This costume history information consists of Pages
152-160 of the chapter on early 15th century dress in the 14 year reign of
Henry The Fourth 1399-1413 and taken from English Costume by Dion Clayton Calthrop.
The 36 page section consists of a text copy of the book ENGLISH
COSTUME PAINTED & DESCRIBED BY DION CLAYTON CALTHROP. Visuals,
drawings and painted fashion plates in the book have a charm of their own and are
shown amid the text. The book covers both male and female dress history of
over 700 years spanning the era 1066-1830.
This page is about dress in
the reign of King Henry The Fourth 1399-1413. The images and
details are a good resource for costuming Shakespeare's stage plays of
the Plantagenet era.
For the Introduction to this book see this
introduction written by Dion Clayton Calthrop. I have adjusted
the images so they can be used for colouring
worksheets where pupils add some costume/society facts. My comments are in italics.
HENRY THE FOURTH
Reigned fourteen years: 1399-1413.
Born 1366. Married, 1380, Mary de Bohun; 1403, Joan of Navarre.
The reign opens sombrely enough - Richard in prison, and twenty-five suits
of cloth of gold left, among other of his butterfly raiment, in
Haverford Castle.
We are still in the age of the houppelande, the time of cut edges,
jagging, big sleeves and trailing gowns. Our fine gentlemen take the air
in the long loose gown, or the short edition of the same with the skirts
cut from it. They have invented, or the tailor has invented, or
necessity has contrived, a new sleeve. It is a bag sleeve, very full and
fine, enormous at the elbow, tight at the wrist, where it may fall over
the hand in a wide cuff with dagged edges, or it may end in a plain
band.
Let us take six gentlemen met together to learn the old
thirteenth-century part-song, the round entitled 'Sumer is icumen in.'
The first, maybe, is in the high-collared houppelande with the long
skirts; his sleeves are of a different colour to his gown, and are
fastened to it under cut epaulettes at his shoulders; he wears a baldrick, hung with bells, over his shoulder; his houppelande is split
on one side to show his parti-coloured hose beyond his knee; his shoes
are long and very pointed; his hair is cut short, and he wears a twisted
roll of stuff round his head.
The second is in the latest mode; he wears the voluminous sleeves
which end in a plain band at his wrist, and these sleeves are of a
different colour to his houppelande, the skirts of which are cut short
at the knee, and then are cut into neat dags. This garment is not so
full as that of the first gentleman, which is gathered in at the waist
by a long-tongued belt, but is buttoned down the front to the waist and
is full in the skirt; also it has no collar. This man wears his hair
long and curled at the nape of his neck.
A third of these gentlemen, a big burly man, is in a very short tunic
with wide sleeves; his tights are of two colours, his left leg red, his
right blue. Over his tunic he wears a quilted waistcoat, the collar and
armholes of which are trimmed with fur.
A fourth wears a loose houppelande, one half of which is blue and the
other half black; it is buttoned from throat to foot; the sleeves
are wide. His hair is long, and his beard is brushed into two points.
The fifth gentleman wears a houppelande of middle length, with a very
high collar buttoned up the neck, the two top buttons being undone; the
top of the collar rolls over. He has the epaulette, but instead of
showing the very full bag sleeves he shows a little loose sleeve to the
elbow, and a tight sleeve from the elbow to the hand, where it forms a
cuff. He wears a very new-fashioned cap like a stiff sugar-bag, with the
top lopping over.
The sixth and last of this group is wearing an unbound
houppelande - that is, he wears no belt. He wears a plain hood which is
over his head, and a soft, loose, peaked hat.
»
'Sumer is icumen in,' the six sing out, and the shepherd, who can
hear them from outside, is considering whether he can play the air upon
his pipe. He is dressed in a loose tunic, a hood, and a wide-brimmed
straw hat; his pipe is stuck in his belt.
More Male Fashions -
Houppelandes & Headwear
The Women - The Wives
Let us suppose that the wives of the six gentlemen are seated listening
to the manly voices of their lords.
The first wears a dress of blue, which is laced from the opening to the
waist, where the laces are tied in a neat bow and hang down. Her dress
is cut fairly low; it has tight sleeves which come over her hands to the
knuckles in tight cuffs. There is a wide border, about a foot and a
half, of ermine on the skirt of her dress. She wears a mantle over her
shoulders. Her hair is enclosed in a stiff square caul of gold wire over
cloth of gold.
The second lady is wearing a houppelande with wide, hanging sleeves
all cut at the edge; the cut of this gown is loose, except that it fits
across her shoulders; she also wears a caul, from the back of which
emerges a linen wimple.
The third lady is in surcoat and cotehardie; the surcoat has a
pleated skirt, and the borders of it are edged thickly with fur; it is
cut low enough at the sides to show a belt over the hips. The cotehardie, of a different colour to the surcoat, has tight sleeves with
buttons from elbow to little finger. This lady has her hair cut short at
the nape of her neck, and bound about the brows with a golden circlet.
A fourth wears a very loose houppelande, encircled about the waist
with a broad belt, the tongue of which hangs down and has an ornamented
end. This houppelande falls in great folds from the neck to the feet,
and is gathered into the neck; it has loose, but not wide, sleeves,
falling just below the elbow. The gown is worn over a cotehardie,
the sleeves of which show through the other sleeves, and the skirt of
which shows when the gown skirt is gathered up.
The fifth lady also wears a cotehardie with a skirt to it; she wears
over it a circular mantle, buttoned by three buttons on the right
shoulder, and split from there to the edge on both sides, showing the
dress; the front semicircle of the cloak is held to the waist by a belt
so that the back hangs loose. Her hair is in a caul.
The sixth is in a very plain dress, tight-fitting, buttoned in front,
with full skirts. She wears a white linen hood which shows the shape of
the caul in which her hair is imprisoned.
So is this queer old round sung, 'Sumer is icumen in.'
The Witch
Afterwards, perhaps one of these ladies, wishing to get some spite
against one of the gentlemen, will ride away in a heavy riding-cloak,
the hood over her head and a peaked hat on that, and she will call upon
a witch. The witch will answer the rapping at her humble door, and will
come out, dressed in a country dress - just an ill-fitting gown and
hood, with some attempt at classical ornament on the gown, or a cloak
sewn with the sacred initials thrown over her back.
These two will
bargain awhile for the price of a leaden image to be made in the
likeness of the ill-fated gentleman, or, rather, a rough figure, on
which his name will be scratched; then the puppet will be cast into the
fire and melted while certain evil charms are spoken, and the malicious
accident required to befall him will be spoken aloud for the Devil's
private ear.
Possibly some woman sought a witch near Evesham in the year
1410, and bought certain intentions against a tailor of that place, Badby by name; for this much is certain: that the tailor was burnt for
Lollardy ten years after the first victim for Lollard heresy, William
Sawtre.
HENRY THE FOURTH
Reigned fourteen years: 1399-1413.
Born 1366. Married, 1380, Mary de Bohun; 1403, Joan of Navarre.
This costume history information consists of Pages
152-160 of the chapter on early 15th century dress in the 14 year reign of
Henry The Fourth 1399-1413 and taken from English Costume by Dion Clayton Calthrop.
The 36 page section consists of a text copy of the book ENGLISH
COSTUME PAINTED & DESCRIBED BY DION CLAYTON CALTHROP. Visuals,
drawings and painted fashion plates in the book have a charm of their own and are
shown amid the text. The book covers both male and female dress history of
over 700 years spanning the era 1066-1830.
This page is about dress in
the reign of King Henry The Fourth 1399-1413, The images and
details are a good resource for costuming Shakespearean stage plays of
the Plantagenet era.
For the Introduction to this book see this
introduction written by Dion Clayton Calthrop. I have adjusted
the images so they are mostly 400 pixels high and can be used for colouring
worksheets where pupils add some costume/society facts. My comments are in italics.
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This costume history information consists of Pages
152-160 of the chapter on early 15th century dress in the 14 year reign of
Henry The Fourth 1399-1413 and taken from English Costume by Dion Clayton Calthrop.
The first, maybe, is in the high-collared houppelande with the long
skirts; his sleeves are of a different colour to his gown, and are
fastened to it under cut epaulettes at his shoulders; he wears a baldrick, hung with bells, over his shoulder; his houppelande is split
on one side to show his parti-coloured hose beyond his knee; his shoes
are long and very pointed; his hair is cut short, and he wears a twisted
roll of stuff round his head.
A third of these gentlemen, a big burly man, is in a very short tunic
with wide sleeves; his tights are of two colours, his left leg red, his
right blue. Over his tunic he wears a quilted waistcoat, the collar and
armholes of which are trimmed with fur.
The sixth is in a very plain dress, tight-fitting, buttoned in front,
with full skirts. She wears a white linen hood which shows the shape of
the caul in which her hair is imprisoned.
