So, today we come to the last leg of our look at women's clothing in the early 15th century, as depicted in the handful of manuscripts I've been studying. In part one we looked at the two dress layers all women shared, in part two we looked at the fashionable dress layers for the three lower groups of women on the social class ladder. Today, we'll look at fashionable dress for the noble and royal classes. Source Nobles & Royals The women who make up the top two class groups are sometimes difficult to differentiate from each other. It doesn't appear to have been the fashion for royals in this period to wear crowns or coronets except for ceremonial purposes, so when they are shown in manuscripts (which isn't all that often), it's really only the context of their appearance that allows us to distinguish them. One of the best examples is the scene below from The Queen's Book (British Library MS Harley 4431) showing Queen Isabeau of France receiving the book from the author, Christine de Pisan, among her daughters, and attendants. Source The other interesting thing about the nobles is that there can be a fairly good amount of fantasy or general uniqueness in the depictions of this group across the board, so it's important to take into consideration the contexts of the manuscripts within which they appear. In two stylistically different copies of The Comedies of Terence, noblewomen are depicted in a way that suggests an almost comical sumptuousness. And that makes sense when you consider the source and that the characters are peripheral to the townsman/bourgeois context. That said, the gowns are still mostly categorical. For example, below are two examples of a noblewoman wearing a fitted dress that falls into the long-streamer sleeve category, but with dagging, which is not typical. Source | Source Possibly more realistic depictions appear in the manuscripts in which noble women (or women of note who may have been regarded as noble) are the general subject. The biggest problem there is that women of ancient times, or women from mythology or biblical stories dominate these types of manuscripts. For my purposes, I've weeded out depictions in which the female subject was obviously allegorical in nature (nondescript robes and halos being the biggest giveaways), leaving me with a selection of depictions of women at the top that are either shown with a crown or without. While it may not reflect reality, there are definite categories that appear over and over across different manuscripts with these two groups. Combined with what we see in the rare images like that of Queen Isabeau above, we can be reasonably sure that, allegorical or not, these are the ways that women of nobility were seen to be ideally dressed. Source In addition to the fitted gown, with either long sleeves or with long streamer sleeves, noble women introduce another category of fitted gown- the angel wing. Long, open sleeves don't appear until you reach this level on your way up the social strata, primarily because of the cost of fabric. It takes a lot of extra yardage to create sleeves of that volume compared to the tightly-fitted long sleeve seen across the classes. It is almost always worn with a bourrelet (padded roll) headdress or crown, or less commonly, a horned veil. Source It is also in this class that we see the pinnacle of 15th century fashion- the houppelande. At this time, the fashion, which is only a decade or so old, is pretty exclusively about extravagance. Where the angel wing fitted gown stops, the high-collared, full-bodied, angel wing houppelande picks up. This gown is depicted as a fur lined garment belted high, just under the bust, making the hips look full. The collar is fashioned in several ways. Buttoned up, it frames the woman's chin. Unbuttoned, the collar flairs open slightly, creating a deep, narrow V. In some cases, we see collars worn flat against the shoulders. The affect of this look is that the collar was so sumptuously high, it can't stay up on its own. Source Symbolic Royals When the depicted woman is a royal of fame, usually crowned royals of the past, she may be shown wearing a sideless surcoat over a long sleeve fitted gown. The medieval fashion historian Robin Netherton has theorized that by this point in time, this iconic garment is only meant to be seen as symbolic and was used to designate a monarch. This sort of visual tagging exists in other ways throughout the period (and throughout the manuscripts I'm currently using), but the sideless surcoat sort of takes the cake. There are, however, lots of beautiful examples of this garment, and it's worth counting it in with a caveat. Source So that completes the quick tour through early 15th century French women's clothing. Please keep an eye out for much more on this topic and the full findings of my research later this spring.

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So, today we come to the last leg of our look at women's clothing in the early 15th century, as depicted in the handful of manuscripts I've been studying. In part one we looked at the two dress layers all women shared, in part two we looked at the fashionable dress layers for the three lower groups of women on the social class ladder. Today, we'll look at fashionable dress for the noble and royal classes. Source Nobles & Royals The women who make up the top two class groups are sometimes difficult to differentiate from each other. It doesn't appear to have been the fashion for royals in this period to wear crowns or coronets except for ceremonial purposes, so when they are shown in manuscripts (which isn't all that often), it's really only the context of their appearance that allows us to distinguish them. One of the best examples is the scene below from The Queen's Book (British Library MS Harley 4431) showing Queen Isabeau of France receiving the book from the author, Christine de Pisan, among her daughters, and attendants. Source The other interesting thing about the nobles is that there can be a fairly good amount of fantasy or general uniqueness in the depictions of this group across the board, so it's important to take into consideration the contexts of the manuscripts within which they appear. In two stylistically different copies of The Comedies of Terence, noblewomen are depicted in a way that suggests an almost comical sumptuousness. And that makes sense when you consider the source and that the characters are peripheral to the townsman/bourgeois context. That said, the gowns are still mostly categorical. For example, below are two examples of a noblewoman wearing a fitted dress that falls into the long-streamer sleeve category, but with dagging, which is not typical. Source | Source Possibly more realistic depictions appear in the manuscripts in which noble women (or women of note who may have been regarded as noble) are the general subject. The biggest problem there is that women of ancient times, or women from mythology or biblical stories dominate these types of manuscripts. For my purposes, I've weeded out depictions in which the female subject was obviously allegorical in nature (nondescript robes and halos being the biggest giveaways), leaving me with a selection of depictions of women at the top that are either shown with a crown or without. While it may not reflect reality, there are definite categories that appear over and over across different manuscripts with these two groups. Combined with what we see in the rare images like that of Queen Isabeau above, we can be reasonably sure that, allegorical or not, these are the ways that women of nobility were seen to be ideally dressed. Source In addition to the fitted gown, with either long sleeves or with long streamer sleeves, noble women introduce another category of fitted gown- the angel wing. Long, open sleeves don't appear until you reach this level on your way up the social strata, primarily because of the cost of fabric. It takes a lot of extra yardage to create sleeves of that volume compared to the tightly-fitted long sleeve seen across the classes. It is almost always worn with a bourrelet (padded roll) headdress or crown, or less commonly, a horned veil. Source It is also in this class that we see the pinnacle of 15th century fashion- the houppelande. At this time, the fashion, which is only a decade or so old, is pretty exclusively about extravagance. Where the angel wing fitted gown stops, the high-collared, full-bodied, angel wing houppelande picks up. This gown is depicted as a fur lined garment belted high, just under the bust, making the hips look full. The collar is fashioned in several ways. Buttoned up, it frames the woman's chin. Unbuttoned, the collar flairs open slightly, creating a deep, narrow V. In some cases, we see collars worn flat against the shoulders. The affect of this look is that the collar was so sumptuously high, it can't stay up on its own. Source Symbolic Royals When the depicted woman is a royal of fame, usually crowned royals of the past, she may be shown wearing a sideless surcoat over a long sleeve fitted gown. The medieval fashion historian Robin Netherton has theorized that by this point in time, this iconic garment is only meant to be seen as symbolic and was used to designate a monarch. This sort of visual tagging exists in other ways throughout the period (and throughout the manuscripts I'm currently using), but the sideless surcoat sort of takes the cake. There are, however, lots of beautiful examples of this garment, and it's worth counting it in with a caveat. Source So that completes the quick tour through early 15th century French women's clothing. Please keep an eye out for much more on this topic and the full findings of my research later this spring.

I'm a bit delayed in getting my lining re-fit, since I want to make sure I capture as much info during the process as I can to share with you, so while you're waiting on that, I thought I'd talk a bit about what I mean when I say "a medieval silhouette" when we're looking specifically at fitting plus-size bodies. Since I'm focused specifically on the early 15th century for this current project, that's the time period I'm going to speak directly to. From BL MS Harley 4431, The Queen's Book, Christine de Pizan, 1410-1414. Modern women, particularly those in the United States, come in a huge array of shapes and sizes. Our diets and lifestyle contribute to that in many ways. Not many of us live a hands-on existence anymore, performing every daily challenge from scratch, the hard way. If you own a car, for example, the trek to your local grocery store is made infinitely easier. Women who are lean are typically so because they work specifically to be that way- not necessarily because their genetics and lifestyle naturally aligned that way from birth to today. There are always exceptions, but those women are a lucky few. Medieval women probably didn't have a metabolic advantage to good health across the board, but if the surviving imagery is any indication, there certainly wasn't an obesity crisis in 1420 France. Sway back posture, round abdomen, high small breasts, small waist, long, lean arms and neck, narrow build. These are the features of the ideal female body as depicted in early 15th century manuscripts. There were real women out there that looked at least somewhat like this, and every other woman did her best to look as close to it as possible. Not much has changed on that front, really. Not everyone was successful, and a few examples from the era give us some clues as to what non-ideally framed women may have looked like. From BnF MS Latin 7907 A, The Comedies of Terence, Publius Terentius, circa 1400-1407. It can be a bit tricky to recognize plus-size medieval women, since they are often depicted in a very similar manner to pregnant women. In many cases, looking at the context of the image will give the answer. In the case of the two images above, from a book of comedies written by the Roman poet, Publius Terentius, the women are both of a lower class and more advanced age than the main characters of their stories. The woman on the left, Sophrona (from the play Phormio), is the nurse of a well-born Athenian girl. The woman on the right, Lesbia (from the play Andria), is a midwife. As a large woman, it is encouraging to find these images. While they are most definitely not intended to be complimentary in the context of the medieval manuscript (nor are they particularly offensive), they do offer a great point of reference. Their size -the fullness of their breast and bellies and their number of chins- is not an obstacle to their attempts at wearing the newest fashions appropriate to their rank. Sophrona wears a pretty fashionable outfit for the time (sometime around 1405). Her winged hood indicates that she is aware and on top of civilian fashion trends, since that particular style of hood came into use right at the turn of the century. Her dress is obviously a fitted gown, showing her curves and tight on her arms. Her belt indicates her class- peasant women wore belts to facilitate hiking their skirts up when needed. She is also wearing layers- a pale green skirt is seen where she's lifted the outer skirt. Lesbia, at a lower rank than Sophrona, wears a veil in a fashion more typical of the 14th century. Her dress, however, is still fitted. You can see that the fabric around her torso is not very tight, but that is also appropriate to her station and occupation. These women are not rejects of fashion. They are not wearing "plus-size" costumes because they do not fit within the perimeters of the ideal or norm. So neither should the modern plus-size woman doing medieval recreation! I think the depiction of Sophrona is a great plus-size ideal for recreating the medieval silhouette. Her bust, is supported, but not gravity defying. Her trunk is defined as best it can be as a narrowing just under her bust. The roundness of her belly (perhaps the only portion of her body even close to the ideal) is highlighted in a flattering manner (though it is hard to tell just were the flaring of the skirt starts because of her belt). If you'd like to see what this silhouette looks like on a recreation, I urge you to look at this photo. Going into my fitting, Sophrona is my muse. She may not be the ideal, but her shape is still lovely, and more importantly, attainable.

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