Low Countries Headwear.Pub

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Cover thy Head

Women’s head-coverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th Century

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Overview From about 1470 unl about 1520 Western Europe went through a transion in fashion, similar in scope to the change that occurred following each of the World Wars in the 20th century. The fashionable silhouee shied from tall, slim and elongated to geometric, triangular and wide/imposing. This is the period in which the well-known high burgundian fashion transioned into the equally well-known renaissance fashions, and for this reason is oen called “the transion era” amongst those of us who study and recreate clothing from this 50 year period.

Of course when dress styles change, headwear oen changes with it, and this 50 year period sees a plethora of headwear, some quite odd and disnct to this era, and some are the origins of the iconic headwear of the 16th century - the French Hood and the afet.

This class will cover the following types of headwear found in the documentary evidence of The Low Countries (modern day Netherlands and Flanders) and France or the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

Headwear covered in this class:

1. The Formal Black Hood in all its guises (variously called Flemish Veil, French Hood, Beguine Hood)

2. The Bongrace

3. Cap and Veil

4. Caps

5. The Netherlandish White Hood (variously called a Hovetcleet, Sluierkap, Flemish veil)

6. Padded roll or turban Gerard David, The Wedding at Cana, c1500. The Louvre, Paris, France 7. Head wraps and Tailed Caps

8. Other Oddies

Gerard David: The Marriage at Cana c. 1500 Where possible I will include paerns and instrucons for these items. A ﬁnal version of this with all images labelled will be available aer Rowany Fesval on my website: hp://dutchrenaissanceclothing.wordpress.com

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

What hats were worn when, and how popular were they?

Method

The chart above represents the number of artworks that show each hat type, its corresponding table of ﬁgures is over the page. I did not count the number of hats in each image simply that an image had a parcular style of hat in it. I did not count any hennins, although they were well represented in the 1460s, 70s and 80s, as I was interested in the growth of transion era style hats.

I made the count from anthologies of artwork that I have on my shelves, to reduce bias from a parcular author/arst. The list of books is at the end of these notes.

I charted each hat type by year, and then grouped them into 5 year periods. What does the survey tell us?

As a preliminary analysis I can make the following statements: 1. That a formal black hood (eventually known as a French Hood) is the most common item throughout the period surveyed.

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Formal Hood Bongrace Cap Hovetcleet Padded Roll Tailed Cap Frontlet Veil & Cap

1465-1470 1 2 7 1471-1475 3 1 2 7 1476-1480 4 3 10 1481-1485 1 5 2 8 1486-1490 2 1 1 1 2 1491-1495 5 1 3 1496-1500 5 2 1 2 1 3 1 1501-1505 11 1 2 4 1 1506-1510 4 4 2 1 1511-1515 6 2 1 1 1516-1520 2 6 3 1521-1525 6 3 6 3 2 2 1 1 1526-1530 2 4 6 2 4 1 1531-1535 1536-1540 1 1 1 Totals 49 8 25 31 18 3 34 16

2. That there is a spike in the wearing of frontlets (the only me I did count hennins was where a frontlet was worn over a hennin as I wanted to chart the rise and fall of this item) but they virtually disappear aer 1485, which co-incides with the sharp rise of the (usually) black veil and cap combo appears on the scene, suggesng these replace hennins in France.

3. The padded roll ﬁndings are suspect, and I may go back to revise them. Most padded rolls are shown on women who are allegorical or represent historical or exoc ﬁgures. See page ??? For a summary of an academic arcle on this.

Master of the Female Half-Length, early 16th century hps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Master_of_the_Female_Half-Lengths#/media/ File:Meister_der_weiblichen_Halbﬁguren_002.jpg 4

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

The Formal Black Hood variously called Flemish Veil, French Hood, Beguine Hood

At a Glance

First appears: 1460s

Most fashionable: Consistently fashionable across this period. A must-make if you want to do this style. Thankfully you can pull a simple one together in an aernoon.

Commonly worn by: Aristocrac and well-to-do women and girls

Made from: Velvets, silk, possibly wool.

Decorave elements Beads, gold work embroidery

The black hood is the most ubiquitous head covering for this period, and if you are looking to recreate women’s clothing for the period 1480-1550 you should ensure that your kit contains at least one appropriate hood. This item is most commonly known in costuming circles as a French Hood, as it arrived at the English Court via the inﬂuence of the French Court following Mary Tudor’s marriage (sister of Henry VIII) and Anne Boleyn’s elevaon to Queen, however this term is anachronisc and anglo-centric. In France and across Western Europe, including England at the me it was simply known as a bonnet.

There has been lots of analysis done on the French Hood as worn at the English Tudor and French Courts, so I will not cover that here. Instead I’m going to focus on the early hoods worn by Anne of Briany and the Duchesses of Burgundy and their daughters. I’ll also be looking at more simple hoods depicted in imagery from France and the Low Countries.

Images L-R: Anne of Briany from a page of her Book of Hours, Jean Bourdichon, 1503-1508

Portrait of Isabella of Burgundy, Master of the Legend of the Magdalen, 1515

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

This hood ﬁrst appears in the courts of Europe in France, with Anne of Briany, and in Spain with Isabella of Casle and her daughters Juana and Catherine of Aragon.

Its early incarnaons are draped and extend to the shoulders. Over me it becomes more ﬁed to the skull, raises to the level of the jawbone, and develops a pronounced pipe in the back of the hood.

In some cases the front is ﬂipped back to reveal coloured lining. In others it is shaped to frame the face. Worn underneath

If you look closely at portraits of women painted with this hood you can see that there are generally at least two layers in the headwear. The tapestry at le shows a style of cap that I think goes under the hood, both to secure it, and also as an extra decorave layer. For more informaon on these caps see page 16

Another possibility is a set of bands over the head, which may be an alternave to the cap, or may be what the cap is secured to. For ideas on how the hair is Detail of Tapestry , possibly Arthur and dressed under the hoods see page 30. Katherine

IMAGES SHOWING A DRAPED STYLE FOR THE FORMAL H O O D

Images L-R:

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

IMAGES SHOWING THE LAYERED AND SHAPED HOODS

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

IMAGES SHOWING THE FOLD BACK AT THE FRONT OF THE FORMAL HOOD

Detail of Pophar’s wife, Lucas van Leyden, Detail of The Chessplayers, Lucas van Leyden, 1512 1508

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

My version

I have made two versions of this hood, one based on the very early draped style of the 1490s/1500s and the other based on the styles of the 1510s. The trick to making these styles work is to build at least2 layers, and to use pins. Instructions to make: Materials:

♦ 1/2m of black velvet or wool for outer, visible layer (I’ve seen one example of red velvet, for a young princess, as shown on previous page) ♦ 1/2m of silk or linen in a bright colour. Red and gold seem to be the most common colours used. ♦ 1/2m of black linen or wool for coon for lining layer, preferably in the same colour ♦ 1/2m of Metallic gold fabric, or gold metallic ribbon to create waved edge. ♦ A coif or white headband, or black velvet band to secure all the layers to. Construction:

(this is a bag lining method, not period, but quick) 1. Take the following measurements: • Jawbone point to jawbone point over the crown of your head • Crown of head to the base of the skull • Ear to ear over the back of the head. 2. Adjust the paern on the next page for these measurements. 3. Cut one version of the outer in the black velvet or wool, and one in the bright coloured silk or linen. Include seam allowance. 4. Cut one version of the inner in the black linen or wool, and one in black or coloured linen. Include seam allowance. 5. Match up the two outer pieces, right sides together. Sew around the seam, except for 5cm at one edge. Clip the seams and turn right side out. 6. Press the seam ﬂat, turning the open secon inside. 7. Whip stch this secon closed. 8. Do the same for the inner layer pieces. 9. Apply decoraon to the edges of the outer and the inner layer as desired. I used two types of woven golden braid on the inner layer To wear:

• Put on a coif or cap (I somemes use the one shown on page 17, and somemes a simple biggins that I bought some years ago.) Secure this to your head. • Place the inner layer over this layer and centre it on your forehead. Place a pin on the crown of your head into the cap. Place a second pin to secure the two layers into a pipe at the back of your head. • Do the same for the outer layer, include two pins on the side to keep the hood at the right spot and fold the front back to display the colourful layer.

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

The Bongrace At a Glance

First appears: First decade of the 1500s

Most fashionable: 1510s, 1520s

Commonly worn by: Burgher, urban women

Made from: Velvets, silk, possibly wool.

Decorave elements Gold work embroidery

The Bongrace is related to the black bonnet/hood in that it generally has a the same face shape but the tail of the hood is folded up over the head to provide a peak over the face. It may actually be the same item worn diﬀerently, as it oen worn in the same way by women in the same image as women wearing the formal hood, such as the image below.

Images Clockwise from top right:

Detail of The Fortune-teller, Lucas van Leyden, 1508 Master of the Female Half-Length, early 16th century

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

My version

I have made one version of this hood, which has since been gied to a friend (who I am told loves it). My paern is on the next page: Instructions to make: Materials:

♦ 1/2m of velvet, linen or wool for outer, visible layer. Silk is also an opon, but I think highly unusual. ♦ 1/2m of silk, linen or coon for lining, preferably in the same colour ♦ 1/2m of strong linen or calico as interlining - if you plan to fold the top edge over don’t interline. Construction:

(this is a bag lining method, not period, but quick) Take the following measurements: 1. Base of the skull over the crown to an inch in front of your forehead 2. Base of the skull to back of the skull 3. A parallel measurement from the base of skull to halfway along your jawline 4. This jawbone point to opposite jawbone point over the top of your head Use these measurements to create the paern on the next page. Cut this paern out on outer and lining fabric, and interlining if you are using it For the lining and the outer fabrics,: • Fold in half with right sides together, and stch up the cut line on the side closest to side labelled “head”. • Press this seam open Sandwich layers together in this order: outer, lining, interlining, with right sides together. Sew around all seams marked in black on the next page. Turn through to the right side and press the seams flat. Turn the pipe secon in as shown in the cross secon and flaen it. Whip stch this closed and press flat.

Images Clockwise from le:

Detail of Three Young Women Making Music with a Jester, Master of the Female Half-Length, early 16th century

Detail of painng by Master of the Female Half-Length, early 16th century

Detail of The Promenade, Lucas van Leyden,

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

<————————Measurement 1————————————-> <——————Measure<—Measurement 2—–-> ment 3————————-> <——–——1/2 Measurement 4——-—–->

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

The Cap and Veil At a Glance

First appears: 1480

Most fashionable: 1480s

Commonly worn by: Aristocrac and well-to-do women

Made from: Velvet, silk, possibly wool

Decorave elements Goldwork. A pin is oen worn in the lappet

The cap and veil combinaon appears in 1480 and seems to directly replace the hennin and lappet combinaon of the previous few decades. It is mostly seen in on courtly women in French miniatures worn with a ght sleeved gown.

Most versions are black. The next common colour is red, I’ve seen a couple of green versions and one with a tan cap. Most of them have some gold work embroidery, usually along edges.

I’ve found three people who have remade this item.

The Tudor Tailor’s The Queen’s Servants has a version cut as a single piece with the cap gathered to a point in the back of the skull. The instrucons indicated that this item should be worn with a lappet, but my paern test created an item a lot like the women in the images below. If you are interested in clothing of this me, then this book is a good investment.

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Sarah Lorraine has made a version in 2 pieces: a veil and a separate cap. You can ﬁnd her version here: hp:// www.modehistorique.com/blog/?p=712

Sarah’s version is based on the idea found on SevenStarWheel’s blog: hp:// sevenstarwheel.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/transiton- frontlet-and-cap-paern/ and hps://www.ﬂickr.com/ photos/50505297@N00/sets/72157624781137167/ with/4970034374/

Sarah later made the version from Tudor Tailor and prefers it: hp://www.modehistorique.com/blog/?p=782

I’ve made the Tudor Tailor version and ﬁnd it very comfortable and when worn with a velvet band it stays on my head very well.

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Caps (or coifs) At a Glance

First appears: 1480

Most fashionable: 1490-1510

Commonly worn by: Women in tapestries, women in van Leyden’s prints. Upper class women and urban women

Made from: Linen, silk.

Decorave elements All of them

As in most of our period women were wearing small caps (coifs). In general they are worn under other headcoverings, especially the Formal Black Hood, as a secure base but occasionally they are worn on their own. I have found most examples in tapestries and the prints of Lucas van Leyden. In all cases they have some level of decoraon, especially of the ‘bag’ of the cap. The front is generally shaped around the head to show oﬀ the front 2 inches of hair, and then to ﬂow over the ears and cheeks and come to a point at the jaw. This shaping can be a straight line, or an S- curve.

There are two extant caps with the same or similar shapes to that shown in the Katherine and Arthur tapestry to the right. One is from Italy dated to 1520(which has a similar cut and proﬁle to that seen in tapestries of the period. The other is from Germany, and is dated to the 16th century. Both are embroidered.

Like the French hood there are examples that e under the chin and examples that don’t.

Detail of Tapestry , possibly Arthur and Katherine

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Details from two engravings by Lucas van Leyden: The Promenade and The Temptaon of St Anthony

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

My version

I have made a version of this cap from silk, based on prints from Lucas van Leyden.

It has a ’bag’ covered in gold couched threads arranged in a diamond paern, with a shaped and wired brim. The brim paern was based on a French Hood paern from the Tudor Tailor, with the shaping through the front done by me. Instructions to make: Materials:

♦ XXm of silk, linen or wool for outer, visible layer ♦ XXm of linen or coon for lining, preferably in the same colour ♦ XXm of strong linen or calico as interlining. ♦ XXm of canvas or sﬀ interfacing to line the brim ♦ XXcm of millinery wire or similar Construction:

Take the following measurements: • Jawbone point to jawbone point over the crown of your head • Crown of head to the base of the skull • Ear to ear over the back of the head. Non-decorated version 1. Draw an oval directly onto your interlining based on the last two measurements above, adding 2 inches to each measurement for some bagginess in the ‘bag’. Add your desired seam allowance. Cut this out. 2. Use the oval as a template on your fashion fabric and cut this out too. Do the same with your lining fabric. 3. Baste the fashion fabric and interlining layers together around the seam line, and pad-stch the layers together with ny stches to ensure the two pieces of fabric act as one (If you don’t like pad stching you could apply a fusible interfacing that has a similar hand to linen/calico) 4. Oponal: apply decoraon to the oval such as couching Brim 5. Using the brim paern cut a version from your fashion fabric, lining fabric and canvas interlining. 6. Lay the canvas layer on top of the fashion fabric layer, fold in so the fashion fabric is ‘inside’ and then sew the seam at line AB. 7. Do the same for the lining fabric 8. Press all seams flat 9. Assemble the layers of the brim in this order from top to boom: canvas, fashion, lining, ensuring that the pressed seams are ‘right sides’ together. 10. Sew up the outside edge of the brim. Clip corners, turn through and press flat. 11. Turn inside out again. Hand stch the millinery wire in along the front edge of the brim, just outside the seam line as close to the seam as possible. 12. Turn through and finger press the seam again

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Aach bag to brim 5. Find the top of the circle for the bag and, placing right sides together, pin it to the centre of the brim 6. Pin together smoothly to the mark points on the brim paern 7. Pin 3-4 pleats into the bag heading down the side of the head and aach this to the brim 8. Gather the rest of the bag into the brim 9. Re-adjust the gathering and pleang to create a pleasing shape. 10. Carefully machine these two elements together 11. Cut a circle in the lining fabric, and pleat this into the brim, turning edges under to hide all raw edges. Slip stch this lining in place. 12. To keep the item on your head either stch two loops for pins into the front of the brim, or stch a hair comb onto the join between brim and bag lining.

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

The Netherlandish White Hood variously called a Hovetcleet, Sluierkap, Flemish veil At a Glance

First appears: 1480

Most fashionable: 1500-1540

Commonly worn by: Married women at all levels of society

Made from: Linen, starch and a piece of wire

Decorave elements None, always plain

This headwear is generally only seen in the Netherlands

This item is a white hood/veil which appears in the arsc record around 1480 and connues to be worn in various forms throughout the 16th century. It seems to have been worn exclusively by Dutch and Flemish women* unl around 1550, when it crosses the sea and appears in England as an ‘afet’.

It starts its life as a veil worn over a truncated hennin, which then becomes more structured and styled as the century progresses. It is truly a good example of the transion of fashion from the Medieval to the Early Modern in the Low Countries.

It seems to be worn by married women, as a couple of examples show a female donor with her daughters. She is wearing the hood while her daughters wear the formal black hood**. Widows also wear the hovetcleet with a wimple to hide their necks. The most iconic example of this combinaon is Margaret, Regent of the Netherlands, known as "Dame de deuil" (Lady of Mourning) as she was married and widowed twice at an early age ***.

Its most characterisc feature is the heart shaped frame around the face. This frame shape can range from an inverted fold in the centre of the veil with an oval shape for the rest of the veil, through to a shape with disnct lobes held sﬄy out from the crown of the head.

Hovetcleet literally means “headcloth”, and I’m told it’s an Old Dutch word that most modern Dutch people wouldn’t recognise today. In modern Dutch this garment is referred to as a sluierkap (literally: veil cap), which is useful informaon when hunng for images and textual informaon on this item.

*With the excepon of one portrait tled “Anne Staﬀord, which I personally think is a mis-named Flemish portrait, rather than an English one.

**the formal black hood is my term for the hoods that appear in the late 1400s and morph into the item commonly known as a French Hood.

***see Wikipedia’s arcle on Margaret of Austria for more informaon

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Class Notes for Rowany Fesval ASXLV Text and research © Karinne Taylor 2014, images retain original copyright of owners

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

My version Mark I—1490s

This version was made in 2004, based on the styles seen in the 1490s, speciﬁcally the women in the Fesval of Archers painng (see page 3).

It is made from an opaque linen cloth measuring 70cm x 70cm square. One edge is wired and bent to make the iconic heart shape of the hovetcleet. The back is shaped by a truncated hennin made of buckram, and is held on my head with a black velvet band.

The back of the veil is pinned up into shape:

1. One pin at the nape of my neck to create the shape around the head and hennin,

2. The centre of the drape of veil is pinned into the nape of the neck to create a clean edge,

3. The two remaining corners are turned in on themselves and pinned to make a ﬁnal kite shape.

The photos below show the hennin just aer its been slipped oﬀ my head so you can see the interior and folds.

As a ﬁrst try and test of a theory it worked really well. However I don’t think the edges of the veils were wired. The fold in the centre of the face is not crisp enough, and I’ve yet to see an image with a corresponding dip behind the wired edge.

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Mark II—1520s

Aer looking at lots of portraits and doing some research into material culture, I wanted to build Mark II do the following:

• Build a shorter hennin, or a small cap OR

• Use a white headband and a fake bun and plaits combo

• Use a lighter-weight linen for the veil

• See if I can create the heart-shape through starching Starched Hovetcleet—Finished version

• Make ooijsters to get the sharp points at the cheeks

• Play with folding the back of the veil to achieve a variety of styles

This version was made in 2014, based on the styles seen in the 1520s and 1530s. It is made from a more translucent linen cloth than version 1, and is shaped by starching over a heart-shaped gi box.

I started to make an oorijzer, but realised l didn’t need it with this starching method. I’ll be building Mark III to play with this item later this year. Construction Method Components for this version of a hovetcleet. White • Take a very simple rectangle of white linen 80cm x 60cm, with a rolled hem. • Find a heart shaped form—I used a cardboard gi box • Prepare a starch gel and apply it about 10cm deep along the front of the veil (the 60cm edge). I followed katafalk’s instrucons for making up a starch gel. • Drape the wet fabric over the heart-shaped form and place it somewhere to dry. Try to get the ‘ starched secon as parallel to the form as possible. • When it is dry gently remove it from the form • Shape any starched secon that has a sharp dent or is wrinkled so that you get a straight proﬁle though the crown. I used a spray bole to dampen a small secon to be re-shaped, placed it over a tailor’s Wet starched veil drying over the heart-shaped form ham and used a hot iron to re-set the veil into its ﬁnal shape • Make a white hair band (“Alice band”) between 1-1.5” wide. I used a coon tape and closed with a skirt hook • Put your hair up, either in plaits over the crown of your head, or in a large bun (I bought a fake bun to put over my puny one – p from looking at hijab wearing tutorials on YouTube, since there are so many similaries) • Place the veil over your head, centre the dent in the heart on your forehead and pull it forward so it’s slightly forward of your forehead. Pin the top of the veil into the white band

First wear. Note the rumpling in the back of the veil and the sharp drop at the crown of the head

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

• Make the veil meet at the nape of your neck, and pull it gently so that it’s at the right depth compared to your jawline, and lightly pulled in. Place a pin at this point. • Gently push the veil in at the back of your head to create a separaon between the head of the ‘hood’ and the tube of the veil. Place a pin here.

And you’re done. Wear with pride, but not in a rain storm.

Veil not yet re-ironed, worn with fake bun

Post-starched veil shaped over a tailor’s ham to remove the sharp crease in the crown. Note pin placement

Detail, The Draper’s Market in ‘s-Hertgenbosch, arst unknown, circa 1530

Finished version, looking very similar to the version worn by the woman of ‘s-Hertgenbosch at boom right of the Draper’s Market painng from 1530

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Head Wraps

At a Glance

First appears: 1470s

Most fashionable: Throughout the period studied

Commonly worn by: Women in ﬁelds and women indoors in comfortable sengs

Made from: linen

Decorave elements None

As with caps, every era has a linen-wrapped-around-head opon for the working woman and for general comfort.

This version is a shaped veil with ends ed up onto the head. It is seen predominantly on women out in the ﬁelds, or women in relaxed indoor sengs.

95% of the versions I’ve seen are white. I’ve seen a couple of black versions. I’ve not seen other colours used. My version I used SevenStarWheel’s paern for the version I made last year in a black linen. It is comfortable, easy to wear and I highly recommend making one of these to go with your late 1400s garb.

Her website has the paern and instrucons to make it up: hp://sevenstarwheel.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/late-15th-century-white-hood-or- coif-transion-peroid-war-of-the-roses/

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

Padded Roll or Turban

At a Glance

First appears:

Most fashionable: 1480s

Commonly worn by: Not commonly worn, mostly allegorical.The major non-apocryphal version I’ve found is worn by Duchess Mary of Burgundy, as seen below.

Made from:

Decorave elements Beads, goldwork embroidery

Padded rolls and turban are seen throughout this period worn by women in a variety of mediums. They are most commonly seen in illuminaons and tapestries rather than portraits, and most of those women are either allegorical, historical or exoc.

The sole excepon that I have found is two portraits of Duchesses of Burgundy shown at right.

Friedman's arcle in the journal of Medieval Clothing and Texles vol 4 analyses the depicon of turbans on women in the late 15th century and ﬁnds an increased prevalence of them in many of his manuscripts. What's interesng is that Testard's patron was Louise of Savoy, who was interested in works with a greater representaon of women. Friedman's theory is that Testard used turbans on exoc, historical or mythical/biblical ﬁgures to create interest in the manuscripts as well as

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century indicate that these ﬁgures were not contemporary.

This means you should be careful wearing items like this, and know that it’s unlikely that European women were actually wearing them. On the other hand they are generally fabulous and probably fun to wear.

All images on this page are of women drawn by Robinet Testard to show you what to look for.

John B Friedman, The Art of the Exoc: Robinet Testard's Turbans and Turban- like Coiﬀure, Medieval Clothing and Texles vol 4. Netherton & Owen-Crocker eds.

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century

What’s going on underneath? Hair styles, nets and hairbands We need to understand what’s going on underneath headwear to recreate authenc looking headwear.

Step one is to noce the shape of the headwear and whether you can see any hair. Most styles of this me either hide the hair enrely, or show hair parted in the centre and swooping down in front of the ears. In most of these styles the back of the head oen seems more rounded than a normal skull. This implies some form of hair taping is probably going on.

The next two pages have a variety of images that I think shed light on what’s probably happening underneath the styles of headwear examined in this paper.

CONTEMPORARY FLEMISH HAIRSTYLES THAT GIVE A SIMILAR P R O FI L E.

CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN HAIRSTYLES THAT GIVE A SIMILAR PROFILE.

Cover Thy Head: Women’s Headcoverings in France and the Low Countries at the turn of the 16th century