After the Crusade the ruling powers endeavoured to repress the prevailing extravagance. St. Louis issued several enactments previous to the prohibitions of Philippe le Bel respecting dress. The wording of those prohibitions enlightens us considerably with regard to the manners and customs of those times. No bourgeoise may possess a chariot. “No bourgeois and no bourgeoise,” says Philippe le Bel, “may wear minever, or grey fur, or ermine, and all such persons must get rid of those furs in their possession within a year from next Easter, and they may not wear gold, nor jewels, nor belts, nor pearls.... Dukes, counts, and barons, with six thousand livres a year or more, may have four pairs of gowns a year and no more, and their wives may have as many.... No damosel, unless she be châtelaine in her own right, or lady of two thousand livres a year or more, shall have more than one pair of gowns a year, or if she be, then two pairs only and no more.... No bourgeois nor bourgeoise, nor esquire, nor clerk shall burn wax lights....” It was forbidden to barons’ wives “howsoever great” to wear gowns of a higher value than twenty-five sous (of the Tours mint) by the Paris yard; the wives of knights-banneret and lords of the manor were restricted to materials at eighteen sous; and the gowns of bourgeoises might cost sixteen sous nine deniers by the yard at the very most. The sumptuary law of Philippe le Bel proceeded probably from the following circumstance. On the occasion of his wife’s solemn entry into Bruges in 1301, she had seen the bourgeoises so gorgeously apparelled that she exclaimed, “I thought _I_ was the Queen, but I see there are hundreds!” From a document relating to the king’s household in 1302, we learn that the complete costume of a lady of the palace cost eight livres, that of a woman of inferior rank one-third less, and that of a waiting-maid fifty-eight sous. The price of a Parisian bourgeoise’s cashmere shawl at the time of the Restoration would have renewed the whole wardrobe of a court lady. According to another document of 1326, Isabelle de France wore a head-dress, sugar-loaf shape, of prodigious height; a veil of the finest gauze depended from it and concealed her hair. Certain head-dresses of the period were ornamented with feathers, others were shaped like bushels of greater or less altitude. Occasionally the hair was confined in a net, called a “crestine, crépine,” or “crespinette.” The side-locks were shaped into horns. Sometimes, too, women dyed their hair, or wore false hair. Guimpes were arranged something like collerettes; and were made lighter and lighter in material, so as to harmonize with every kind of costume. [Illustration] [Illustration: Charles V 1364-1386 Charles VI 1380-1395] CHAPTER VI. REIGNS OF JOHN AND OF CHARLES V. 1350 TO 1380.