This is a problem for the translator! I am not an expert on mediaeval
clothing but I hope these points may be helpful:
Modern vocabulary. I suggest you do NOT use words like COAT, BLOUSE or DRESS
because these suggest 19th century standards of tailoring which I do not
feel give the right visual image. I suggest you use such terms as TUNIC,
(OVER-TUNIC / UNDER-TUNIC), GOWN, SHIFT, SHIRT &c
A SHIFT is the best word for a female undergarment (either with sleeves or
without) made of a washable cloth eg linen and which is worn next to the
skin. SHIRT is the equivalent for a man.
TUNIC can be used for either sex.
A semi-fitted upper garment with or without sleeves which shows another
upper garment (TUNIC) underneath it is best called a GOWN - such as still
worn in academic communities in Oxford Cambridge & elsewhere.
The reference to the sisters being forbidden to wear "bindings" is probably
best translated as "tight lacing is forbidden". This refers to the fashion
practice of cutting the cloth for the garment to fit the body very closely,
and at the seams - where a modern dress would have a zip fastener - two rows
of ornamental holes were embroidered and an ornamental cord or ribbon
threaded through in the criss-cross manner still used to lace boots for
hiking. This enabled the garment to be taken off & put on, but at the same
time emphasised the alluring curves of the female body. Such clothing would
naturally be forbidden to Religious sisters who had taken a vow of chastity.
Additionally, the making of such a garment (and it needs to be remembered
that every stitch of every garment would be made by hand by somebody) would
either be very time-consuming or very expensive which would also render it
unsuitable for Sisters whose resources would be better spent on religious
activities.
Exactly what they needed to wear may also have depended on the expected
weather in the district to which the Rule applied. Warmth and decency but no
frivolity or luxury.
As for the lambskins - I believe that some Religious - the Cistercians ? -
living in Yorkshire as an extra upper garment in very cold weather would
take two whole cured sheepskins which are roughly triangular in shape,
stitch them along the wide end (where the hind legs had been) leaving a gap
to put the head through, and wore them rather in the style of a poncho.
Brenda M.C.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Br. Alexis Bugnolo" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 10:03 PM
Subject: Terms for Medieval clothing and parts of garments ?
[SNIP]
Chapter III: On the form of the habit, and the quality of [their] clothing.
Let the brothers above all of this fraternity, commmonly be dressed in
cloths humble in price and color, not wholly white nor black, unless it has
been dispensed for a time in some place by means of the visitators on the
counsel of the ministers, on account of a legitimate and manifest reason.
Also let the abovesaid brothers have coats [chlamydes] and leather
cloathing [pelles], with collars [absque scollaturis], vested [scissas] or
whole-nevertheless clasped or open, as befits honesty-and [with] closed
sleeves. Also let the sisters dress in a coat, and a tunic made from humble
cloth of this kind, or at least let them have a dress [guarnellum] with a
coat, or a blouse [placentinum], white or black in color; or a full jacket
[paludellum] made from hemp, or linen, without any sewn ruffles. Concerning
the humbleness of the cloth and the leather of the sisters themselves, one
can be dispensed in accord with the condition of each, and the custom of
the place. Let them not use tights [bindis] nor pleated bindings [ligaturis
sericis], [and] let both the brothers as well as the sisters have nothing
fancier than [dumtaxat] lambskin jackets, leather shoes [bursas] and
shoestrings, made simply without any pleating [serico] and not otherwise,
after having put off the other vain ornaments of this age (in accord with
the sober counsel of Blessed Peter the Prince of the Apostles).
-------
Hoc praefatum textum dedit Bullarum Diplomatum et Privilegiorum Sanctorum
Romanorum Pontificum, Taurinensis Editio, lucpletior facta collecione
novissima plurium brevium, epistolarum, decretorum actorumque S. Sedis a S.
Leone Magno Usque ad praesens cura et studio R. P. D. Aloysii Tomassetti
Antist. Dom. Pontif. et Collegii adlecti Romae Virorum S. Theologiae et SS.
Canonum peritorum quam SS. D. N. Pius Papa IX, apostolica benedictione
erexit, auspicante Emo. Ac Revmo. Dno, S.R.E. Cardinalis Francisco Gaude,
Tomus IV (Mainard. edit. Tom. III, Pars II) A Gregorio X (an. MCCLXXI) ad
Martinum V (an. MCCCCXXXI). Augustae Taurinorum, Seb. Franco, H. Fory et H.
Dalmazzo Editoribus, MDCCCLIX, pp. 90-95.
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