Tunic, Gown, Overgown, Dalmatic and Tunicle

CHAPTER 5 Rich Body Garments: Tunic, Gown, Overgown, Dalmatic and Tunicle

Introduction Items 5.6, 5.7, 5.8 and 5.9 are ecclesiastical garments, the first three dalmatics.1 A dalmatic is the distinguish- Most of the garments considered here are made of silk, ing liturgical vestment of a deacon, but is also part of variously Andalusian, Italian, Byzantine and Chinese, the the full ceremonial mass vestments of a bishop, worn exceptions being the mi-parti dalmatic from Brunswick under the chasuble or cope. It developed from a Roman (5.7), which includes half silk (linen and silk) material, over-tunic with wide sleeves originating in Dalmatia and the Göss dalmatic (5.8) which is linen densely em- (now part of Croatia). The dalmatic was at first a long, broidered with silk thread. white, linen garment ornamented by two vertical pur- The silk garments from the royal graves in the ple stripes (clavi) from shoulder to hem on the front. Monasterio de Santa Maria La Real de Huelgas in This garment was adopted as a liturgical garment by Burgos, Spain, testify to the wealth of the royal family the fourth century. It became shorter from the ninth of Castile and León in the thirteenth century. That an century and by the twelfth had developed into various illegitimate son (5.3) and a long-retired queen (5.1, 5.2) colours, appropriate for different liturgical seasons, could be dressed so richly though of far less dynastic was generally made of silk and had evolved slits at the importance than the heir to the throne (5.4) demon- sides to facilitate movement. Both the Ulrich dalmatic, strates the far-reaching prestige of royal blood and the believed to be tenth-century, and the fifteenth-century way it was manifested through rich dress. The clothing Brunswick one employ colourful textiles decorated with of Fernando de la Cerda (5.4 and also 1.7, 2.6, 10.7) shows elaborate patterns which include Christian emblems, a how co-ordinated garments were woven and, in the case possible Tree of Life on the former and peacocks, which of the hat, constructed of metal and beadwork, to repre- can represent the Christian Church and resurrection, sent through heraldry the kingdom of Castile and León on the latter (see General Introduction, pp. 22–4). The so that the heir apparent carried on his body the visible, Brunswick dalmatic is a rare example of an ecclesiasti- symbolic evidence of his heritage. The Andalusian tex- cal vestment in mi-parti – the style where a garment is tiles, including Islamic inscriptions on the clothing of divided down the middle and employs different colours Eleanor and Don Fernando and the striped fabric worn and textiles. The popularity of mi-parti for secular use by the latter, as well as the style of the dress confirm is well attested in medieval manuscript illuminations the evidence of contemporary art and testify to the cos- and textual evidence. It perhaps strikes the modern mopolitanism of the kingdom. Such eclecticism is also viewer as somewhat frivolous, rather jolly.2 On a prac- found in the thirteenth-century tunicle of Pere D’Urg tical level, however, the fact that at the maximum only in Barcelona (5.9) which is of cloth from Moorish Spain one half of the garment was made of each piece of cloth and has an Islamic inscription on the sleeve, despite its meant that cherished pieces of textile could be used up use as a Christian vestment. economically. The garments found in the grave of Eleanor of Castile, and the Golden Gown attributed to Queen Margaret 1 Joseph Braun, ‘Dalmatic’ in The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. IV (5.5), offer rare material evidence of female dress. In (New York: The Encyclopedia Press , 1908), 608–09, see https:// both cases the garments were made long enough to trail archive.org/details/catholicencyclop04herbuoft accessed 5 May on the floor, demonstrating conspicuous consumption 2016; Pauline Johnstone, High Fashion in the Church. The place of of very valuable cloth, a prerogative of the extremely church vestments in the history of art from the ninth to the nine- rich and leisured classes. The fact that the Margaret teenth century (Leeds: Maney, 2002), 12. gown was evidently ripped, probably by the wearer trip- 2 In art, mi-parti is sometimes used in this way, in depicting the ping over it an early stage in its existence (the tear is re- costumes of musicians, for example in a well-known early fourteenth-century fresco by Simone Martini in the St Martin paired with the same cloth) provides a rare illustration Chapel of the Lower Basilica of San Francesco, in Assisi; Rosita of the hazards of wearing fashionable clothes. The gown Levi-Pisetzky, Storia del Costume in Italia, Fondazione Giovanni attributed to Margaret is one of the few survivals of that Treccani degli Alfieri, 5 vols (Milan: Istituto Editoriale Italiano, prestigious medieval fabric, cloth of gold. 1964–9), Fig. 61 (p. 151); http://www.wga.hu/support/viewer_m/z .html accessed 9 March 2017.

The Göss dalmatic is part of a unique set of chapel The final item in this chapter is a garment which was vestments, made under a royal abbess according to the worn by seculars in sacred circumstances: a dalmatic ap- inscriptions on them. Again, images of Christian sig- parently worn by men being anointed and crowned Holy nificance are represented on the garments, but mythical Roman Emperor (5.10). It is decorated with orphreys, beasts and other designs appear alongside them. gold bands which are used to ornament ecclesiastical A tunicle is a rare survival.3 Developing later than the copes and chasubles. However, the iconography on the dalmatic, and originally the vestment of a sub-deacon, it orphreys is imperial rather than Christian, and though became part of the regalia of popes and bishops and was the garment has been called ‘dalmatic’ it is longer and worn from the twelfth century along with the dalmatic. grander than ecclesiastical dalmatics. It is a reminder of (Before this, it was usual to wear one or the other). The the secular origin and early imperial use of the dalmatic. tunicle attributed to Pere D’Urg (5.9) has been the sub- It seems to have been intended from its inception as an ject of intense study, enabling it to be to be reassembled imperial garment, unlike some of the other regalia of the from separated parts. Holy Roman Empire, such as the Coronation Mantle of Roger II of Sicily (2.3). 3 Joseph Braun, ‘Tunic’ in The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. XVI (New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1908), 87–8; https://archive.org/ details/catholicencyclop15herbuoft accessed 5 May 2016.