Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776Reilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
In the 1300s, there were extremes of fashion in men's and
women's clothing including tight garments, pendant sleeves down to the
ground, coats so short they didn't reach the hips or so long they
reached the heels, hoods so small they couldn't cover the head, and
shoes with long curved peaks like claws at the toes. Both men and women
wore belts low on the hips. The skirt of a lady's tunic was fuller and
the bodice more closely fitted than before. Her hair was usually
elaborately done up, e.g. with long curls or curled braids on either
side of the face. A jeweled circlet was often worn around her head.
Ladies wore on their arms or belts, cloth handbags, which usually
contained toiletries, such as combs made of ivory, horn, bone, or wood,
and perhaps a little book of devotions. A man wore a knife and a bag on
his belt. Some women painted their faces and/or colored their hair.
There were hand- held glass mirrors. Some people kept dogs purely as
pets.
There was a great development of heraldic splendor with for
instance, crests, coat-armor, badges, pennons [long, triangular flag],
and helmets. They descended through families. Not only was it a mark of
service to wear the badge of a lord, but lords wore each other's badges
by way of compliment.
Lords surrounded themselves with people of the next lower rank,
usually from nearby families, and had large households. For instance,
the king had a circle of noblemen and ladies about him. A peer or great
prelate had a household of about 100-200 people, among which were his
inner circle, companions, administrators, secretaries, bodyguards and
armed escort, chaplain, singing priests and choirboys, and servants.
All officers of the household were gentlemen. The secretary was usually
a clerk, who was literate because he had taken minor clerical orders.
Since the feudal obligation of the tenants was disappearing, a lord
sometimes hired retainers to supplement his escort of fighting men.
They proudly wore his livery of cloth or hat, which was in the nature
of a uniform or badge of service. A nobleman and his lady had a circle
of knights and gentlemen and their ladies. A knight had a circle of
gentlemen and their ladies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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