[Illustration: Fig. 402.--Costume of King Clovis (Sixth Century).--From a
Statue on his Tomb, formerly in the Abbey of St. Genevieve.]
[Illustration: Fig. 403.--Costume of King Childebert (Seventh
Century).--From a Statue formerly placed in the Refectory of the Abbey of
St. Germain-des-Pres.]
The cloak claims an equally ancient origin. The principal thing worthy of
notice is the amount of ornament with which the Franks enriched their
girdles and the borders of their tunics and cloaks. This fashion they
borrowed from the Imperial court, which, having been transferred from Rome
to Constantinople during the third century, was not slow to adopt the
luxury of precious stones and other rich decorations commonly in use
amongst Eastern nations. Following the example of Horace de Vielcastel,
the learned author of a history of the costumes of France, we may here
state that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to define the exact
costume during the time of the early Merovingian periods. The first
writers who have touched upon this subject have spoken of it very vaguely,
or not being contemporaries of the times of which they wrote, could only
describe from tradition or hearsay. Those monuments in which early costume
is supposed to be represented are almost all of later date, when artists,
whether sculptors or painters, were not very exact in their delineations
of costume, and even seemed to imagine that no other style could have
existed before their time than the one with which they were daily
familiar. In order to be as accurate as possible, although, after all, we
can only speak hypothetically, we cannot do better than call to mind, on
the one hand, what Tacitus says of the Germans, that they "were almost
naked, excepting for a short and tight garment round their waists, and a
little square cloak which they threw over the right shoulder," and, on the
other, to carry ourselves back in imagination to the ancient Roman
costume. We may notice, moreover, the curious description given of the
Franks by Sidoine Apollinaire, who says, "They tied up their flaxen or
light-brown hair above their foreheads, into a kind of tuft, and then made
it fall behind the head like a horse's tail. The face was clean shaved,
with the exception of two long moustaches. They wore cloth garments,
fitting tight to the body and limbs, and a broad belt, to which they hung
their swords." But this is a sketch made at a time when the Frankish race
was only known among the Gauls through its marauding tribes, whose raids,
from time to time, spread terror and dismay throughout the countries which
they visited. From the moment when the uncultivated tribes of ancient
Germany formally took possession of the territory which they had withdrawn
from Roman rule, they showed themselves desirous of adopting the more
gentle manners of the conquered nation. "In imitation of their chief,"
says M. Jules Quicherat, the eminent antiquarian, "more than once the
Franks doffed the war coat and the leather Belt, and assumed the toga of
Roman dignity. More than once their flaxen hair was shown to advantage by
flowing over the imperial mantle, and the gold of the knights, the purple
of the senators and patricians, the triumphal crowns, the fasces, and, in
short, everything which the Roman Empire invented in order to exhibit its
grandeur, assisted in adding to that of our ancestors."
|