[Illustration: Fig. 411.--Costume of Charles the Simple (Tenth
Century).--From a Miniature in the "Rois de France," by Du Tillet,
Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century (Imperial Library of Paris).]
Before proceeding further in our history of mediaeval dress, we must
forestall a remark which will not fail to be made by the reader, and this
is, that we seem to occupy ourselves exclusively with the dress of kings,
queens, and other people of note. But we must reply, that though we are
able to form tolerably accurate notions relative to the dress of the upper
classes during these remote periods, we do not possess any reliable
information relative to that of the lower orders, and that the written
documents, as well as the sculptures and paintings, are almost useless on
this point. Nevertheless, we may suppose that the dress of the men in the
lowest ranks of society has always been short and tight, consisting of
_braies_, or tight drawers, mostly made of leather, of tight tunics, of
_sayons_ or doublets, and of capes or cloaks of coarse brown woollen. The
tunic was confined at the waist by a belt, to which the knife, the purse,
and sometimes the working tools were suspended. The head-dress of the
people was generally a simple cap made of thick, coarse woollen cloth or
felt, and often of sheep's skin. During the twelfth century, a person's
rank or social position was determined by the head-dress. The cap was made
of velvet for persons of rank, and of common cloth for the poor. The
_cornette_, which was always an appendage to the cap, was made of cloth,
with which the cap might be fastened or adjusted on the head. The
_mortier_, or round cap, dates from the earliest centuries, and was
altered both in shape and material according to the various changes of
fashion; but lawyers of high position continued to wear it almost in its
original shape, and it became like a professional badge for judges and
advocates.
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