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Costume in The Middle English Metrical Romances

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Harvey Eagleson
Harvey Eagleson*
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology
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Extract

The question of how far the Middle English metrical romances and their continental prototypes went in portraying realistically the life and times in which they were written and how much of the detail in them is merely literary convention has long been a moot one. W. P. Ker wrote: “The longer romances are really modern novels—studies of contemporary life, characters and emotions, mixed up with adventures more or less surprising,” but added in another place, “the romance writers of the twelfth century did much to make romance into a mechanic art, … reduced the game to a system and left the different romantic combinations and conventions within the reach of almost any 'prentice hand. …” M. L. Clédat wrote: “Les peintures de mœurs chevaleresques, les descriptions de fêtes, de tournois et de combats, nous plaisent encore par elles mêmes lorsqu'elles sont vives et légères, mais elles valent surtout par les renseignements précieux qu'elles nous fournissent sur la vie réelle et sur l'idéal du monde chevaleresque.” There is obviously some vagueness here, and it becomes desirable to separate the realistic from the conventional material in the Middle English metrical romances in order to determine where the art of the romance writers was merely “mechanic” and where they were actually attempting to give “renseignements précieux … sur la vie réelle et sur l'idéal du monde chevaleresque.”

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , June 1932 , pp. 339 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1932

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References

1 W. P. Ker, English Literature: Medieval (New York, 1912), p. 112.

2 W. P. Ker, Epic and Romance (London, 1922), pp. 325–326.

3 Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française (Paris, 1896), p. 336.

4 Octavian (Cotton), ed. G. Sarrazin (Heilbronn, 1885), 517.

5 Ibid., p. xxv.

6 Ywaine and Gawin, ed. J. Ritson, Ancient English Metrical Romances (London, 1802), i, 1402–1404.—These lines occur in the passage (1383–1412) in which the lady Ywaine rides forth to meet King Arthur and his company. They do not occur in the corresponding passage in the French of Chrétien. (See Kristian von Troyes, Yvain, ed. W. Foerster, Halle 1926, 2329–2369.) There the lady's costume which the English author passes by with—

Sho was al dight with drewries der; (1406)

is described in some detail (See Yvain, 2359–2367) but no mention is made of the costume of the gentlemen who accompany her. Wells (J. E. Wells, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, New Haven, 1923, p. 65) gives the date of the English poem as between 1300–1350, but the mention of the golden girdles worn by the gentlemen would place the poem after 1327 in the reign of Edward III. “The reign of Edward III is one of the most important eras in the History of Costume. The complete changes that take place in every habit, civil or military, render its effigies and illuminations more distinctly conspicuous than those perhaps of any other period, from the Conquest to the days of Elizabeth. … The long robes and tunics of the preceding reigns vanished altogether, and a close-fitting body garment, called a cote-hardie, buttoned all the way down the front, and reaching to the middle of the thigh, became the prevailing dress of the higher classes. It was sometimes magnificently embroidered and the splendid military belt was worn by every knight, buckled across the hips over this new and peculiar garment. From the sleeves of this cote, which sometimes only descended to the elbow (discovering the sleeves of an under-vest or doublet, buttoned from thence to the wrist), depended long slips of cloth, generally painted white in the illuminations, which were called tippets, and over this dress was worn occasionally a mantle, exceedingly long, and fastened by four or five large buttons upon the right shoulder, so that when suffered to hang loose it covered the wearer entirely to the feet; but the front part being thrown back over the left shoulder, it hung in folds behind, and formed a sort of cope upon the breast. …” (J. R. Planché, History of British Costume, London, 1874, pp. 138–140.) Other descriptions of male attire in the poem indicate the same period.

Bilive sho gert syr Ywaine bath,
And cled him sethin in gude scarlet,
Forord wele and with gold fret,
A girdel ful riche for the nanes,
Of perry and of preciows stanes. (1102–1106)

This passage is not in the French. When the lady finds the naked Ywaine in the forest she

Tok hose, and shose, and serk, and breke;
A riche robe als gan sho ta,
And a saint of silk alswa … (1770–1772)

In the French the type of costume left by the lady is quite different.

Robe veire, cote et mantel
Li fet porter de soie an grainne.
Cele li porte et si li mainne
An destre un palefroi mout buen.
Et avuec ce i met del suen
Chemise et braies deliiees
Et chauces nueves bien tailliees. (2974–2980)

7 Ipomadon, ed. E. Kölbing (Breslau, 1889), 367–373.

8 Hue de Rotelande, Ipomedon, ed. E. Kölbing and E. Koschwitz (Breslau, 1889), 377–386.

9 See Wells, op. cit., p. 46.

10 The bliaut was a garment worn by both men and women. When worn by men it was a long surcoat. See E. Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné du mobilier français (Paris, 1872–75), iii, pp. 38–61. When worn by women it was a court dress. See Viollet-le-Duc, above citation, and R. E. Goddard, Women's Costume in French Texts of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Baltimore, 1927), pp. 40–59. See also Planché, op. cit., p. 95.

11 See Note 6.

12 “In the earliest of the inventories which we have of church vestments, that of Exeter cathedral, 1277, velvet is not spoken of; but in St. Paul's, London, a.d. 1295, there is some notice of velvet with its kindred web ‘fustian,‘ for chasubles. Velvet is for the first time mentioned at Exeter in 1327, but as in two pieces not made up, of which some yards had been sold for vestment-making. From the middle of the fourteenth century velvet is of common occurrence.” Daniel Rock, Textile Fabrics (London, 1876), p. 31.

13 For further examples of costume changes in Ipomadon compare 2456–2467, 2696–2699, 7068–7077 with Ipomedon 2725–2770, 2961–2966, 8629–8637.

14 See Wells, op. cit., p. 109.

15 Rayes (O. Fr. raie), embroidery. For examples of its use see T. Godefroy, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française (Paris, 1889).

16 Champes (fields) here refers to the cloth itself, the robes being made of scarlet cloth embroidered in gold.

17 Lampes. It is possible that lamps were embroidered on the costumes, but it seems more likely that this word is lamp (O. Fr. lame) a thin plate, here referring to bits of golden metal on the order of spangles.

18 Parted (O. Fr. partir) The robes were parti-colored, pieces of palle being inserted possibly in the manner of gores. Parti-colored costumes were much in vogue during the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV. See Planché, op. cit., p. 166.

19 Orfoyle-suand (O. Fr. orfileure), gold thread, and (O. Fr. suance), matching, i.e., gold thread of suitable richness.

20 Horrible does not make sense in this line. The author is intending no satire, and there is no indication that he felt the head-gear he was describing repulsive. Horrible is probably an error for en orbelle (à la ronde) meaning that the hats were great and large around. For an illustration of these large bell-shaped hats see J. H. Hefner-Alteneck, Costumes œuvres d'art et utensiles depuis le commencement du moyen âge jusqu'à la fin du dix-huitième siècle (2d. ed., Leipzig, 1919), iv, plate 236.

21 Laud Troy Book, ed. J. E. Wulfing, E.E.T.S. 121, 122 (London, 1902), 8039–8064. Compare also 8238–8252, 14440–14446 in the same romance.

22 See Planché, op. cit., pp. 163–173, 185–191. For further descriptions of male costume in the romances see Sir Degore, ed. E. V. Utterson, Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry (London, 1817), i, 700–703; Sir Eglamour, ed. J. O. Halliwell, Thornton Romances, Camden Society (London, 1844), 857–860, 1255–1256; The Awntyrs of Arthure (Ireland), ed. J. Robson, Three Early English Metrical Romances, Camden Society (London, 1842), st. 28: 1–4; The Avowynge of Arthur, ed. J. Robson, Three Early English Metrical Romances, Camden Society (London, 1842), st. 39: 6–8; Morte Arthure, ed. E. Björkman (Heidelberg and New York, 1915), 3332-3337, 3456–3463, 3470–3475; Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon (Oxford, 1925), 151–167. For further examples of costume “modernizing” compare Partonope of Blois, ed. A. T. Bodtker, E.E.T.S. E.S. 109 (London, 1912), 7702–7704, 12034–12040, with Partonopeus de Blois, ed. G. A. Crapelet (Paris, 1834), 6270–6276, 9167–9169.

23 Kyng Alisaunder, ed. H. Weber, Metrical Romances (Edinburgh, 1810), i, 203–210. In the corresponding passage in Eustache's Roman de Toute Chevalrie upon which the English romance is based, the queen is wearing a purple bliaut and her hair is arranged in a head dress of gold wire. No mention is made of a crown. See MS. Français 24364 (Bibliothèque Nationale fol. 2 r, col. 2).

24 Wells, op. cit., p. 100.

25 Planché, op. cit., pp. 120–121. As Eleanor died in November, 1290, it does not seem likely that a romance describing a costume affected by her would be written much later than the end of Edward's reign, 1307.

26 Morte Arthure, op. cit., 3251–3259. Compare with this description that of the lady in Piers Plowman A (c. 1362) ed. W. W. Skeat (Oxford, 1886).

Thenne was I war of a wommon wonderliche clothed,
Purfylet with pelure the ricchest vppon eorthe,
I-corouned with a coroune the kyng hath no bettre;
Alle hir fyue fyngres weore frettet with rynges,
Of the preciousest perre that prince wered euere;
In red scarlet heo rod i-rybaunt with gold; Passus ii, 8–13.

The similarity of the costumes suggests corresponding dates for the poems.

27 See George Neilson, Huchown of the Awle Ryale (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 59–66, and The Antiquary, 38: 73, 229. It is not necessary to accept Neilson's attribution of authorship to accept his historical interpretation of the poem.

28 Planché, op. cit., pp. 143–144.

29 For further descriptions of female costumes see Libeaus Desconus, ed. M. Kaluza, Alteng. Bibliothek (Leipzig, 1890), v, 879–900, 2176–2180; Gawain and the Green Knight, op. cit., 1736–1741; Awntyrs of Arthure, op. cit., st. 2: 1–9; Le Bone Florence of Rome, ed. Ritson, Ancient English Metrical Romances (London, 1802), iii, 178–186; Le Morte Arthur, ed. J. D. Bruce, E.E.T.S., E.S. 88 (London, 1903), 2054–2058; Sir Degrevant, ed. J. O. Halliwell, Thornton Romances, Camden Society (London, 1844), 625–654.

For further examples of “modernizing” compare Launfal, ed. J. Ritson, Ancient English Metrical Romances (London, 1802), i, 229–248 and Landeval, ed. G. L. Kittredge, American Journal of Philology, x, 51–60 with Marie de France, Lai de Lanval, ed. Warnke, 3d. ed. (1925), 53–64; Ipomadon, op. cit., 6454–6465 with Ipomedon op. cit., 7940–7969; Partonope, op. cit., 9010–9013 with Partonopeus, op. cit., 7447–7470.