Costume -- Great Britain -- History; Great Britain -- History; Great Britain -- History -- Pictorial works
(Fig. 1): Brass of Lawrence Seymour, 1337, Higham Ferrers
Church, Northamptonshire, showing the Eucharist Vestments,
Amice, Chasuble, Maniple, Alb, Stole, and Apparels. (Fig. 2):
Brass of Robert Langton, D.C.L., 1518, at Queen’s College,
Oxford, in rich ornamented Cope, wearing also a doctor’s cap.
These are often spoken of as the Processional garments. (Fig.
3): Brass of Abbot de la Mare, at St. Alban’s Abbey, died
1396; brass made in his lifetime, between 1360 and 1375. The
whole brass, of Flemish manufacture, is one of the finest in
England. The Abbot is “vested in Eucharist vestments, with
jewelled mitre and pastoral staff,” the latter with the Agnus
Dei in the head.]
In cold weather the cassock was frequently lined with sheepskin or fur,
was provided with a hood, and was girded with a thick knotted cord or
_cingulum_. The vestments or ceremonial garments, worn when officiating
at the services of the Church, were much more elaborate. A long,
close-fitting white garment, like a coat with narrow sleeves, reaching
to the feet, was worn by all, even to the doorkeeper. It was called the
_alb_, and was confined at the waist by a girdle.
Priests and dignitaries of the Church had six pieces of embroidered
needlework or cloth of gold called _apparels_ fastened to the alb, at
the bottom of the skirt before and behind (2), on the wrist of each
sleeve (2), and on the breast (1) and back (1).
Around the neck was worn the _amice_: It was a kind of large linen
handkerchief, with embroidered work along one of its sides. It was
turned down like a collar, showing the embroidery (which appears in
brasses like a collar), and leaving the throat of the wearer exposed.
A _stole_ or narrow embroidered band was hung around the neck, reaching
nearly to the feet, the ends being fringed.
In brasses only the ends appear, the upper portions being covered by
the other vestments.
A short piece of embroidered work called the _maniple_, with ends
fringed like the stole, was worn over the left arm, being fastened to
the sleeve. At the time of the Conquest the maniple was a napkin with
which the priest wiped his face and brow during Mass.
Over the other vestments was worn a circular or oval garment called a
_chasuble_. It had an opening in the centre through which the head was
thrust, and its ample folds rested at either side upon the arms. It was
worn plain or with an embroidered border.
In later times the chausuble and alb were sometimes made of coloured
materials.
The chasuble, maniple, and stole were all of the same material and
colour.
The priest wore these vestments during the services, and when he died
he was buried in them.
They were put on in the following order: Amice, alb, maniple, stole,
and chasuble, and they are often spoken of as the “eucharistic
vestments.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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