Quotation from: Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period

Written by: Paul Lacroix


The official costume of the first president resembled that of the ancient
barons and knights. He wore a scarlet gown lined with ermine, and a black
silk cap ornamented with tassels. In winter he wore a scarlet mantle lined
with ermine over his gown, on which his crest was worked on a shield. This
mantle was fastened to the left shoulder by three gold cords, in order to
leave the sword-side free, because the ancient knights and barons always
sat in court wearing their swords. Amongst the archives of the mayoralty
of London, we find in the "account of the entry of Henry V., King of
England, into Paris" (on the 1st of December, 1420), that "the first
president was in royal dress (_estoit en habit roial_), the first usher
preceding him, and wearing a fur cap; the church dignitaries wore blue
robes and hoods, and all the others in the procession scarlet robes and
hoods." This imposing dress, in perfect harmony with the dignity of the
office of those who wore them, degenerated towards the fifteenth century.
So much was this the case, that an order of Francis I. forbad the judges
from wearing pink "slashed hose" or other "rakish garments."

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