This
Tudor costume history information consists of Pages
274-282 of the
chapter on the mid 16th century dress in the 6 YEAR REIGN era
of boy-king Edward The Sixth 1547-1553 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 Tudor dress in
the reign of King Edward The Sixth 1547-1553.
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 Edward The Sixth
Reigned six years: 1547-1553. Born, 1537
THE MEN AND WOMEN
Here we have a reign which, from its very shortness, can hardly be
expected to yield us much in the way of change, yet it shows, by very
slight movements, that form of growth which preludes the great changes
to come.
I think I may call a halt here, and proceed to tell you why this volume
is commenced with Henry VII, called the Tudor and Stuart volume, and
ends with the Cromwells. It is because, between these reigns, the tunic
achieves maturity, becomes a doublet, and dies, practically just
in the middle of the reign of Charles II of pungent memory.
The
peculiar garment, or rather, this garment peculiar to a certain time,
runs through its various degrees of cut. It is, at first, a loose body
garment with skirts; the skirts become arranged in precise folds, the
folds on the skirt are shortened, the shorter they become the tighter
becomes the coat; then we run through with this coat in its periods of puffings, slashings, this, that, and the other sleeve, all coats
retaining the small piece of skirt or basque, and so to the straight,
severe Cromwellian jerkin with the piece of skirt cut into tabs, until
the volume ends, and hey presto! there marches into history a Persian
business - a frock coat, straight, trim, quite a near cousin to our own
garment of afternoon ceremony.
For a sign of the times it may be mentioned that a boy threw his cap at
the Host just at the time of the Elevation.
To Queen Elizabeth has been given the palm for the wearing of the first
silk stockings in England, but it is known that Sir Thomas Gresham gave
a pair of silk stockings to Edward VI.
We now see a more general appearance in the streets of the flat
cap upon the heads of citizens. The hood, that eminently practical
head-gear, took long to die, and, when at last it went out of fashion,
except among the labouring classes, there came in the cap that now
remains to us in the cap of the Beefeaters at the Tower of London.
It is the time of jerkin or jacket, doublet or coat, and
hose - generally worn with trunks, which were puffed, short
knickerbockers.
The flat cap, afterwards the statute cap as ordered by Elizabeth,
became, as I say, the ordinary head-wear, though some, no doubt, kept
hoods upon their heavy travelling cloaks. This cap, which some of the
Bluecoat Boys still wear, was enforced upon the people by Elizabeth for
the encouragement of the English trade of cappers. 'One cap of
wool, knit, thicked, and dressed in England,' was to be worn by all over
six years of age, except such persons as had 'twenty marks by year in
lands, and their heirs, and such as have borne office of worship.'
Edward, according to the portraits, always wore a flat cap, the base of
the crown ornamented with bands of jewels.
The Bluecoat Boys, and long may they have the sense to keep to their
dress, show us exactly the ordinary dress of the citizen, except that
the modern knickerbocker has taken the place of the trunks.
Also, the
long skirts of these blue coats were, in Edward's time, the mark of the
grave man, others wore these same skirts cut to the knee.
That peculiar fashion of the previous reign - the enormously
broad-shouldered appearance - still held in this reign to some extent,
though the collars of the jerkins, or, as one may more easily know them,
overcoats or jackets, open garments, were not so wide, and allowed more
of the puffed shoulder of the sleeve to show.
Indeed, the collar became
quite small, as in the Windsor Holbein painting of Edward, and the
puff in the shoulders not so rotund.
The doublet of this reign shows no change, but the collar of the shirt
begins to show signs of the ruff of later years. It is no larger, but is
generally left untied with the ornamental strings hanging.
Antiquarian research has, as it often does, muddled us as to the meaning
of the word 'partlet.' Fairholt, who is very good in many ways, puts
down in his glossary, 'Partlet: A gorget for women.'
Then he goes on to
say that a partlet may be goodness knows what else. Minshein says they
are 'part of a man's attire, as the loose collar of a doublet, to be set
on or taken off by itself, without the bodies, as the picadillies now a
daies, or as mens' bands, or womens' neckerchiefs, which are in some, or
at least have been within memorie, called partlets.'.
Sir F. Madden says: 'The partlet evidently appears to have been the
corset or habit-shirt worn at that period, and which so commonly occurs
in the portraits of the time, generally made of velvet and ornamented
with precious stones.'
The change from the dress of the previous reign should be easily
noticed, especially in the case of the woman. This dress is, of course,
of the plainest in this time.
Hall, the author of 'Satires,' 1598, speaks of a man, an
effeminate dandy, as wearing a partlet strip. It appears to me, who am
unwillingly forced into judging between so many learned persons, that,
from all I have been able to gather from contemporary records and
papers, the partlet is indeed, as Minshein says, 'the loose collar of a
doublet,' in reality the same thing as a shirt band.
Ruff Forerunner
Henry VIII wore a band about his neck, the forerunner of the ruff.
Some of his bands were of silver cloth with ruffs to them, others, as I
have shown, were wonderfully embroidered.
In this case, then, the partlet is head of the family tree to our
own collar, 'to be set on or taken off by itself,' and so by way of
ruff, valued at threescore pound price apiece, to plain bands, to
falling bands, laced neckcloth, stock - to the nine pennyworth of misery
we bolt around our necks.
Plainer Dress
Dress, on the whole, is much plainer, sleeves are not so full of cuts
and slashes, and they fit more closely to the arm. The materials are
rich, but the ornament is not so lavish; the portrait of Edward by
Gwillim Stretes is a good example of ornament, rich but simple. Shoes
are not cut about at the toe quite with the same splendour, but are
still broad in the toe.
Elaborate Headdress Simplified 1550
For the women, it may be said that the change towards simplicity is even
more marked. The very elaborate head-dress, the folded, diamond-shaped
French hood has disappeared almost entirely, and, for the rich, the half
hoop, set back from the forehead with a piece of velvet or silk to hang
down the back, will best describe the head-gear. From that to the
centre-pointed hoop shows the trend of the shape.
This latest form of
woman's head apparel was born, I think, out of the folds of the
linen cap worn in the house, and this, being repeated in the velvet
night-caps, became the extreme of fashion. The drawing will show how the
square end of the linen cap, falling in the centre of the circular
cap-shape, cut the semicircle and overlapped it, thus giving the
appearance later to become exaggerated into a form cut especially to
that shape. (I try to be as lucid as I can manage, but the difficulties
of describing such evolutions in any but tangled language I leave the
reader to imagine.)
The women are also wearing cloth hoods, rather baggy cap-like hoods,
with a hanging-piece behind.
The most notable change is the collar of the gown, which suddenly
springs into existence. It is a high collar and very open in front,
showing a piece of the under-dress. On this collar is sewn - what I shall
call - the woman's partlet, as the embroidery is often detachable and
answers the same purpose as the man's partlet; this later became a
separate article, and was under-propped with wires to hold it out
stiffly.
The same stiff-bodied appearance holds good, but in more simple dresses
the skirts were not quite as voluminous as heretofore.
With overcoats in general the hanging sleeve is being worn, the arm of
the wearer coming out just below the puffed shoulder-piece.
With these remarks we may safely go on to the reign of Mary; another
reign which does not yield us much in the way of clothes.
EDWARD THE SIXTH
Reigned six years: 1547-1553. Born, 1537
This costume history information consists of Pages
274-282 of the
chapter on the mid 16th century dress in the 6 YEAR REIGN era
of boy-king Edward The Sixth 1547-1553 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 Tudor dress in
the reign of King Edward The Sixth 1547-1553.
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.
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This
Tudor costume history information consists of Pages
274-282 of the
chapter on the mid 16th century dress in the 6 YEAR REIGN era
of boy-king Edward The Sixth 1547-1553 and taken from English Costume by Dion
Clayton Calthrop.
Here we have a reign which, from its very shortness, can hardly be
expected to yield us much in the way of change, yet it shows, by very
slight movements, that form of growth which preludes the great changes
to come.
For the women, it may be said that the change towards simplicity is even
more marked. The very elaborate head-dress, the folded, diamond-shaped
French hood has disappeared almost entirely, and, for the rich, the half
hoop, set back from the forehead with a piece of velvet or silk to hang
down the back, will best describe the head-gear. From that to the
centre-pointed hoop shows the trend of the shape.
