The Early 15th Century

French Woman’s Style Book

The modes of female dress
from 1400 to 1440

By Janis Hurst
Known in the SCA
as Master Edyth Miller, OL

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 1

 Contents

Basics of Early 15th Century Female Dress.............................4

Clothing Options for the:
Lower Class..............................................................................7
Middle Class........................................................................... 16
Upper Class........................................................................... 28
Putting Together a Kit for:
Lower Class............................................................................ 14
Middle Class.......................................................................... 26
Upper Class........................................................................... 40
Depictions of Older Women.................................................... 42
Special Depictions & Symbolism............................................ 46
Conclusion.................................................................................... 51
Manuscript Sources................................................................... 53
Bibliography................................................................................. 54

This booklet and its contents were made
for the medieval recreation community,
or anyone interested in this fashion
period. In that context, it’s validity
should come after any official research
into the topics discussed here.
This is not an official publication of the
Society for Creative Anachronisms, Inc.
(SCA).
All images from manuscripts are
captioned or otherwise labeled with
their source information. All other
contents are copyright 2018, Janis Hurst.
This booklet is intended for non-
commercial, non-profit, educational use
only, and may be shared in its entirety
for such purpose.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 2

 Introduction

The purpose of this Style Book is to break down the elements

of female French clothing in the early 15th Century in order to
understand the distinct modes of women’s fashion from this time.
To create this guide, I studied, sorted, and categorized a collection
of 563 distinct images of women from 10 manuscripts produced
between 1400 and 1440, either in France or Flanders, or written in
French (i.e. with French influence.) [See page 53 for the complete
list of manuscript sources.]

While the representations of women in manuscripts may have

some artistic influences that separate them from the trueness of
reality, and this is by no means a full and adequate representation
of all the depictions of women from the period, a review of the
collection shows that fashion is displayed fairly consistently across
multiple manuscripts, multiple artists, and on multiple varieties
of women. Even if the clothing we see here isn’t entirely accurate,
it was without a doubt the way that women were viewed, and
is therefore still, at the very least, an understood ideal we can
attempt to recreate.

COVER: “The Book of the Queen”, BL MS Harley 4431, 1410-1414AD, fol. 323r

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 3

 Basics of Early 15th Century Female Dress

“The Book of Good Manners”, BnF MS French 1023, circa 1410, fol. 60v

While different class groups of women had their own particular

style conformities, as we’ll get into in the following chapters, there
were basic similarities across all women in the general manner
they would dress. No one group stood out from the others as
dressing wildly uniquely, and the ideals of what a handsomely
dressed woman looked like applied equally to all women
regardless of her rank or affluence.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 4

At a foundational level, this meant that certain principles of dress
could be found no matter where you looked. Primarily, for our
purposes, the most important of these principles was that all
women, no matter her station or
class, would have tried to dress
according to a shared basic format
of 3 layers.

The Undergarment Layer

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432,
Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve, fol.
387r
These are the garments worn
directly against the skin, sometimes
referred to as “body linens”. This
included a chemise to cover the
torso, arms, and legs to the calves,
hose to cover the feet and lower legs
up to the knees, and possibly a cap
or other item to help contain hair if
the hair was to be covered.

The Base or Supportive Layer

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432,
Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve, fol.
168r
Could have been a tunic-style
dress, or more fashionably, a fitted
or semi-fitted dress called a cotte.
In both cases, the garment had
long sleeves that were fitted at the
forearms, and may have had small
buttons or lacing. If a supportive
cotte was used, its purpose was to
fit and shape the woman’s chest and
posture to conform to the period
ideal.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 5

The Fashion or Warmth Layer
Where the classes really begin to
differentiate from each other is
in the outer third layer. Gowns of
various styles were used as an easy
visual code that a woman belonged
in a certain class grouping but some
styles were popular within more
than one class. For women in lower
classes, this third layer may have
been reserved for formal occasions “The Comedies of Terence “, BnF
MS Latin 7907 A, circa 1400-
or for winter, while among the
1407, fol. 81v
upper classes, a woman wouldn’t
have been considered fully dressed
without it.

Next up, we’ll take a look at three groups of women, Lower,

Middle, and Upper Class, and outline the options and styles of
their most commonly depicted outfits. We’ll follow that up with
the portrayal of older women, and finish with a look at some of
the fashions that appear commonly in the imagery, but have some
big caveats attached.

Throughout, I have also include a “kit” guide for the reenactor for
each class tier. These lists are fairly thorough guides to what you
should keep an eye out for or focus on creating as you build your
persona wardrobe. These lists should be used as guides only. It’s
important to do additional research into the items I suggest in
order to achieve the most authenticity in your presentation.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 6

 Clothing Options of the Lower Class

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432, Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve, fol. 333

The fashions worn by those in the poorest classes, what I’m

calling Lower Class, should barely be considered “fashionable”,
and some of the styles we will see here automatically marked a
woman as being low in station. It would not have been considered
smart or clever for a woman of higher stature to dress in fashions
belonging to this lowly group, and it’s even possible that peasant

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 7

women in the Lower Class were sometimes shown in manuscript
imagery in somewhat more fashionable options to make the
audience empathize more with the characters.

This Class Primarily Includes:

• Low-income female laborers, such as silkwomen, weavers,

midwives, laundresses, etc.
• Indentured women or slaves
• Women employed by middle class households
• Daughters of low-income male laborers
• Some women without patriarchal support, most notably
widows of low-income male laborers and/or their daughters

Dresses

Women in the Lower Class had two basic options for dresses.

The loose-fitting tunic dress with long sleeves, which was the
primary dress type worn by most women up to the end of the 14th
century, was still in use among this class, but was by this point the
least fashionable option.

A better choice was a semi-fitted cotte with long fitted sleeves.

The Lower Class version of the cotte was likely a pull-over
garment without laced or buttoned openings. The long sleeves
would be loose fitting or have some type of opening at the wrists
so they could be pushed or rolled up. The length of the cotte
would have preferably been just above the ground when not
pulled up further with girdling (belting). In some cases, if girdling
wasn’t enough, longer skirts were folded and tacked up to shorten
them, keeping them out of the dirt.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 8

 The woman seen here is identifiable as
Lower Class due to the wrapped veil
around her head. She utilizes girdling
(this particular style with a flounce at
the waist is common) to bring her skirt
hem off the ground, indicating this
cotte may have not originally belonged
to her. A line along the forearm of her
sleeve is visible, indicating some type
of opening may be present. Her belt
is stylish- the black strap is decorated
with bronze-colored mounts.

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432,

Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve,
fol. 164v

Some women in this rank may have had the means to procure new
dresses on a regular cycle, but hand-me-downs also had a market.
Stripped of anything regulated through custom or law, upper class
clothing regularly made its way down to women of lower rank.
Some women may have been given clothing as a form of income
from a patron or lord. It’s possible, therefore, that some women
in the Lower Class owned garments of a finer nature than they
would ever be able to purchase new or on their own.

There are also some instances in which a Lower Class woman is

shown wearing a heavier outer gown. If this garment were fur-
lined and not a hand-me-down using a more expensive fur, it may
have been lined with lambswool or the cheaper colors of rabbit
fur. Garments like this, if the woman was lucky enough to own
one, were very likely reserved for the coldest weather or only

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 9

specific occasions in order to keep them from wearing out.

Headdress

There were two options for headdress in this class.

The wool open hood reached its heyday among the upper classes
at the end of the 14th century, and quickly became one of the
most ubiquitous headdress styles of the early 15th century. The
French in particular liked the style. Due to its vast popularity,
open hoods became available to nearly every woman. Lower
class women were more likely to purchase second hand or mass-
produced hoods than to have one made, meaning that it would
often fit a bit less ideally, with larger cowls, shorter brims or
generally being over- or undersized.

This group of servants is a great

example of the options available to
Lower Class women. Muted colors are
used for these garments, with only the
blue and pink of the hoods being close
to fashionable. They wear loose fitting
cottes with slight girdling. The woman
in yellow has rolled her sleeves up to
reveal a second cotte underneath. She
wears an apron that appears to have
some simple gathering at the top.
The woman in maroon wears a tightly
wrapped veil but more fashionable
pointed-toe shoes.

“The Comedies of Terrence”, first qrtr

15th c.,Arsenal, MS 664 reserve,
fol. 216v

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 10

Large white veils of linen or wool were also used by the Lower
Class by this time period. In particular, the veils are shown
wrapped around the head and neck most commonly, either tightly
with a turbaned look around the head, or loosely with one end left
free. Veils placed simply on the head with no wrapping are rare
in the imagery. Veil shape is hard to determine, but both oval and
rectangular veils could be used with slightly different results.

Colors

Garment colors in the lower class were generally paler and

duller than those of higher classes. Less expensive colors were
available from the ends of dye baths. This is the class in which
yellows, peaches, mauves, and browns are found on women in
manuscripts, but they were not limited to those colors. Shades of
both blue and pink are highly popular, followed by green, and then
red. Red dresses are rare finds among this group, but red hoods
are numerous. In most cases, reds worn by these women would
have been created from the ruddier madder than the vibrant (and
expensive) kermes. Small amounts of expensive or higher quality
cloth could be used to make hoods or sleeves, so when possible,
most women would have looked for such opportunities.

Accessories

Peasant women would have opted to invest in a good pair of

shoes, making black or dark colored leather shoes a common
choice. It’s often difficult to judge from manuscript images just
what shoe style lower class women preferred, but we can see that
they would have likely gone for a more fashionable pointed-toe
turnshoe if they could get them. There are also examples of Lower
Class women wearing rounded-toe shoes. A few images show

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 11

us that an ankle boot was sometimes used, but with how much
regularity, it’s hard to guess.

Belts were a necessary item in the Lower Class woman’s wardrobe

and were used to girdle skirts and provide a place to hang purses,
knives, or other items. When we can see belts on these women,
they come in a variety of styles, and are primarily black or earth-
colored. Occasionally, these belts were decorated with simple
metal mounts. They could have been leather, woven or even
thickly-braided cord. Due to the nature of some girdling methods,
it’s possible that they used two belts at once.

If the woman used a purse, it would have likely been a leather

drawstring pouch. White was a popular color. Belt purses are
common for Lower Class women, no doubt for practical purposes.

This women is likely a lady’s maid or

nurse in a more affluent household,
evidenced by the long cuffs of her
cotte and the brighter, fashionable
colors of her garments. The red cotte
in particular is very likely a hand-me-
down. She’s wearing two cottes, and
has used the apron straps to girdle
the outer skirt (a somewhat strange
arrangement). She wears an open
hood that may be a bit on the small
side for her.

“On Famous Women”, circa 1403,

BnF MS French 598,
fol. 123v

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 12

 Lesbia in the play “Andria” is a slave.
She wears a semi-fitting dress despite
her larger size. Rather than girdling
her skirt, she has turned the hem up-
the detail is visible in the painting.
Her black belt is plain, but she carries
a white drawsting purse, a popular
accessory among this class. Her veil
is wrapped around her head in a
simple manner. She wears black shoes
with rounded toes, which is not a
fashionable style in this period.

“The Comedies of Terrence”,

BnF MS Latin 7907 A, circa 1407,
fol. 13

Not every Lower Class woman is shown wearing an apron, but

this is the only class in which one would have been worn in any
public setting. Aprons in this period are white or light-colored,
and rarely have any decoration, though some may have had simple
gathering or smocking.

None of the images of women from this class group indicate the
use of jewelry or decorative items other than belt mounts, but to
keep their hoods and veils in place, they likely had a few simple
veil pins. They may have also had some low-quality cast silver
badges gained from pilgrimages or festivals that they may have
sewn to their dresses on occasion.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 13

 Putting Together a Lower Class Kit

Wool Open Hood

White Linen Apron

Semi-Fitted
Wool Cotte
with Long Sleeves

Dark Leather
Turnshoes

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 14

For an early 15th century French woman’s Lower Class
representation, a basic kit might include:

• 3-5 white linen chemises in either a loose or semi-fitted style (depending

on your support needs). The linen should be of a medium quality, and light
or medium in weight.
• 2-3 unlined wool semi-fitted pull-over cottes, one of which is blue. The
others can be any pale shade. Wool should be lightweight for layering.
(Bonus if one has a skirt that is very long that can be tacked up to shorten
it or girdled using one of the common techniques.)
• 1 lined, medium to heavy weight wool cotte for colder weather. Lining
should be white or off-white (linen, wool, or inexpensive fur).
• 1 unlined wool tunic-style dress to be used as a base layer or alone in
warmer temperatures. Blue, pink or green.
• 2 wool open hoods of either pale or vibrant colors. Ideally one is blue and
one is pink.
• A long white rectangular linen veil that can be wrapped around the head
and neck.
• 2-3 white linen caps worn to contain the hair.
• 2-4 veil pins with no decorative heads. (Used to keep hoods and veils in
place)
• 1 pair of dark leather turnshoes in an ankle boot style with a slightly
pointed toe. A second pair can be dark leather with a rounded toe in any
style to be used for heavy working days.
• (optional) 1 pair of wood and leather pattens in any simple and
comfortable style.
• 1 linen apron with decorative gathering at the waistband.
• 1 black or brown leather belt (can be decorated with basic or simple metal
mounts)
• 1 woven belt of a single color OR a length of cordage, for use with girdling.
• 1 white leather drawstring pouch
• A wool shoulder bag with a silver pilgrim badge sewn on, for special use

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 15

 Clothing Options of the Middle Class

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432, Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve, fol. 333r

There was no formal middle class during the early 15th century,
but there were many women who fell into groups that existed
between the Lower Class and the Upper Class. This group,
fashion-wise, is incredibly nuanced and vague in the imagery.
By tradition, and in some cases law, they were forbidden from
wearing certain cloth, fur, and jewel types (even if they could

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 16

easily afford them), but social standards of the time also made it
clear that dressing any lower than their station would be a social
faux pas. This put the bourgeois class into the position of always
being behind fashion just as much as they were driving fashion
forward in their efforts to create a unique class identity.

This Class Includes:

• High-income free women, such as authors, artists,

dressmakers, embroiderers, etc.
• Women attached to Upper Class households either through
contract or employment
• Wives and daughters of high-income, non-titled males, like
merchants, master tradesmen, or civil officials

Dresses

Women in the Middle Class had two options for dresses during
most of the period, then a third option starting in the 1430’s.

Their support layer was a fitted cotte, laced on the front or on

the side, with long fitted sleeves that may or may not have had
buttons. For the most part, the sleeves of this dress were left
down and closed. The cotte would have a wide, low neckline, and
would lift and shape the bust. For most women in this class, this
dress would have been an expensive but necessary component of
their wardrobe. An alternative would have been to locate a hand-
me-down and have it altered, which might have resulted in a cotte
that was looser than desired. This dress would have been ground
length or slightly shorter.

Over the fitted cotte, a fashionable Middle Class woman could

have opted to wear a second cotte. To be comfortable, this outer

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 17

 This woman wears a mix of colored
wools, a common technique among
the Middle Class. She wears a layered
pair of fitted cottes, visible because,
without a belt, she’s forced to carry
the skirt of the outer green cotte in
her arms, revealing the pink cotte
underneath. The white lining of the
green gown is shown. Her blue open
hood has minuscule wings, but is
otherwise well-fitted. Her black shoes
are visible.

“The Comedies of Terrence”,

BnF MS Latin 7907 A, circa 1407,
fol. 135v

cotte would not have been as tight was the support layer, so there
may have been a subtle difference in which cottes were meant as
the first layer and which would be considered more gown-like.
This difference would have added to the value of her wardrobe.
Fitted cottes worn as gowns would have sleeves that could be
pushed or rolled up, and longer skirts. Girdling was also a popular
styling option among some groups of Middle Class women who
needed to move a lot during their day. The outer skirt would be
lifted to reveal the skirt of the support cotte underneath.

In a handful of examples, the colors of the dress layers indicate

three garments are being worn. The woman will be sporting
supportive cotte sleeves of a different color than the skirt. There
are two possible garment solutions to this. She could be wearing a
middle layer with short or no sleeves, or she could have separate

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 18

sleeves attached over the supportive cotte sleeves. Either of these
layering options are plausible and achieve the same visual result.

Women in the higher end of the Middle Class may have had a
different type of fitted cotte with integrated tippet sleeves.
These dresses were identical to the fitted cotte but their sleeve
transitioned above the elbow into long flat streamers that were
usually close to ground-length. The famous 15th century female
author Christine de Pisan was depicted in all her manuscript
versions wearing this gown, though her tippets were often shown
shorter than commonly depicted. These dresses were never
girdled, so they would not have been worn with a belt.

A third gown option began to appear in the 1430’s when the

houppelande style gown began to be available to Middle Class

In this 1430’s manuscript,

houppelandes appear on a few of the
Middle Class women, indicting that
the style has trickled down. The gown
is full, but not overly excessive. A
deep narrow V neck, wide, straight-
cut sleeves, and a pooling skirt are all
trimmed on the edge with fur. A plain,
slim, black belt cinches the full gown
to her upper waist. She’s paired it with
a red open hood with horizontally-
pointed brim wings.

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432,

Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve,
fol. 314r

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 19

women. Unlike the fashionable high-collared, large sleeved
houppelande of the Upper Class, the Middle Class houppelande
had no collar, was slightly opened into a narrow, low V neck, and
had straight-cut sleeves. These gowns relied on fur for weight
and as trim at the collar and cuffs. They were not fitted. Instead
they required heavy belts to cinch the waist into large pleats. This
style of gown was very close in style to those worn by the Upper
Class in this same period, creating social tension as the wealth of
the Middle Class encroached on the Upper Class’ long-standing
traditions of conspicuous consumption.

Not all women in this class could afford these new, more
fashionable gowns custom made by tailors. Peddler markets and
second-hand clothing merchants catered to these women by
offering affordable, quality used clothing. Urban clothing markets

Though this manuscript is not

rendered in the traditional color
palette of others in the collection,
we are still given a detail that is
absent elsewhere- the indication
of side lacing on the front woman’s
fitted cotte. Both women wear a long
sleeve fitted cotte and open hood,
which is the most prevalent dress
and headdress combination across all
women in the whole collection.

“Thebais and Achilles”,

BL MS Burney 257, circa 1405,
fol. 72r

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 20

also sold mass-produced clothing that could then be adjusted if
the woman could afford the tailoring services.

All of the third-layer gown options for this class would have been
preferably, though not necessarily, fur-lined. Inexpensive furs,
such as rabbit, domestic squirrel, cat, or lambswool were options.
If a Middle Class woman could afford more luxurious options,
she would need to understand which furs she was legally allowed
to wear. She may have ignored the law, however, as sumptuary
regulations, if enforced, could generally be dealt with simply by
paying a fine. In some cases, she may have instructed the furrier
to use an inexpensive fur for the body of the garment and the
costly fur for the portions of the gown that it would be seen.

Headdress

There were two options for headdress in this class.

The popularity and fashionability of the wool open hood made

it suitable for Middle Class women. A trending style was one
in which the hood brim’s distinctive wings jutted out nearly
horizontally, possibly supported by a stiff inner lining. Middle
Class women could afford to have their hoods custom tailored,
and would purchase high-quality wool for them. Expensive wools
in reds, pinks, blues or greens, would have been the preferred
choice, and would have been one method the Middle Class woman
could show off her relative wealth. Additionally, the liripipes of
these hoods would have been long, and left loose to hang down
the back most of the time. Some of these hoods may have also
sported metal buttons along the opening, like closing hoods of the
14th century, but the buttons may not have actually functioned
and were instead decorative.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 21

 Christine de Pizan was a well-
known and prominent author in
the 15th Century, and was able to
direct the production of some of
her manuscripts. She appears in
them quite often as a character in
her stories, so her depiction is fairly
reliable. Here she wears a gray, fur-
lined integrated-tippet sleeved gown
over a blue cotte. The tippet is not as
long as those typically shown, but the
shorter length may have been more
practical in real-life. On her head is
one example of a horned veil.

“The Book of the Queen”,

BL MS Harley 4431, 1410-1414AD,
fol. 178r

When a Middle Class woman was in a formal situation, or if her

social station was on the higher end of the class group, she would
more often wear what can be described as a horned veil. A white
linen, wool, or possibly, more rarely, silk veil would be placed over
a hidden structure of horn-like protrusions. The angle, size and
severity of the horns could be different depending on the type of
structure used underneath, and different women may have had
specific preferences, rather than there being a single fashionable
version. There are as yet no extant examples of what the horn
structure was, but theories include wiring, stuffed linen or wool
forms, lightweight specially-shaped baskets, or even carefully
styled cone-like buns using the woman’s own hair. The veils would
then be pinned into place, and may have required a unique shape
to drape correctly over the structure. The veils were various
lengths, again depending on the style the women chose, but were

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 22

generally chin to shoulder length.

Middle Class women (once they reached social adulthood) would

conceal all their hair under these headdress options, so either
tight braids sewn into place or linen caps were likely used. Caps
are not visible at the hairline on women wearing open hoods in
the imagery, but very few modern recreations are able to mimic
that. It is possible that Middle Class women shaved their hairline
back, which would have concealed the hair and cap further back
under the opening of the hood.

Colors

Most Middle Class women would have had the ability to purchase
higher quality wool cloth with richly-colored dyes than those in
the Lower Class, even if just once a year or two. To show off this
ability, many Middle Class women are depicted wearing several
vibrant colors, often at once. Popular colors were royal blue,
deep fuschia pink, a vibrant apple green, some scarlet red, and
occasionally a gray lavender purple that was possibly produced
using a lichen-based dye, or by combining used indigo and
kermes dye baths. These fabrics would have been solid colored,
or possibly easy-to-produce woven patterns that read as solid
at a distance, such as twill or diamond weave. More complex
patterned materials would have exceeded most of these women’s
budgets.

Accessories

Middle Class women would have had at least one pair of sturdy
leather turnshoes. The shoes could be a slipper style with a
buckle or tie, or a slip on shoe. In any case, the shoes would have a

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 23

 This young townwoman gives us one
of the best examples of Middle Class
accessories. Over her two fitted cottes
of green and blue (the blue sleeves
are pushed up), she wears a black belt
decorated with bronze mounts with
a bronze buckle. She also carries a
drawstring purse of white leather and
a slim belt knife with a red hanging
strap. Her black shoes are not overly
pointed. The black-colored open hood
is unusual for this point in the century
and helps denote this character in this
manuscript specifically across several
miniatures.

“The Comedies of Terrence”

Arsenal, MS 664 reserve, 1st qrtr 15th c
fol. 163v

fashionable but short pointed toe and they would be dark in color
(black is what is used in the manuscripts). Tooling on the shoe
was also an option, and there is evidence that certain motifs were
popular and mass produced. Ideally, she would have also had a
pair of wood and leather pattens to keep her shoes in good shape
for longer.

While Middle Class women tended to carry few items on a regular

basis, they did have the option to girdle their skirts. Girdling belts
were either leather or woven (black, gray and green belts are
found in the images), and decorated with simple bronze or silver
mounts. An alternative belt that could be worn but would not
have been used for girdling was a demicient belt. The strap ends
would be decorated with simple metal discs and a chain would be
used to link the two discs together. Middle Class women could

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 24

 also chose to not wear a belt at all
to show off their longer skirts, or to
gather their skirts up into their arm
as a sign of their relative luxury.

White leather drawstring purses

“The Comedies of Terrence”
Arsenal, MS 664 reserve,
1st qrtr 15th c, fol. 125r
cloth. Seasonal pilgrimages were popular with the Middle Class.
and belt knives are sometimes worn
by women in the lower end of the
Middle Class and would have been
useful in some daily contexts. Belt
knives were slim and sheathed in
leather. Same as any other woman
who was traveling, she would have
used a shoulder bag of leather or

Jewelry is not depicted on Middle Class women in the manuscript

images, but written records and extant finds indicate that
annular brooches and rings would have readily been available
and purchased by this class or given to them as gifts. Annular
brooches could be of several types of styles, and may have
included any of the cheaper precious stones. Rings could have
been simple bands with engraving, or include small precious
stones. The woman would have worn the ring on whatever
position on whichever finger it fit best.

Veil pins would have also been used for keeping hoods and veils
in place, and could have either been undecorated or she may have
had a few with pieces of coral, amber or semi-precious stones
affixed to the ends. Badges of saints or from travels would also
have been collected and worn.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 25

 Putting Together a Middle Class Kit

Wool Open Hood

Girdled Skirt
Reveals Fur Lining

Fitted Wool Cotte

with Long Sleeves

Belt Purse
Fitted
Supportive
Cotte

Dark Leather
Pointed-Toe
Turnshoes

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 26

For an early 15th century French woman’s Middle Class
representation, a basic kit might include:

• 3-5 white linen chemises in either a loose or semi-fitted style (depending

on your support needs). The linen should be of a medium to fine quality,
and light or medium in weight.
• 2-3 unlined wool fitted cottes, some with front or side lacing. Wool should
be lightweight for layering and skirts should be floor length. Opt for
vibrant, solid blue, pink, green or red.
• 2-3 unlined wool outer cottes with side lacing or pull-over. If desired, one
should be a tippet sleeve variety, lined with white (linen, wool, or silk).
Again, use vibrant solid materials in the fashionable colors
• 1 lined wool Middle Class style houppelande for colder weather. Lining
should be white or off-white (linen, wool, or inexpensive fur).
• 2-4 wool open hoods. Ideally, one is a bright red. (Linen may be used for
summer.)
• A horned veil - structure and veil with pins - in a style of your choosing.
• 2-3 white linen caps worn to contain the hair.
• 2-6 veil pins with either no decorative heads, or with amber-colored
glass, coral-colored beads, or semi-precious stones attached to the heads.
(Used to keep hoods and horned veils in place)
• 1-2 pairs of dark leather turnshoes with pointed toe in a slipper style. At
least one may have tooled decoration.
• (optional) 1 pair of wood and leather pattens in any simple and
comfortable style.
• 1-2 leather or woven belts with decorative metal mounts
• (optional) A demicient belt with simple round strap ends in bronze or
silver.
• (optional) 1 white leather drawstring pouch
• (optional) A slim belt knife in a leather sheath in a style of your choosing.
• 1-2 rings and 1-2 annular brooches in a mixture of styles.
• A small collection of inexpensive silver badges to be sewn to garments
(not hoods) as desired. (Wear only one or two at a time.)
• A wool or soft leather shoulder bag for special use.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 27

 Clothing Options of the Upper Class

“The Book of the Queen”, BL MS Harley 4431, 1410-1414AD, fol. 145r

Relatively speaking, women in the Upper Class had several

major advantages over all other women when it came to their
wardrobes. In addition to being able to afford larger quantities of
cloth of higher qualities, they could also afford custom tailoring
services, and had sumptuary regulation on their side. Upper Class
women used these advantages whenever and however they could,

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 28

flaunting their fashions as outward symbols of their position at
the top of society. Upper Class fashion is ruled by the concept
of conspicuous consumption- showing off wealth and privilege
through material possessions.

This Class Includes:

• Women of noble birth or marriage, such as the wives and

daughters of land-owning men of title
• Women in the royal household
• Non-nobles of title or position, including the wives or
daughters of men attached to royal courts
• In some cases, non-noble women working for noble
households, dependent on the importance or prominence of
their position or role

Dresses

Women in the Upper Class had several options for dresses during
this period.

Their support layer was a fitted cotte, laced on the front, side,
or possibly the back (since they would easily have assistance to
close it properly), with long fitted sleeves that may or may not
have had buttons. The sleeves of this dress were left down and
closed. Some versions of the cotte included cuffs that would
drape over the hands. These cuffs could be short or quite long. A
woman with long cuffs that concealed her hands was recognized
as wealthy with all her needs taken care of (i.e. no need to use her
hands.) The skirt of the cotte would have touched the ground and
slightly pooled. The fitted cotte would have a wide, low neckline,
and would lift and shape the bust. This dress would have been

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 29

 Hortensia was the daughter of a
Roman Senator and an orator in her
own right. Here, she wears a yellow-
green integrated tippet fitted gown
with fur lining, and her padded roll
style hat is decorated with mounts or
jewels. Her hair is styled in templar
buns. The sleeves of her red cotte
sport large cuffs that help indicate the
luxury of her station.

“On Famous Women”,

BnF MS French 598, circa 1403,
fol.124v

custom-made either by a tailor the woman’s household employed,

or by one that would do private fittings or made house calls.

Upper Class women would have used the same over cottes as
middle class women- either a second cotte or one with integrated
tippet sleeves. Girdling was not fashionable for this class,
however, and outer cotte sleeves were very rarely rolled up. In
many images, women (in both the Upper Class and Middle Class)
are shown wearing a single cotte with the sleeves down and the
skirts pooled on the floor. It’s impossible to know if this garment
was meant to indicate the supportive cotte layer, or if the base
cotte was concealed underneath. Context must be utilized here.
It would have been rare that these women would have appeared
in a public setting wearing just their supportive cotte. The visual
of these women in just a simple cotte, however, could have been a

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 30

symbolic shorthand in the context of the manuscript we can not
now accurately interpret.

To differentiate herself from the Middle Class a bit more, the

Upper Class woman would utilize gowns that showed off larger
amounts of cloth. A cotte could be fitted with pendulous angel-
wing sleeves that would hang to ground length in a full draping
curtain from the shoulder. These sleeves were longer in the back
to more easily allow the woman to use her hands, but same as
the cuffed cotte sleeves, covering the hands was a highly elitist
fashion style.

The more prominent gown style for Upper Class women was the
houppelande. The houppelande made its appearance in women’s
fashion near the end of the 14th Century and eventually beat out

With her full fur-lined houppelande,

complete with large angel-wing
sleeves and tall collar opened to rest
around her neck, and her gilded
belt and decorated padded roll hat,
this women is easily recognizable as
Upper Class. The brown areas on the
side of her head have the thin lines
of netting painted over them, which
may indicate that we’re seeing her
natural hair or false hair pieces there.
Her pointed toe shoe pokes out from
under her pooling skirt. Though it is
a pale gray color, it may have also just
been missed during painting.

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432,

Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve,
fol. 22r

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 31

 The two royal women in this image
(identifiable by their crowns) both
wear very plain fitted cottes. The red
one has small cuffs. Both have large
necklines, and the high bust, small
waist, and full abdomen that is ideal
for this period are enhanced in the
style. This combination of a cotte
and a crown does appear in other
manuscripts, indicating that a well-
fitted cotte was fashionable on its
own, even among the Upper Class.
Braids are visible over both women’s
templar buns.

“Prose Lancelot”, circa 1405-1425

BnF Arsenal 3479 & 80
fol. 606

the skin-tight precursor to the supportive fitted cotte- what

we generally refer to now as the cotehardie. The body of the
houppelande was not fitted and would be cinched to the body
using a belt. These early 15th century houppelandes did not have
large pleats. The torso of the dress was not overly large- just
enough so that the belt created gathering that would show the
extra width in the dress. The popularity of the houppelande came
about because only the wealthiest women were able to afford the
amount of cloth it took to create it, unlike the cotte, which had
gained a wider-spread availability.

Houppelandes came in a few varieties. Earlier in the century,

the houppelande had a high, closed collar and long angel-wing
sleeves. The skirt would also often have a short train in addition to
hanging long at the front. Sometimes the collars would be opened,

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 32

and folded out over the shoulders. This style evolved to abandon
the collar altogether and instead the front of the houppelande
remained slightly opened into a narrow V-neck. Eventually, after
the 1440’s, the style would become the more iconic Burgundian
style open v-neck houppelande.

The sleeves would change as well. The angel-wing sleeve could

be replaced with a full bag sleeve, cinched to the wrist with a
tight cuff. Or it could be a straight, loose sleeve that allowed the
woman’s cotte sleeve to peak out from under the cuff.

For a brief period of time in the 1430’s, the popularity of the

houppelande among the Upper and Middle Classes made it hard
to easily recognize one class member from the other. Upper Class
women, therefore, relied on the ability to afford more costly

Venus is represented here as an Upper

Class maiden in gray and black. Her
fitted cotte has large angel-wing
sleeves, and the white fur lining it
used as a wide band of trim around
the hem as well, which was one way
for a high-ranking woman to show off.
The black fitted sleeve of the cotte
underneath is just visible at her wrist.
The padded roll headdress is plain, but
if made of a quality wool or silk, would
have more than made up for the lack
of decoration.

“The Book of the Queen”,

BL MS Harley 4431, 1410-1414AD,
fol. 106v

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 33

fabrics, including sumptuous scarlet wool cloth (meticulously
finished, densely-woven cloth, dyed in highly saturated tones of
costly colors) as well as imported silks with repeating floral motifs.
They also heavily relied on headdress options that Middle Class
women were less likely to wear.

Here again, gowns would have been fur lined. Upper Class women
would have used expensive, imported furs such as miniver,
ermine, and Siberian squirrel, but they would have used the other
furs that were more widely available as well.

In a few rare examples, Upper Class women were still using

hoodless cloaks, called mantles, made of wool and either lined or
not. These were not practical for everyday use, and most women
would wear enough dress layers to be warm year round. The
mantle was, by this time, a remnant of past elitist fashions.

Headdress

The Upper Class had the most options for headdress.

The most widely used headdress in this class was what can be
described as a padded roll hat. It may sometime be referred to
as a reticulated headdress, bourrelet, or attifet. It consisted of
a thick, round roll of cloth shaped into a circle and attached to
a frame that held the roll into a roughly heart-shaped position
when viewed from the front. The frame could include horn-like
panels on the sides of the head, a netted panel across the top,
attached veils of sheer white silk, or sometimes beading, jewels
and embroidery. In some cases, the roll was supported on the
sides by buns of the woman’s own hair or false hair pieces. False
hair in the fashionable blonde shade could be made from cleaned

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 34

 Closer to the middle of the century,
padded roll hats start to appear in
more over-sized and vertical styles.
This high-class woman has decorated
hers with a pearled brooch. Her
houppelande has an open collar that
shows the fur lining. Her houppelande
belt is black with closely-spaced metal
mounts. Her sleeves are concealed,
but given the style of the collar- which
is in line with the earlier styles seen in
this period, it is most likely an angel-
wing sleeve, but a straight-cut sleeve
is also possible.

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432,

Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve,
fol. 379v

and processed flax.

Upper Class women are the only class (aside from young women
in general) who would appear in public settings bare headed. They
would not, however, wear their hair loose and free unless they
were young and unmarried. The most prevalent styles involved all
the hair combed forward into buns or braids at the sides of the
head, referred to as “templars”, usually with a prominent center
part. Other times, the hair might be worn in a braid down the
back, but that seems to have been more of a style choice young
women opted for than older married women. A circlet, made
of metal, leather or tablet woven silk, and often decorated with
metal mounts or jewels, could be added to the templar hair styles.
Occasionally, though less commonly, small sheer veils of silk or
linen would be pinned to the circlet as well.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 35

Upper Class women also wore horned veil styles. Due to the
relative variety in the way this headdress is depicted in the
imagery, it’s hard to know if Upper Class women opted for any
particular styles. There is, however, more of a likelihood that the
Upper Class woman would have worn styles that showed off her
hair (or, again, false hair).

Much less commonly, women on the lower end of the Upper Class
would have worn open hoods. The hoods would have been custom
made in quality wool cloth in richly dyed hues.

Of course, Upper Class women are very often revealed to us in

the manuscripts because they wear crowns or coronets made of
metal in a variety of style. We’ll explore the presence of crowns in
the imagery in a later section.

Though quite rare, among this royal

entourage, we can spot a single
example of an open hood in use on
what we can presume is a low-ranking
Upper Class woman. The details of
her green dress are concealed, but
it is, at the very least, a fitted cotte.
Her companions are all more stylishly
attired, with a mixture of all the styles
we’ve discussed. This is one of the
best images we have in the collection
to show the variety that even the
limited number of garment styles can
create when combined across a group
of women.

“The Comedies of Terrence”, first qrtr

15th c.,Arsenal, MS 664 reserve,
fol. 216v

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 36

Colors

Upper Class women had their pick of cloth colors, and would
have used those with the most true and vibrant dyes as much as
possible. This included the same royal blues, deep pinks, apple
greens, and of course, scarlet reds that the Middle Class desired,
but executed in more costly qualities of wool, and prohibitively
expensive silk. Layering would allow the woman to show off
different colors. Some affluent women (most commonly, affluent
courtesans) are depicted as showing off with a “robe”- multiple
layers executed in the same cloth dyed in the same dye bath. Red
made for the most expensively fashionable robe.

Though decorated cloth was less in vogue in this period, the

Upper Class would still sometimes use cloth with either large
floral patterns or with simple, smaller repeated motifs (a effect
called “powdered”). While uncommon in the imagery, patterned
cloth was primarily only available to the Upper Class for garments,
and would have been flaunted in this capacity.

Accessories

Upper Class women had a pair or more of soft leather turnshoes

with pointed toes. Though the exaggerated point of men’s
poulaines would be impractical under skirts, women still sought
shoes with the distinctive point in more reasonable lengths.
Buckles, decorative tooling, and lacing would also be used. When
not outside, Upper Class women could have used cloth slippers
with or without leather soles. Wood and leather pattens would
also be in her wardrobe.

Since Upper Class women didn’t need to girdle their skirts,

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 37

belts are generally less common for this group, but waist belts
of leather or woven silk would be decorated with bronze or
silver mounts in a variety of styles and motifs, and used simply
for decoration. The demicient belt was also suitable, with
decorated metal discs to hold the connecting chain. If she owned
a houppelande, she would have also had a houppelande belt, a
sturdy gathering belt worn tight and high on the waist. They could
have been made of leather, woven silk, or reinforced cloth, and left
plain or decorated. Earlier styles used narrow belts, but the belts
increased in width through the century.

Belts for this class were not meant to hold items, so belt purses
were not used by Upper Class women. Instead, when a pouch
was required, typically for alms-giving or other payments, the

There are not too many examples of

decoration applied to the garments
in this period (most of them appear
in this manuscript), but this young
woman’s red cotte is decorated
with gold around the neckline,
cuffs and hem. She’s also added a
jeweled brooch. Her hair is styled in a
particular bun style that uses teased
and curled hair to achieve, and is
topped with a coronet. She carries her
gold embroidered aumônière purse,
which is decorated with small knots
around the edges.

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432,

Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve,
fol. 182r

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 38

purse would simply be carried or given to a lady in waiting to
keep track of. Another option, if the lady’s outside gown had slits,
called fitchets, a belt could be worn over the base cotte with the
purse attached to it. When she needed access to it, the lady would
reach into the fitchet on her gown and pull the purse out. These
aumônière purses were embroidered in colored silk and gold
thread, and depicted various figurative scenes. Embroidered bags
like this were often given as tokens between courting nobles.

It was more common for Upper Class women to wear jewelry, but
the types of decorative pieces she wore were still fairly limited.
Annular brooches and rings were common and available in many
styles and qualities. Same as Middle Class woman, rings were
worn in whatever position on whichever finger it fit best. Some
Upper Class women may have had necklaces or jeweled collars.
Jewels mounted into metal fittings would also have been applied
to belts and padded roll hats to further enhance the woman’s
wealthy look. Buckles for their belts would have also been quite
fine, cast from bronze or silver, and sometimes gilded and jeweled.
Veil pins would either be simple or could have amber, coral or
precious stones attached to the end. Among Upper Class women,
the higher quality cast badges of saints or from pilgrimages or
travels would have also been collected and shown off.

Upper Class women may also have had a pair of leather

5-fingered riding gloves for use on excursions on horseback.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 39

 Putting Together an Upper Class Kit

Jeweled Padded Roll

Hat with Sheer Veil &
False Hair

Gold Necklace

Houppelande with
Jeweled Belt Angel Wing Sleeves
and Collar

Fitted
Supportive
Cotte

Fur Lining

Exessive Skirt
Length

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 40

For an early 15th century French women’s Upper Class
representation, a basic kit might include:

• 4-5 white chemises in either a loose or semi-fitted style (depending on

your support needs). The chemise could be made of linen, wool, or silk,
and should be of any medium to fine quality, and light or medium in
weight.
• 2-3 unlined wool fitted cottes with lacing in the front, side or back. Wool
should be lightweight for layering and just past floor length. Opt for
vibrant, solid blue, pink, green or red.
• 1 unlined wool outer cotte, either with side lacing or pull-over. It can be
either the tippet sleeve variety or sport angel-wing sleeves, lined with
white (linen, wool, or silk are suitable, but fur would be the authentic
option). Again, use a vibrant solid cloth in any fashionable color.
• 1-2 lined wool houppelandes for colder weather. For a time-ranging
option, select both an earlier (high collar, angel-wing) and a later (V-neck,
straight sleeve) style. Lining should be white or off-white (linen, wool, silk
or fur).
• 1-2 versions of padded roll hat. One may be decorated with embroidery
and jewels for a higher ranking look. Wool, silk, or velvet are appropriate.
• 1 light-weight wool open hood in a vibrant red or blue.
• A horned veil - structure and veil with pins - in a style of your choosing.
• 2-3 white linen caps worn to contain the hair.
• Hair pins and linen thread to style hair into templar braids or buns.
• 2-6 veil pins, either plain or with decorated ends. (Used to keep hoods and
horned veils in place)
• 1-2 pairs of soft leather turnshoes with pointed toes, with or without
decoration.
• 1 pair of wood and leather pattens in any simple and comfortable style.
• 1 leather or woven belt with decorative metal mounts or a demicient belt
with decorated round strap ends in bronze or silver.
• 1-2 houppelande belts, decorated as desired
• (optional) 1 silk embroidered aumônière purse with figurative scenes
• 2-5 rings and 2-3 annular brooches in a mixture of styles, some with
engraving and jewels.
• A collection of silver or pewter badges stitched to clothing as desired.
(Wear only one or two at a time.)

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 41

 Depictions of Older Women

“The Comedies of Terence “, Arsenal, MS 664 reserve, first qrtr 15th C, fol. 152v

One notable category of women tends to follow a different set

of conventions when it comes to their modes of dress. Women
who are more mature (and painted to be noticeably so) do not fall
neatly into the class group fashions outlined previously. Instead,
their clothing typically appears to be more dated in style, or put
another way, not as fashionable as their younger contemporaries.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 42

This isn’t true for all depictions of older women, however, and
the precise reasons why any woman would be depicted in dated
fashions have been lost to time.

When an older woman is shown in dated fashions, there are a

few distinct garments that appear. The first is a semi-fitted gown
with a particular elbow-length petal sleeve that isn’t long enough
to qualify as a tippet. This gown would be more in place among
fashionable women of the mid-14th Century, and looks akin to
gowns shown in the Taymouth Hours of the 1320’s. This would
indicate that the gown style is a fixed symbolic style used in
the manuscript to show something particular about these older
women, rather than merely being a style these women could have
worn in their theoretical youth.

If the woman is not in one of these petal-sleeved gowns, she may

instead be wearing a loose gown like those seen on other Lower
Class women. This dress style appears to be less symbolic and
more contemporary, appearing on older women of the Lower
Class specifically.

An older version of the open hood also appears on some

depictions of older women. Instead of the wide-winged brim and
long liripipe, this early open hood style has a forward pointed
tippet or nub at the top, and no outward-projecting brim. Though
open hoods of any style were worn throughout the 15th century,
this version is the most dated style, originating in the early 14th
century.

Older women are generally the women depicted wearing a

mantle- a hoodless cloak used all the way up to this period from
the early Middle Ages. Only those women who appear to be

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 43

among the Upper Class wear mantles.

We can offer up some ideas for the reasons why older women
are treated in this manner in the manuscripts. The most obvious
possible reason is the ease of recognition that dressing older
women in such distinct, outdated fashions created. At a glance, a
reader can distinguish different characters in a scene if their style
of clothing makes it more obvious who is who (which is a general
principle for fashion in the real world, outside the manuscript
format as well.) If two women are in a scene, and one is older, it’s
far more effective to show that via her clothing than to attempt to
show that in her miniature facial details.

Another possibility could be that the clothing versions shown in

the manuscripts on older women were established at an earlier

Known for her jealousy, the Goddess

Juno in “The Epistle of Othea”
disguised herself as an “ancient”
woman to convince Jupiter’s lover
Semele to confide in her about the
god’s intentions and affections. Her
attire here is clearly depicted in
conjunction with her disguise, and the
effect is that the petal-sleeved gown,
tippeted early-style open hood, and
even the wimple around her neck and
chin, are intended as easy, clear code
for “old woman”.

“The Book of the Queen”, 1410-1414AD,

BL MS Harley 4431,
fol. 123v

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 44

 In the play “Hecyra”, Syra is an aged
procuress- a woman who owns and
handles the business of courtesans.
This position would have surely
brought Syra relative wealth but
no social prestige or affluence. It is
interesting, therefore that she too, as
an older woman, is displayed in the
same manner as other mature women
of higher status, save for the relative
dullness of the colors of her gown and
hood.

“The Comedies of Terence “,

BnF MS Latin 7907 A, circa 1400-1407,
fol. 99v

point in time, in older copies of the manuscript, that the artists

simply kept as convenient “old clothing”.

A third option is that these styles did actually still exist in use
by women over a certain age during this period, and there is no
intentional symbolism or shorthand intended. Since clothing
retained value over time due to the cost of the cloth and labor
involved to convert it into something wearable, garments were
handed down, reused, and worn out through several generations.
If a woman had a dress of good quality that came to her from
earlier predecessors, and could not afford anything better
to replace it, she would have worn it. It’s possible that these
garments lasted longer than the cotehardies of the late 14th
century, since they were not as customized to the wearer.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 45

 Special Depictions & Symbolism

“The Book of the Queen”, 1410-1414AD, BL MS Harley 4431, fol. 123v

In the process of gathering images of women to review, I weeded

out obviously allegorical figures wearing clearly fantastical
clothing, women with armor, and any who were in a state of
undress or dishevelment. Even beyond these omissions, there
were two categories of women (with specific outfits) that made
the cut to be sorted and categorized: queens and maidens.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 46

Depictions of Queens

Among the 563 images, there’s one important inclusion- a

depiction of Isabeau, the Queen of France during the period
we’re reviewing here (shown on the previous page.) Her presence
is useful and important for two reasons. First, she’s a real,
contemporary figure that we can accurately place into the period.
Second, the clothing she wears is also contemporary and fits
very neatly into the Upper Class styles described earlier. In other
words, there is nothing allegorical or fantastical about her. She
wears a stylish red and patterned houppelande with large angel
wings and a long collar opened to rest on her shoulders. On her
head, a padded roll hat, jeweled and embroidered, and shaped to
show what we are meant to believe is her blond hair styled into
templar buns.

We can contrast Queen Isabeau with other queens we find

throughout the collection. When we do, it becomes clear that
the visual shorthand used to indicate fictional queens or queens
of antiquity is not based on what contemporary queens wore on
a daily basis. Instead, these depictions rely on two key clothing
elements- a sideless surcoat, and a crown. No other category
of women beyond story-based royalty are shown wearing these
particular items.

By the 15th century (and even by the end of the 14th) the sideless
surcoat and crown had both become reserved for special
occasions in actual use. The sideless surcoat, a long garment with
large oval openings on both sides and trimmed with fur, developed
and became popular through the 14th century, and began to
be worn by royal ladies for marriages, coronations, or other

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 47

important state functions. With other styles becoming popular
(e.g. the houppelande), the sideless gown lost its appeal for normal
wear, but retained its status as an option for the most important
functions a royal woman might be required to do. It’s likely that
by the second decade of the 15th century, this special gown wasn’t
even used for state functions, but lingered in the popular memory.

Crowns, and their lower ranking counterparts, coronets, also

appear to have been reserved for only important events in the
royal woman’s life. Expensive crowns would have been impractical
daily wear, and would instead have likely been kept secure with
other regalia when not required. A jeweled padded roll was an
adequate, fashionable, and relatively comfortable substitute.

To the reader of an early 15th century manuscript, the presence

Queen Joanna I of Naples was also

a real person, but was by 1403 a
historical queen, having died in 1382.
She appears in the typical symbolic
sideless surcoat and crown of her
station. Interestingly, in this case, this
could have very well been similar to
the way Joanna dressed while sitting
in state later in her lifetime. However,
considering that other queens
throughout this manuscript are shown
in the same outfit, this was more likely
a coincidence than a conscious choice.
Under her vibrant blue surcoat, her
fashionable, tight-fitting, pink fitted
cotte is visible.

“On Famous Women”,

BnF MS French 598, circa 1403,
fol.159r

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 48

 The allegorical personification of
Reason is presented in “The City of
Ladies” as a queen in a red sideless
surcoat over a red fitted cotte. A disc
belt is visible at her waist. Her crown
and templar braids are standard to
the symbolic depiction. Clearly, any
woman engaged in the act of such
physical labor (as if a queen would do
so) would have chosen a more sensible
outfit in real life.

“Le Decameron”, circa 1432,

Arsenal, Ms-5070 Reserve,
fol. 164v

of a sideless surcoat and crown was a easily recognized symbol

of a royal woman. Such an outfit worn in everyday life, it seems,
was not reality. So though we can find many examples of this
combination among the images of women depicted in this period,
we must take them with a grain of salt and look to Queen Isabeau
for royal inspiration instead.

Depictions of Maidens

Unlike the unreality of the symbolic depictions of queens in the

imagery, the most common style depicted on young, unmarried
women is likely more accurate for the period. Typically, the
standard uniform of the eligible woman of any class is a fitted
gown with long sleeves and her hair left bare, either as loose
waves or in a simple braid at the back. While the fitted gown is the

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 49

most prevalent dress style across all women in all class groups,
when combined with uncovered, non-styled hair, it becomes
exclusive to unmarried women.

Clean, long hair was a good sign of a young woman’s health and
means, and an easy visual way for a maiden to show her appeal
along with her availability. She would not necessarily always have
worn it in this manner, and there are many examples of young
women in the other styles we’ve previously discussed. It does,
however, provide a convenient way for manuscript illuminators
to show the age and status of a young woman if it matters for the
context of her story. When she is married, the young woman’s
hair would be concealed under her cap, veil or hood, or put up in
the appropriate fashionable styles, and for the most part, only her
husband and children would see her long loose hair again.

The ancient Greek painter Thamyris

is depicted in Boccaccio’s “On Famous
Women” in a vibrant red fitted cotte
(with a white lining, possibly intended
to be fur) and her blonde hair simply
contained in a long plain braid. She
was described by Pliny the Elder as
the daughter of Micon the Elder of
Athens, indicating that she was an
unmarried dependent of her father.

“On Famous Women”,

BL MS Royal 20 C V, after 1403
fol. 90r

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 50

 Conclusion

“Thebais and Achilles”, BL MS Burney 257, circa 1405, fol. 200v

The information that we can gain by studying the full group of 563
images of women is certainly much deeper than can be explained
and examined here. In addition to simply knowing what was
worn and who wore what, there are questions surrounding why,
how, and in which situations. There is much we can understand
about French women’s clothing in this period, however, simply by
knowing the basic breakdown of the garments that were available

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 51

and in what combinations any specific woman may have worn
them.

The most prominent conclusion we can reach with the breakdown

we’ve explored above is that any given woman in the early 15th
century (within those areas influenced by French ideals, at least)
would have had a specific set of clothing options that marked her
as belonging to a specific subset of women. When we contrast
that with modern modes of dress, the collection of styles shown
here begin to seem like slim pickings. It’s fascinating, therefore to
see the way in which color, accessories, the way a collar or sleeve
are cut, or even the way the woman handles her skirt’s length all
play a role in creating diversity in a fashion period that is, at the
core, remarkably uniform.

We see also that each class, and even each tier within each class,
is constantly looking forward and upward to the fashions in
that direction. As more and more Lower Class women are gifted
or acquire cast-off fitted cottes, they become less suitable to
the classes above. As the Middle Class gains wealth and means,
exploiting systems that were never designed to handle an affluent,
free class of avid consumers, the Upper Class looks for new ways
to show their station and wealth that can’t easily be replicated by
those with lower status. As distinct as these class modes of dress
appear at first, the separations between them are nuanced and
unclear, and form the fashions of a society that’s barreling full-
speed toward modernity.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 52

 Manuscript Sources

• BnF MS French 598, De claris mulieribus (On Famous Women), by

Giovanni Boccaccio, circa 1403.
• BnF MS Latin 7907 A, The Comedies of Terence, Publius Terencius Afer,
circa 1400-1407.
• Arsenal MS 5070, reserve, The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio, 1432.
• British Library MS Harley 4431, The Book of the Queen, Selected Works of
Christine de Pizan, 1410-1414AD.
• BnF MS French 282, Facta et dicta memorabilia (Memorable Deeds and
Sayings), by Valerius Maximus, 1400-1425.
• British Library MS Burney 257, Thebais and Achilles, by Publius Papinius
Statius, circa 1405.
• British Library MS Royal 20 C V, Des cleres et nobles femmes, De claris
mulieribus (On Famous Women), by Giovanni Boccaccio, after 1403 (first
quarter of 15C).
• BnF Arsenal, MS 664 reserve, The Comedies of Terence, Publius Terencius
Afer, first quarter of the 15th Century.
• BnF MS French 1023, The Book of Good Manners (Le livre de bonnes
mœurs), Jacques Legrand, circa 1410.
• BnF Arsenal 3479 & 80, C’est le livre de messire Lancelot du Lac (Lancelot
Prose), circa 1405-1425. (Two-volume partial edition of the Vulgate Cycle)

These manuscripts can be located online through their respective Library

websites: The French National Library at Gallica.bnf.fr and The British Library
at bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 53

 Bibliography

While a great deal of the information outlined in this Style Book

was original research based on what I found when I sorted,
counted, and evaluated the images I collected, it would have been
impossible without an understanding of the basics of clothing,
class, and material culture of this period in order to put it all into
context. The sources below helped me tremendously in being able
to create this resource.

• Burkholder, K.M., “Threads Bared: Dress and Textiles in Late Medieval

English Wills,” Medieval Clothing and Textiles, Volume 1, (Woodbridge: The
Boydell Press, 2005).

• Crowfoot, E, et al, “Textiles and Clothing c. 1150-c.1450,” Museum of

London: Medieval Finds from Excavations in London: 4 (London, HMSO,
1992).

• Cunnington, P. & Lucas, C., Occupational Costume in England, (New York,

Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1967).

• Dyer, C., Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages: Social Change in
England c. 1200-1520, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989).

• Egan, G., and Pritchard, F. Dress Accessories c. 1150-c. 1450. Boydell Press,
2002.

• Heller, S.G., “Limiting Yardage and Changes of Clothes: Sumptuary

Legislation in Thirteenth-Century France, Languedoc, and Italy,” Medieval
Fabrications: Dress, Textiles, Cloth Work, and Other Cultural Imaginings
(New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 54

• Hunt, A., Governance of the Consuming Passions; A History of Sumptuary
Law, (New York, St. Martin Press, 1996).

• Kwan, E. “Clothes Make the (Wo)Man: Interpreting Evidence of the

Secondhand Clothing Trade in Late Medieval England,” SUURJ: Seattle
University Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 1 , Article 16. (2017)
Available at: http://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/suurj/vol1/iss1/16

• Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: a Handbook

for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century. Simon & Schuster, 2011.

• Munro, J.H., “The Anti-Red Shift- To the Dark Side; Colour Changes in
Flemish Luxury Woollens, 1300-1550,” Medieval Clothing and Textiles,
Volume 3 (Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2007).

• Newman, P.B., Daily Life in the Middle Ages (North Carolina: McFarland &
Company, Inc., 1961).

• Newton, S.M., Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince: A study of the years
1340-1365, (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 1980).

• Oldland, J., “The Finishing of English Woollens, 1300-1550,” Medieval

Clothing and Textiles, Volume 3 (Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2007).

• Piponnier, F & Mane P, Dress in the Middle Ages (English Edition), (New
Haven, Yale University Press, 2007).

• Power, E. (translation), The Goodman of Paris: A Treatise on Moral and

Domestic Economy by a Citizen of Paris, c. 1393, (Woodbridge, The Boydell
Press, 1928).

• Scott, M., Medieval Dress & Fashion, (London, The British Library, 2007).

• Scott, M., A Visual History of Costume: The Fourteenth & Fifteenth

Centuries, (London, B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1986).

• Verdier, P., “Women in the Marginalia of Gothic Manuscripts and Related

Works,” The Role of Women in the Middle Ages (Albany, SUNY Press, 1975).

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 55

 About the Author

My name is Janis Hurst, but I am

probably better known as Edyth
Miller, a member and Laurel of the
Society for Creative Anachronisms,
Inc., and the author of the blog The
Compleatly Dressed Anachronist. I’ve
been involved in medieval recreation
through the SCA for over 20 years,
and in that time, the study and
recreation of late medieval clothing
has become a hobby I am undeniably
passionate about. This project, the
Style Book, is one product of that
passion.

The Compleatly Dressed Anachronist

blog can be found at:
edythmiller.blogspot.com

You can also find me on:

Facebook (EdythMiller)
Instagram (THLEdyth)
Pinterest (edythmiller) - all the
images used for this research can be
found via my Pinterest boards.

The Early 15th Century French Women’s Style Book 56