I got "The Letters of Abelard and Heloise" for Christmas, and was
interested to come across this quote today. Heloise is asking Abelard
to draw up a rule for her convent, pointing out that the existing
monastic Rule of St Benedict makes no provision for nuns, so they cannot
follow it properly. And the first example she cites is:
"Leaving aside for the moment the other articles of the Rule; how can
women be concerned with what is written there about cowls, drawers or
scapulars? Or indeed, with tunics or woollen garments worn next to the
skin, when the monthly purging of their superfluous humours must avoid
such things?"
Of course, this is a 1970s translation of medieval latin clothing terms,
but I think we can probably rely on "drawers" and "woollen garments".
Caution probably required with "tunics" ;-)
Jean
Danielle Nunn-Weinberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
Greetings!
Welcome to the 16th century, a fun and exciting place. <G> Drawers
arrived in England during Elizabeth's reign but were considered
novelties and "foreign." They weren't adopted as regular wear until
later. I've lived in England (as well as Canada and the US) and didn't
find it that cold at all, so I think it is all a matter of perspective.
Certainly once you have all the correct layers on, drawers aren't going
to make much difference except for possibly during activities like
horseback riding. However, having seen 16th century sidesaddles
(rather odd looking contraptions - one was round and perfectly flat
with a peg sticking up for the leg to hook over) even then the drawers
would be rather immaterial.
Cheers,
Danielle
At 11:53 PM 1/8/2006, you wrote:
Um, I have a rank newbie question. I was always told that ladies didn't wear
drawers in this period. Is that a myth, or a regional thing, possibly? I
usually do English.
And I've always suspected that it couldn't be true. I've BEEN to England. It
gets COLD there.
Thanks for your forbearance,
Tea Rose
_______________________________________________
h-costume mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
--
Jean Waddie
_______________________________________________
h-costume mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
