By My Own Hand

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A few badly translated quotes on Late medieval and rennaisance women's underclothes

I will quote from 'Corsets & Crinolines', Chapter 3, 'References to Whaleboned Bodies and Farthingales from Contemporary Sources'. This is, granted, a secondary/tertiary source, but as she has clearly made an effort to avoid altering the original meanings of the texts (going so far as to *not translate* texts that were in languages other than modern english in her research sources), I think this may provide you with some useful information. Alas, no pictures. Look for pictures of courtesans, loose women, nursing madonnas, and bathhouses for helpful pictorial documentation.

Quoted materials below. ( My poor analyses of the *meat* of these quotes will follow)

Fourteenth Century

'Ther kerteles were of rede sandel; I lascid small, joliff, and well. There might none gayer go'

'The lady was clad in purple pall With gentill bodye and middle small.'

Quoted by Joseph Strutt, Dress and Habits of the People of England

Analysis of the unattributed Strutt quote: 1st section: I *think* this is saying that the ladies mentioned are wearing tightly laced red kirtles, and look very nice in them. Kirtles, as i understand them, being snugly laced and supportive underdresses, with short sleeves to which the decorative undersleeves were usually pinned. 2nd section: This lady is wearing a purple dress, apparently of graceful cut, with a compressed waist (probably caused by a snugly laced kirtle/underdress).

1477

'There is another dress which is very ugly, for it makes women appear very fat and as wide as tongues. It is true that by nature women should be short, with slender or narrow shoulders, breasts and back, and small heads, and that their faces should be thin and small...and also that they should be wide and big round the back and belly and hips so that they can have space for the children that they conceive and carry for nine months...But although this is true, the aforesaid dress greatly exceeds and more than greatly exceeds, the natural proportions, and instead of making woman beautiful and well-proportioned, makes them ugly, monstrous and deformed until they cease to look like women and look like bells...Finally, such a dress is very deceitful and very ugly. It is in truth a great deceit in a woman who is slender, hipless, and very thin, to give herself hips and a shape with cloth and wool; if carried out in moderation it might be overlooked and at most would be a venial sin. But done in such a way, without moderation and with exaggeration, it is undoubtedly a deception and a lie of great guilt and consequently a great sin... Thus it is a sin when women who are small of stature wear chopines to feign a height they do not posess, especially as Our Lord has willed it that women are usually short of body and smaller than men, since they have to be ruled by them as their superiors, or when they with rags, wool, petticoats or hoops, affect a width which they do not posess. There is no doubt that deception and lies are a mortal sin when carried out in the above evil and sinful manner; thus the padded hips and hoop skirts are very harmful and very wicked garments; with reason they have been forbidden under pain of excommunication.'

MSS. Fray Fernando of Talavera : Quoted in Soc. Española de Excursiones, Bol.XII

Analysis of second quote: This clergyman is clearly *not at all* impressed with fashionable dress. He finds it ugly...and sinful. However, in being distressed by it, he has provided us with a fair description of the sort of under-supports women used to acheive the fashionable shape (at least when they were not in church). Hoopskirts, petticoats, and bust and hip padding seem to be the worst offenders here. He does not mention constricted waists as being a particularly sinful part of dress. Perhaps he did not notice them...One wonders, however, how he has become aware of the *particulars* of women's undergarments?

1470

'Par détestable vanité, les femmes d'estat font faire leurs robes si estroites par le faux du corps que à peine peuvent elles dedans respirer et souventes fois grant doleur y souffrent pour fair gent le corps menu.'

Pierre des Gros, Jardin des Nobles"

Analysis of third quote (this will be admittedly clumsy, as my *modern* french skills are rusty at best, and this appears to be in old french...ack! Bear with me!) Bad translation, with bits mangled and left out: From detestable vanity, the women of this country wear tight gowns that make the body artificial, and cause them trouble breathing and discomfort to the body. Sounds like the usual symptoms of lacing one's bodice or stays too tightly.

Pattern layouts for supportive garments of this period (kirtles) can be found in Period Costume for Stage & Screen : Patterns for Women's Dress, Medieval-1500 by Jean Hunnisett. I cannot vouch for their absolute correctness of cut, but I can vouch for their comfort and wearability. If one makes the short sleeves fitted well enough, one can pin the false sleeves of the period to them without much risk of injury. You may also want to try to find a copy of The History of Underclothes by C. Willett and Phillis Cunnington, the first couple of chapters will be of greatest interest to you.