The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
Page 45
wrestling, 91, 261–62, 310
Wycliffe, John, 266–67
Wykeham, William of, 39
Yarmouth, Great, 11
yeomen, 32, 36, 43, 48, 50, 89, 101, 105, 163, 170, 172, 174–75, 179, 260, 266
Yevele, Henry, 19
York, 9, 11, 17, 127, 130, 213, 218, 252, 257
archbishops of, 43, 97, 269
Cathedral, 270
diocese of, 43, 70, 203
duke of, 174, 259
province of, 44
St. Mary’s, 296
Yorkshire, 85, 86, 218, 225, 228, 274, 297
youthfulness, 37–38
zodiac man, 214
Zouche, Ivo, Ralph and Roger, 241
Zouche, William, 45
The Wheel of Fortune is a common metaphor in medieval England. Fortune herself turns a great wheel on which kings, clergymen, burghers, and peasants all fi nd themselves lifted up to great heights only to fall soon after their moment of glory.
Knowledge of the world beyond Christendom is very vague. This early-fi fteenth-century image shows Alexander the Great receiving a present of white elephants.
All women of quality have long hair; but they are expected to conceal it in public, not to have it wantonly fl owing loose. Here a maidservant is plaiting her mistress’s hair into two long plaits, and winding each plait into a ramshorn hairstyle.
Married women, when in public, are expected to wear a wimple. This garment covers the hair, sides of the head, neck, and chin.
Most women are expected to work hard, and not just within the home. At harvesttime they labor alongside their menfolk, to bring in the lord’s harvest as well as their own.
Women married to violent men have tough lives. As long as he does not actually kill or maim her, it is lawful for a man to beat his wife as often and as hard as he likes.
On the other hand, the law is biased so heavily in favor of men that it does not recognize that a woman can beat her husband. Thus she can do so with legal impunity.
Women of rank like to hunt, but moral codes still apply. This lady might look carefree, but her hair is carefully dressed in a ramshorn style and her arms are not actually bare: she is wearing a pale, long-sleeved tunic.
Noblemen’s clothing in the early fourteenth century. Note the long, fl owing robes, the loose sleeves, and the sensible footwear.
Noblemen’s clothing in the late fourteenth century. By 1395 there is great variation in men’s dress. Note the very short tunic with tight hose and long, pointed shoes. Men’s clothing changes more in this century than in any other.
Noblewomen’s clothing in the early fourteenth century. The queen wears a red undertunic, a grey supertunic, and a long cloak or mantle. Like men’s attire of this date, it is loose and simply hangs from the shoulders.
Noblewomen’s clothing at the end of the fourteenth century. Tunics are still ground length, but the supertunic is now a fi gure-hugging, short, fur-trimmed garment, like a modern jacket. Tunics also become more closely fi tted to the upper body and arms, like modern dresses.
Peasants’ clothing in the early fourteenth century. Tunics and supertunics are shorter and more practical than the fl owing robes of their social superiors, but the principle of cutting clothes that hang from the shoulders is the same.
Laborers’ clothing at the end of the fourteenth century. Here builders are wearing tailored cotes with buttons, or doublets, and more substantial hose.
Women’s clothing in the early fourteenth century. The long kirtles hang from the shoulders and reach to the ground. Sleeves are kept close to the wrist with laces.
In 1400 working women are still wearing long-sleeved kirtles much like their grandmothers, although they may be closer fi tting. Only the noblewoman at the loom is wearing a modern tailored gown of more than one fabric.
The braies this boy is wearing are like those commonly worn by men in the early fourteenth century. They are loose, tied at the knee, and then drawn up and rolled around the waistband.
Images of extreme cruelty provide an opportunity to study men’s underwear. This late-fourteenth-century picture of the Templars’ burning shows how braies are now much shorter and tighter, to allow men to wear tight hose and very short tunics over the top.
This fourteenth-century view of the world shows East at the top, Jerusalem in the center, the Red Sea top right (in red), and England bottom left (also in red). Also labeled are Damascus, Babylon, the tower of Babel, Rome, Paris, fourteen English towns, various places mentioned in romances about Alexander the Great (Macedonia, Alexandria, and Persepolis), and regions inhabited by fabulous races, such as the cyclops and troglodytes.
This map is at least forty years old by 1300, but it demonstrates the importance of rivers in picturing the country. The position of Canterbury—southwest of London—should warn you not to use it for navigational purposes.
Coaches can cost up to a thousand pounds and are only used by royal women and countesses. Note the fi ve horses all in a line: this is usual practice for pulling heavy wagons and coaches. Note also the pet squirrel on the arm of the lady at the front.
Early-fourteenth-century cogs have stem posts and stern posts with rudders. Typically they have single masts and one large sail. Ships like this are the mainstay of the merchant fl eet, as well as the basis of the navy in wartime.
Late-fourteenth-century cogs incorporate elements of the designs of hulks and Genoese carracks, and are larger—up to 120 feet long in a few cases.
Not every royal dinner is a feast. Here the king is dining with his closest advisers. Note the baldaquin above him, the aumbry with his silver vessels, and his minstrels.
This scene depicts a dais during a royal feast. The king is fl anked by his advisers. Servants kneel before him when presenting dishes. To his right is the “reward,” the table for the principal offi cers. Behind him stands the marshal, with his staff of offi ce.
Hanging people is often a production-line process. Several clergymen are on hand, each gallows supports up to a dozen people, and crowds look on, often including the kin of the condemned. It is a slow, ignominious death.
Medieval men see beheading as preferable to hanging. Royal family members are often granted beheading as a favor. Here the executioner, having performed his duty, has been struck with a fi t.
The village stocks serve as both a form of lockup for serious offenders and a humiliating punishment for less serious crimes. Presumably this married woman and the monk fall into the latter category.
Your physician might not actually examine you. Instead he will diagnose your condition from an inspection of your urine and the constellations of the stars.
Physicians administering medicine with a spoon. This scene is comparable with modern life. What is on that spoon, however, is almost certainly not.
Plague-stricken clergymen being blessed by a priest. Men and women in religious communities such as abbeys are especially vulnerable to infectious diseases.
After plague, leprosy is the most feared disease: “the living death,” as it is known. This leper carries a bell to warn people of his presence.
John of Arderne, the great surgeon, performing a fi stula operation. Surgeons should be able to make their patients laugh, he says. Not easy, in this situation.
Acrobats and dancers often accompany minstrels around the country. Here a woman performs to the accompaniment of pipes and a fi fe and drum.
The carol of love. Caroling is group song and dance, not just to do with Christmas. People join hands and dance in a circle, singing the chorus.
Bearbaiting is just one of many cruel sports that people enjoy. Here the bear has grabbed one dog but another has bitten its ear.
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