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Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period
Paul LaCroix
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Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages, and During the
Renaissance Period.
By Paul Lacroix
(Bibliophile Jacob),
Curator of the Imperial Library of the Arsenal, Paris.
Illustrated with
Nineteen Chromolithographic Prints by F. Kellerhoven
and upwards of
_Four Hundred Engravings on Wood_.
Preface.
The several successive editions of "The Arts of the Middle Ages and Period
of the Renaissance" sufficiently testify to its appreciation by the
public. The object of that work was to introduce the reader to a branch of
learning to which access had hitherto appeared only permitted to the
scientific. That attempt, which was a bold one, succeeded too well not to
induce us to push our researches further. In fact, art alone cannot
acquaint us entirely with an epoch. "The arts, considered in their
generality, are the true expressions of society. They tell us its tastes,
its ideas, and its character." We thus spoke in the preface to our first
work, and we find nothing to modify in this opinion. Art must be the
faithful expression of a society, since it represents it by its works as
it has created them--undeniable witnesses of its spirit and manners for
future generations. But it must be acknowledged that art is only the
consequence of the ideas which it expresses; it is the fruit of
civilisation, not its origin. To understand the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance, it is necessary to go back to the source of its art, and to
know the life of our fathers; these are two inseparable things, which
entwine one another, and become complete one by the other.
The Manners and Customs of the Middle Ages:--this subject is of the
greatest interest, not only to the man of science, but to the man of the
world also. In it, too, "we retrace not only one single period, but two
periods quite distinct one from the other." In the first, the public and
private customs offer a curious mixture of barbarism and civilisation. We
find barbarian, Roman, and Christian customs and character in presence of
each other, mixed up in the same society, and very often in the same
individuals. Everywhere the most adverse and opposite tendencies display
themselves. What an ardent struggle during that long period! and how full,
too, of emotion is its picture! Society tends to reconstitute itself in
every aspect. She wants to create, so to say, from every side, property,
authority, justice, &c., &c., in a word, everything which can establish
the basis of public life; and this new order of things must be established
by means of the elements supplied at once by the barbarian, Roman, and
Christian world--a prodigious creation, the working of which occupied the
whole of the Middle Ages. Hardly does modern society, civilised by
Christianity, reach the fullness of its power, than it divides itself to
follow different paths. Ancient art and literature resuscitates because
custom _insensibly_ takes that direction. Under that influence, everything
is modified both in private and public life. The history of the human race
does not present a subject more vast or more interesting. It is a subject
we have chosen to succeed our first book, and which will be followed by a
similar study on the various aspects of Religious and Military Life.
This work, devoted to the vivid and faithful description of the Manners
and Customs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, answers fully to the
requirements of contemporary times. We are, in fact, no longer content
with the chronological narration and simple nomenclatures which formerly
were considered sufficient for education. We no longer imagine that the
history of our institutions has less interest than that of our wars, nor
that the annals of the humbler classes are irrelevant to those of the
privileged orders. We go further still. What is above all sought for in
historical works nowadays is the physiognomy, the inmost character of past
generations. "How did our fathers live?" is a daily question. "What
institutions had they? What were their political rights? Can you not
place before us their pastimes, their hunting parties, their meals, and
all sorts of scenes, sad or gay, which composed their home life? We should
like to follow them in public and private occupations, and to know their
manner of living hourly, as we know our own."
In a high order of ideas, what great facts serve as a foundation to our
history and that of the modern world! We have first royalty, which, weak
and debased under the Merovingians, rises and establishes itself
energetically under Pepin and Charlemagne, to degenerate under Louis le
Debonnaire and Charles le Chauve. After having dared a second time to
found the Empire of the Caesars, it quickly sees its sovereignty replaced
by feudal rights, and all its rights usurped by the nobles, and has to
struggle for many centuries to recover its rights one by one.
Feudalism, evidently of Germanic origin, will also attract our attention,
and we shall draw a rapid outline of this legislation, which, barbarian at
the onset, becomes by degrees subject to the rules of moral progress. We
shall ascertain that military service is the essence itself of the "fief,"
and that thence springs feudal right. On our way we shall protest against
civil wars, and shall welcome emancipation and the formation of the
communes. Following the thousand details of the life of the people, we
shall see the slave become serf, and the serf become peasant. We shall
assist at the dispensation of justice by royalty and nobility, at the
solemn sittings of parliaments, and we shall see the complicated details
of a strict ceremonial, which formed an integral part of the law, develop
themselves before us. The counters of dealers, fairs and markets,
manufactures, commerce, and industry, also merit our attention; we must
search deeply into corporations of workmen and tradesmen, examining their
statutes, and initiating ourselves into their business. Fashion and dress
are also a manifestation of public and private customs; for that reason we
must give them particular attention.
And to accomplish the work we have undertaken, we are lucky to have the
conscientious studies of our old associates in the great work of the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance to assist us: such as those of Emile
Begin, Elzear Blaze, Depping, Benjamin Guerard, Le Roux de Lincy, H.
Martin, Mary-Lafon, Francisque Michel, A. Monteil, Rabutau, Ferdinand
Sere, Horace de Viel-Castel, A. de la Villegille, Vallet de Viriville.
As in the volume of the Arts of the Middle Ages, engraving and
chromo-lithography will come to our assistance by reproducing, by means of
strict fac-similes, the rarest engravings of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, and the most precious miniatures of the manuscripts preserved
in the principal libraries of France and Europe. Here again we have the
aid of the eminent artist, M. Kellerhoven, who quite recently found means
of reproducing with so much fidelity the gems of Italian painting.
Paul Lacroix
(Bibliophile Jacob).
Table of Contents.
Condition of Persons and Lands
Disorganization of the West at the Beginning of the Middle
Ages.--Mixture of Roman, Germanic, and Gallic Institutions.--Fusion
organized under Charlemagne.--Royal Authority.--Position of the Great
Feudalists.--Division of the Territory and Prerogatives attached to
Landed Possessions.--Freeman and Tenants.--The Laeti, the Colon, the
Serf, and the Labourer, who may be called the Origin of the Modern Lower
Classes.--Formation of Communities.--Right of Mortmain.
Privileges and Rights (Feudal and Municipal)
Elements of Feudalism.--Rights of Treasure-trove, Sporting,
Safe-Conducts, Ransom, Disinheritance, &c.--Immunity of the
Feudalists.--Dues from the Nobles to their Sovereign.--Law and
University Dues.--Curious Exactions resulting from the Universal System
of Dues.--Struggles to enfranchise the Classes subjected to
Dues.--Feudal Spirit and Citizen Spirit.--Resuscitation of the System of
Ancient Municipalities in Italy, Germany, and France.--Municipal
Institutions and Associations.--The Community.--The Middle-Class Cities
(_Cites Bourgeoises_).--Origin of National Unity.
Private Life in the Castles, the Towns, and the Rural Districts
The Merovingian Castles.--Pastimes of the Nobles: Hunting,
War.--Domestic Arrangements.--Private Life of Charlemagne.--Domestic
Habits under the Carlovingians.--Influence of Chivalry.--Simplicity of
the Court of Philip Augustus not imitated by his Successors.--Princely
Life of the Fifteenth Century.--The bringing up of Latour Landry, a
Noble of Anjou.--Varlets, Pages, Esquires, Maids of Honour.--Opulence of
the Bourgeoisie.--"Le Menagier de Paris."--Ancient Dwellings.--State of
Rustics at various Periods.--"Rustic Sayings," by Noel du Fail.
Food and Cookery
History of Bread.--Vegetables and Plants used in
Cooking.--Fruits.--Butchers' Meat.--Poultry, Game.--Milk, Butter,
Cheese, and Eggs.--Fish and Shellfish.--Beverages: Beer, Cider, Wine,
Sweet Wine, Refreshing Drinks, Brandy.--Cookery.--Soups, Boiled Food,
Pies, Stews, Salads, Roasts, Grills.--Seasoning, Truffles, Sugar,
Verjuice.--Sweets, Desserts, Pastry,--Meals and Feasts.--Rules of
Serving at Table from the Fifteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries.
Hunting
Venery and Hawking.--Origin of Aix-la-Chapelle.--Gaston Phoebus and his
Book.--The Presiding Deities of Sportsmen.--Sporting Societies and
Brotherhoods.--Sporting Kings: Charlemagne, Louis IX., Louis XI.,
Charles VIII., Louis XII., Francis I., &c.--Treatise on
Venery.--Sporting Popes.--Origin of Hawking.--Training Birds.--Hawking
Retinues.--Book of King Modus.--Technical Terms used in
Hawking.--Persons who have excelled in this kind of Sport.--Fowling.
Games and Pastimes
Games of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.--Games of the Circus.--Animal
Combats.--Daring of King Pepin.--The King's Lions.--Blind Men's
Fights.--Cockneys of Paris.--Champ de Mars.--Cours Plenieres and Cours
Couronnees.--Jugglers, Tumblers, and
Minstrels.--Rope-dancers.--Fireworks.--Gymnastics.--Cards and
Dice.--Chess, Marbles, and Billiards.--La Soule, La Pirouette,
&c.--Small Games for Private Society.--History of Dancing.--Ballet des
Ardents.--The "Orchesographie" (Art of Dancing) of Thoinot Arbeau.--List
of Dances.
Commerce
State of Commerce after the Fall of the Roman Empire; its Revival under
the Frankish Kings; its Prosperity under Charlemagne; its Decline down
to the Time of the Crusaders.--The Levant Trade of the
East.--Flourishing State of the Towns of Provence and
Languedoc.--Establishment of Fairs.--Fairs of Landit, Champagne,
Beaucaire, and Lyons.--Weights and Measures.--Commercial Flanders.--Laws
of Maritime Commerce.--Consular Laws.--Banks and Bills of
Exchange.--French Settlements on the Coast of Africa.--Consequences of
the Discovery of America.
Guilds and Trade Corporations
Uncertain Origin of Corporations.--Ancient Industrial Associations.--The
Germanic Guild.--Colleges.--Teutonic Associations.--The Paris Company
for the Transit of Merchandise by Water.--Corporations properly so
called.--Etienne Boileau's "Book of Trades," or the First Code of
Regulations.--The Laws governing Trades.--Public and Private
Organization of Trades Corporations and other Communities.--Energy of
the Corporations.--Masters, Journeymen, Supernumeraries, and
Apprentices.--Religious Festivals and Trade Societies.--Trade Unions.
Taxes, Money, and Finance
Taxes under the Roman Rule.--Money Exactions of the Merovingian
Kings.--Varieties of Money.--Financial Laws under Charlemagne.--Missi
Dominici.--Increase of Taxes owing to the Crusades.--Organization of
Finances by Louis IX.--Extortions of Philip lo Bel.--Pecuniary
Embarrassment of his Successors.--Charles V. re-establishes Order in
Finances.--Disasters of France under Charles VI., Charles VII., and
Jacques Coeur.--Changes in Taxation from Louis XI. to Francis I.--The
Great Financiers.--Florimond Robertet.
Law and the Administration of Justice
The Family the Origin of Government.--Origin of Supreme Power amongst
the Franks.--The Legislation of Barbarism humanised by
Christianity.--Right of Justice inherent to the Right of Property.--The
Laws under Charlemagne.--Judicial Forms.--Witnesses.--Duels,
&c.--Organization of Royal Justice under St. Louis.--The Chatelet and
the Provost of Paris.--Jurisdiction of Parliament, its Duties and its
Responsibilities.--The Bailiwicks.--Struggles between Parliament and the
Chatelet.--Codification of the Customs and Usages.--Official
Cupidity.--Comparison between the Parliament and the Chatelet.
Secret Tribunals
The Old Man of the Mountain and his Followers in Syria.--The Castle of
Alamond, Paradise of Assassins.--Charlemagne the Founder of Secret
Tribunals amongst the Saxons.--The Holy Vehme.--Organization of the
Tribunal of the _Terre Rouge_, and Modes adopted in its
Procedures.--Condemnations and Execution of Sentences.--The Truth
respecting the Free Judges of Westphalia.--Duration and Fall of the
Vehmie Tribunal.--Council of Ten, in Venice; its Code and Secret
Decisions.--End of the Council of Ten.
Punishments
Refinements of Penal Cruelty.--Tortures for different Purposes.--Water,
Screw-boards, and the Rack.--The Executioner.--Female
Executioners.--Tortures.--Amende Honorable.--Torture of Fire, Real and
Feigned.--Auto-da-fe.--Red-hot Brazier or
Basin.--Beheading.--Quartering.--The Wheel.--Garotting.--Hanging.--The
Whip.--The Pillory.--The
Arquebuse.--Tickling.--Flaying.--Drowning.--Imprisonment.--Regulations
of Prisons.--The Iron Cage.--"The Leads" of Venice.
Jews
Dispersion of the Jews.--Jewish Quarters in the Mediaeval Towns.--The
_Ghetto_ of Rome.--Ancient Prague.--The _Giudecca_ of Venice.--Condition
of the Jews; Animosity of the People against them; Vexations Treatment
and Severity of the Sovereigns.--The Jews of Lincoln.--The Jews of
Blois.--Mission of the _Pastoureaux_.--Extermination of the Jews.--The
Price at which the Jews purchased Indulgences.--Marks set upon
them.--Wealth, Knowledge, Industry, and Financial Aptitude of the
Jews.--Regulations respecting Usury as practised by the
Jews.--Attachment of the Jews to their Religion.
Gipsies, Tramps, Beggars, and Cours des Miracles
First Appearance of Gipsies in the West.--Gipsies in Paris.--Manners and
Customs of these Wandering Tribes.--Tricks of Captain Charles.--Gipsies
expelled by Royal Edict.--Language of Gipsies.--The Kingdom of
Slang.--The Great Coesre, Chief of the Vagrants; his Vassals and
Subjects.--Divisions of the Slang People; its Decay, and the Causes
thereof.--Cours des Miracles.--The Camp of Rogues.--Cunning Language, or
Slang.--Foreign Rogues, Thieves, and Pickpockets.
Ceremonials
Origin of Modern Ceremonial.--Uncertainty of French Ceremonial up to the
End of the Sixteenth Century.--Consecration of the Kings of
France.--Coronation of the Emperors of Germany.--Consecration of the
Doges of Venice.--Marriage of the Doge with the Sea.--State Entries of
Sovereigns.--An Account of the Entry of Isabel of Bavaria into
Paris.--Seats of Justice.--Visits of Ceremony between Persons of
Rank.--Mourning.--Social Courtesies.--Popular Demonstrations and
National Commemorations--New Year's Day.--Local Festivals.--_Vins
d'Honneur_.--Processions of Trades.
Costumes
Influence of Ancient Costume.--Costume in the Fifteenth
Century.--Hair.--Costumes in the Time of Charlemagne.--Origin of Modern
National Dress.--Head-dresses and Beards: Time of St. Louis.--Progress
of Dress: Trousers, Hose, Shoes, Coats, Surcoats, Capes.--Changes in the
Fashions of Shoes and Hoods.--_Livree_.--Cloaks and Capes.--Edicts
against Extravagant Fashions.--Female Dress: Gowns, Bonnets,
Head-dresses, &c.--Disappearance of Ancient Dress.--Tight-fitting
Gowns.--General Character of Dress under Francis I.--Uniformity of
Dress.
Table of Illustrations.
I. Chromolithographs.
1. The Queen of Sheba before Solomon. Fac-simile of a Miniature from the
Breviary of Cardinal Grimani, attributed to Memling. Costumes of the
Fifteenth Century.
2. The Court of Marie of Anjou, Wife of Charles VII. Fac-simile of a
Miniature from the "Douze Perilz d'Enfer." Costumes of the Fifteenth
Century.
3. Louis XII. leaving Alexandria, on the 24th April, 1507, to chastise the
City of Genoa. From a Miniature in the "Voyage de Genes" of Jean Marot.
4. A Young Mother's Retinue. Miniature from a Latin "Terence" of Charles
VI. Costumes of the Fourteenth Century.
5. Table Service of a Lady of Quality. Fac-simile of a Miniature in the
"Roman de Renaud de Montauban." Costumes of the Fifteenth Century.
6. Ladies Hunting. From a Miniature in a Manuscript Copy of "Ovid's
Epistles." Costumes of the Fifteenth Century.
7. A Court Fool. Fac-simile of a Miniature in a Manuscript of the
Fifteenth Century.
8. The Chess-players. After a Miniature of the "Three Ages of Man." (End
of the Fifteenth Century.)
9. Martyrdom of SS. Crispin and Crepinien. From a Window in the Hopital
des Quinze-Vingts (Fifteenth Century).
10. Settlement of Accounts by the Brotherhood of Charite-Dieu, Rouen, in
1466. A Miniature from the "Livre des Comptes" of this Society (Fifteenth
Century).
11. Decapitation of Guillaume de Pommiers and his Confessor at Bordeaux in
1377 ("Chroniques de Froissart").
12. The Jews' Passover. Fac-simile of a Miniature in a Missal of the
Fifteenth Century of the School of Van Eyck.
13. Entry of Charles VII. into Paris. A Miniature from the "Chroniques
d'Enguerrand de Monstrelet." Costumes of the Sixteenth Century.
14. St. Catherine surrounded by the Doctors of Alexandria. A Miniature
from the Breviary of Cardinal Grimani, attributed to Memling. Costumes of
the Fifteenth Century.
15. Italian Lace-work, in Gold-thread. The Cypher and Arms of Henri III.
(Sixteenth Century).
II. Engravings.
Aigues-Mortes, Ramparts of the Town of
Alms Bag, Fifteenth Century
Amende honorable before the Tribunal
America, Discovery of
Anne of Brittany and the Ladies of her Court
Archer, in Fighting Dress, Fifteenth Century
Armourer
Arms of Louis XI. and Charlotte of Savoy
Arms, Various, Fifteenth Century
Bailiwick
Bailliage, or Tribunal of the King's Bailiff,
Sixteenth Century
Baker, The, Sixteenth Century
Balancing, Feats of, Thirteenth Century
Ballet, Representation of a, before Henri
III. and his Court
Banner of the Coopers of Bayonne
" " La Rochelle
" Corporation of Bakers of Arras
" " Bakers of Paris
" " Boot and Shoe
Makers of Issoudun
" Corporation of Publichouse-keepers of Montmedy
" Corporation of Publichouse-keepers of Tonnerre
" Drapers of Caen
" Harness-makers of Paris
" Nail-makers of Paris
" Pastrycooks of Caen
" " La Rochelle
" " Tonnerre
" Tanners of Vie
" Tilers of Paris
" Weavers of Toulon
" Wheelwrights of Paris
Banquet, Grand, at the Court of France
Barber
Barnacle Geese
Barrister, Fifteenth Century
Basin-maker
Bastille, The
Bears and other Beasts, how they may be
caught with a Dart
Beggar playing the Fiddle
Beheading
Bell and Canon Caster
Bird-catching, Fourteenth Century
Bird-piping, Fourteenth Century
Blind and Poor Sick of St. John, Fifteenth
Century
Bob Apple, The Game of
Bootmaker's Apprentice working at a Trial-piece,
Thirteenth Century
Bourbon, Constable de, Trial of, before the
Peers of France
Bourgeois, Thirteenth Century
Brandenburg, Marquis of
Brewer, The, Sixteenth Century
Brotherhood of Death, Member of the
Burgess of Ghent and his Wife, from a
Window of the Fifteenth Century
Burgess at Meals
Burgesses with Hoods, Fourteenth Century
Burning Ballet, The
Butcher, The, Sixteenth Century
Butler at his Duties
Cards for a Game of Piquet, Sixteenth Century
Carlovingian King in his Palace
Carpenter, Fifteenth Century
Carpenter's Apprentice working at a Trial-piece,
Fifteenth Century
Cast to allure Beasts
Castle of Alamond, The
Cat-o'-nine-tails
Celtic Monument (the Holy Ox)
Chamber of Accounts, Hotel of the
Chandeliers in Bronze, Fourteenth Century
Charlemagne, The Emperor
" Coronation of
" Dalmatica and Sandals of
" receiving the Oath of Fidelity
from one of his great Barons
" Portrait of
Charles, eldest Son of King Pepin, receiving
the News of the Death of his Father
Charles V. and the Emperor Charles IV.,
Interview between
Chateau-Gaillard aux Andelys
Chatelet, The Great
Cheeses, The Manufacture of, Sixteenth
Century
Chilperic, Tomb of, Eleventh Century
Clasp-maker
Cloth to approach Beasts, How to carry a
Cloth-worker
Coins, Gold Merovingian, 628-638
" Gold, Sixth and Seventh Centuries
" " Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
" Gold and Silver, Thirteenth Century
" " Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Centuries
" Silver, Eighth to Eleventh Centuries
Cologne, View of, Sixteenth Century
Comb in Ivory, Sixteenth Century
Combat of a Knight with a Dog, Thirteenth
Century
Companion Carpenter, Fifteenth Century
Cook, The, Sixteenth Century
Coppersmith, The, Sixteenth Century
Corn-threshing and Bread-making, Sixteenth
Century
Costume of Emperors at their Coronation
since the Time of Charlemagne
" King Childebert, Seventh Century
" King Clovis, Sixth Century
" Saints in the Sixth to Eighth
Century
" Prelates, Eighth to Tenth Century
" a Scholar of the Carlovingian
Period
Costume of a Scholar, Ninth Century
" a Bishop or Abbot, Ninth Century
" Charles the Simple, Tenth Century
" Louis le Jeune
" a Princess
" William Malgeneste, the King's Huntsman
" an English Servant, Fourteenth Century
" Philip the Good
" Charles V., King of France
" Jeanne de Bourbon
" Charlotte of Savoy
" Mary of Burgundy
" the Ladies of the Court of Catherine de Medicis
" a Gentleman of the French Court, Sixteenth Century
" the German Bourgeoisie, Sixteenth Century
Costumes, Italian, Fifteenth Century
Costumes of the Thirteenth Century
" the Common People, Fourteenth Century
" a rich Bourgeoise, of a Peasant-woman, and of a Lady of the
Nobility, Fourteenth Century
" a Young Nobleman and of a Bourgeois, Fourteenth Century
" a Bourgeois or Merchant, of a Nobleman, and of a Lady of the Court
or rich Bourgeoise, Fifteenth Century
" a Mechanic's Wife and a rich Bourgeois, Fifteenth Century
" Young Noblemen of the Court of Charles VIII
" a Nobleman, a Bourgeois, and a Noble Lady, of the time of Louis
XII
" a rich Bourgeoise and a Nobleman, time of Francis I
Counter-seal of the Butchers of Bruges in 1356
Country Life
Cour des Miracles of Paris
Court Fool
" of Love in Provence, Fourteenth Century
" of the Nobles, The
" Supreme, presided over by the King
" of a Baron, The
" Inferior, in the Great Bailiwick
Courtiers amassing Riches at the Expense of the Poor, Fourteenth Century
Courts of Love in Provence, Allegorical Scene of, Thirteenth Century
Craftsmen, Fourteenth Century
Cultivation of Fruit, Fifteenth Century
" Grain, and Manufacture of Barley and Oat Bread
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