Fact Sheet 4 Medieval Roslin – What did people wear? Roslin is in the lowlands of Scotland, so you would not see Highland dress here in the Middle Ages. No kilts or clan tartans. Very little fabric has survived from these times, so how do we find out what people did wear? We can get some information from bodies found preserved in peat bogs. A bit gruesome, but that has given us clothing, bags and personal items. We can also look at illustrated manuscripts and paintings. We must remember that the artist is perhaps making everyone look richer and brighter and the people being painted would have their best clothes on! We can also look at household accounts and records, as they often have detailed descriptions. So over the years, we have built up This rich noblewoman wears a patterned satin dress some knowledge. and a expensive headdress,1460. If you were rich, you could have all sorts of wonderful clothes. Soldiers returning from the crusades brought back amazing fabrics and dyes from the East. Trade routes were created and soon fine silks, satins, damasks, brocades and velvets were readily available – if you could afford them! Did you know? Clothing was a sign of your status and there • Headdresses could be very were “sumptuary laws“ saying what you could elaborate. Some were shaped and could not wear. Only the wives or daughters like hearts, butterflies and even of nobles were allowed to wear velvet, satin, church steeples! sable or ermine. Expensive head dresses or veils were banned for lower class women. In other • In the Middle Ages men carried purses because their clothes words, your clothes were like a uniform – they didn’t have pockets. told people whether you were a noble person, a craftsman or a peasant. 1 Medieval Roslin – What did people wear? Women always had an underdress and an overdress, worn with stockings. Noble women, who did not have to do much work, had very long overdresses that pooled round their feet. They would have servants to pick up and carry the loose material when the lady wanted to move around. The men wore hose, which were tight leggings, a bit like today’s skinny jeans. There was no elastic or zips, so each leg hose had to be tied round the waist or attached to your tunic. Clothing for ordinary people was generally made out of wool. It was hard wearing, but itchy and hard to wash. The women spun wool from sheep that they tended, making it into thread which could be woven into clothing. Most people wore loose tunics or jackets made of wool or linen. Working women would have shorter tunics like dresses that would stop around the calf. Men would wear hose, but of rougher material than the nobles. Ordinary people wore clothes made of wool or linen that were dyed using plants and vegetables, 1474. Ordinary people would have only one or two main garments. Only their linen undergarments So the clothes worn by the ordinary people would be washed regularly. Footwear was leather tended to be in greys, browns, yellow, and or wooden clogs or shoes. In winter, peasants muted blues. Fruit like blackberries could provide would wear woollen hats and gloves, and perhaps deeper dyes, but it was difficult to work into sheepskin cloaks. Children would wear the same coarse wool fabric. clothes as adults, often getting cut down clothes made from worn out adult outfits. The nobles loved colour, and indulged this by wearing brightly coloured fabrics. Their finely The brightest coloured clothes were only woven clothes took dye more easily, so the colours available to the richest people. Blue was the most would be richer and darker. Also they were able expensive dye, and was very rarely seen, except to afford some of the more expensive methods in the noblest families. Red was also difficult to of extracting rich, dark dyes. None of the medieval reproduce. Popular dyes were saffron, cochineal, dyes were totally colour fast, and even the madder and woad, later replaced by the more expensive ones faded easily. This did not matter expensive but richer indigo. Simple shades of grey if you were very rich, as you simply discarded brown, yellow and green were made from natural the clothes when the colour faded. dyes that came from vegetables and plants. www.rosslynchapel.com 2.