Most people are familiar with the image of a knight in full plated armor whether seen in movies or as the display of suits of armor in castles or mansions. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the development of the English longbow had a major impact on combat and the effectiveness of armored knights on the battlefield.
Longbows were about six feet in length and Yew was the favored wood for bow material. In fact, the Yew wood was so prized for bows that pattern makers for shoes were prohibited from using any bow woods in their craft. The bows were incredibly strong and could bury an arrow up to 4 inches in seasoned oak at short range.
The knight-errant was a figure chosen from the nobility and representative of military life under the medieval feudal system, emerging towards the end of the eleventh century. With the knight came an era of parade and pageantry and courtly ceremony that would usher in new fashions, largely drawing on styles and textiles from distant and exotic places.
The knights, who evolved their presentation during the period of the Crusades,would travel to the Middle East and return with rich silks and Arab designs. The gowns drawn from Arab designs were longer, billowing with fabric and detailed with intricate weavings and embroidery and gold threading. The knights learned to dress their horses as ornately as themselves with protective coats of cloth matching their own garbs.
The Crusaders also returned from the East with the custom of painting their shields with their colors and coats of arms. This began the fashion for heraldry and emblazoning one’s symbols on not only one’s own outer coat (surcoat) but also introducing women to the fashion of wearing coats of arms on their gowns. Certain terms of heraldry themselves were taken from the vocabulary of costume and tailoring– ‘couped’ (cut), ‘bend’ (sash), for example.
By the middle of the twelfth century, heraldry and the use of symbols designating one’s affiliations were widespread. Suits of armor were made entirely in the colors of the knight’s blazon (the description of the coat of arms) or the knight’s lady’s blazon. Furthermore, the significance of the colors and emblems one wore were such that relationships could be demarcated through them. The livery (non-military uniform or costume detailed with a particular emblem) worn by a person would tell a viewer that he/she was a servant, follower, or ally of the person who had gifted the uniform or piece of costume. ‘Livery’ came from the French word ‘livree’ or ‘delivered’ and the types of livery passed on to one’s servants and allies would have elements of the giver’s heraldry, often dipslayed on metal or embroidered badges.
SOURCE: the image displayed is the right panel of the Wilton Diptych, circa 1400,where the angels are shown wearing the livery of King Richard II of England–the white hart (deer).
Tags: costume, courtly cermony, crusader, crusades, fashion, Fashion History, feudal system, heraldry, knights, livery, medieval europe, pageantry, uniform
Embellishment in clothing and costume in many ways reached a zenith in the Europe of the 15th and 16th centuries when outfits were characterized by a longer-style garment for formal occasions and a shorter, more tailored style for daily wear. The style of the shorter garments, which in men’s clothing was comprised of the doublet (short, fitted button-down top) and the trunk hose (covering the lower body to mid-thigh), was also largely influenced by innovations in armor. The longer style garment, a holdover from Roman styles in drapery, was an elegant alternative and retained its place for ceremonial occasions.
The courtly life and the romantic notions linked to the world of knights-errant and ladies of the court created an arena for lavish details in costume, such as dagged (shaped, rounded) edges to garments, long pointed tips to sleeves that would sometimes be so long as to drag on the ground, jeweled knights’ helmets, scalloped waists, fur-trimmed gowns, lace collars, cushioned and creased sleeves, embellished sashes, densely embroidered patterns on silk as well as highly ornamented engravings on armor that echoed patterns on cloth. The extravagance was also translated to etching patterns on armor: etchings made on armor plates were sometimes so intricate as to reflect patterns recognizable from damask, or the rich patterning of exotic silks, and would also in some cases reflect flourishes in form such as slashed sleeves. It was a trend during the 15th and 16th centuries to ‘slash’ the sleeves of the doublet, which served to echo wounds in battle, and allow an under layer of cloth to protrude through the outer layer.
