Late Medieval Fashion Redressed

Martial surcottes of the 14th century in England and France

A hundred year survey of figural art (and a few extant garments)

For years I’ve been interested in the fabric-based portions of the martial panoply worn by men-at-arms in the 14th century in Western Europe. Fellow researchers give a lot of attention to the metal and leather parts of an armour harness, but there is much less to be seen on the garments that support the armour and in many cases, cover the armour up. In an effort to better understand the development of martial clothing styles from the beginning of the 14th century to its end, I undertook a survey of the figural art, aided significantly by the excellent sites Effigies and Brasses and Manuscript Miniatures.

The following set of teaching slides was the result. Click the PDF icon to view: PDF link

Please note: depending on the speed of your connection and your computing device, the PDF could take a little while to load.

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