Live-Blogging Kalamazoo: Friday 10:00

Dress and Textiles II: What Not to Wear

Disorder in the Courts: A Reappraisal of Medieval Sumptuary Law -- Laurel Ann Wilson, Independent Scholar

Studies on sumptuary law tend to come to contradictory conclusions due to the differing focuses of scholars. "Laws that attempt to regulate consumption in accordance with social values" that is, they focus on visible, public consumption. No restricted to clothing; may cover housing, accessories, etc. Sumptuary laws differ from prescriptive dress codes (e.g., for identifying "others" such as Jews). Misconception that sumptuary laws "failed" as evidenced by repetition of highly similar regulations, but only if you take the goals at face value -- rather than viewing the creation of the laws as the goal rather than the change of behavior as the goal. Sumptuary laws of the Roman era disappeared with the fall of the empire, then reappeared almost simultaneously throughout western Europe around the 13th century and later disappeared everywhere at a similar time in the early modern period. So sumptuary laws are best studied as a large-scale phenomenon. Laws of the high medieval period (ca. 1200-1400) in western Europe were nonetheless variable in their focus (e.g., gender, nature of regulated item, enforcement) from region to region. A general focus in some way on knights as a class, but otherwise there might be a wide range of social caategories that the laws distinguish. Re: enforcement, sometimes the laws were treated as a licensing system rather than a regulatory system. The driving force behind creating the laws might be top-down from the king or bottom-up from town governments (e.g., in Italy) or from parliament (in England). One social dynamic behind S.L. seems to have been the friction between the upper bourgoisie and the lower nobility.

Angevin-Sicilian and French Sumptuary Laws of the 1290s: Furs, Trains, and New Clothes -- Sarah-Grace Heller, Ohio State Univ.

Promulgated by 2 justiciars who were close relatives of the royalty. Extensive preamble justifying the law. Covers materials (rare furs, purple, gold or silk cloth, etc.) Part of the first wave of medieval sumptuary laws. Also covered purchases of new garments, restricting to twice a year, excluding certain specific garments, including a garnache or cotehardie. Another excluded garment was the "houce" a wider surcoat with an open hanging sleeve, but could also refer to a horse's caparison. The excluded garments seemt to focus on military-type garments as opposed to luxury items. Similarly the laws restrict new sadles for palfreys, but are more generous for military horses' saddles. Women's clothing was a special focus, e.g., restricting trains to no longer than dragging four palms on the ground. Penalties were graded according to rank, with higher ranks paying more. Brief review of Sicilian history: regular turnover of cultural control, the Norman kingdom (12th c.) a high point of building and culture, passed to Hohenstaufens in 13th c., papal support for French control in late 13th, Aragonese takeover at end of 13th c., label "Kingdom of Sicily" was all southern Italy then split to insular vs. peninsular regions. Angevin-French rulers of Sicily not very popular, which is the context in which the sumptuary laws were created. The law should be treated as a hybrid creation, influenced both by the French court culture and the Italian city culture.

What Does Five Marks Buy?: A Comparison between the 1363 English Sumptuary Law and Fabric Prices in Late Medieval England -- Sarai Silverman, Ohio State Univ.

1363 laws focused on the expense allowed for clothing but doesn't touch on the specific types of fabric, so how much of what could those price limits buy? Sumptuary laws often follow local increases in wealth that made it possible for people to buy more and better fabrics. If expensive fabrics couldn't be restricted to the upper classes by economics, the distinction might be maintained by law. The focus was primarily on men's clothing, possibly because the smaller amounts of fabric required allowed for a greater potential for up-scaling? Wardrobe accounts are a good source of comparative proces. Wool: blankets and russets, low-class cloth for working men who were resticted to spending 12 pence per yard. A level of 40 shillings (for the whole length) was allowed for craftsmen. Various specifications for striped cloth. Categories of restrictiosn based both on class and annual income. Moving on to the more expensive fabrics, we include scarlet. Normalizing the various mentioned cloths to a per-yard basis, and allowing for some inflation between different account sources, there was a broad and gradual range of fabric prices, meaning that the sumptuary restrictions wouldn't have created clear and drastic differences in result. (Note: there were a lot of details of price and technical fabric terminology in this talk that I wasn't able to summarize well.)

Men in Tights: Shameful Fashion in The Parson’s Tale -- Mary C. Flannery, Queen Mary, Univ. of London

Parson's tale concerns itself with penitence, and reflects on "outrageous" clothing as an outward sign of pride. His diatribe focuses especially on "scanty clothing" that "covers not the shameful members of man, to wicked intent". He then focuses rather lovingly on the details of tight hose that show off men's ... accoutrements. But in general he rants against both superfluity and scantiness in clothing as showing sinful pride. The sartorial context of the mid 14th century was a significant shortening and tightening of men's garments from earlier styles. In the general context of Chaucer's description of this characters, it may be noteworthy that the parson's own clothing and accessories are not particularly noted. In terms of word-frequency, the word "shame" is very prominent in the parson's tale (and is only rivaled in Chaucer in the tale of Troilus and Cressida). Historically, there is a strong lexical association between reference to "shame" and to the genitals. The text's focus on both the wearer's prideful intent in displaying these "shameful" parts, and on their potential for inciting desire on the part of the viewer, makes the inordinate focus on them in the parson's text rather suggestive. Though the language asserts disgust, there is clearly an overriding fascination. Cf. various texts on pride that urge one who feels a stirring of pride to aggressively attack that feeling and despise it. (Does this mean the parson is not merely urging his audience to take an appropriate attitude but has to work hard to feel the proper disgust himself?) In dictating the "correct" response to the clothing, he is suggesting a guide to proper restrictions on what to wear. (But I still think he protests too much.)

Live-Blogging Kalamazoo: Friday 13:30

Dress and Textiles III: Dress and Textile Vocabulary Revealed

Atir, Apparaill, Clathis, Vesture: Linguistic Choices Relating To Dress And Textiles across Different Text Types -- Louise Sylvester

Data taken from wardrobe accounts and petitions to king, council and parliament. Source materials for forthcoming "Medieval Dres and Textiles: A Multilingual Anthology of Sources", covering a variety of genres and contexts. Paper looks at the choice of vocabulary refering to clothing depending on the context and genre type of the descriptions and references. Current comparison is romances, sumptuary laws, and wills. Overal number of words is equivalent in current corpus. Classified as garments, accessory/decoratoin, furnishings, armor, clerical garments, and descriptors. So, for example, descriptors are most common in wills, where clearly distinguishing items may be more important than in purely descriptive works. For sumptuary laws, the categories of clothing and people are more important, so vocabulary focuses on general garment types or more general descriptions. Romances feature technical terminology, e.g., identifying speific items within a category, as well as descriptoins of how the garment is worn (e.g., "covered, wrapped up"). Contrasting superordinate and specific terms, the proportions of specific items are higher in wills, again indicating a need for precision (though in absolute terms, both romances and sumptuary laws have greater numbers of different specific terms). In a multi-lingual context, translation can provide evidence for how linguistic choices are made, whether terms are borrowed, translated, or substitutions of alternate terms are used. For example: sumptuary law of 1463 (composed initially in English then translated into French): all superordinate terms are shared and of French origin while specific names for garments may differ, whether they correspond closely or are simply equivalent. Names for accessories usually differ while names ot textiles are generally shared and French, similarly for names of furs. Surprisingly, the English verb "wear" occurs in the Anglo-French text (contrasted with similar 14th c. statutes where French "prendre" is used in the same context). This seems to be a function of the language of composition rather than the relative status of the languages. In a larger survey, there are some terms that are used across a variety of languages, pointing to the possible development of a common vocabulary in a fluidly multi-lingual society.

“Embroidered in Gold with Stars”: The Inventories of Saint Paul’s Cathedral -- Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Univ. of Manchester

(A brief history of the history of St. Paul's. This paper concerns the Gothic version replaced by Wren's structure.) Inventories of the cathedral's treasures were taken twice in the 13th c. and once in the early 15th c. (The inventories are published in the original Latin in various 19th c. publications.) The 13th c. inventories were taken in a period of expansion and wealth. Vast numbers of various categories of ecclesiastical vestments and other textiles (furnishings, cushions, curtains, baudequins). (A lot of the paper consists of detailed descriptions of items in the inventory, accompanied by slides of similar object types from varous sources -- not generally the actual object being described.) Predominant fabric mentioned is samite in varous colors. "Cloth of Aresta" (a type of figured silk) is commonly mentioned. Sendal appears as a lining fabric. Decoration is often generic, e.g. "gold-work" but not specified what technique. Items are often decorated with specified gemstones (generally semi-precious) along with enameled plaques, bezants, etc. Specific design motifs are often described, including details of embroidered figures. Original owners or associated people are mentioned in the inventories. The inventory also assigns values to items, either based on the weight of precious metal or evaluated as a whole. Damage and missing decorations are described as well, and older items are sometimes noted as "of little value". Recycling of items are noted in some cases. Occastional notes on items borrowed and not returned. The later inventory includes items with heraldic decorations. Items are often described in sets. Storage conditions were noted (e.g., copes stored flat versus hanging). Changes in categories and terms in the later inventory suggest either vocabulary changes or changes in fashion, with some garments either becoming obsolete or coming to be known by different names.

A Household Bespoke: Language and Dress in the Fourteenth-Century Roll of Liveries of Elizabeth, Countess of Holland -- Mark Chambers, Univ. of Westminster

Source documents are from 1302-1305. Not part of the larger wardrobe accounts, covers specifically the livery for a particular household. Elizabeth is daughter of Edward I, betrothed to the young Count of Holland, married in 1297 in an opulent wedding (for which there are also garment descriptions). He died young. Second marriage at age 20 in 1302 to Earl of Hereford. The inventory names the individuals receiving specific garments or materials and gives the cost/value. The language of accounts like this are highly abbreviated but are normally published in silently expanded forms, making lexical analysis more difficult. Even assigning linguistic origins to terms can be difficult given the tendency to re-Latinize French or English derivatives of Latin vocabulary items.

Live-Blogging Kalamazoo: Friday 15:30

Dress and Textiles IV: From Field to Fabric: The University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Flax-to-Linen Project

Flax and Linen as Subject and Content in Medieval Images -- Alison Gates, Univ. of Wisconsin–Green Bay

Looking at characteristic signs of particular types of fiber processing in art, e.g., wetting the spun thread in the mouth, which is part of the linen spinning process as opposed to wool. But when the techniques are backgrounded to the subject of the depiction, the technology or activities may be stylized or misunderstood. (We now get a parade of 19th c. images of "medieval" textile scenes that completely misinterpret the relevant technology or include serious technological anachronisms.) Working back to contexts where the artist was closer to the actual production, the representations become more accurate and conversely can be more reliably used to increase understanding (e.g., agricultural scenes from books of hours showing seasonal flax processing actvities). When the activities are clearly functional, then the equipment depicted is a better guide to reconstruction. Spinning is an extremely common activity to depict, associated with both the Virgin and with Eve in iconography. Distaffs also appear in the genre of "henpecked husband", used by a woman to beat a husband who is being forced to use (feminine) textile tools. Spinning animals are another genre for fiber equipment depictions.

Seeds, Scutches, and Retting Pits: Archaeological Sources for Medieval Fiber Production -- Heidi M. Sherman, Univ. of Wisconsin–Green Bay

Plant fiber remains don't survive as well as animal, which distorts the understanding of the relative importance of linen versus other textiles soures. Looking at other types of material finds confirms the equal importance of linen & hemp fiberst to that of wool in northern Europe. Preparation rquires several stages of preparation. Retting (soaking in water pits to break down the "glue" holding the fiber to the stalk) can be identified by the remains of retting pits, often located places with easy acces to water, but also identifiable by traces of characteristic bacteria in the pit location. Flax seeds are also a key sign, especially in areas used for braking (breaking up the core and physically separating it from the surrounding fibers) or drying in preparation for this. When wooden artifacts are preserved, mallets or specialized flax-brakes used for this process may be characteristic. The next step (scutching) uses a wooden knife-like tool to separate the broken cores from the fibers and may also point to processing areas. (Sometimes mis-identified as "toy swords" due to the shape.) Hackling uses a set of iron teeth or spikes set into a wooden base to finish removing the cores and tow and to straighten and alight the fibers.

Both the materials from which the tools were made and the heavy use they had make survival difficult (with mis-identification a separate problem). Corroborative evidence for forms and uses can come from traditional peasant practices on the assumption that these are relatively conservative even in the face of available newer technologies. For example, common and widespread Novgorod finds of semi-toothed knife-like objects have been identified as hackles (assumed to be used in the lap with the fibers drawn over the teeth), but there is no ethnographic basis for this particular interpretation. One test for theories of this type is attempts to reproduce the hypothesized techniques using reconstructed tools.

Ancient Fiber Crop Cultivation on a Twenty-First-Century College Campus -- Alicia Engstrom, Univ. of Wisconsin–Green Bay

Grew 2 crops, one on campus, one on private land. Intent was to do entire fiber production cycle with an eye to creating 'home-grown" art materials for students as well as to explore process understanding for historic research. Seed is sown thickly to prevent branching. (Plants on the edge of the plot will branch and produce inferior fiber.)As plant flowers, the stalk begins to yellow from the base up, indicating readiness for harvesting and the nature of the resulting fiber. The on-campus raised bed yielded a good crop by the other, conventional crop was a failure, with early seed-setting and fallen stalks. Plants were pulled up by the roots and bundled in handfuls then stacked upright in groups to dry. The plants are straw-colored at this point. Seed-bolls are removed by rippling through a metal comb. Then they are re-bundled for retting. Placed uner water (weighted) for ca. 7 days. Interestingly the color of the plastic kiddie pools used for retting affected the retting speed and microbial growth (possibly due to temperature differences?). Bundles are dried again then put through a flax brake and scutched against a board. Fibers are pulled through three sequential hackles of descending size. First will still take out a fair amount of core; second removes tow (short fibers), third separates fibers more finely. The distaff was dressed more like a "woolen" technique (with the fibers relatively chaotic) rather than in the traditional cone-shaped dressing. The fibers were used as weft to spin a tabby linen (with commercial warp. (The results were presnt for show-and-tell.)