FREE ESSAY ON MEDIEVAL TIMES

MEDIEVAL TIMES

What Was Clothing Like in the Middle Ages?
In the Middle Ages the tailoring business developed and fashion as a concept was born.
There wasn't much difference among the distinct social classes in the way the clothing
were cut, the differences became evident mostly in the colours and materials. The country
folk prepared their fabrics themselves and the nobility and the bourgeois had the
possibility to buy their own imported fabrics.
What Materials Were Used to Make the Clothing?
The domestic wool was revised into cloths of different strengths -durable, felt and
carded fabrics. The most expensive, the finest and the most colourful cloth was an
extremely important merchandise imported for example from the Netherlands, England and
Germany.
Preparing the fabrics and the threads was a time-consuming and valuable craft. Fabric was
extremely valuable despite whether or not it was homemade or imported. The medieval
threads were spindled with a distaff (an early part of a spinning wheel). For one whole
dress where the density of threads was 12 threads per centimetre you needed as much as 15
000 metres of finished thread; i.e. 30 kilometres of one-filament thread. The thread had
to be tightly woven and very durable. The clothes were used all the way to the end -- the
parts that were worn-out and broken were mended and patched. 
When the piece of clothing was totally worn-out, the good parts were used again. This
might be a reason why the archeological findings are mostly church textiles. The
looseness of the clothes was received by the using of gussets which were triangular
inserts used to expand clothing. This way you could also save the valuable fabric. The
colours were important to the contemporary people and by lifting the coating the colours
of the underclothes and the lining could be shown. 
The working cloth of the country folk was a linen shirt. Long, dragging clothes were
typical in the Middle Ages especially for the rich. Height was emphasised in clothes as
well as in architecture. Buttons were first used in the 14th Century, however, they were
more used in men's than in women's clothes. Armorial bearing shapes and mi-parti outfits
(two different colour halves of clothing) were typical in the Middle Ages. 
What Did Women Wear?
The quantity and quality of medieval woman's clothing depended mostly on status. Queens
wore elaborate, exquisitely detailed gowns while peasants wore ill-fitting hand-me-downs.
Noblewomen and the wives of wealthy merchants could afford more costly garments. A good
example is Margherita Datini.
A detailed list of Margherita's clothes from 1397 reveals what the average outfit would
contain. The only undergarment consisted of a long dress, or shift. Since it had to be
worn against the skin, this garment was usually made from a soft cotton or linen. This
would be covered by a wool or fur petticoat during the winter months.
Over the petticoat would be a long-sleeved gown. The surcoat covered the gown, but was
sleeveless. The average wardrobe of the period contained very few gowns, but an
assortment of surcoats made from various material. Margherita had a wide array to choose
from; blue damask, taffeta, Oriental damask, and silk are only a few. Some of the
surcoats had detachable sleeves, making the outfit versatile and adaptable to the
seasons.
Women also wore capes, cloaks, and shawls as wraps. They could be made from wool, fur,
silk, or velvet. Some of these garments may have included hoods, but there were other
types of headdresses. Margherita and other women wore wimples, which were cloths that
covered the head, neck, and under the chin. The wimple was sometimes covered by a fur or
cloth cap, or straw hat.
Ladies wore shoes that were carved wooden bottoms with leather laces. Slippers might be
made from silk, but were more often made of leather. The heel was shaped either from
small blocks of wood, or from layers of leather. Other accessories included linen
undersocks, long wool or silk hose, veils, purses, fans, and handkerchiefs.
Lower classes of women had an extremely limited wardrobe. Most pieces were handed down
through the family, or were the cast-offs from the lady of the manor. She may or may not
have the linen undergarment, and the dress was usually made from as a rough wool. In cold
weather, she might wear a wool cloak or mantle. It would be difficult for peasant women
to have access to finer cotton, linen, or woolen fabrics. Although the spinning wheel
made the production somewhat easier, few families were able to raise flocks of sheep.
Even fewer had the resources to grow cotton, and a typical day on the farm would leave
little time for spinning and weaving. 
What Were the Accessories (Purses, Shoes, etc.) Like?
Hats: The young girls' hair was tied with a flowery wreath or a metal band (a virgin's
crown). The long hair either flew freely or it was plaited with decorative bands, and
sometimes the plaits were even lengthened with tows. The older and the married women
covered their hair. The veal or the chin kerchief were typical medieval hats together
with a band-like head-dress and a pill-box hat. The chin kerchief and the veal was
attached with pins. Another typical medieval head-dress was the tail hood worn by both
men and women. Other men's head-dresses were the hoods tied under the chin, pointed
elf-like caps, barrets and different hats. Another kind of hat was called a chaperon.
Shoes: The medieval shoes were booty like, soft and graceful, with no heels. The pointy
snout shoes were typical in the Late Middle Ages -especially for the rich. Shoes were
prepared from leather, fur or woollen felt. Shoes were extremely expensive and therefore
the country folk walked bare-footed during the warm season. 
Purses and Bags: Purses and bags were made from leather or fabric. Fabric purses were
often decorated with embroidery. 
Belts: Belts were an important detail in a medieval costume. It was usually worn on top
of the undergarment and important things were hanging from it like belt bags or purses
where money was kept, a knife, keys and so on.. 
What Did Nuns and Monks Wear?.
Most of the holy orders wore long woolen habits, immitating Roman clothing. You could
tell the order by the colour of the habit: the Benedictines wore black; the Cistercians,
undyed wool or white. St. Benedict stated that a monk's clothes should be plain but
comfortable and they were allowed to wear linen coifs to keep their heads warm. The Poor
Clare Sisters, an order of Franciscan nuns, had to petition the Pope in order to be
permitted to wear woolen socks. 
What Did Rich People Wear?
The nobility wore dagges on their clothing as a decoration. These were shapes cut into
the edges of clothes. Men wore leg coverings called hose, which were like tights made of
cloth. Sometimes each leg was a different colour. Rich people had their clothes lined
with fur to keep warm during the winter. Rich men wore pointy shoes as well -- depending
on his level of nobility, he could wear the shoes up to 60 centimetres long!