of all let her go to the baths, and if she is not accustomed to do so, let there be made for her a steambath in this manner."
But also leg and pubic hair was removed. We can see different methods for that. Of course, you can shave it, as seen in this relief from the 13th century. But you could also tweeze the hair when your pores are open, for example after a steambath.
„Afterward let her also anoint herself all over with this depilatory, which is made from well-sifted quicklime. Place three ounces of it in a potter's vase and cook it in the manner of a porridge.Then take one ounce of orpiment and cook it again, and test it with a feather to see if it is sufficiently cooked." „Take care, however, that it is not cooked too much and that it not stay too long on the skin, because it causes intense heat."
Afterwards you have to rub your body thoroughly with towels and pinch out the hair.
Dental hygiene:
It might be quite a bit more pleasant to use depilatory cream though. The ancient and medieval version of that is rhusma turcorum. The mixture consists of (quick)lime and orpiment, has been already known in antiquity and is still in use in regions of India today.
„Likewise in order to make black teeth white, take ten drams of roasted pumice,ten drams of salt,two drams each of cinnamon and cloves,and honey as needed. Mix the pumice and salt with a suﬃcient amount of honey, and place them on a plain dish upon coals until they burn, and reduce the other spices to a powder. And when there is need, rub the teeth."
And your hair is going to fall out for sure due to the very aggressive ingredients. The lime practically disolves some of the hair, orpiment is toxic. So please NEVER attempt this at home, just use modern and safe depilatories! Even medieval people knew that the use was dangerous for the skin and put a recipe for burnt skin from this depliatory right after this recipe.
Nail care:
More about historical hair removal here.
Earspoons:
Teeth are not left to rott in medieval times. They were cleaned with the available ways as well as possible. There are some recipes for tooth powders, most of them contain rock flour, spices and salt, but also grind walnut shells or charcoal are possible ingredients. With a damp cloth, the powder is picked up and used to rub the teeth.
Decorative cosmetics:
Tooth powder like this is still in use today, though much finer and less likely to damage your dental enamel.

And of course, nails are regularly clipped with scissors like in this picture from the Lilienfeld chronicles and they are cleaned with the nail cleaner which is part of almost every extant hygiene set.

I am mentionning it scince the earspoon was a very common item. But we have not tried this tool for the love of our eardrums.

Since there are several paragraphs in the Trotula that would extend the scope of this articl, I will simply describe what I reconstructed.

Face white:
There are several recipes for face makeup which basically consist of lead white mixed with an oily or watery liquid, in parts with wax or gum arabic to make a better consistency and make the makeup storable. I particularly liked one where the lead is mixed with rose water and formed into beansized little balls which can be dissolved with rose water to apply. A nice idea that is a form of makeup storage still in use today with rouge and powders. Instead of poisonous lead white, we used modern white pigments though.
Sun screen:
Cheekstain/Blush:
The original recipes mix brazil wood with different liquids or greases. We tried it and failed as expected. Brazil wood red pigment can not simply be solved in water or grease, it has to be turned into lac dye (maybe the writer meant just that, brazil wood lac) or mixed with alum. Some of the recipes suggest the latter. But that makes the dye dangerous for cosmetic use of course. We used red ocre and it worked perfectly fine. One recipe also uses bryony, a plant that causes a skin irritation and would therefor make the skin red. Not a great idea to try that out though, folks! Application can be done with a bit of cloth, cotton wool as suggested in the recipe or just the fingers.
An ointment that the Salernitan women make that is very good for sunburn and fissures of any kind [...] Take one ounce of lily root, two ounces of white lead, mastic and frankincense- of each a half dram-, one dram of camphor, one ounce of animal grease, [and] rose water as needed. Let it be prepared thus: let the lily root, having been cleaned, be cooked in water, and once this is extracted we grind it thoroughly. And we pour in the fat, which has been liquefied on the fire and well strained and cleaned of its salt in order to dissolve it. Then we put in the white lead, which has been dissolved in the rose water and somewhat pulverized."
Lip red:
One of the recipes suggests to mix bryony with honey and rose water. That would, as in the cheek stain also cause a skin irritation and make the lips read. Please don't try this at home, bryony is poisonous! According to the recipes, you are also supposed to wash your lips with hot water twice a day and take care of them in order for them to be smooth and beautiful. A pretty modern take on lip treatments!
Jewellery and clothing:
For the application of all these cosmetics, we used a mirror that Nikolaus had made for this occasion after a find from Bavaria.
Further information: Pinterest collection beauty and hygiene Hair care and hair dos in the 14th century
Yes, you read right. A beauty-commited woman can already avoid to have her skin destroyed by sunburns and tan.
A shaving comb of the 14th century
It probably is interesting to know, that even today, some sun screens use white pigment instead of chemical filters. Yes, the pigment makes your skin white. But it also shields it from the sun. You can get rid of the skin burning and tanning UVB rays for some time. Unfortunately it does not shield you from the cancer causing and skin aging UVA rays, which is why today, chemical filters are the preferred choice.
Die Chirurgie des Meisters Henri de Mondeville Eyebrows, Hairlines, and Hairs Less in Sight - Female Depilation in Late Medieval Europe, John Friedman, 2018
And of course, a large part of morning routine is getting dressed and putting on jewellery and veils. Here we take all that is precious and expensive from our "Minnekästchen" (an intrically worked jewellery box, often part of the dower): A circlet, prayer beads, a pretty fibula, rings, veil pins with pearls on them, a silk belt with silver studs and a knife with an amber handle.
Textual sources from "The book of the civilised man", 13th century Bathing in the middle ages
Youtube Video and Article on the topic of bath houses in the 14th century

A medieval mirror - Here is the original

Excerpts from the Trotula from: https://www.amazon.de/Trotula-Translation-Medieval-Compendium-Medicine/dp/0812218086

Related Posts

The following posts might interest you as well:

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When you imagine a medieval man or woman, what do you see? Foul teeth? Greasy hair? Dirty, bumpy skin? Hairy armpits and sweat stench? Well, for some of them, this might have been true. For some people today, this is still true.

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It's easy to differentiate between cosmetic and medical procedures in the present day but if we take a look back at the Middle Ages, the distinction wasn't always so clear. Thanks to several prominent medical writers, we can get a glimpse of how medieval medicine viewed the use of cosmetics, and how some of these products were used.
Galen and Avicenna: Cosmetics vs. Medicine
All medieval medical writers looked to the writing of the famous Greek physician, Galen (129-216 AD). Galen's medical teachings were the gold standard until the sixteenth century and some treatments he advocated managed to remain popular (like bloodletting) until the nineteenth century. According to Luke Demaitre, in an article on medieval urban cosmetics, Galen's views on make up to enhance the appearance vs. procedures for health were well defined. He complained bitterly about the mixing of medical treatments and cosmetics in his writings, stating,
The object of the cosmetic part of medicine is to produce an enhancement of beauty, while the object of the decorative part is to preserve everything natural in the body that is naturally accompanied by beauty. The appearance of the head suffering from alopecia is ugly, as it is with the eyes when the eyelashes and the hairs of the eyebrows fall out; and these hairs contribute not only to beauty but much more to health of the parts...But to make the colour of the face whiter by means of drugs, or redder, or the hair of the head curly, or yellow, or black, or to make it much longer, as women do, and the operations like these belong to the depravity of cosmetics and not to the healing art.
What concerned Galen were the differences between services provided for health, decoratio, and services provided solely for the embellishment of looks, ars comptoria/cosmetica. Decoratio did not have the same connotation it does today - to decorate something; to medieval physicians it meant "care of" or "decorum". Decoratio was the term used for treatment of a condition that 'went against nature', diseases like leprosy and alopecia did not just make the individual ugly in appearance; but according to Galen, they also adversely affected a person's health. To Galen, there was a vast difference between curing someone who suffered in appearance and in their health and someone who sought medical assistance to alter their appearance simply to look more attractive.

However, Galen reluctantly conceded that there were certain situations where a physician could not refuse a cosmetic treatment, like when commanded to treat royalty. Galen included some of these recipes for colouring hair, and preventing baldness used on royal patrons, and cited other physicians who worked for emperors like Criton of Heraclea, the famed physician to the Roman Emperor Trajan (53BC - 117 AD) to justify his addition of these practices, in his works.

Another medical heavyweight was Persian physician, Avicenna (980-1037 AD). Avicenna produced over 450 works on early medicine, and also wrote about alchemy, astronomy, mathematics and philosophy to name but a few topics of his vast knowledge. He became a doctor at the age of 18 and his reputation as a physician made him famous. Like Galen, physicians used his medical expertise until well into the seventeenth century. However, on the topic of cosmetics, unlike Galen, Avicenna wasn't bothered by their inclusion in standard medicine and made no effort to separate the two in his work The Canon of Medicine . Medieval medical writers mainly followed Avicenna's lead on blending medicine and cosmetics until the fourteenth century.

Hair and Make-Up for Men
Cosmetic enhancement wasn't the sole sphere of women; men were definite consumers of cosmetics in the Middle Ages. Cosmetics were frequently used by men to stave off the appearance of old age. They sought treatment for baldness, paid to have their hair washed, and bought colourants to dye away greys. Says Demaitre, "Men who had their hair washed inferentially for aesthetic rather than hygienic reasons, were willing to spend money for other improvements of their appearance."

Such activities that focused on improving the male appearance were often viewed as emasculating and treated with contempt. An interesting tale of "death by vanity" is recounted in the story of Amadeus VII 'the Red', Count of Savoy (1360-1391). In 1391, Amadeus used an ointment to thicken his hair because he was balding and he died shortly afterwards at the age of 31. His physician was accused of poisoning him at the behest of his mother, Bonne de Bourbon (1341-1402). This was perhaps meant as a little warning story against vanity. Nearly all cosmetics documented for men revolve around hair loss and covering greys in order to appear youthful and attract women.
Alms for the Poor? : Make-Up and Leprosy
Another interesting medieval concern regarding the use of make-up was its ability to deceive. Make-up wasn't only used by men to look younger, or women to attract men, but also used by beggars to fool people into giving them money. By the sixteenth century, some people began to use make-up as a way to mimic the look of leprosy so that they could be granted a begging license. Ambroise Paré (1510-1590), one of the fathers of surgery, related the tale of a beggar caught in in 1520 trying to trick Paré's brother Jehan into believing he was a leper.
The beggar sat in front of a church, with several coins strewn in a handkerchief at his feet. His face was covered with large pustules, made of a certain strong glue and painted in a livid reddish fashion, approximating the colour of lepers, and he was very hideous to see, thus out of compassion everyone gave him alms. The artful imposter tightened, from beneath his cloak, a rag which he had wrapped around his neck, so as to make the blood mount to his face...After removing the rag, the surgeon washed his face with warm water, which caused all his pustules to become detached and to fall off...the beggar confessed that he knew how to counterfeit several illnesses, and that he had never found greater profit in it than when he counterfeited lepers.
Cosmetics were becoming lucrative in urban centres and situations such as these gave physicians reason to pause and consider Galen's earlier warning about the inclusion of purely cosmetic procedures with medical ones. Although most medieval medical practitioners didn't mind mixing cosmetics with medicine, a growing number began to question their part in aiding people to radically alter or fake their appearance.
Top Image: BNF Français 343 fol.3v Resources
Luke Demaitre, "Skin and the City: Cosmetic Medicine as an Urban Concern", Between Text and Patient: The Medical Enterprise in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, pp.97-120 (2011).

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Make-Up and Medicine in the Middle Ages - Medievalists.net

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A look at cosmetics and make-up in the Middle Ages.

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Shoes. Our love affair with them has spanned the ages. They get us from point A to B, help keep us fit, make us feel sexy and are symbols of prestige and status. So what were medieval shoes like? What dictated medieval shoe styles? This article looks at shoes in the High and Late Middle Ages.
Medieval shoe styles varied from England to the Continent, with many of the changes in fashion a result of the political climate. It comes as no surprise that shoe styles were often set by powerful rulers.

In the early thirteenth century, however, medieval shoes did not vary much in style; they were mainly "turn shoes", that is, leather shoes that were made inside out then turned for use. Children and adult shoes were very similar during this period. The lasts, the molds used to make shoes, were wooden up until the twentieth century and were a carpenter's work. Women's shoes changed the least, and were rarely seen because they were covered by long gowns. Ankle boots were worn mainly for work and heavy wear. After the Black Death, ankle boots were laced up at the front, and both men and women used laces and buttons to fasten boots.

Prior to the Black Death, there were a wide range of shoe styles, and shoes that were embroidered. The decoration of the period showed the influence of Byzantine embroidery with the best examples of this dating to around 1200. Some shoes even had runic inscriptions or more commonly, Latin, and many embroidered shoes were worn by royalty. Shoes were upturned and pointy until the early sixteenth century when pointed shoes fell out of fashion and shoes became more rounded.

After the Black Death ravaged Europe, reactions to fashion from those who had survived verged on the extreme. The Black Death impacted fashion and style immensely; with the former variety of styles disappearing because skilled shoes makers had died in the plague. There was also a redistribution of wealth, land and change in occupation, and with these changes, survivors demonstrated their new social status through new styles. The toes of shoes became much more pointed. This particular style, known as "Cracow" for the then capital of Poland, Kraków, or "Poulaines" for Poland itself, became increasingly popular. The style gained rapid popularity in the fourteenth century but fell out of favour by around 1490. Cracows were worn by both men and women, but the male versions were much longer. In fact, the shoes became so long and distracting that they obstructed the wearer's ability to walk! In some cases, a string was attached below the knee to assist in moving the toe points to enable walking. The string was occaisonally depicted in the art of the period.

England's King Henry IV disliked this style and tried to regulate the practice of wearing excessively long, pointy shoes. Sumptuary Laws, laws that regulated consumption, extravagance, and attire, were regulations of social status and attempts to restrict movement outside of established social ranks. In terms of shoe wear, these laws dictated the length of shoe one could wear based on their social status, i.e., nobility were permitted two foot lengths, merchants one foot length and peasants, half. Laws pertaining to shoes were created around the 1360s but these laws were not commonly enforced.

Around the late fifteenth century, the rounder toe came into fashion beginning in Italy. Boots during this period became full and baggy with an excess of leather being used in their construction. Boots made of leather were worn during winter to protect from the cold and rain. The wealthy would decorate and colour their boots and might have also had them lined with fur. Overshoes began initially as a separate trade by the mid-fourteenth century and were worn mainly by women.

Medieval fashion, like modern fashion, was a way in which to signal your place in the world. What you wore impacted how you would be treated - and little has changed over the centuries in this regard. Medieval shoe styles, while quite different from modern day fashions, and more regulated, were dictated by similar issues: politics, popular and powerful figures, economic changes, and climate. Medieval or modern, we all still sending a message every time we walk out that door. A little something to think about when you tie up your sneakers, slip your foot in a sandal, or buy a pair of expensive heels. Happy shopping!
'Grandissima Gratia': The Power of Italian Renaissance Shoes as Intimate Wear Shoes and shoemakers in late medieval Bergen and Stockholm Medieval Leather Footwear from Tallinn Medieval lingerie? Discovery in Austria reveals what really was worn under those tunics 10 Fun Fashion Facts from the Middle Ages Top Image: Armoured shoes: This late 15th century metal sabatons were part of a complete suit of armour. The narrow strips of metal would have helped the man secure his foot in a stirrup while riding. See also:

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Shoes. Our love affair with them has spanned the ages. They get us from point A to B, help keep us fit, make us feel sexy and are symbols of prestige and status. So what were medieval shoes like? What dictated medieval shoe styles? This article looks at shoes in the High and Late Middle Ages.

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The Medieval period in England is usually classified as the time between the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance, roughly the years AD 410-1485. For various peoples living in England, the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Danes, Normans and Britons, clothing in the medieval era differed widely for men and women as well as for different classes in the social hierarchy. The general styles of Early medieval European dress were shared in England. In the later part of the period, men's clothing changed much more rapidly than women's styles. Clothes were very expensive and both the men and women of lower social classes continued to wear them until the garments were in such disrepair that they needed to be replaced entirely. Sumptuary laws also divided social classes by regulating the colors and styles these various ranks were permitted to wear. In the early Middle Ages, clothing was typically simple and, particularly in the case of lower-class peoples, served only basic utilitarian functions such as modesty and protection from the elements. As time went on the advent of more advanced textile techniques and increased international relations, clothing gradually got more and more intricate and elegant, even with those under the wealthy classes, up into the renaissance.

The typical women's costume of this era was a long -like a garment, pulled up to the armpit and worn over a sleeved under-garment, usually another dress. The garment was clasped front to back by fastening brooches at the shoulders. The dress could be belted or girdled, with tools and personal items suspended from the belt. Women in this period may or may not have worn a head covering. Fleeces and furs were probably used as garment lining or as warm outer garments. A simple poncho made with a neck-opening for the head could have been made from skins of domesticated sheep or cattle. There is little evidence of footwear until the late sixth and seventh centuries. Agricultural laborers shown plowing and sowing in Anglo-Saxon illustrated manuscripts work barefoot, which may indicate that footwear was not the norm until the middle Anglo-Saxon era.

Changes in Anglo-Saxon women's dress began in the latter half of the sixth century in Kent and spread to other regions at the beginning of the seventh century. These fashion changes show the decreasing influence of Northern Europe and the increasing influence of the Frankish Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire and a revival of Roman culture. Linen is used more widely for garments and under-garments. Although there is little evidence to show whether women wore leggings or stockings under their gowns, it is more than likely that leg-coverings were worn by women during this period.

Women typically wore a sleeveless overgarment, with or without a hood during this time period. The hood consisted of either a scarf wrapped around the head and neck or an unconnected head covering with an opening for the face. It was assumed that the hooded style was influenced by Near Eastern art. Women are shown wearing ankle-length, tailored gowns in contemporary art of this period. Gowns are often depicted with a distinct border, sometimes in a contrasting color. In the tenth century, women's arms are typically covered. Sleeves are seen as straight, with a slight flare at the end. Braided or embroidered borders often decorated sleeves. By the eleventh century, multiple sleeve styles had come into fashion.

Around the year 1300, there was a change in well-off women's clothing, to tighter-fitting garments, lower necklines, and more curvaceous silhouettes; "very tight lacing was used on women's clothes to create a form-fitting shape which, girdled at the hips, created a long-waisted appearance". Clothing was over-lapped and tightly bound; "The female chest was frequently exposed, yet the true structure of the female body was visually distorted...". The open surcoat, a garment with an open bodice and a skirt that trailed to the ground, became "one of the most elegant inventions of the Middle Ages...". In fact, by the end of the 14th century, the dress had replaced all garment items aside from the surcoat.

The basic garments for women consisted of the smock, hose, kirtle, dress, belt, surcoat, girdle, cape, hood, and bonnet. Each piece had designated colours and fabrics, for example "Materials used in the middle ages were woolen cloth, fur, linen, cambric, silk, and the cloth of silver or gold...the richer Middle Age women would wear more expensive materials such as silk, or linen". The development of the skirt was significant for women's medieval clothing, "The more fashionable would wear very large or wide skirts". The petticoat made way for the skirt, which quickly became a popular garment because it "wraps rather than enclosing, touches without grasping, brushes without clasping, coasts, caresses, skims, strokes".

The headdress, in various forms culminating in the hennin was an important element in women's dress, often complicated arrangements of hair and fabric, sometimes including veils over the face or hanging behind the head, this is where the bridal veil originated from. The importation of luxurious fabrics increased over the period, and their use widened somewhat spread from the top of the elite downwards, but clothing remained very expensive and relatively few items were owned except by very wealthy people.

Early Anglo-Saxon men, regardless of social rank, wore a cloak, tunic, trousers, leggings, and accessories. The short, fur-lined cloak was designed so that the skin of the animal faced outward and the fur brushed against the undergarments. However, woolen cloaks have also been found. The garment opened either at the front or at the right shoulder. A single brooch, usually circular in shape, fastened the square or rectangular cloak. Other means of fastening the cloth together included tying, lacing, or using a clasp, often made of natural materials such as thorn, bones, wood, or horns. The less prosperous wore woolen cloaks.

The tunic ended between the hip and the knee and had either long or short sleeves. Clasps were not needed to hold the tunic together because when pulled over the head it would sit snugly around the neck without the use of lacing or ties, indicating that the garment was one continuous piece. A belt or girdle was usually worn with the tunic and might have had a buckle, and, as Gale Owen-Crocker states, "pouched over the belt". Multiple tunics were worn at once so that the lower one, often short-sleeved, served as a shirt.

Trousers, traditionally worn under a short tunic or with a small cloak, were ankle length. If loose, the excess material was bunched around the waist and, as Owen-Crocker describes, "hung in folds around the legs". Garters or leggings accompanied narrow trousers. Pieces of fabric attached to the trousers forming belt loops so that the garment could be at held in place at the waist by a belt.

Leggings, usually worn in pairs, acted as additional protection for the legs. The first legging referred to as the legging proper or stocking, consisted of woven fabric or leather. The second was simply a leather of fabric used to tie on the leggings or, if worn around the shin or foot, providing warmth and protection. The lower caste wore leggings made of ripped or cut cloth from old clothes, blankets, or bags whereas the upper caste had custom made leggings. The very rich people sometimes wore jewels.

Clothing of the seventh through the 9th centuries was similar to that of previous centuries and again all classes generally wore the same clothing, although distinctions among the social hierarchy began to become more noticeable through ornamented garments. These common pieces consisted of tunics, cloaks, jackets, pants, and shoes. As in the 5th and 6th centuries, a linen shirt acted as an undergarment. Men generally wore a knee-length linen or woolen tunic, depending on the season, over their shirts. The sleeves of the tunic were long and close-fitting and excess material was pushed up the arm from the elbow to the wrist so that "rolls" were formed in the material. The neck of the tunic opened as did both sides and a belt or girdle was usually worn around the waist. According to rank, embellishments adorned the collar of the tunic, waist, or border and for peasants, or the working classes, a plain tunic with sleeves was generally worn. Examples of these decorations included, as James Planché states, "gold and silver chains and crosses, bracelets of gold, silver or ivory, golden and jeweled belts, strings of amber and other beads, rings, brooches, [and] buckles". The nobility tended to wear longer tunics than the lower social classes.

A cloak, worn over the tunic, fastened on either the breast or a shoulder with the assistance of a brooch. Once in place, the brooch was left attached to the garment so that the cloak was slipped over the head. The cloak, knee-length and rectangular in shape, was fastened so that it appeared to be pleated or folded. Hoods and collars began to appear in the 9th century, and around the same time, the cloak began to be curbed by the same belt that was worn over the tunic. The wrap-over coat also made an appearance during this era. This knee-length coat wrapped over the front of the body. Its sleeves were, as Owen-Crocker says, "deep, [with] decorated cuffs which [were] mostly straight". For the lower classes, this coat tended to be plainer than that of the nobility.

The waistcoat or jacket appeared during this time as well. For those who could afford it, the jacket was made of fur while less costly ones were made of linen. This jacket was waist-length and tended to have a broad collar.

A square crown was worn as was a longer cloak. Beginning in the 9th century, the metal of the king was inscribed and later in the century silk began to be worn by both the king and the nobility.

Well-armed Anglo-Saxon soldiers wore wrap-over coats decorated like chain mail with sleeves that narrowed at the wrists, these were often embroiled with flowers or plants. Owen-Crocker explains that the belts of commanders were elaborate, wide, and fastened by "a narrow strap which was riveted to the broad belt and passed through a buckle which was much narrower than the belt itself" leaving the end of the belt to hang down. Also attached to the belt were pouches which allowed soldiers to carry their weapons. In the 9th and 10th centuries, military attire did not differ much from that of civil attire. The only changes were in the form of short linen tunics with metal collars and the addition of a sword, spear, shield, and helmet. Weapons and clothes fittings worn on the battlefield were highly decorated with jewelry techniques, as seen in the discoveries at Sutton Hoo and in the Staffordshire Hoard; the concept of parade wear did not exist for the Anglo-Saxons.

Planché asserts that the clergy of the 9th and 10th centuries dressed similarly to the laity, except when saying mass. Beginning in the later 8th century, the clergy were forbidden to wear bright colors or expensive or valuable fabrics. Owen-Crocker mentions that their twill cloaks were generally shorter than those of the laity, reaching just below the waist, and Planché adds, that they wore linen stocking.

Planché explains that in the 11th century, shortened tunics became popular as did shorter hairstyles and beard lengths. Piercings also became fashionable for men as did golden bracelets. During this era, men continued to wear tunics, cloaks, and trousers which did not vary much from their previous counterparts. Coifs became popular head-coverings and appeared to be "flat round cap[s]". Long stockings, with feet attached, were in style, and leg bandages and shoes continued to be worn. Short boots, those only extending to the ankle, were introduced in the latter part of the century.

In the latter half of the century, warriors shaved their heads to resemble the clergy in order to confuse foreign spies. The cowl, which was covered in rings, emerged during this time and was worn under the helmet, which also had a new addition, the nose piece. The ringed knee-length tunic was slit in the front and back to allow for more comfortable riding. The length of the trousers became shorter. "Mascled armor" began to replace the traditional ringed armory. These new iron pieces were assembled to look like mesh or nets but a combination of the two patterns have been found to be used. Another variation included covering the body in rings and removing the sleeves from the tunic. Planché mentions that a "square pectoral" was added to the breast of the armor as added protection and were "quilted or covered with rings". A yellow border was added to the pectorals, sleeves, and skirts. Shields had two new adjustments: one strap looped around the arm while a second strap circled around the neck, allowing the soldier the use of both his hands.

The clergy of the 11th century had shaved heads and wore bonnets, which, according to Planché, were "slightly sinking in the centre, with the pendent ornaments of the mitre attached to the side of it". Other garments included the chasuble, the outermost liturgical vestment, which retained its shape, and the dalmatics, a tunic-like vestment with large, bell-shaped sleeves, which tended to be arched on the sides. The pastoral staff was generally found to be plain in colour and ornamentation.

The 12th century brought changes in the civil attire for the inhabitants of the British Isles. The tunic was now close fitting with a long skirt. There was, as C. Willett and Phillis Cunnington describe, a "slit up in front to the thigh level" and the sleeves, now close fitting, were "bell-shaped" at the wrist or, the "lower portion [hung] to form a pendulous cuff which might be rolled up for action". Peasants wore tunics which were shorter and the sleeves were "tubular...[and] rolled back". The tunic could be worn with or without the girdle, which now carried the sword. Neck lines were either diagonal, from the neck moving across the chest, or horizontal, from the neck to the shoulder. The super tunic, worn with a girdle, was occasionally worn alone but was never paired with the aforementioned tunic. The sleeves of this super tunic had, as the Cunningtons state, "pendulous cuffs", which were uncommon, or were "loose and often elbow-length only". The super tunic was occasionally lined with fur.

For the first half of the 13th century, linen braies were worn and then shortened to the knee in the second half of the century, which then became drawers or undergarments. Short stockings ended just below the knee and the border was occasionally decorated. Longer stockings, mid thigh length, could also be worn: as C. Willett and Phillis Cunnington say, they were "shaped to fit the leg, widening above the knee so that they could be pulled up over the braies". The stockings and girdle were tied together at a point in the top front of the stocking by which to keep it in place. Some stockings had stirrups, whole feet, or no feet. For hosiery, made of wool or leather, a "thin leather sole was attached" so that shoes would not need to be worn. Leg wear during the 12th century tended to be brightly coloured and stripes were popular.

All classes of men during the 12th century wore shoes or boots. Shoes, as the Cunningtons say, were "open over the foot and fastened in front of the ankle with a strap secured by a brooch or buckle". For the wealthy, the bands on shoes were decorated and designs were often found "over the foot or around the heel". Different styles of shoes began to appear during this era. One such, as the Cunningtons state, was "high around the ankle and slit down the sides or in front" while others were laced or had "short uppers but cut high behind the heel". Boots were most notably mid calf or knee length and laced down the front or along the inner side. These boots tended to be brightly coloured and had, in the Cunningtons' words, "turn over tops". Shorter boots, with pointed toes, were also worn and ended just above the ankle. Boots were made of leather from a cow or ox, cloth, fish skin, or, for those who could afford it, silk.

Separate hoods also made an appearance. They were loose with, as the Cunningtons describe, a "pointed cowl" and were attached to a robe stretching to the shoulders. The cape was usually a single piece of material and thus had to be put on over the head. The Cunningtons state that the "pointed Phrygian cap," or the "small, round cap with stalk or with a rolled brim and with or without the stalk" or the "stalked soft cap, resembling a beret" were worn. Travelers wore "hats with large brims and low crowns...over the hood" which tied under the chin. Small hats with round crowns and, the Cunningtons say, "turned-down brim, decorated with a knob instead of a stalk" were also worn, as were coifs, which was a "close fitting plain linen bonnet which covered the ears and confined the hair" and tied under the chin. The coif could be worn with other hats or hoods.

Accessories for 12th century English men became more decorated. The girdle, mid century, became more elaborate in its ornamentation and in the latter half of the century, was, "tied like a sash in front with hanging ends" or, if "long and elaborate, was fastened with ornamental buckles" as the Cunningtons depict. Wallets and purses, in the early half of the century, were hung from the girdle or the breech girdle and in the latter half were placed under the tunic, out of sight. During this era gloves became fashionable for the nobility, although they were seldom worn. Rings, brooches, buckles, clasps, and "ornamental fillets of gold and silver", according to the Cunningtons, were worn by the ruling classes. Wool, linen, and silk continued to be used, as was leather, which the peasants used for tunics and mantle and left the hair on facing outward. Garments were also embroidered during this era.

Men continued to wear both short and long tunics with a girdle; however the slit up the front was removed. A new style was introduced in this era in which the sleeves and body were cut from one piece of material. A wide armhole, which extended to the waist, was left open and the sleeves were cut in order to, as the Cunningtons state, "slope off to a narrow tight cuff at the wrist". The super tunic of the 11th century continued to be worn by the less fashionable, the lower classes of society, and the girdle was optional.

Five new styles of the super tunic were introduced in this era. The first consisted of a front and back panel which extended from the shoulders to the calf level. The two panels were sewn together or clasped together near the waist, where they were met by a slit up the front. The neck opening was large so that the tunic could be put on over the head and a belt was not usually worn with this tunic. The second new style was more "voluminous" as the Cunningtons describe it, and hung in folds to a length between the knees and the ankles. The sleeves gathered at the shoulders and extended beyond the hands. A vertical slit was cut in the upper arm of the sleeve to allow unrestrained movement. This garment, like the previous, was put on over the head and a hood was often attached. The third style was much looser than the previous ones. The sleeves could extended to just below the elbow or could be worn short and wide. A buckled belt was optional. The fourth super tunic, or garnache, was knee length and the material was cut wide at the shoulders to allow the material to "fall down on each side, predicting cape-like sleeves," as the Cunningtons put it. The sides of this tunic could be clasped at the waist, sewn from the waist to the hem, or left open and was traditionally beltless. The last style was simply sleeveless and worn with a belt. For these cloaks and hoods red, Irish cloth was popular.

Fitchets, resembling modern day pockets, also appeared in the 13th century. Vertical slits were cut in the super tunic, which did not have any side openings, to allow access to purse or keys slung from the girdle of the tunic.

During this era garments such as cloaks, mantles, and stockings remained unchanged. However, during this era, stockings were sometimes tied with narrow strips of material below the knee to hold the stocking in place. Leg bandages for the nobility became popular which criss-crossed and extended above the knee.

Men's accessories were similar to those of the 11th century. Gloves continued to be worn by the nobility and could be long, stretching to the elbow, or short, wrist length, and began to be decorated, the Cunningtons explain, "with a broad strip of gold embroidery down the back as far as the knuckles". By the end of the century, gloves were more widely worn and were ornamented with silver or gilded buttons. Calthrop also includes that long hair and neatly trimmed beards were in style for 13th century men.

Men's clothing of the 14th century was much more form fitting than its 13th century counterparts. During this era, many of the standard pieces that had been worn by the Britons evolved into new garments and took on different names. P. Cunnington explains that loose garments, such as the tunic and super tunic, from previous centuries continued to be worn by the lower classes who were less concerned with fashion. These loose garments, as C. Cunnington states, were slit up the front, had sleeves, and were worn with a girdle. In addition, they could be shortened to the hip. The gipon, also called a pourpoint or doublet, emerged during the 14th century. It replaced the tunic and was knee length and close-fitting. The gipon was not designed with any folds or gathers as the tunic was. The sleeves were long and tight and the neck was low. The bodice was padded and the garment was either buttoned or laced down the front, but for the lower classes it was only buttoned to the waist. The gipon was traditionally worn over a shirt and if worn with an outer garment, a belt was not worn. At the end of the century, the gipon was shortened to above the mid-thigh and was worn with a belt at hip level

The outer garment of this era was known as the cote-hardie and replaced the super tunic of previous centuries. This new low necked, knee length piece was tight fitting and buttoned or laced down the front to waist level, where it then "flared into a full skirt which was open in the front" as C. Cunnington describes. The complex sleeves of the cote-hardie extended, in the front, to the elbow and, in back, hung in flaps which tapered and elongated. Sleeves during this era were decorated. A belt or girdle was worn with this new garment. The less fortunate wore looser cote-hardies which did not fasten in the front. Instead, they were one piece and were put on over the head. Cloaks and capes continued to be worn as outdoor wear and didn't change from the previous century.

Men's stockings of the 14th century were lengthened and tied to the region, so that it was hidden under the skirt. Shorter stockings were tied to garters with stripes of wool or linen. Shorter boots and shoes also become fashionable. Woolen soles were added to shoes as were straps.

Gloves spread amongst the social hierarchy so that even those of the working class were wearing them in the 14th century. For this class, only the thumb and two sections existed for the fingers.

The lowest classes in the Middle Ages did not have access to the same clothing as nobility. Poor men and women working in the fields or wet or muddy conditions often went barefoot. Upper and middle-class women wore three garments and the third garment was either a surcoat, bliaut, or cotehardie. These were often lavish garments, depending on the wealth of the person wearing them, and could have trimmings in fur or silk decorated with elaborate designs. Because of the cost of fabric, the working classes hardly wore this third garment.

Another marker of the upper classes was an elaborate headdress. These could involve wires, draping fabric and pointed caps. Again, because of the cost the poor could not afford these and instead wore simple cloth veils called wimples that "draped over the head, around the neck and up to the chin". Working women wore ankle length dresses and men wore short tunics and breeches. The longer the garment, the higher in station a person was. This is evident in the sumptuary laws of 1327 which states "coming to the lowest class no serving man is to use 2½ yards in a short gown or 3 in a long one". Also, serving men such as servants or attendants usually did not wear cloaks, and for the nobles who did it served to distinguish them from the masses.

While most of the peasant women wove their fabric and then made their own clothing, the wealthy were able to afford tailors, furriers, and embroiderers. The wealthiest, such as royalty, would have "all these craftsmen on staff, sometimes one per each adult in the household".

Social status was of the utmost importance during the Middle Ages, and this idea was exemplified through fashion. For example, it was generally understood that scarlet tones, such as red and purple, were important items in the wardrobes of royalty. More specifically, these colours became reserved for Kings and Princes, and denoted luxury and wealth. The medieval sumptuary laws or "acts of apparel" were put into place to regulate the clothing choices of people during that time. Those who supported the enactment of such laws did so because the laws emphasized the differences between the classes, and clearly defined what those differences are. For example, the 1363 statute to the Clothing Law of 1337 states that wives of yeomen and handicraftsmen may not wear any veil or kerchief made of silk...the higher-status groups, however, are allowed to wear whatever imported items they want. This clearly states the understood division between the rich and poor during this era, and the importance of keeping the classes defined as separate entities. There were rules for every item of clothing; lower-class women were banned from wearing expensive veils. Only wives and daughters of wealthy men could wear velvet or satin. There was an unfair discontinuity in the rules; lower class citizens could never wear an item designated for the upper class, whereas the upper class could wear anything that suited them. For example, wives and daughters of servants were not to wear veils that cost more than twelve cents.

The most common material used was wool, with the wool ranging in texture and quality based on the type of sheep it came from. The quality could range from the very coarse and undyed for the lower class to extremely fine with designs and colour for the upper class. Linen and hemp were other fabrics used, and were utilized often by the lower classes as undergarments and head coverings. Also, silk was a popular material used by the wealthy and was imported from Asia. After the crusades, fabrics such as damasks, velvets, and satin were brought back to England, as was samite. Animal skins were also used such as "sheep-skin cloaks... in winter to keep out the cold and rain". Leather was used to produce items such as shoes, belts, gloves and armor.

The middle class could usually afford to dye their wool colours like blue and green. The wealthy could afford to add elaborate designs to their clothing as well as dying it red and black, expensive colours for the time. Purple was also considered a colour of royalty and was reserved for kings or religious figures such as the pope.

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Alchin, L. K. (2008-11-16). "Medieval Fashion". The Middle Ages Website.

Alchin, L.K. (2008-11-16). "Medieval Women's Clothing". The Middle Ages Website.

Cunnington, C. Willett; Cunnington, Phillis (1969). Handbook of English Medieval Costume. Plays Inc.

Hartman, Rachel (2001-10-22). "Sometimes a Codpiece is Just a Codpiece: The Meanings of Medieval Clothes". Strange Horizons.

Hell, Kyshah. "Status Through Fashion in the Middle Ages". Morbid Outlook.

Hooper, Wilfrid (1915). "The Tudor Sumptuary Laws". The English Historical Review. 30: 433-449. doi:10.1093/ehr/xxx.cxix.433.

"Medieval Fashion". Medieval Spell.

"Medieval Women's Fashion". Archived from the original on 2009-04-07.

Piponnier, Francoise; Mane, Perrine (1997). Dress in the Middle Ages. Yale University Press.

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The Medieval period in England is usually classified as the time between the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance, roughly the years AD 410-1485. For various peoples living in England, the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Danes, Normans and Britons, clothing in the medieval era differed widely for men and women as well as for different classes in the social hierarchy.

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Getting Dressed in the 14th Century - Ploughman

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Soap and washing: Did they have soap in medieval times?

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Make your own cosmetics without chemicals (inspired by Middle Ages?)

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Make your own cosmetics without chemicals (inspired by Middle Ages?)

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In one class, student Jennifer Stark made cosmetics in our class together.

For more information on simple DIY recipes for skin care, hair care, and natural cosmetics, please visit Jennifer Stark's ladystarksnaturals.wordpress.com.

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Make Your Own Cosmetics Without Chemicals

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In one class, student Jennifer Stark made cosmetics in our class together. For more information on simple DIY recipes for skin care, hair care, and natural cosmetics, please visit Jennifer Stark's ladystarksnaturals.wordpress.com.

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1300-1400 in European fashion - Wikipedia

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Fashion in fourteenth-century Europe was marked by the beginning of a period of experimentation with different forms of clothing. Costume historian James Laver suggests that the mid-14th century marks the emergence of recognizable " fashion" in clothing, in which Fernand Braudel concurs.

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Medieval Clothing_ Making a Statement in the Middle Ages

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Medieval Clothing through the Centuries

In medieval times, as today, both fashion and necessity dictated what people wore. And both fashion and necessity, in addition to cultural tradition and available materials, varied across the centuries of the Middle Ages as well as across the miles of Europe. After all, no one would expect the clothes of an 8th-century Viking to bear any resemblance to those of a 15th-century Venetian.

So when you ask the question "What did a man (or woman) wear in the Middle Ages?" be prepared to answer some questions yourself. Where did he live? When did he live? What was his station in life (noble, peasant, merchant, cleric)? And for what purpose might he be wearing a particular suit of clothes?

* More about Regional and Period Medieval Clothing

Types of Materials used in Medieval Clothing

The many types of synthetic and blended fabrics people wear today were simply not available in medieval times. But this didn't mean that everyone wore heavy wool, burlap, and animal skins. Different textiles were manufactured in a range of weights and could vary greatly in quality. The more finely woven a textile was, the softer and more costly it would be.

Materials available for use in medieval clothing included:

Various fabrics, such as taffeta, velvet, and damask, were made from textiles like silk, cotton and linen using specific weaving techniques. These were not generally available in the earlier Middle Ages, and were among the more expensive fabrics for the extra time and care it took to make them.

Colors Found in Medieval Clothing

Dyes came from rather a lot of different sources, some of them far more expensive than others.

Still, even the humble peasant could have colorful clothing. Using plants, roots, lichen, tree bark, nuts, crushed insects, mollusks and iron oxide, virtually every color of the rainbow could be achieved. However, adding color was an extra step in the manufacturing process that raised its price, so clothing made from undyed fabric in various shades of beige and off-white was not uncommon among the poorest folk.

A dyed fabric would fade fairly quickly if it wasn't mixed with a mordant, and bolder shades required either longer dyeing times or more expensive dyes. Thus, fabrics of the brightest and richest colors cost more and were, therefore most often found on nobility and the very rich. One natural dye that did not require a mordant was a flowering plant that yielded a dark blue dye. Woad was used so extensively in both professional and home dyeing that it became known as "Dyer's Woad," and garments of a variety of blue shades could be found on people of virtually every level of society.

Garments Worn under Medieval Clothing

Throughout much of the Middle Ages and in most societies, the undergarments worn by both men and women didn't substantially change.

Basically, they consisted of a shirt or under-tunic, stockings or hose, and, for men at least, some kind of underpants or breeches. There is no evidence that women regularly wore underpants, but with a matter of such delicacy that the garments became known as "unmentionables," this isn't surprising. Women may have worn underpants, depending on their resources, the nature of their outer garments and their personal preferences.

* More about Medieval Underwear

Medieval Hats, Caps, and Head Coverings

Virtually everyone wore something on their heads in the Middle Ages, to keep off the sun in hot weather, to keep their heads warm in cold weather, and to keep dirt out of their hair. Of course, as with every other type of garment, hats could indicate a person's job or station in life and could make a fashion statement.

But hats were especially important, and to knock someone's hat off his or her head was a grave insult that, depending on the circumstances, could even be considered assault.

Types of men's hats included wide-brimmed straw hats, close-fitting coifs of linen or hemp that tied under the chin like a bonnet, and a wide variety of felt, cloth or knitted caps. Women wore v eils and wimples; among the fashion-conscious nobility of the High Middle Ages, some fairly complex hats and head rolls for men and for women were in vogue.

Both men and women wore hoods, often attached to capes or jackets but sometimes standing alone. Some of the more complicated men's hats were actually hoods with a long strip of fabric in the back that could be wound around the head. A common accouterment for men of the working classes was a hood attached to a short cape that covered just the shoulders.

Medieval Nightwear

You may have heard that in the Middle Ages, "everyone slept naked." Like most generalizations, this can't be perfectly accurate -- and in cold weather, it was so unlikely as to be painfully ridiculous.

Illuminations, woodcuts, and other period artwork illustrate medieval people in bed in different attire; some are unclothed, but just as many are wearing simple gowns or shirts, some with sleeves. Though we have virtually no documentation regarding what people wore to bed, from these images we can glean that those who wore night dress could have been clad in an under-tunic -- possibly the same one they'd worn during the day -- or even in a lightweight (or, for colder weather, ultra-warm) gown made especially for sleeping, depending on their financial status.

As today, what people wore to bed depended on their resources, the climate, family custom and their own personal preferences.
Continued on page two.
Sumptuary Laws

Clothing was the quickest and easiest way to identify someone's status and station in life. The monk in his cassock, the servant in his livery, the peasant in his simple tunic were all instantly recognizable, as was the knight in armor or the lady in her fine gown. Whenever members of the lower strata of society blurred the lines of social distinction by wearing clothing ordinarily found only among the upper classes, people found it unsettling, and some saw it as downright offensive.

Throughout the medieval era, but especially in the later Middle Ages, laws were passed to regulate what could and could not be worn by members of different social classes. These laws, known as sumptuary laws, not only attempted to maintain the separation of the classes, they also addressed excessive expenditures on all sorts of items. The clergy and more pious secular leaders had concerns about the conspicuous consumption the nobility was prone to, and sumptuary laws were an attempt to reign in what some found to be distastefully ostentatious displays of wealth.

Although there are known cases of prosecution under sumptuary laws, they seldom worked. It was difficult to police everyone's purchases, and since the punishment for breaking the law was usually a fine, the very rich could still acquire whatever they pleased and pay the fine with hardly a second thought. Still, the passage of sumptuary laws persisted through the Middle Ages.

* More about Sumptuary Laws

The Evidence

There are exceedingly few garments surviving from the Middle Ages. The exceptions are the apparel found with the bog bodies, most of whom died before the medieval period, and a handful of rare and costly items preserved through extraordinary good fortune. Textiles simply cannot withstand the elements, and unless they are buried with metal, they will deteriorate in the grave without a trace.

How, then, do we really know what people wore?

Traditionally, costumers and historians of material culture have turned to period artwork. Statues, paintings, illuminated manuscripts, tomb effigies -- even the extraordinary Bayeux Tapestry -- all depict contemporaries in medieval dress. But great care must be taken when evaluating these representations. Often "contemporary" for the artist was a generation or two too late for the subject.

Sometimes there was no attempt at all to represent a historical figure in clothing appropriate to the figure's time period. And unfortunately, most of the picture books and magazine series produced in the 19th century, from which a large percentage of modern histories are drawn, are based on misleading period artwork. Many of them further mislead with inappropriate colors and the casual addition of anachronistic garments.

Matters are further complicated by the fact that terminology is not consistent from one source to the next. There are no period documentary sources fully describing garments and providing their names. The historian must pick up these bits of scattered data from a wide range of sources -- wills, account books, letters -- and interpret exactly what is meant by each item mentioned.

There is nothing straightforward about medieval clothing history.

The truth is, the study of medieval clothing is in its infancy. With any luck, future historians will break open the treasure trove of facts about medieval clothing and share its riches with the rest of us. Until then, we amateurs and non-specialists must take our best guess based on what little we've learned.

Sources and Suggested Reading

Piponnier, Francoise, and Perrine Mane, Dress in the Middle Ages. Yale University Press, 1997, 167 pp.

Köhler, Carl, A History of Costume. George G. Harrap and Company, Limited, 1928; reprinted by Dover; 464 pp.

Norris, Herbert, Medieval Costume and Fashion. J.M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., London, 1927; reprinted by Dover; 485 pp.

Houston, Mary G., Medieval Costume in England and France: The 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries.

Adam and Charles Black, London, 1939; reprinted by Dover; 226 pp.

Netherton, Robin, and Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Medieval Clothing and Textiles. Boydell Press, 2007, 221 pp.

Jenkins, D.T., editor, The Cambridge History of Western Textiles , vols. I and II. Cambridge University Press, 2003, 1191 pp.

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Medieval Clothing - What People Wore in the Middle Ages

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In medieval times, as today, both fashion and necessity dictated what people wore. And both fashion and necessity, in addition to cultural tradition and available materials, varied across the centuries of the Middle Ages as well as across the miles of Europe.

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Kharbine-Tapabor-REX/Shutterstock.com

Among the first comic entertainers, jesters, also called court fools, were kept in the households of kings and other people of high social rank to amuse their patrons and their families and guests with their wit and humorous antics. Jesters often appeared insane or simpleminded, and these characteristics, real or pretended, gave them the right to abuse and poke fun at even the most esteemed members of their audiences. Often deformed, dwarfed, or crippled, fools also may have been kept for luck in the belief that deformity could counter any ill fortune wished on a household and that by ridiculing and abusing others, fools could transfer bad luck from those abused onto themselves.

Professional fools flourished from the days of the Egyptian pharaohs until well into the 1700s, finding a place in societies as diverse as that of the Aztecs of Mexico and the courts of medieval Europe. The earliest record of the use of court fools dates from the 5th dynasty of Egypt (about 2465 bc to about 2325 bc), whose pharaohs attached great value to Pygmies brought from southern Africa, apparently employing them as dancers and buffoons. Fools were a part of many wealthy households of imperial Rome, in which the mentally retarded and the physically deformed fetched high prices in the slave markets. Fool figures also played a part in the religious rituals of ancient India and pre-Christian Europe. In some societies, such as that of Ireland in the 7th-century bc, fools were regarded as being inspired with poetic and prophetic powers. Jesters became prominent in Europe in the Middle Ages and were known by their brightly colored costume with bells.

References to household fools appear increasingly in historical records from the 1100s through the 1400s. Fools were attached to courts, private households, taverns, and even brothels. In the 1700s, household jesters declined in popularity in Western Europe but flourished in Russia. There, courtiers who offended the emperor or other royal favorites were sometimes degraded to court jesters.

Some scholars have suggested that the mockery of fools and their frequent association in public rituals and festivals with a make-believe king suggest that they may have originated as sacrificial substitutes for royal victims. These scholars have noted the resemblance between the sacrificial garments of victims in some ancient European religious rituals and the costume of a household jester in the Middle Ages, which included a coxcomb (jagged strip of red fabric worn in a cap), hood with ears, bells, and bauble, with a motley (multicolored) coat.

The figure of the fool appears frequently in literature and drama. English playwright William Shakespeare produced some of the best-known fools in literature: Touchstone in As You Like It, Feste in Twelfth Night, and the fool in King Lear. Shakespeare may have been influenced by Robert Armin, the clown-player in his dramatic company, who was interested in household fools and published a historical account of them in 1605.

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Among the first comic entertainers, jesters, also called court fools, were kept in the households of kings and other people of high social rank to amuse their patrons and their families and guests with their wit and humorous antics.

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When we imagine a medieval or Tudor feast, we might picture a jester, the wise fool, running among the guests juggling or telling bawdy jokes while minstrels strum their lutes. But in the 11th and 12th centuries, the title 'minstrel', meaning 'little servant', was the name given to a wide range of entertainers, including singers, musicians, jugglers, tumblers, magicians as well as joculators or jesters. Both men and women were employed as minstrels and there is a record of a joculatrix called Adeline owning land in Hampshire in 1086.

In the 12th century, the title of follus or 'fool' began to be mentioned in documents, often when these jesters had been rewarded with land as payment for loyal service. A fool named Roland le Pettour was given 30 acres of land by King Henry II, probably when he retired, on condition that Roland returned to the royal court every year on Christmas Day to "leap, whistle and fart".

But noblemen and even kings did not throw daily banquets and besides, listening to the same fool or joculator every night of the year would have become tedious, so medieval jesters only performed occasionally. The rest of the year, they were expected to carry out other duties in the household, such as being keeper of the hounds, or travelling to markets to buy the livestock to feed the family, their servants and their men-at-arms.

A fool's life

Both King Edward II and Edward III had a succession of fools and called them all 'Robert' regardless of their real names. However, by the 13th century, some talented jesters were beginning to achieve superstar status. Those who were lucky enough to be employed by royalty were provided with their own horse and servants. Tom le Fol - Tom the Fool - performed at the marriage feast of Edward I's daughter Elizabeth and was given a fee of 50 shillings; this was a fortune, since a skilled thatcher could expect to earn only 2½ pence a day and you could buy a goose for 1½ pence.

Of course, most fools weren't lucky enough to come to the attention of the king. One traveller complained that no one gave him rabbit-trimmed robes or costly gifts, because he couldn't play instruments, tell jokes and stories, juggle, dance, or fart a tune - which suggests that jesters were required to be multi-talented.

But being selected as the personal jester of a medieval king or nobleman came with a serious health warning; jesters were often required to go to the battlefield with their masters to carry messages between the leaders of warring armies, demanding that a city surrender to a besieging army or delivering terms for the release of hostages. Unfortunately for the jesters, the enemy did sometimes 'kill the messenger' as an act of defiance (especially if they regarded the terms being offered as an insult) and some used a catapult or trebuchet to hurl the unfortunate messenger (or his severed head) back into his own camp as a graphic illustration of what they thought of the message.

Jesters also had a vital role to play in the battle themselves. In the early Middle Ages their job was to wage psychological warfare, boosting their army's morale the night before with songs and stories. When the two armies took up their opposing positions in preparation for battle, the jesters would cavort up and down on foot or horseback between them, calming the nerves of their own men by making them laugh at jokes, singing bawdy or insulting songs and calling out mocking abuse to their enemies in order to hearten their own soldiers and demoralise the opposition, rather like modern football supporters before a match. Some even juggled swords or lances in front of the enemy, taunting and baiting them until those with a hottest tempers broke ranks and charged prematurely to avenge the insult and kill the fool, which would weaken their defensive position.

Three types of 'fool'

As the Middle Ages progressed, three types of fool evolved. The professional fool employed by a nobleman was usually very astute, educated and generally wore normal clothes, like their masters, rather than the classic fool's costume.

But wealthy or noble families also adopted men and women who had mental illnesses or physical deformities, keeping them almost as pets for their amusement or as an act of 'Christian charity'. Often referred to as 'innocent fools' and also given titles such as 'the Queen's fool' or 'Lord X's fool', they were not paid, just provided with food, clothes and a place to sleep on the floor. If the noble family decided these poor fools no longer amused them, they were sometimes provided with a pension in the form of regular alms, though sadly many ended their days as beggars.

The third class of fools were the members of the 'Fool Societies' particularly popular in France. These were groups of amateurs who performed at Christmas or at fairs and festivals. They were generally the ones to don the classic jester's costume of a hood with ears and multi-coloured tunics, and tie bells to their shoes or clothes. They would dance and prance through the streets, some even carrying their infants on their backs.

By the Elizabethan period, jesters were beginning to move away from performing in houses to becoming comic actors on the stage and by the 17th century, it was becoming quite dangerous to have a royal patron, as Jeffrey Hudson was to discover. Jeffrey was a talented 'dwarf jester' who was encountered by Charles I when the jester jumped out from under a pie crust. Jeffrey travelled with Queen Henrietta Maria when she fled to Holland and returned with her to England to fight on horseback for the royalists during the Civil War. In spite of his size, he was skilled horseman and solider. Ever loyal to the crown, he helped to get the queen back to safety in France. However, a few months later, the brother of Lord Croft who was captain of the Queen's guard insulted Jeffrey over his height. The dwarf challenged him to a duel and shot him dead. The queen had no choice but to banish Jeffrey. On his voyage of exile, he was captured and sold into slavery. Bizarrely on his eventual return to England (if it was the same man), he was found to have gained a foot in height and in a further twist in 1679, he was accused of conspiracy in a 'papist plot'. He was finally released from prison in 1682 aged 63, dying shortly afterwards.

'Maggoty' Johnson

One of the last professional jesters was Samuel Johnson, known as 'Maggoty' because of his pockmarked face. Born in 1691, he danced, told jokes, acted and frolicked in most of the wealthy houses in England. His patron, the Duke of Montague, helped Maggoty to put on a play in London which Maggoty had written, casting himself in the lead role of Lord Flame. By all accounts the play was dire, but nevertheless was staged more than 30 times at the Haymarket Theatre. Maggoty believed he was an excellent singer, but usually performed with his facing away from the audience as he pulled such bizarre expressions when singing people would laugh - or at least he believed that was cause of their giggling.

When he died at the age of 82, he was initially buried in the churchyard, though his friends had him removed as he had requested, and reburied in woods (now known as Maggoty Wood, near Gawsworth, Cheshire) in an empty tomb he had originally designed for his much-loved female servant in her favourite woodland spot. He had asked not to be left in the churchyard, because he particularly disliked a quarrelsome old woman who was buried there, and joked that on the 'day of resurrection' she would pick a fight over his leg bones, claiming them to be hers.

You can still visit his tomb in Maggoty Wood today. The woods are owned by the National Trust, which has erected boards on which you can read both the original 1773 inscription on his tomb praising Mr Johnson's many talents and telling the tale of the leg bone, together with a rather nastier inscription which was written in 1851 in rhyming couplets and begins: "If chance has brought thee here, or curious eyes / To see the spot where this poor jester lies / A thoughtless jester even in his death / Uttering his jibes beyond his latest breath." The poem contains a stern Victorian warning to those who spend their lives playing the fool: the days of the court jester were well and truly over.
Karen Maitland is the author of The Plague Charmer (Headline Review 2016) This article was first published by History Extra in March 2017.

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When we imagine a medieval or Tudor feast, we might picture a jester, the wise fool, running among the guests juggling or telling bawdy jokes while minstrels strum their lutes. But in the 11th and 12th centuries, the title 'minstrel', meaning 'little servant', was the name given to a wide range of entertainers, including singers, musicians, jugglers, tumblers, magicians as well as joculators or jesters.

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The Middle Ages: A Medieval Knight's Clothing

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The Crusades - Pilgrimage or Holy War?: Crash Course World History #15

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This playlist features every episode of Modern History: The Knight, including Jason’s bonus vlogs. Follow all of Jason’s investigations into what it must hav...

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Peasant homes were small, often just made up of one room. A peasant's hut was made of and , with a roof but no windows. Inside the hut, a third of the area was penned off for the animals, which lived in the hut with the family. A fire burned in a hearth in the centre of the hut, so the air was permanently eye-wateringly smoky. Furniture was maybe a couple of stools, a trunk for bedding, and a few cooking pots.

Women in peasant families learnt to spin wool from an early age, using wooden wheels to make clothes.

Children spent most of their time helping their parents with day-to-day activities. Rather than going to school, they worked on jobs in the house, looked after animals and helped grow food.

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Find out what life like in medieval society with BBC Bitesize History. For students between the ages of 11 and 14.

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Covers Peasants, Nobles, Houses, Clothes...

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Covers Peasants, Nobles, Houses, Clothes...