smptuary-laws-lnks Ð 2/20/05

A set of web links to information on medieval sumptuary laws by Dame Aoife Finn 
of Ynos Mon.

NOTE: See also the files: p-sumpt-laws-msg, wearg-p-fshns-msg, costuming-lnks, 
jewelry-msg, fashion-msg, trim-msg, clothing-books-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have 
collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date 
back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These 
files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate 
topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous 
information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save 
space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no 
claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. 
The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information 
is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: aoife at scatoday.net
Subject: [Aoife-Links] Elegance befitting the station: Sumptuary Law
Date: February 17, 2005 9:28:40 PM CST
To: aoife-links at scatoday.net

Greetings my Faithful Readers!

This week we turn our eye to that most Medieval of attitudes: Appearances are 
everything. While modern-day medievalists might have trouble with the idea that 
they can't wear any costume they like at any function (and that costume can be 
as fancy as they can afford or can make their garb to be, regardless of what 
other people of higher station are wearing), our medieval cousins weren't so 
lucky. In the Middle ages and Renaissance--heck, up to the French Revolution, 
even---the idea that one should dress in a manner befitting their station in 
life is one of the bedrocks of society. Even today, we tend to judge a person by 
their clothing. Actresses at the Academy Awards ceremony are compared according 
to the effectiveness of their dress and designers are made or broken depending 
on that success. How often have you heard this comment: "Looking prosperous!"? 
How many times have your read in fable, fairy tale or literary allusion about 
someone dressed in a golden gown? I remember a particular poem from the modern 
AA Milne (James James...) wherein the foolish mother went to town in a gown of 
gold, and had to be rescued by her wiser child. Or how about that Paul Simon 
song about a woman with Diamonds on the soles of her shoes...silly of course, 
but obviously she had money to burn. Our medieval counterparts would have 
instantly recognized those images. Obviously the people referred to were 
fabulously wealthy and very important.

So if appearance is everything, why wouldn't everyone wear clothing to the 
highest level of their ability to afford? I like to think of it as a form of 
medieval driver's license: Young unmarried ladies wore their hair down. With her 
hair up and/or covered, she must be married or a spinster. Instant ID; That 
child playing in the street has ermine cuffs. You'd better not run him over with 
your carriage. He's wearing his Social ID, and there'll be hel to pay; The young 
man selling penny loaves is wearing a fine woolen cloak. He must be a member of 
his baker's guild to afford such apparel, and thus safe to purchase from. You 
know your loaves won't be shorted because he's wearing his ID. And, if for some 
reason he isn't a member of his guild, obviously he's a fraud, considering 
himself above his station!

I hope you enjoy the following web articles, and will share them wherever they 
will find a ready audience. It's all food for thought on how we play this game 
we call the SCA.

Cheers

Aoife, the incredibly bad seamstress who always looks well UNDER her station.

Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon
Canton of Riverouge
Barony of the Endless Hills
Kingdom of Aethelemarc

Renaissance English Sumptuary Law Chart
http://www.renaissancedancewear.com/chart.html
(Site Excerpt) None shall wear in his apparrell any: woolen cloth made outside 
the realm: except: Dukes, Marquesses or their children, Barons or Knights or 
their Order.

Elizabethan Sumptuary Statutes
http://renaissance.dm.net/sumptuary/
(Site Excerpt) The other concern was that letting anyone wear just anything must 
lead inexorably to moral decline. If you couldn't tell a milkmaid from a 
countess at a glance, the very fabric of society might unravel.

Sumtuariae Leges (Sumptuary law in Rome)
Article by George Long, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College 
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Sumtuariae_L
eges.html
(Site Excerpt) In the states of antiquity it was considered the duty of 
government to put a check upon extravagance in the private expenses of persons, 
and among the Romans in particular we find traces of this in the laws attributed 
to the kings and in the Twelve Tables. 

Regulating the Body: A Brief History of Sumptuary Law
http://www.jolique.com/social_status/regulating_body.htm
(Site Excerpt) The sumptuary laws most often discussed in books on dress and 
costume are, naturally, those that deal with dress and costume. While arguments 
for sumptuary laws governing the consumption of drink and drugs can perhaps be 
more easily made, arguments for the regulation of dress are more tenuous, and 
it's not surprising that their enforcement has been difficult. 

Sumptuary Laws in the SCA
by Lady Nastasiia Ivanova Medvedeva
http://sca-garb.freeservers.com/articles/sumptuary.htm
(Site Excerpt) Many newcomers to the Society, having been to a Renaissance Faire 
or half-remembering something about ancient Roman restrictions on the wearing of 
purple, often assume that there are such restrictions in the SCA. Usually, there 
are not, but there are misconceptions that seem to get propagated as quickly as 
they can be invented. 

Frankish Sumptuary Law: A Pearl of a Law
http://www.tyler-adam.com/139.html
(Site Excerpt) 1345. Germany. The city of Ulm. No women, married or single, high 
birth or low birth...no women at all folks...were allowed to wear pearls on 
their dresses. Don't say nuthin' about naked bods...but that's my mind at 
work...so take no heed. By 1411...things had progressed. They were now allowed 
to wear a single pearl wreath on their heads...and I guess as many pearls as 
they wanted on their naked bods. Oh lordy lord. I can not stop this train of 
thought.

Stefan's Florilegium: Pearls--An Example of Sumtuary Law
by Lord Anton de Stoc, mka Ian Whitchurch
http://www.florilegium.org/files/ACCESS/Pearls-Law-art.html
(Site Excerpt) BE IT RESOLVED that all who have pearls and wish to make use of 
them in Venice shall be obliged within the next eight days to go to the 
Provveditori sopra le Pompe, and declare their number, weight and quality of 
thos pearls. They shall have them registered in thir name, and within the next 
twenty days after that they must have them sealed with the seal of the 
Sopraprovveditori and Provveditori shall approve and which shall be kept in the 
office, so that if from time to time the strings get brokn they can be resealed 
with the same seal after first making sure they are in the sme weight and are of 
the same number and quality. 

Bibliography of works about Sumptuary Laws
http://www.stopcrime.net/scaarts/sumptuary.html

Medieval Sumptuary Laws
http://www.geocities.com/davidbofinger/sumptuary.htm
(Site Excerpt) The sumptuary laws of medi¾val Europe are probably the most 
spectacular example of the difference in attitudes between western society then 
and today. They are the expression of the antithesis of several key principles, 
listed below, that our society has incorporated so thoroughly that we have come 
to feel them natural and inevitable. 

<the end>
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