Gilded Pennoncel

My most recent flag project was a silk pennoncel, with three gold sandglasses on a blue field. Modern fabric paint was the lowest layer of the sandglasses,  with gold leaf burnished atop that with gum arabic.

Flags, coat armor and caparisons were often painted in the Middle Ages, and Cennino Cennini had much useful advice on painting cloth. Both silk and linen was used for surviving flags, and the Earl of Wawick owned standards of worsted. Cennini also described how to paint velvet, and woolen cloth for jousts or tournaments.  Cennini generally sized the cloth where it would be painted, which is essential to protect the cloth if oil based paint or mordant for gilding is used.

I sewed the silk to a peripheral piece of cloth, shaped so it could be stretched over a modern canvas stretcher just like a canvas for easel painting.

Modern acrylic fabric paint can be applied to cloth directly, but has a gloss that is somewhat different from oil paint over size or tempera.

Note that medieval flag makers seem to have been more flexible in arranging charges than their modern emulators, as long as the number was correct. The crowns on Arthur’s pennoncel in the Nine Worthies Tapestry are arranged similarly to here, but those on his shield are two and one.

Using resist and dyes to paint silk seems to have been unknown in Europe before the 19th century.

Properly Fitted Hose

Properly fitted medieval hose should not bag significantly at the knees. If it is so long that it can't be laced high enough, there is a quick solution for hose that laces at one point for each leg: pin a ring brooch on each leg low enough to allow you to lace to the brooch and pull the hose taut, and tuck the excess material at the top of the hose inside.

More Hats

Highland Dress in 1652

The 1652 state of John Speed's map of Scotland show a Highland man and women that appear to be wrapped in plaid blankets. Not very Mel Gibson Braveheart.

Reconstructions of 13th Century Breeches

Two interesting reconstructions of breeches as rolled loincloths by Finnish reenactors.

When May Medieval Gentlemen Display Their Breeches?

Not often, actually.

The lower orders may do so more often.  Laborers in the fields in hot weather may strip to shirt and breeches without reproach. They need to sweat to do their duty. Likewise workers in a bakery serving a hot oven, or those burning heretics, or executioners. Huntsmen on foot pushing through damp underbrush might also strip down to their shirt, shoes and breeches.

Gentlemen rarely have good cause to be so underdressed under ordinary circumstances. The most benign exception might be young gentlemen exercising themselves with sword and buckler with their hose rolled down for limberness, but this was probably done in a somewhat private setting.

Special circumstances present exceptions, of course. A gentleman might be taken prisoner and stripped to his shirt, perhaps to prevent escape, or delivered up for execution,  or required to surrender a town under his authority to a victor eager to humiliate the defender.  Or be visiting a public bathhouse.

Most of the time a gentleman had little reason to walk about with his breeches exposed. Those of us attempting to recreate a medieval gentleman should dress accordingly.

A problem arises when individuals recreating the Middle Ages combine hose attached at a single point with a short outer garment.

The inevitable result is exposed breeches. This is neither authentic, fashionably medieval, nor flattering.

And a lot of the cases of "diaper look" I saw this Pennsic could have been avoided by properly fitted single-point hose worn at the right height. The coat wasn't so very short that the breeches would have been exposed if the hose was long enough. There's no need for the back of your hose to hang lower than your gluteal fold. Except that if off-the-rack hose is sized so that it's wearable by almost everyone in that shoe size, it's shorter than it should be for most wearers. Unless you always wear a long coat, it's worth paying extra for hose that's the right length.

Also, a belt will do a better job of keeping them up than a drawstring. I favor a belt within the breeches casing when wearing long single point hose.

Further, it's important to wear the right kind of breeches. The long and baggy breeches of the Morgan Bible were very poorly suited the shorter hemlines of the late 14th century. Tighter fitted and shorter breeches were increasingly favored by the fashionable, and by the last decades of the century the Tacuinum Sanitatis shows even peasant laborers wearing short, tightly fitted breeches.

Suppliers are not technically being deceptive when they sell as 14th century breeches garments that would have been quite acceptable in 1330. You, as a buyer, need to understand how obsolete such a garment would have been for a fashionable gentleman in 1390. A century is a long time.

Breeches and a Breech-belt

I made these breeches based on a pattern by Robert MacPherson. An earlier version appeared in the second edition of Daily Life in Chaucer's England, but he has since replaced the sinuous upper edge with a straight one. I used a wider casing to accommodate the belt, made of two separate pieces rather than a fold down of the breech fabric, making it easier to finish the two openings in the casing. I also added a modesty panel to the inside of the center front, of two additional layers of linen the same  shape as the front half of the Lengberg g-string. It was pointed out to me that the wear to the Lengberg breeches reveals multiple layers in front, perhaps as many as four. I find the additional layers over my privates more modest and comfortable.

The belt is just long enough that I can slide the belt over my hips with the belt buckled on the last hole, preventing the risk of the casing swallowing the unbuckled ends. Threading the belt through the casing initially is easier if the leather of the belt is not overly supple.

The design was based on the woodcut of St. Sebastian above from 1410-1420, as well as The Parement of Narbonne.

Update: I narrowed the modesty panel at its bottom from what 's shown above for better drape. Originally 6.5", it is now 4". I have a 40" waist. Also, I added an additional layer of linen, for a total of four over the crotch, to match what I think I see on the Lengberg breeches.

Click on the above images to enlarge them.

Breeches: 1370-1390

Livy, Ab urbe condita, French translation [Histoire romaine] by Pierre Bersuire Paris Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève Ms 777 f. 143r c. 1370 Vincent de Beauvais, Miroir Historial [Speculum historiale], French translation by Jean de Vignay. vol. III. (Livres XI-XIII). BNF NAF 15941 f. 112v 1370-1380 Aristoteles, Politica [French version (Politiques) by Nicole Oresme] Brussels, KBR, ms. 11201 f. 1v center (oligarchy) and bottom (democracy) 1376; Guiron le Courtois BNF Français 338 Ff 324v & 326 1380-1390

These images show a fairly rapid change in the tailoring of breeches. In the 1370 image the breeches are nearly knee length. The last image from the 1380-1390 Guiron le Courtois shows breeches that are hemmed much higher, and apparently cut tightly enough in the legs that side vents are needed for ease. And these sources may make the change seem more gradual than it was, because the 1370 Livy may be deliberately archaic in portraying the Romans: the armor looks to be pretty old-fashioned compared to contemporary effigies.

Retrofitting Historic Enterprises Breeches

I had the original center front opening for the drawstring sewn up and replaced with two eyelets 3" apart in front. The drawstring now crosses in the front casing so that the left end comes out the right eyelet and vice versa.  The breeches now fit better and the drawstring is easier to tie and untie.

Although the change improves the fit, I don't find the pattern entirely satisfactory for the late 14th century. The legs fit loosely but there's insufficient ease in the seat: I've had three different pairs fail at the center rear seam.

Hose: 1350-1500

The drunkenness of Noah, Weltchronik (ÖNB 2823, fol. 21r), 1463. The mocking of Noah, Probably 14th c.

It is well to know that in the second half of the 14th century century and the 15th century, there were three main types of hose, each designed to be supported by a different default method.

Short Hose: supported by a garter below the knee or similar method. Most often worn by women, but sometimes by men, and designed to be worn with a long garment.

Single point hose: longer hose supported from a single point on each leg.  This is reliably decent only for medium length outer garments hemmed not far above the knee. A lot of hems during that period were that long, even for the male fashionable elite. But get much shorter and you start flashing your breeches when you bend, turn around, or sit down.

Now, breeches are shown in medieval art, but usually not in situations that gentlemen would want to normally be seen in in public: agricultural laborers laboring sweatily, bakers feeding an oven, prisoners stripped for execution, executioners stripping down to execute victims with less encumbrance, people caught in the middle of changing, people caught in flagrante delicto. Or maybe when young gentlemen practice sword and buckler, but perhaps they don't do that in the street.

This brings us to:

Multi-point hose: cut high enough to lace up at multiple points near an approximation of the natural waist. The Charles de Blois pourpoint or doublet, which may or may not have been made  before his death in 1364, attaches to hose in seven places, with two lace ends at each.

At some point two legs of this kind of hose are sewn together into a single garment. This doesn't change what what holds it up needs to do much.

What holds up the hose? Short hose can be held up by a garter, and single point hose can be rolled down in hot weather to be supported by a garter as well.

Single point hose often look like they are simply laced to breeches, but the reality was more complicated. It appears that when this was the case there was a substantial belt in the casing of the breeches. Below, a woodcut of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian from 1410-1420 clearly shows a belt.

Similarly, belts can be seen in the breech casings of the two thieves of the Parement of Narbonne. Still earlier, we see a broad green belt within Saul's breeches casing as he eases nature in the Morgan Bible.

For multi-point hose, the optimal support system seems to have been lacing it to a doublet.  When this kind of hose is laced up bending or sitting puts a lot of stress on the back points, and tends to drag down a belt in back if it is the only support for the hose.

Aristocratic Dress, c. 1400

From the tapestry of Jourdain de Blaye in Padua, c. 1400. Nice outfits. Some lovely hats, belts and fabric. The lettering on the hem of the red gown one back from center front on the left was probably embroidered. I don't know an easier way to do it. Click to enlarge.
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Broad-brimmed Felt Hats: 1380-1415

From the top: Jacob increasing his herd, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 9, fol. 32v), beginning of the 15th century, Tristan and the shepherds, Tristan de Léonois (BNF Fr. 97, fol. 136v), first quarter of the 15th century, July, in the Tres Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry, 1410s, Annunciation to the shepherds, fol. 52r Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/9, Illustrations of pilgrims bathing in the Jordan (fol. 129v), and traveling (fol. 142v) The Voyages of Jean de Mandeville and the Liber peregrinationis by Ricoldo de Montecroce (BNF Fr. 2810), c. 1410-1412, The Wife of Bath, The Ellesmere Chaucer, c. 1410, Gelre Herald, Gelre Armorial, Folio 122r, before 1396, St. Jerome, by Theodoricus of Prague, ca. 1380, St. Jerome ordained as cardinal Fol. 184r,  St. Jerome Extracting a Thorn, Fol. 186 v. Belles Heures de Duc du Berry.

As always, click to embiggen.

Broad-brimmed hats were popular with people who expected to spend a lot of time outdoors: shepherds, pilgrims and other travelers, and heralds. The conventional cardinal's hat also had a broad brim, perhaps because the owner was expected to take part in outdoor processions, perhaps because he was expected to travel on church business. The cardinal's hat gives an example of what an upscale broad-brimmed hat might look like.

Robin Hood Hats: 1380-1415

1-2 Agnolo Gaddi Discovery of the True Cross 1380s. 3-7: Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF Nouvelle acquisition latine 1673), c. 1390-1400,  8-11 Tacuinum Sanitatis (Codex Vindobonensis 2396, Vienna): 1390-1400 12: Terence's Comedies (BNF Latin 7907 A), c. 1400-1407, 13-14: Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF Latin 9333), 15th century, 15: Ellesmere manuscript of The Canterbury Tales, c. 1410

As usual, Karen Larsdatter's site has a lot of examples from earlier and later.

Hats

Wool felt hats that I have blocked.

A Tale of Ladies at Hastiludes, 1348

In those days a rumor arose and great excitement among the people because, when hastiludes were held, at almost every place a troop of ladies would appear, as though they were a company of players, dressed in manly equipment of striking richness and variety, to the number of forty or sometimes fifty such ladies, all handsome and beautiful, though not of the kingdom's better sort. They were dressed in parti-colored tunics, of one color on one side and a different one on the other, with short hoods and liripipes like cords about about their heads, with belts of gold and silver clasped about them, and even with the kind of knives commonly called daggers slung low across their bellies, placed in pouches from above. And thus they went on fine destriers and other well-arrayed horses to the place of the hastilude, and consumed and spent their substance, and wantonly and with disgraceful lewdness displayed their bodies, as the rumor resounded among the people.

And thus, neither fearing God nor blushing at the outcry of modest people, they slipped the traces of matrimonial modesty. Nor did those whom they accompanied consider what grace and outstanding blessings God, the fount of all good things, had bestowed upon English knighthood in all its successful encounters with its enemies, and what exceptional triumphs of victory He had allowed them everywhere. But God in this as in all things made a marvelous remedy to dispel their dissolution, for at the times and places appointed for those vanitites He defeated them with cloudbursts, thunder and flashing lightening, and the fury of diverse astonishing tempests.

Knighton's Chronicle, translation Will McLean 2013

Other translations have the ladies "dressed in men's cloths" or in "the cloths of a man" but that's not really what Knighton's Latin says.

He condemned the ladies because:

They wore the manly equipment of daggers, stowed in a particularly phallic way.

They displayed precious metal ornaments and horseflesh that they could not afford

They wore parti-colored clothing which made them look like minstrels, who were not nearly as respectable as proper ladies.

They wore hoods with liripipes, which Knighton might have scorned either as masculine dress inappropriate for women or because he thought liripipes were useless ornamental frippery.

Knighton is pretty clearly repeating a rumor: note the absence of the locations of any of these hastiludes. 

I can imagine a pretty prosaic kernel of truth to Knighton's account: some ladies go to a tournament in the newfangled fashions that the older generation doesn't approve of, and some of the ladies are wearing their husband's daggers while they are on the field so they don't get lost or stolen, and the event is spoiled by bad weather. And a Friar goes home and writes a sermon about it, exaggerating for effect, and reuses it every stop on his rounds and the tale grows in the telling.

Hatmaking

Here is what I have learned about hatmaking so far.

1) Obtain or order at least one hat body. This is the unblocked, crudely shaped proto-hat.

Hat bodies come in two basic shapes. One is the hood, shown in the first picture above. It is roughly conical, and optimal for hats ranging from brimless to a moderate brim.  The second is the capeline, which has already been shaped to include a broad, flat brim, and is the optimal starting point for a broad-brimmd hat. I've been able to make a broad-brimmed hat from a hood, but it's more work, and you can get a broader brim starting with a capeline.

You also have two basic choices for material, wool felt or fur felt, usually rabbit fur. The top photo shows a fur felt hood in the center flanked by two wool felt hoods. Fur felt is stiffer, crisper and less floppy, and costs at least twice as much as wool felt.  In the 21st century, fur felt is the norm for a fedora of good quality. High quality medieval hats, like that of Chaucer's merchant, were made of beaver fur felt. The greater stiffness of fur felt is particularly desirable for broad brimmed hats.

You can also buy long hair fur felt bodies. The hair is visible and palpable on one side instead of being processed into a smooth surface. This can be a pleasant effect on the inside and upturned brim of a hat, although this kind of felt seems a bit less stiff than regular fur felt.

If you're going to the trouble of making or buying a hat block it seems sensible to order several hat bodies. Leko has a good assortment of bodies and other millinery supplies.

2) Make or obtain a hat block. Wood is traditional. I carve mine from Owens Corning pink polystyrene insulating foam with a bread knife and finish with a sander and a sanding block. I made my first block with expanding foam filling a masking tape skin. It's softer than the pink foam and doesn't sand as smoothly, and I no longer use that kind of foam for new blocks. Remember to clean your block after sanding before you block with it.

Hat Shapers sell inexpensive ABS plastic hat blocks. I don't know how well they work, and they don't have all the shapes you'd want for medieval hats, but some look applicable. If you try them, let me know how they work for you.

Having separate crown and brim block pieces increases your flexibility. I can also remove the top piece of my Robin Hood crown to make a flat-topped version.

3) With my current blocks, I finding wrapping the crown or, in the case of the Robin Hood hat, the entire block with cling wrap makes it easier to force the body over the block and remove it later.

You will want an elastic hairband big enough to pull over the circumference of the bottom of the crown. If you are making a hat with an upturned brim a salad spoon like the one shown in the second photo is useful for working between the crown and the brim: a long handled shoehorn will also serve.

With everything gathered, I fill my bathroom sink with the hottest water I can get from the tap, putting the body under the tap like a bucket. When the crown is full I tip it over and submerge it, weighing it down with a full water glass. I let the body soak for severable minutes until it is pliable and easily stretched.

Let me start with a Robin Hood hat.

I pull the body from the water, letting some of the water drain off. I make a first guess at turning the brim up and force the body over the block, pulling and pushing it downwards until it conforms to the block, and moving the turn of the brim upwards or down as needed. Use the salad spoon as needed to pull the crown downwards behind the brim. Slide the elastic hairband down to bottom of the crown.

Now grasp the front of the brim with one hand while you brace the heel of your other hand against the front of the crown just above the bill. Pull the brim forward and down until it conforms with the bill of the block.

At this point the upturned part of the brim may not be turned upwards as steeply as you want. You can pin the bottom of the brim against your work surface with the salad spoon while pulling the upper edge upwards, stretching the felt. Start at the center rear and work gradually to the front on both sides. This may create some puckering at the top edge of the brim: smooth that out.

Update: If the upturned brim needs additional shaping, I now find it easier to mold the brim over an extended brim block before turning it up, as shown in the last photo. You may want to compress the brim over the bottom of the block with another elastic hairband.

Try to work quickly:  the body will soon become harder to work. You can re-soak the body if you need to do more blocking.

Let the hat dry before trimming away excess felt. I let the hat dry on the block until it can hold its shape and then stand it on a glass or round Tupperware container as a stand to complete drying.

The second photo shows the block for a Robin Hood hat and blocked hats before and after trimming away excess brim.

If you start with a capeline a broad brimmed hat should be simpler. Pull the body down over the crown and stretch the elastic hairband over the bottom of the crown. You may need to temporarily turn the brim up to get clearance to complete pulling the crown onto the block. Then pull and stretch the brim down onto the block brim. The third photo shows the block and the narrower brimmed hat produced from a hood body in the center, with a hat made from a capeline at far left.

The 4th photo shows three hats made from low crowned block without a brim block, and the block.

At far left the body was pulled onto the crown and the brim turned up, and an elastic hairband pushed down to the bottom of the crown. I placed a belt weight leather spacer between crown and brim at the top  of where I expected to trim the brim, and an elastic hairband over crown, spacer and brim at that point. I tugged the brim upwards from above that point until I created a narrow vertical brim without puckers. The excess was then trimmed away. This simple cap was worn by peddlers, laborers, small tradesmen, cooks and bakers by day, and by gentry as a nightcap.

To its right is a simple brimless cap, often worn by clergy and scholars, and sometimes by other laymen.

The third used the low crown block without a separate brim block and a single layer of wool felt. In blocking, wet felt was pulled forward from the crown block to create a bill in front of the crown. I stretched an elastic hairband around the crown just above this bill to keep the hat body from being pulled away from the upper crown.

You can use two hat bodies in contrasting colors on the same block to recreate what is often seen in medieval art: a hat with a contrasting upturned brim or lining. Two cautions:

Not all commercial hat bodies are colorfast. If you want to make a hat using two layers in contrasting colors, it is well to know if either color will run in hot water.

Also, not all felts play well together. I recently tried to use a fur felt outer layer and a wool felt inner layer. They did not cooperate.

In contrast, two layers of wool felt were willing to become a single hat.

If the hat is too floppy stiffness can be added or restored with hat stiffener. One hatmaker warns that the felt should be absolutely dry before stiffener is applied, or white marks can appear on the surface. This agrees with my experience from before I read her advice.