This
Tudor costume history information consists of Pages
223-247 of the chapter on the late 15th and early 16th century dress in the 24 YEAR REIGN era of
Henry the Seventh 1485-1509 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 early Tudor dress in
the reign of King Henry the Seventh 1485-1509.
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.
KING HENRY THE SEVENTH -
Reigned 24 years: 1485-1509.
Born, 1456. Married, 1486, Elizabeth of York.
THE MEN
Everyone has felt that curious faint aroma, that sensation of
lifting, which proclaims the first day of Spring and the burial of
Winter. Although nothing tangible has taken place, there is in the
atmosphere a full-charged suggestion of promise, of green-sickness;
there is a quickening of the pulse, a thrumming of the heart, and many
an eager, quick glance around for the first buds of the new order of
things.
England's winter was buried on Bosworth Field: England's spring,
as if by magic, commenced with Henry's entry into London.
The first picture of the reign shows the mayor, the sheriffs, and the
aldermen, clothed in violet, waiting at Shoreditch for the coming of the
victor. The same day shows Henry in St. Paul's, hearing a Te Deum; in
the Cathedral church, packed to its limit, three new banners waved, one
bearing a figure of St. George, another a dragon of red on white and
green sarcenet, and the third showed a dun cow on yellow tarterne.
Spring, of course, does not, except in a poetic sense, burst forth in a
day, there are long months of preparation, hints, signs in the air, new
notes from the throats of birds.
The springtime of a country takes more than the preparation of months.
Nine years before Henry came to the throne Caxton was learning to print
in the little room of Collard Mansion - he was to print his 'Facts of
Arms,' joyous tales and pleasant histories of chivalry, by especial
desire of Henry himself.
Later still, towards the end of the reign, the first book of travel in
the West began to go from hand to hand - it was written by Amerigo
Vespucci, cousin to La Bella Simonetta.
Great thoughts were abroad, new ideas were constantly under discussion,
the Arts rose to the occasion and put forth flowers of beauty on many
stems long supposed to be dead or dormant and incapable of improvement.
It was the great age of individual English expression in every form but
that of literature and painting, both these arts being but in their
cradles; Chaucer and Gower and Langland had written, but they lay in
their graves long before new great minds arose.
The Fashions of 1485
The clouds of the Middle Ages were dispersed, and the sun shone.
The costume was at once dignified and magnificent - not that one can call
the little coats great ideals of dignity, but even they, by their
richness and by the splendour of the persons they adorned, come into the
category.
The long gowns of both men and women were rich beyond words in colour,
texture, and design, they were imposing, exact, and gorgeous. Upon a
fine day the streets must have glittered when a gentleman or lady passed
by.
The fashions of the time have survived for us in the Court cards:
take the jacks, knaves, valets - call them as you will, and you will see
the costume of this reign but slightly modified into a design, the cards
of to-day and the cards of that day are almost identical. Some years ago
the modification was less noticeable; I can remember playing Pope Joan
with cards printed with full-length figures, just as the illustrations
to 'Alice in Wonderland' are drawn.
In the knave you will see the
peculiar square hat which came in at this time, and the petti-cote, the
long coat, the big sleeve, and the broad-toed shoes.
Hair and Headwear 1485
You will see the
long hair, undressed and flowing over the shoulders (the professional
classes, as the lawyer, cut their hair close, so also did the peasant).
Over this flowing hair a dandy would wear a little cap with a narrow,
rolled-up brim, and over this, on occasions, an enormous hat of felt,
ornamented with a prodigious quantity of feathers.
There was, indeed, quite a choice of hats: the berretino - a square hat
pinched in at the corners; many round hats, some with a high, tight
brim, some with the least brim possible; into these brims, or into
a band round the hat, one might stick feathers or pin a brooch.
Early Tudor Era Coats
What a choice of coats the gentlemen had, and still might be in the
fashion
The Dressing Gown Coat Fashion
Most common among these was the long coat like a dressing-gown,
hanging upon the ground all round, with a wide collar, square behind,
and turning back in the front down to the waist - this was the general
shape of the collar, and you may vary it on this idea in every way: turn
it back and show the stuff to the feet, close it up nearly to the neck,
cut it off completely.
»
The Wide Sleeves
Now for the sleeves of such a coat. I have shown in the illustrations
many varieties, the most common was the wide sleeve, narrow at the
shoulder, and hanging over the hand in folds.
The slashes, which show the white shirt, are usual, and
of every order.
The Shirt
The
shirt itself was often ornamented with fine gathers and fancy stitching,
and was gathered about the neck by a ribbon. As the years went on it is
easy to see that the shirt was worn nearer to the neck, the
gathers became higher and higher, became more ornamented, and finally
rose, in all extravagant finery, to behind the ears - and we have the
Elizabethan ruff.
Waistcoat Or Stomacher
Next to the shirt a waistcoat, or stomacher, of the most gorgeous
patterned stuff, laced across the breast sometimes, more often fastened
behind. This reached to the waist where it met long hose of every scheme
of colour - striped, dotted, divided in bands - everything - displaying the
indelicate but universal pouch in front, tied with coloured ribbons.
On the feet, shoes of all materials, from cloth and velvet to leather
beautifully worked, and of the most absurd length; these also were
slashed with puffs of white stuff. Many of these shoes were but a sole
and a toe, and were tied on by thongs passing through the sole.
Of course the long coat would not alone satisfy the dandy, but he must
needs cut it off into a short jacket, or petti-cote, and leave it open
to better display his marvellous vest. Here we have the origin of the
use of the word 'petticoat' - now wrongly applied; in Scotland, to this
day, a woman's skirts are called her 'coats.'
About the waists of these coats was a short sash, or a girdle,
from which hung a very elaborate purse, or a dagger.
Stick in hand, jewel in your hat, dandy - extravagant, exquisite dandy!
All ages know you, from the day you choose your covering of leaves with
care, to the hour of your white duck motoring-suit: a very bird of a
man, rejoicing in your plumage, a very human ass, a very narrow
individual, you stride, strut, simper through the story of the universe,
a perfect monument of the Fall of Man, a gorgeous symbol of the decay of
manhood.
A Man's Hairstyle
In this our Henry's reign, your hair busheth pleasantly, and is
kembed prettily over the ear, where it glimmers as gold i' the sun -
pretty fellow - Lord! how your feathered bonnet becomes you, and
your satin stomacher is brave over a padded chest.
Your white hands, freed
from any nasty brawls and clean of any form of work, lie in their
embroidered gloves. Your pride forbids the carriage of a sword, which is
borne behind you - much use may it be! - by a mincing fellow in your dainty
livery.
And if - oh, rare disguise! - your coiffure hides a noble brow, or
your little, neat-rimmed coif a clever head, less honour be to you
who dress your limbs to imitate the peacock, and hide your mind beneath
the weight of scented clothes.
In the illustrations to this chapter and the next, my drawings are
collected and redrawn in my scheme from works so beautiful and highly
finished that every student should go to see them for himself at the
British Museum.
My drawings, I hope, make it quite clear what was worn
in the end of the fifteenth century and the first nine years of the
sixteenth, and anyone with a slight knowledge of pictures will be able
to supply themselves with a large amount of extra matter. I would
recommend MS. Roy 16, F. 2; MS. Roy 19, C. 8; and especially Harleian
MS. 4425.
Of the lower classes, also, these books show quite a number. There are
beggars and peasants, whose dress was simply old-fashioned and very
plain; they wore the broad shoes and leather belts and short coats,
worsted hose, and cloaks of fair cloth. 'Poverty,' the old woman with
the spoon in her hat, is a good example of the poor of the time.
This costume plate shows the long coat fashion and made up in
lavish material or as it was known 'good stuff'. The
chaperon,
described in earlier chapters was still worn by Garter Knights at
times. other official, legal, civic, and college persons also wore it as
their hat of choice.
When one knows the wealth of material of the time, and has seen the
wonder of the stuffs, one knows that within certain lines
imagination may have full scope.
Stuffs of silk, embroidered with
coupled birds and branches, and flowers following out a prescribed line,
the embroideries edged and sewn with gold thread; velvet on velvet,
short-napped fustian, damasked stuffs and diapered stuffs - what pictures
on canvas, or on the stage, may be made; what marvels of colour walked
about the streets in those days!
It was to the eye an age of elaborate
patterns - mostly large - and all this broken colour and glitter of gold
thread must have made the streets gay indeed.
Huntsmen At Corfe Castle
Imagine, shall we say, Corfe Castle on a day when a party of ladies
and gentlemen assembled to 'course a stagge,' when the huntsmen, in
green, gathered in the outer ward, and the grooms, in fine coloured
liveries, held the gaily-decked horses; then, from the walls lined with
archers, would come the blast of the horn, and out would walk my lord
and my lady, with knights, and squires, and ladies, and gallants, over
the bridge across the castle ditch, between the round towers.
Behind them the dungeon tower, and the great gray mass of the keep - all a
fitting and impressive background to their bravery.
The gentlemen, in long coats of all wonderful colours and devices, with
little hats, jewelled and feathered, with boots to the knee of soft
leather, turned back in colours at the top; on their left hands the
thick hawking glove on which, jessed and hooded, sits the hawk - for some
who will not go with the hounds will fly the hawk on the Isle of
Purbeck.
Merchants, Beggars & Pilgrims
Below, in the town over the moat, a crowd is gathered to see them
off - merchants in grave colours, and coats turned back with fur, their
ink-horns slung at their waists, with pens and dagger and purse;
beggars; pilgrims, from over seas, landed at Poole Harbour, in long
gowns, worn with penitence and dusty travels, shells in their hats,
staffs in their hands; wide-eyed children in smocks; butchers in blue;
men of all guilds and women of all classes.
The drawbridge is down, the portcullis up, and the party, gleaming
like a bed of flowers in their multi-coloured robes, pass over the
bridge, through the town, and into the valley.
The sun goes in and leaves the grim castle, gray and solemn, standing
out against the green of the hills....
And of Henry himself, the great Tudor, greater, more farseeing than the
eighth Henry, a man who so dominates the age, and fills it with his
spirit, that no mental picture is complete without him. His fine,
humorous face, the quizzical eye, the firm mouth, showing his character.
The great lover of art, of English art, soon to be pulverized by
pseudo-classic influences; the man who pulled down the chapel at the
west end of Westminster Abbey with the house by it -
Chaucer's house - to
make way for that superb triumph of ornate building, his chapel, beside
which the mathematical squares and angles of classic buildings show as
would boxes of bricks by a gorgeous flower.
The stories against him are, in reality, stories for him, invented by
those whom he kept to their work, and whom he despoiled of their
ill-gotten gains. He borrowed, but he paid back in full; he came
into a disordered, distressed kingdom, ruled it by fear - as had to be
done in those days - and left it a kingdom ready for the fruits of his
ordered works - to the fleshy beast who so nearly ruined the country. What
remained, indeed, was the result of his father's genius.
THE WOMEN
Take up a pack of cards and look at the queen. You may see the
extraordinary head-gear as worn by ladies at the end of the fifteenth
century and in the first years of the sixteenth, worn in a modified form
all through the next reign, after which that description of head-dress
vanished for ever, its place to be taken by caps, hats, and bonnets.
This is a sumptuous gown in rich elaborate material - good stuff -
not any old fabric. Notice the diamond-shaped head-dress, the wide, fur-edged gown with its
full sleeves.
The richest of these head-dresses were made of a black silk or some such
black material, the top stiffened to the shape of a sloping house-roof,
the edges falling by the face on either side - made stiff, so as to stand
parallel - these were sewn with gold and pearls on colour or white.
The
end of the hood hung over the shoulders and down the back; this was
surmounted by a stole of stiffened material, also richly sewn with
jewels, and the whole pinned on to a close-fitting cap of a different
colour, the edge of which showed above the forehead.
The more moderate head-dress was of black again, but in shape nearly
square, and slit at the sides to enable it to hang more easily over the shoulders. It was placed over a coif, often of white linen or of
black material, was turned over from the forehead, folded, and pinned
back; often it was edged with gold.
On either side of the hood were hanging ornamental metal-tipped tags to
tie back the hood from the shoulders, and this became, in time - that is,
at the end of the reign - the ordinary manner of wearing them, till they
were finally made up so.
The ordinary head-dress was of white linen, crimped or embroidered in
white, made in a piece to hang over the shoulders and down the back,
folded back and stiffened in front to that peculiar triangular shape in
fashion; this was worn by the older women over a white hood.
The plain coif, or close-fitting linen cap, was the most general wear
for the poor and middle classes.
The hair was worn long and naturally over the shoulders by young girls,
and plainly parted in the centre and dressed close to the head by women
wearing the large head-dress.
Another form of head-dress, less common, was the turban - a loose bag of
silk, gold and pearl embroidered, fitting over the hair and
forehead tightly, and loose above.
The gowns of the women were very simply cut, having either a long train
or no train at all, these last cut to show the under-skirt of some fine
material, the bodice of which showed above the over gown at the
shoulders.
The ladies who wore the long gown generally had it lined with
some fine fur, and to prevent this dragging in the mud, as also to show
the elegance of their furs, they fastened the train to a button or
brooch placed at the back of the waistband.
This, in time, developed
into the looped skirts of Elizabethan times.
The bodice of the gown was square cut and not very low, having an
ornamental border of fur, embroidery, or other rich coloured material
sewn on to it. This border went sometimes round the shoulders and
down the front of the dress to below the knees.
Above the bodice was
nearly always seen the V-shaped opening of the under petticoat bodice,
and across and above that, the white embroidered or crimped chemise.
The sleeves were as the men's - tight all the way down from the shoulder
to the wrist, the cuffs coming well over the first joints of the fingers
(sometimes these cuffs are turned back to show elaborate linings), or
they were made tight at the shoulder and gradually looser until they
became very full over the lower arm, edged or lined with fur or soft
silk, or loose and baggy all the way from shoulder to hand.
At this time Bruges became world-famed for her silken texture; her
satins were used in England for church garments and other clothes.
The
damask silks were greatly in use, and were nearly always covered with
the peculiar semi-Spanish pattern, the base of which was some contortion
of the pomegranate.
Some of these patterns were small and
wonderfully fine, depending on their wealth of detail for their
magnificent appearance, others were huge, so that but few repeats of the
design appeared on the dress.
Block-printed linens were also in use, and
the samples in South Kensington will show how beautiful and artistic
they were, for all their simple design.
As Bruges supplied us with
silks, satins, and velvets, the last also beautifully damasked, Yprès
sent her linen to us, and the whole of Flanders sent us painters and
illuminators who worked in England at the last of the great illuminated
books, but this art died as printing and illustrating by wood-blocks
came in to take its place.
Nearly every lady had her own common linen, and often other stuffs,
woven in her own house, and the long winter evenings were great times
for the sewing chambers, where the lady and her maids sat at the looms.
To-day one may see in Bruges the women at the cottage doors busy over
their lace-making, and the English women by the sea making nets - so in
those times was every woman at her cottage door making coarse linens and
other stuffs to earn her daily bread, while my lady was sitting in her
chamber weaving, or embroidering a bearing cloth for her child
against her time.
However, the years of the Wars of the Roses had had their effect on
every kind of English work, and as the most elegant books were painted
and written by Flemings, as the finest linen came from Yprès, the best
silks and velvets from Bruges, the great masters of painting from
Florence, Germany, and Belgium, so also the elaborate and wonderful
embroidery, for which we had been so famous, died away, and English work
was but coarse at the best, until, in the early sixteen hundreds, the
new style came into use of raising figures some height above the
ground-work of the design, and the rich embroidery of the Stuart times
revived this art.
I have shown that this age was the age of fine patterns, as some ages
are ages of quaint cut, and some of jewel-laden dresses, and some of
dainty needlework.
A few ladies wore their gowns open to the waist to show the stomacher,
as the men did, and open behind to the waist, laced across, the waist
being embraced by a girdle of the shape so long in use, with long ends
and metal ornaments; the girdle held the purse of the lady.
The illustrations given with this chapter show very completely the
costume of this time, and, except in cases of royal persons or very
gorgeously apparelled ladies, they are complete enough to need no
description.
Early Tudor Shoes
The shoes, it will be seen, are very broad at the toes, with thick
soles, sometimes made much in the manner of sandals - that is, with only a
toecap, the rest flat, to be tied on by strings.
As this work is entirely for use, it may be said, that artists who have
costumes made for them, and costumiers who make for the stage, hardly
ever allow enough material for the gowns worn by men and women in this
and other reigns, where the heaviness and richness of the folds was the
great keynote.
To make a gown, of such a kind as these good ladies wore,
one needs, at least, twelve yards of material, fifty-two inches wide, to
give the right appearance. It is possible to acquire at many of the best
shops nowadays actual copies of embroidered stuffs, velvets, and damask
silks of this time, and of stuffs up to Early Victorian patterns, and
this makes it easy for painters to procure what, in other days,
they were forced to invent.
Many artists have their costumes made of Bolton sheeting, on to which
they stencil the patterns they wish to use - this is not a bad thing to
do, as sheeting is not dear and it falls into beautiful folds.
The older ladies and widows of this time nearly all dressed in very
simple, almost conventual garments, many of them wearing the 'barbe' of
pleated linen, which covered the lower part of the face and the chin - a
sort of linen beard - it reached to the breast, and is still worn by some
religious orders of women.
Badges were still much in use, and the servants always wore some form of
badge on their left sleeve - either merely the colours of their masters,
or a small silver, or other metal, shield.
Thus, the badge worn by the
servants of Henry VII would be either a greyhound, a crowned hawthorn
bush, a red dragon, a portcullis, or the red and white roses joined
together.
The last two were used by all the Tudors, and the red rose and
the portcullis are still used.
From these badges we get the signs of
many of our inns, either started by servants, who used their
master's badge for a device, or because the inn lay on a certain
property the lord of which carried chequers, or a red dragon, or a
tiger's head.
I mentioned the silks of Bruges and her velvets without giving enough
prominence to the fine velvets of Florence, a sample of which, a cope,
once used in Westminster Abbey, is preserved at Stonyhurst College; it
was left by Henry VII to 'Our Monastery of Westminster,' and is of
beautiful design - a gold ground, covered with boughs and leaves raised in
soft velvet pile of ruby colour, through which little loops of gold
thread appear.
I imagine Elizabeth of York, Queen to Henry VII, of the subtle
countenance - gentle Elizabeth, who died in child-birth - proceeding through
London, from the Tower to Westminster, to her coronation; the streets
cleansed and the houses hung with tapestry, arras and gold cloth, the
fine-coloured dresses of the crowd, the armoured soldiers, all the rich
estate of the company about her, and the fine trappings of the horses.
Our Queen went to her coronation with some Italian masts, paper flowers,
and some hundreds of thousands of yards of bunting and cheap
flags; the people mostly in sombre clothes; the soldiers in ugly red,
stiff coats, were the only colour of note passing down Whitehall, past
the hideous green stuck with frozen Members of Parliament, to the grand,
wonderful Abbey, which has seen so many Queens crowned.
This
Tudor costume history information consists of Pages
223-247 of the chapter on the late 15th and early 16th century dress in the 24 YEAR REIGN era of
Henry the Seventh 1485-1509 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 early Tudor dress in
the reign of King Henry the Seventh 1485-1509.
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.
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This
Tudor costume history information consists of Pages
223-247 of the chapter on the late 15th and early 16th century dress in the 24 YEAR REIGN era of
Henry the Seventh 1485-1509 and taken from English Costume by Dion Clayton Calthrop.
The
shirt itself was often ornamented with fine gathers and fancy stitching,
and was gathered about the neck by a ribbon. As the years went on it is
easy to see that the shirt was worn nearer to the neck, the
gathers became higher and higher, became more ornamented, and finally
rose, in all extravagant finery, to behind the ears - and we have the
On the feet, shoes of all materials, from cloth and velvet to leather
beautifully worked, and of the most absurd length; these also were
slashed with puffs of white stuff. Many of these shoes were but a sole
and a toe, and were tied on by thongs passing through the sole.
The gowns of the women were very simply cut, having either a long train
or no train at all, these last cut to show the under-skirt of some fine
material, the bodice of which showed above the over gown at the
shoulders.
Block-printed linens were also in use, and
the samples in South Kensington will show how beautiful and artistic
they were, for all their simple design. 
