medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Apr 14, 2008, at 11:30 AM, Frans van Liere wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
>
> I have an enlarged photograph of this in my office. I showed it to
> my wife and a few colleagues. The consensus is that she is, indeed
> sitting astride.
> Must be a fancy dress with a split in the middle ...
Not necessarily split; goodness knows there's enough fabric in a 15th
or 16th-century skirt that legs can remain decently covered. What I'm
told (by an accomplished scholar who is also an accomplished
horsewoman) is that even after Catherine de Medici, women often rode
astride if they were, for instance, traveling long distances or over
rough ground. It's a far more secure seat, and doesn't require
holding the body in a twisted position as riding sitting sideways to
the horse does. (The early "sidesaddles" were a simple platform with
footrest, and the rider simply sat at a 90-degree angle to the axis
of the horse with both feet on the footboard.)
Whether something was worn under the skirts to protect the thighs
from chafing is something that in most cases we simply don't know.
Clothing historians say that women's long drawers were known in Italy
at this period, but we simply don't have a lot of data on whether
real women actually wore them anywhere else (most of the so-called
"evidence" is either satirical "who wears the pants in the family"
engravings or mythical women like Penthisilea, Queen of the Amazons).
Sixteenth-century Englishwomen sometimes donned a very large bag over
their skirts for riding, closed at the feet and coming up to the
waist, which both provided a protective layer between their legs and
the horse and also protected their skirts from mud and splashes. I
can't imagine how they actually got _onto_ the horse in this getup --
it must have required several assistants!
I have actually seen a woman ride to the tilt (at rings, in this
case) wearing full 16th-century court clothing including skirts and
farthingale, and she managed quite well: won the tournament, in fact.
____________________________________________________________
O Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]> - Davis, California
+ http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
____________________________________________________________
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