Fortunately, we are able to form a very complete idea of Frankish dress from the sculptured effigies of Clovis and his Queen Clothilde on the façade of the Cathedral of Chartres, and other records which have come down to us. The pencil, or the sculptor's chisel, must necessarily be more eloquent and convincing than any written description can possibly be. The general appearance of the Queen may, however, be described as follows: She wears a long loose tunic of soft material, reaching to the ground, confined by a falling girdle with an oval clasp in front, in which emeralds, amethysts and rubies vie with each other in their brilliance. The sleeves are long and ample, the edges serrated in the form of leaves. The long flowing embroidered mantle is fastened by a gold fibula at the throat. Her flaxen hair falls in two long double plaits in front of her person, reaching almost to the ground; the plaits being first bound singly by a dark ribbon, and each pair bound together by a lighter ribbon. A thin gauze veil covers the head, which is surmounted by a crown of exquisite workmanship. [Illustration: GREEK FIGURE. _From Hope's "Costume of the Ancients."_] The dress of the Byzantine women, at the time of the dismemberment of the Roman Empire in 395, was still the loose or semi-loose tunic, with sleeves added, elaborately ornamented in the rich diapered patterns peculiar to that period and nation, and confined at the waist by a girdle. This costume, with variations, obtained until the Norman Conquest, when costume began to be more complex. The long loose gown is variously described in documents of the period by the names of the tunic, the _gunna_ or gown, and the kirtle. There was a short tunic, with sleeves reaching only to the elbows, and there was a long tunic, with tight sleeves, worn underneath. The kirtle, such as we are familiarised with in the dress of a later period, had not come into being. As a matter of fact, the term "kirtle" is indiscriminately used in the description of various garments. Tyrwhitt describes it as "a tunic or waistcoat." In the "Romaunt of the Rose" the "damoselles right young" are arrayed-- "In kirtles and noon other wede," evidently here intended for a long gown or tunic. The dress of the twenty young squires chosen by Guy of Warwick is thus described:-- "Kyrtyls they had oon of sylke Also whyte, as any mylke. Of gode sylke and of purpull palle Mantels above they caste all. Hosys they had uppon, but no schone; Barefote they were everychone."