# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Robes

See also Robes on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​ROBES (Fr. robe, Late Lat. roba, raupa, meaning (1) spoils, (2) robe, stuff, cf. Mod. Ital. roba, connected with a Teutonic root raup, raub, German rauben and English rob), the name generally given to a class of official costume, especially as worn by certain persons or classes on occasions of particular solemnity. According to Du Cange, the word .robe was earliest used, in the sense of a garment, of those given by popes and princes to the members of their household or their great officers. Thus Matthew Paris (Chron. Majora, Rolls Series, V. 38) tells how, in 1248, the pope gave to some Tatar envoys “vestes pretiosissimas quas Robas vulgariter appellamus, de escarleto praeelecto, cum pellibus et furruris,” with which Du Cange compares the “festiva indumenta” given, e.g., by King John magnatum suorum multitudini at Christmas time (1214, Matt. Paris, 'Rolls Series, II. 520) and the raubae papales scntiferorum, and the like, given by the popes to members of their households, after the fashion of a livery. It would, however, 'be perhaps going too far to assume that, e.g., peers' robes were originally the king's livery, for there seems to be no proof that this was the case; but it is curious that in most early cases where robes are mentioned, if not of cloth of gold, &c., they are of scarlet, furred. A robe is properly a long garment, 'and the term “robes” is now applied only in those cases where a long garment forms- part of the official costume, though inf ordinary usage it is taken to include all the other articles of dress proper to the costume in question. The term “robes,” moreover, connotes a .certain degree of dignity, or honour in the wearer. We speak of the king’s robes of state, of peers’ robes, of the robes of the clergy, of academic robes, judicial robes, municipal or civic robes; we should not speak of" the robes, of a cathedral verger, though he too wears a long gown of ceremony, and it is even only by somewhat stretching the term “probes” that we can include under it the ordinary academical dress of the universities. In the case of the official costume of the clergy, too, a distinction must be drawn. The vestimenta sacra are not spoken of as “robes”; a priest is not “robed” but “vested” for Mass; yet the rochet and chimere of an English bishop, even in church, are more properly referred to as robes than as vestments, and while the cope he wears in church is a vestment rather than a robe, the scarlet cope which is part of his parliamentary full dress is a robe, not a vestment. For the sake of convenience the official, non-liturgical costume of the clergy is dealt with under the general heading Vestments and the subsidiary articles (e.g. Cope).
The coronation robes of emperors and kings, representing as they, do the sacerdotal significance of Christian kingship, are essentially vestments rather than robes (see Coronation). Apart from these, however, are the royal robes of state; in the case of the king of England a crimson velvet surcoat and long mantle, fastened in front of the neck, ermine lined, with a deep cape or tippet of ermine.
The subject of official robes is too vast for any attempt to be made to deal with it comprehensively here. All countries, East and West, which boast an ancient civilization have retained them in greater or less degree, and the tendency in modern times has been to multiply rather than to diminish their number. Even in republican France they survived the Revolution, at least in the universities and the law courts. But nowhere has custom been so conservative in this matter as in the United Kingdom, where in this as in other matters the wise Machiavellian principle has been followed of changing
the substance of institutions without altering their outward semblance. The present article, then, does not attempt to dealt with any but British robes, under the headings of (1) peers’ robes, (2) robes in the House of Commons, (3) robes of the Orders of Knighthood, (4) judicial and forensic robes, (5) municipal and civic robes, (6) academic costume.
Fig. 1.—Peers spiritual and temporal.
Peers’ Robes.—As early as the end of the 14th century peers seem to have worn at their creation some kind of robe of honour; this we may conclude from the descriptions of the investiture of the earl of Somerset in 1397 (Rot. Parl. iii. 343), which says: “le dit Monsieur John fut amesnée devant le Roy en Parlement entre deux Contes, c’est assavoir Huntyngdon et Mareschall, vestuz en un pane (Du Cange; pannus=3. habitus vestimentum) come vesture de honor ”; while in accounts of various creations of about the same time (Rot. Parl. iii. 205, 206) are used the words “advenienteque … prefato Duce honorifice … togato et ornato.” An early illustration of their use is to be found in an illumination on thetfoundation charter of King's College, Cambridge (see fig. 1), which represents the peers as early as 1446 wearing gowns, mantles and hoods of scarlet, furred with miniver, the mantle opening on the right shoulder and guarded with two, three or four bars of miniver, in the form of short stripes high up on the shoulder. The origin of these is as yet unknown, and it is not certain precisely when the peers velvet robe of estate was first used. At the coronation of Henry VI. the king's own parliament robe was of scarlet and miniver (Gregory's Chronicle, ed. Gairdner, Camden Soc. pp. 165–70), so the peers’ robes were certainly not yet of velvet; at that of Henry VII.” (see Rutland Papers, 1842; “Device for the Coronation of Henry VII.”) the king had a robe of crimson velvet and ermine, but the “lords temporally” are only said to have been “in their robes”; at that of Henry VIII. (see Hall"s Chronicle) the king in his progress through the city wore a crimson velvet robe furred with ermine, “his knights and esquires for his body” wore crimson velvet, and “all the gentlemen,” &c., scarlet, while we hear of the “lords spiritual and temporal, and of their costly and rich apparel; of several devises and fashions,” and notably of the duke of Buckingham’s robe of gold and needlework (Stow's Annals, p. 813)-, which would show that the velvet robe of estate was not yet worn”at the king's coronation. The duke of Richmond at his creation in 1525 (17 Henry VIII., see Brewer, State Papers, iv. 639) is described as clad in robes of estate, and the description of the investiture says that “the patent was read, the robe, sword, cap and circlet put on,” and about this time references are found to the “parliament robes” of peers, implying that there were others.
* Plate I.
* The Coronation Robes
* As worn by His Late Majesty King Edward VII.
* By permission of His Majesty King George V.
Plate II. :
| The Most Ancient Order of the Thistle. | The Most Noble Order of the Garter. | The Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick. |
| Baron in Coronation Robes. | The Most Honourable Order of the Bath. | Baron in Parliament Robes. |
| Robes lent by Ede Son & Ravenscroft Chancery Lane, London. |||
​ Westminster the barons and viscounts wore their parliament robes, the earls, marquesses and dukes wearing their robes of estate of crimson velvet “furred with ermins, poudred according to their degrees.” This was also the case at the coronation of James I., and in Selden’s Titles of Honour 3rd ed., 1672) the illustrations show the baron and viscount in parliamentary robes, the higher ranks in robes of estate. By the time of James II.’s coronation, however, the baron and viscount had the velvet robes of estate (see illustration on p. 188 of Perkins’s The Coronation Book, 1902, where the surcoat also appears to have a pointed collar edged with white and to be sleeveless). The colour. of these seems to have been crimson at first, sometimes varying to purple. They consisted of a long gown or surcoat with girdle, a mantle lined with ermine, a hood and a tippet of ermine, the rows being as follows: for a duke 4, a marquess 31/2, an earl 3, a viscount 21/2, and a baron 2.
Till late in the 18th century peers continued to attend the House of Lords in parliamentary robes, with the stars and ribbons of their orders, but robes are now only worn in the House of Lords, e.g. at the opening of parliament, on occasions when the sovereign gives his assent to bills by “royal commission” (when five or six peers on the government side appear in robes, and the lord chancellor also wears his peer’s robe of scarlet ermine), and at the introduction of a newly created peer, when the new peer and his two introducers wear their parliamentary robes (over morning dress) during the ceremony of introduction only. The mover and seconder of the Address no longer wear robes, but uniform. On all the above occasions, and when the peers as a body attend church or some other ceremony, the parliamentary robe of scarlet cloth is worn; in the present day it takes the form of a mantle opening on the right shoulder, with a collar of “ermine,” and guarded with rows of ermine and gold lace round the right shoulder, varying in number according to the rank of the wearer. The modern coronation robes consist of a crimson velvet surcoat and a mantle with a tippet of ermine and with rows, of ermine as in the parliamentary robes. The surcoat is no longer a gown, but a short sleeveless garment.
For Scotland, an order of James II. (1455) prescribed for earls “mantles of brown granick colour” open before, lined and faced in front, as far as the girdle, with white fur, and with hoods to match; for the other lords of Parliament a red mantle lined with silk or fur, with a furred hood, while James I. (and VI.) in 1606 had to issue an order restraining the Scotch peers from wearing velvet robes in parliament, and confining, them to those of scarlet cloth (Miscellany of the Maitland Club, vol. i. p. 147). The robes of the Scottish peers are now, of course, similar, to those of the others.
The peeresses’ robes at the coronation of Anne Boleyn are also described in the account mentioned above. The duchess of Norfolk, the train-bearer, was followed by “ladies being lords’ wives” in scarlet robes furred with “lettice,” while Wriothesley (loc. cit.) adds that the duchess was also in scarlet. The order of the earl marshal for the regulation of the peeresses’ robes at the coronation of James II. (given in J. H. T. Perkins’s The Coronation Book, 1902, pp. 202-5) shows that by then all peeresses wore the robes of state of crimson velvet, and minutely regulates all details, such as shape, orderings, length of train and width of the fur edging of the mantle. They have changed very little up to the present day.
Robes of the Orders of Knighthood.—The history of the robes of the two oldest orders is given in great detail in Ashmole’s Order of the Garter (London, 1672) and Anstis’s Order of the Bath (London, 1725); see also G. F. Beltz, Memorials of the Order of the Garter (London, 1841), p. l-lii. In each case the robes consisted of a mantle, surcoat and hood. The. robes of the Garter were originally of blue woollen stuff, the surcoat and hood "being powdered' with garters embroidered in silk and gold. In the time of Henry VI. the mantle was first made of velvet, and between the time of Elizabeth and of Charles I. it seems to have been sometimes purple in colour. The surcoat varied in colour from year to year; in the reign of the founder alone, e.g., it was first blue, then black (possibly as a sign of mourning for the plague), then “sanguine in grain.” The hood was made of the same material as the surcoat, and when hats began to be worn, was carried hanging over the shoulder. The number of garters embroidered on the surcoat and hood came to be fixed by rank, but after Henry VI. the surcoat seems to have been made of plain velvet. Robes were sometimes granted to ladies in the early days (see Beltz, p. ccxxi., for a list of those ladies), in which case the robe and hood were of the colour of the surcoat worn by the knights that year, and powdered with garters. The last lady to receive the robes was Margaret, countess of Richmond, in 1488. At the present day the mantle is of dark blue velvet, of the same colour as the ribbon, lined with this taffeta, and with the star embroidered on the left shoulder, the hood and surcoat of crimson velvet lined with white taffeta, and with these are worn a doublet and trunk hose of white satin and a plumed hat (see Lawrence-Archer, The Orders of Chivalry, p. 106).
The robes worn by the knights of the Bath created at the Coronation of Henry IV. were green with furred hoods, and a white silk cord hanging from the left shoulder. In the various accounts of later creations of knights of the Bath quoted by Anstis, the costume worn before the ceremonial bath seems to have been a priest-like garment of russet or grey, with a girdle and hood; after the bath, was put on a red surcoat and mantle, the latter with a lace of white silk, from which hung a pair of white gloves; and the final costume was a blue (later a purple) velvet or satin gown, with hood furred with miniver (later lined with sarcenet), and the white cord hanging from the shoulder, until it should be removed by the sovereign or a lady for some deed of valour. The mantle in the present day is of crimson velvet lined with white over a white satin under-coat and trunk-hose, and~, a plumed hat and white boots with red tops are worn. The mantle of the Thistle is of dark green velvet over surcoat, &c., of cloth of silver; that of St Patrick azure, with doublet and trunk-hose of white satin; that of St Michael and St George of Saxon blue satin lined with scarlet; and that of the Star of India of light blue satin lined with white.
House of Commons.—The speaker of the House of Commons wears on state occasions a black damask robe with gold lace and a full-bottomed wig; in the House itself he wears a black silk robe with train and a full-bottomed wig. The clerks at the table wear barristers’ gowns and wigs.
Judicial and Forensic Robes.—It is frequently stated that judicial robes had their origin in the dress of ecclesiastics. But though ecclesiastics in early days frequently acted as judges, and though, as Fortescue says, the serjeant’s long robe was “ad instar sacerdotis,” judicial robes more probably arose from the ordinary civilian dress of the early 14th century. The chief argument for the ecclesiastical origin has been found in the coif (tena, birretum album), a cap of white linen or silk, tied under the chin, and described by Fortescue as “the principal or chief insignment and habit wherewith sergeants-at-law at their creation are decked,” which is said to have been used by ecclesiastics to hide the tonsure when in court. This view is disposed of by Pulling (The Order of the Coif, London, 1884). More probably the coif was a head-dress in common use in the 13th century, which survived as the distinguishing mark of men of law. As such it is found in a wardrobe-roll of ​ Richard II. (1391, see Fairholt, ii. 341) in an entry for “twenty-one linen coifs for counterfeiting men of the law in the king’s play at Christmas.” The serjeant-at-law’s “houve of silk” is also mentioned in Piers the Plowman (latter half of the 14th century) together with his furred cloak. Chaucer, at the same period, describes his serjeant-at-law as wearing a party-coloured gown and girdle with bars.
The earliest document quoted by Planché and others with reference to judges' costume is a Close-roll of 20 Edw. III. (1347). See also a wardrobe-roll of 21 Edw. III., and wardrobe accounts of II Richard II. and 22 Henry VI., all quoted in Dugdale’s Origines Juridiciales, from which we gather that the robes of the judges varied in colour, in the 14th and 15th centuries, from scarlet to green or “violet in grain,” and that their winter gowns were furred with budge or miniver.
For the early 15th century there are more data. Firstly, there is the illumination of the serjeant-at-law in the Ellesmere MS. of The Canterbury Tales (reproduced in Furnivall’s 6-text edition for the Chaucer Society), in which he is shown wearing a short, party-coloured rayed gown of red and blue, lined with white fur, a hood and tippet edged with white fur, and a white coif with two little bands showing below the hood. Secondly, there are a certain number of effigies or brasses of judges and sergeants belonging to the first half of the 15th century. Of judges, an early brass is that of Sir John Cassy (c. 1400) (see fig. 2).
For the second half of the 15th century the authority is Chief-Justice Fortescue, who, writing in the reign of Henry VI., describes the dress of the serjeant-at-law as follows:— “Roba longa ad instar sacerdotis cum capicio penulato circa humeros ejus, et desuper collobium, cum duobus labellulis, qualiter uti solent doctores legum in universitatibus quibusdam, cum supra descriptor birreto vestiebatur.” “He was clothed in a long robe, after the fashion of a priest, with a furred cape about his shoulders, and above it a hood, with two bands, such as are used by doctors of laws in some universities, with the coif as described above” (De Laudibus Legum Angliae, cap. li.). Fortescue continues: “But being once made a justice, instead of his hood, he shall wear a cloak closed upon his right shoulder, all the other ornaments of a serjeant still remaining; saving that a justice shall wear no party-coloured vesture, as a serjeant may, and his cape is furred with miniver, whereas the serjeant’s cape is furred with white lamb (budge).”
This description of Fortescue’s is borne out by some illuminations from a 15th-century MS. representing sittings of the four superior courts in the time of Henry VI. (reproduced in Archaealogia, vol. xxxix. p. 358, &c., with an article by G. R. Corner; see plate). In them we see the scarlet robes of the judges furred with miniver, and the party-coloured rayed gowns, tippets and hoods of the sergeants, besides the costume of the minor officials of the court. Both sergeants and judges wear 1; coif, certain of the judges also wearing furred caps or turban-li e head-dresses. The colour of the sergeants party-coloured robes seems to have varied; in these illuminations they are blue and green, but by the 17th century, to quote Dugdale, Origines Juridiciales, cap. 38: “The robes they now use do still somewhat resemble those of the justices of either bench, and are of three distinct colours, viz. murrey, black, furred with white, and scarlet; but the robe which they usually wear at their creation only is of two colours, viz. murrey and mouse colour; where unto they have a hood suitable, as also a coif of white silk or linen.” (See also Pulling, p. 218, and Druitt, p. 225.) Sir E. Brabrook (Proceedings of the Soc. of Antiquaries, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 414) quotes descriptions of calls of sergeants showing that as late as 1700 the sergeants wore party-coloured gowns at their creation and during the year following, and stating on what occasions they wore their black, scarlet or purple gowns (the last with scarlet or purple hoods). At the last general call (1736), and at the creation of a serjeant in 1762, party-coloured robes were still worn, but at a creation of 1809 they are no longer found. Until their final abolition the sergeants wore purple robes at their creation, and on ordinary occasions a black cloth or silk gown, with a scarlet robe for state occasions.
Fig. 3.—Figures wearing coif.
Illustrations of judicial costumes in the 16th century are to be found in vol. 1. of Vetusta Monumenta (Soc. of Antiquaries, 1747), in which are reproduced, firstly, a “painted table in the King’s Exchequer,” temp. Henry VII., on which the officials of the Exchequer are shown wearing long gowns, furred tippets and mantles, with coifs (see fig. 3); and secondly, a sitting of the Court of Wards and Liveries, temp. Elizabeth, in which are shown sergeants wearing party-coloured gowns, tippets, hoods and coifs (see also Pulling, facing pp. 86 and 214). About this time the square cap, otherwise known as the cornered, black or sentence cap (the last from the fact of its being put on by the judge when pronouncing sentence of death), begins to be seen in monuments (cf. that of Sir Richard Harpur, temp. Mary; Fairhold, p. 223). Sometimes this cap is worn over the coif only, sometimes over the coif and skull-cap (cf. the portrait of Sir Edward Coke, in Pulling, facing p. 180). The form also varies; sometimes, as in the portrait of Coke, it has no ear-flaps, some times, as in its present form, it has. The form with ear-flaps is held by some to be a combination of the square cap and skull-cap. The square cap was a mark of dignity, worn or carried on solemn occasions, hence its use when pronouncing sentence of death, to mark the solemnity of the moment.
Among the State Papers of 1625 is a “Discourse on what robes and apparel the judges are to wear, and how the sergeants-at-law are to wear their robes, and when,” and on the 4th of July 1625 there was a “solemn decree and rule made by all the judges of the courts at Westminster,” which is quoted in Dugdale (loc. cit.) and Pulling (p. 215, footnote).
This costume is illustrated in Hollar’s engraving of the coronation procession of Charles II. Towards the end of the 17th century the judges took to wearing wigs, and have continued to wear them ever since. The wearing of wigs naturally concealed the coif and velvet skull-cap, so a device had to be invented by which they could still be displayed. The expedient was hit upon of putting a round patch of white stuff, with a black spot in the middle of it, on the crown of the wig of certain of the judges, to represent the coif and skull-cap. The rank of serjeant no longer existing, this round patch has now disappeared, the only trace of it left being the circular depression on the crown of the wig.
* Plate III.
* One of four illuminations belonging to a law treatise, temp. Henry VI, found at Whaddon Hall, Bucks, depicting five presiding judges of the Court of King's Bench, wearing coifs and scarlet robes; below the King's Coroner, Attorney and Masters of the Court; two ushers at table swearing the jury; a tipstaff in charge of a fettered prisoner, two sergeants at law in coif on either side; in foreground six prisoners.
* From Archaeologia XXXIX.
​ dress worn when trying criminal cases, attending church officially, and on “red letter days” in the courts, consists of a scarlet gown, with a broad black belt, a tippet trimmed with white fur, known by courtesy as “ermine” (this is worn only on state occasions), and a scarlet casting-hood, always worn with the scarlet gown, the end of which is passed under the belt. For summer the robes are of thinner stuff, faced with slate-coloured silk instead of ermine. The full-bottomed wig is worn on state occasions; at other times a wig is Worn similar to that of barristers, except that it has one vertical curl just above the tail of the wig instead of the three rows of horizontal curls going all the way round.
The judges of the King’s Bench Division have also a black gown, trimmed with ermine, which may be worn with the scarlet casting-hood when they sit two or more together. The summer equivalent of the black robes is in thin blue stuff, faced with silk. A costume like that of King’s Counsel, namely, a black silk gown, with black cloth court suit, is the dress of judges when sitting alone to try civil actions, and of vice chancellors and judges of the Chancery Division, but Sir Herbert Stephen remarks that of late years certain of the judges have preferred on grounds of comfort the black or blue gown with scarlet casting-hood. The court dress of the judges of the High Court and of Indian and colonial judges consists of a black damask tufted gown, without train, worn over a black velvet court suit, with full-bottomed wig, lace bands and three-cornered silk hat.
The Lord Chancellor, when in the House of Lords, and sitting on Appeals, wears a black silk trained gown, over a black cloth court suit, with full-bottomed wig; he has also his peer’s robe (see above), and his state robe of black damask with gold lace, worn over a velvet court suit, with full-bottomed wig, lace bands, &c.; the purse is carried on state occasions when in the royal presence. The state robe of the Master of the Rolls, the Lords justices of the Court of Appeal, and the President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Divisions is the same, except that they have not the purse, and similar to it is the full-dress gown of the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. The Lords justices of the Court of Appeal sit in court in a costume similar to that of King’s Counsel.
The Lords of Appeal have no official robes, but sit in ordinary civilian dress. On state occasions they wear their peers' robes. The robes of state of the Lord Chief Justice of England are the same as those of the judges of the High Court, except that his are trained, and he wears the gold chain of office, the “ collar of SS.”
The Scottish judges have two sets of robes, one for justiciary (i.e. the criminal court), which is also their full dress, and one for civil causes (Court of Session). The dress for the President and Ordinary Lords of Session was fixed in 1610 by an order of James I., and was of purple cloth, faced with crimson satin, with hood to match, the President’s gown having crimson velvet instead of satin. The four “extraordinary Sessionaries” were to wear black velvet, satin, or silk gowns, lined with black. The Lord justice General wore a scarlet gown lined with ermine and an ermine hood, the Lord justice Deputy and Lord justice Clerk black gowns with crimson satin facings and hoods (see Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 612). At the foundation of the High Court of justiciary (1672) it was enacted “that for the splendour of that court, all the judges sit in red robes, faced with white, that of the Justice Generalls being lined with ermine for distinction from the rest” (see Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 88). The present full dress of the Lord justice General is a scarlet silk robe with tippet and hood, the hood falling down the back; the collar is of ermine, with which the tippet, sleeves and gown are edged and the hood lined. The Lord justice Clerk wears a scarlet cloth robe and hood, and a white silk tippet lined with scarlet, the silk being perforated with small holes to imitate ermine, as also on the sleeves and edges of the gown. In front of the tippet on each side are two crosses in scarlet silk, and on each side of the gown six crosses. The ordinary Lords Commissioners of justiciary have robes the same as those of the Lord justice Clerk, except that the satin is not perforated. Instead of the bands worn by English judges, the Scottish judges wear a long fall in front.
The Bar.—There appears to have been no official costume for the bar until the end of the 17th century. Druitt (Costume in Brasses, pp. 232–33) gives a list of several brasses of in lege periti, or apprenticii ad legem, most of whom wear ordinary civilian costume, occasionally with the addition of a high cap. In the 16th and 17th centuries they wear the false-sleeved gown worn by civilians. Before the 17th century the costume worn by students at the Inns of Court and by “Utter Barristers” consisted of a stuff gown, and sometimes, in term-time, a round cap, which was worn in hall and in church (see Herbert, History of the Inns of Court (1804), p. 230). In Westminster Hall (see Pulling, p. 223) the same costume was worn, Benchers and Readers having a more elaborate gown with facings of black velvet and tufts of silk. Frequent laws were passed in the 16th century and later, forbidding the wearing of swords, cloaks, boots and spurs, &c., in hall, and insisting on the wearing of gowns by students of the Inns of Court when walking in the city. In the 17th century, barristers, like the judges, adopted wigs, the full-bottomed wigs being confined to judges, “ King’s Counsellors, ” &c., and ordinary counsellors wearing small wigs. In Hollar’s engraving of the Coronation of Charles II. the King's Counsel, the King’s Attorney and Solicitor, and the Master of the Rolls wear a laced gown with hanging sleeves. The silk gown, full-bottomed wig and black court dress now worn by King’s Counsel is generally held to date from the funeral of Queen Mary II., being the mourning dress worn by the wish of King William for a considerable period after the queen’s death, and adopted as a convenient costume ever since. There is a well known jest of Chief Baron Pollock to the effect that “the Bar went into mourning at the death of Queen Anne, and never came out again,” which bears out this theory as to the origin of the costume. At the present time barristers wear black stuff gowns, with small wigs having three rows of curls round the head. King’s Counsel wear black silk gowns over a cloth court suit (cp. the expression “ to take silk, ” i.e. to become a K.C.); on full-dress occasions they wear a full-bottomed wig, and at court a black damask tufted gown over a velvet court suit. This is also the dress for state occasions of the Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, &c.
Municipal and Civic Robes.—The word “livery,” the use of which is now practically confined to the costume of the “livery companies, ” the dress of men-servants, &c., originally meant an' allowance of food or clothing granted to certain persons (Lat. liberata, Fr. livrée). It is still used of the allowances of food made to the fellows of certain colleges. As early as the 13th century, according to Matt. Paris (Chron. Maj.; Rolls Series, III. 337), we find the citizens of London assuming a uniform dress to do honour to some great occasion, as, e.g., when in 1236 a body of them rode out to meet Henry III. and Queen Eleanor, “sericis vestimentis ornati, cicladibus auro textis circumdati, excogitatis mutatoriis amicti, ” or when 600 citizens rode out to meet Queen Margaret, wife of Edward I., “in one livery of red and white, with the cognizance’s of their mysteries embroidered upon their sleeves ” (see Stow.'s Survey, ed. Morley, p. 444). By the 14th century there is evidence of the adoption of liveries by the trades and fraternities. At the celebrations of the birth of Edward III. (see Riley’s Memorials, p. 105) the mayor and aldermen were “richly arrayed in suits of robes,” while the drapers, mercers and vintners were also “in costume.” This need not, however, refer to liveries. G. Unwin (The Gilds of London, 1908) quotes a chronicler who records that by the year 1319 “ many of the people ​of the trades of London were arrayed in livery,” and an ordinance of 1347 of the, fraternity of the Mercers commanding that “all those of the said mistery shall be clothed of one suit once a year at the feast of Easter,” and Riley (op. cit. p. 516) quotes an order of 1389 allowing the sheriffs, on grounds of expense, to proceed to Westminster by boat instead of on horseback, “without there being any arraying of men of the trades in like suit for that purpose; except that such men of the trades as should wish to accompany them should walk in such suit of vestments of the livery of their respective trade as they might then have.” As to the liveries of the religious fraternities, Chaucer (Prol. 361) describes:—
“An Haberdasher and a Carpenter A Webbe, a Dyere, and a Tapicer,” As, “clothed alle in a liveree Of a solempne and greet fraternitee.”
In 1389 there was a petition against the giving of liveries by the fraternities, on the ground that these gatherings were centres of political agitation, but in the statutes of Edward III. and Richard II. against liveries members of guilds were expressly excepted from these prohibitions. However, it was doubtless deemed prudent to make sure of the privilege, and so, when the livery companies were incorporated, they took care to have their liveries authorized by their charters.
Fig. 4.—Liverymen of the Leathersellers Company, from the charter of the Company granted by Henry VI. (1444).
In the reign of Henry VIII., Holbein's picture of the king giving a charter to the Barber-Surgeons’ Company shows the members of the latter Wearing gowns of rich stuff, with red and black party-coloured hoods, three of the figures also in coifs. The form of gown which has survived, practically unchanged, till the present day, may be seen on the second charter of the Leathersellers' Company, granted them by James I. in 1604 (see fig. 5, and for coloured plate see W. H. Black, op. cit.). Here we see them in flat caps, long black furred gowns, with false sleeves, and having on the right shoulder party-coloured hoods of scarlet and black, the end. of which is cast over the left shoulder and hangs down nearly to the edge of the gown.
Fig. 5.—Liverymen of Leathersellers Company, from a charter of James I. (1604).
As to the costume of, the mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, &c., we have seen above the mayor “richly costumed,” and the aldermen “in like suits of robes,” at the birth of Edward III., and Riley (op. cit.) gives an order of 1378 that the aldermen are to ride to Westminster in the mayor's procession, “arrayed in a cloak and hood at least, that are party-coloured with red, scarlet and white, the red on the right side”; while he quotes (from Letter-book H. fol. cxlvi) the amusing sentence passed by his fellow-aldermen in 1382 on one John Seley, for disregarding the order to have his green cloak for the Whitsuntide procession lined with green taffeta. Thus before the 15th century the aldermen apparently had not yet their scarlet robes, but on state occasions wore the ordinary city livery. For the early 15th century we have the Liber Albus (written c. 1419; Rolls Series, ed. Riley), where we are told (p. 35) that “The Mayor, Sheriff and Aldermen were wont to array themselves in like suits of robes twice in the year, viz. when the mayor rode to Westminster to take the oath, and on the day following the feast of SS. Simon and Jude; and this raiment was trimmed with fur as befitting their honourable rank; and they would also dress themselves in suits of robes against the feast of Pentecost, these robes having a lining of silk;” The scarlet, violet and black robes, still worn by the Lord Mayor, aldermen, &c., were earl in use. There is an order of 1421 (8 Henry V.) that the aldermen should use “togis et armilausis de scarleto,” and in numerous accounts of royal receptions and other solemn occasions in the City we are told that the mayor and aldermen were in scarlet (W. St John Hope, in Corporation Plate and Insignia, i., Introd. bixxv seq., and ii. 138–147, quotes a number of these, and treats the whole subject of mayors', &c., robes very fully). The Liber Albus (i. i, ch. vi.) also shows us the mayor and aldermen assembled at the Guildhall on the day of the election of the new mayor induti togis de violet. As to the form of the dress in the 14th and 15th century, we can see from brasses of lord mayors and aldermen (see Haines, Manual, pp. cc–cci; and Cotman, Norfolk Brasses. There is a fine series of brasses of mayors, &c., at Norwich) that it consisted of a long gown, a mantle fastened on the right shoulder and a hood.
As to the provincial mayors and aldermen there is evidence that at quite an early date many of them followed the fashion of London; e.g. the Royal Charter of Nottingham, of 1448, contains the words: “that the Aldermen of the same town forever . . . may use gowns, hoods and cloaks of one suit and one livery together with furs and linings suitable to these cloaks, in the same manner and form as the Mayor and Aldermen of our city of London do use, the Statute of Liveries . . . notwithstanding” (see Nottingham Records, ii. 205), while the charter granted by Henry VI. to Kingston-on-Hull in 1440 contains practically the same words (see St J. Hope, i. lxxxvi). The costume of provincial mayors, &c., is shown by St John Hope (loc. cit.) to have generally consisted of a scarlet furred gown and cloak, with tippet or scarf of black velvet. The colour was not, however, invariably scarlet, but varied to violet, blue and black, sometimes even for the mayor. An account of the robes of modern provincial mayors will be found in St J. Hope, p. lxxxix seq. and under the accounts of the various boroughs, passim.
There is some doubt as to when the Lord Mayor first began to wear his robe of estate of crimson velvet. Stow (Survey, ed. Strype, 1720, ii. 165) says that at the reception of Henry VI. at Eltham the mayor was in crimson velvet, the aldermen in scarlet with “sanguine” hoods, but at the coronation of Edward V. (see St J. Hope) he wore scarlet. At the Coronation of Anne Boleyn (see Wriothesley’s Chronicle, loc. sit. supr., and Hall's Chronicle) the mayor wore his crimson velvet robe 'of state, the aldermen and sheriffs scarlet; and at the entry of Anne of Cleves into London the mayor was again in his crimson velvet robe with his collar of gold, the aldermen and
Plate IV. :
| Lord Chief Justice of England in full robes, scarlet and ermine, with collar of S. S. | The Lord High Chancellor of England, in robes of State. | Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. |
| Judge of the High Court England, in black robes. | Lord Mayor of London, in full robes. | Alderman of the City of London, in bench robes. |
| Robes lent by Ede Son & Ravenscroft, Chancery Lane, London. |||
​ St J. Hope, ii. 144, who quotes the order for, these same robes, from which it would appear that the mayor also wore black velvet).
About this period begin to occur notices of the wearing of official robes by the wives of mayors and aldermen; e.g. for Lincoln there is an entry in the corporation records in 15442 “ Every alderman that hath not been mayor to prepare for himself and his wife gowns of crimson, and every one that hath been mayor to prepare for himself and his wife gowns of scarlet and tippets of velvetvto be worn at all principal feasts" (see 14th report, Hist. MSS, Cormniss. App. VlII). St John Hope (p. lxxxix) quotes numerous instances in the 16th century, in some of which the husband was liable to a heavy fine in the event of his wife’s non-compliance with the rule.
In 1568 (see Stow, and J. G. Nichols, Account of 55 Royal Processions and Entertainments, pt. ii. p. 94) first appeared an “ Order observed by my Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriffs, for their meetings and wearing A the apparel throughout the whole year, according as formerly it hath been used, ” which has been altered and revised from time to time by order of the Corporation, and is still issued under the name of the Handbook of Ceremonials to the officers of the City Corporation. In 1568 we find the aldermen and Sheriffs going to Westminster in the Lord Mayor's procession in scarlet-furred gowns “and their cloaks borne with them,” and in 1575 Nichols quotes a London citizen's description of the same procession; “they of the livery in their long gowns, with hood on the left shoulder, half black and half red … The Mayor in a long gown of scarlet, and on his left shoulder a hood of black velvet, and a collar of SS … The Aldermen in scarlet gowns, those having been mayors with chains of gold, the others with black velvet tippets." The Order of 1629 gives particulars of the various owns; the cloaks are violet from Michaelmas to Whitsuntide, gurred, for mayors and ex-mayors, with “amys,” for aldermen with “calabre,” and scarlet in summer, lined with “ changeable taliety " and “green taffety” respectively.
After the 16th century the costume of the Lord Mayor can be studied in successive “Orders” or Ceremonial Books, accounts of coronations, &c., and in portraits and statues belonging to the various city companies. Early in the 19th century (1806) the Lord Mayor began to wear on some state occasions a black robe with gold lace, similar to that of the Lord Chancellor. The Ceremonial Book was thoroughly revised in 1864, and the latest edition is that issued in 1906 (Handbook of Ceremonials, &c., “issued under the direction and with the approval of the Privileges Committee of the Court of Aldermen”).
At the present day the Lord Mayor has several sets of robes; a special Coronation robe (see illustration in Naylor, Book of the Coronation of George IV., 1837), a crimson velvet robe of state like that of an earl, worn with the chain and jewel, e.g. in the presence of the sovereign when in the city; a black robe of state trimmed with gold, which is worn with the chain and jewel, e.g. at the Guildhall on Lord Mayor's 'Day; the scarlet robes, which are worn, with or without the chain, on most public occasions, such as the service at St Paul's on the first day of the Easter Law Term, audiences of the sovereign, the election of the Lord Mayor, the opening of the Central Criminal Court, &c.; a violet gown, which is worn, e.g., when the Lord Mayor elect is presented to the king, when he is sworn in, at the election of sheriffs, &c., and a black gown worn in church on Good Friday, '&c. The aldermen wear scarlet on most occasions of ceremony, ex-mayors “having the Cap of Dignity attached to their gown, and being entitled to introduce a sword and mace into their badges.” Violet robes are also worn on certain occasions marked in the almanac of the Alderman’s Pocket-Book; and black gowns when the Lord Mayor wears his., The sheriffs and recorders have scarlet, violet and black gowns, and the members of the common council have deep mazarine blue gowns, which seem to have been first prescribed in 1761.
For Scotland. an order of James I. and VI. of 1610 (see Register of Privy Council, loc. cit.) ordered that the provosts, aldermen, &c., of every borough should wear, for ordinary occasions, black furred gowns, the officers of the chief boroughs having also scarlet furred gowns for Sundays and other solemn occasions, when the provost of Edinburgh was to wear a gold chain.
Academic Costume.—No thorough study has so far been made of early English academic, costume as compared with that of the continental universities-a study which ought to throw much light on the subject. A vexed question is that of how far academic dress is derived from the ecclesiastical. Anthony Wood's view, that it was derived from the tunica talaris and cucullus of the Benedictines, would not now meet with much support; but many writers seem to be unnecessarily anxious to trace each item of the academic robes to some definite ecclesiastical garment. The medieval scholar was of course a clerk, and had to wear the clerkly gown and the tonsure, But the fact that this was the case makes it more difficult to distinguish between academical and ecclesiastical robes, notably in the case of brasses and other monuments of university graduates and dignitaries who were also priests. Another source of difficulty is the variety of names by which the different, parts of the academic costume are called in the university statutes and elsewhere, resulting sometimes in inextricable confusion.
The earliest information as to English academic dress is found in the second half of the 14th century. Certain early statutes show that “excess in apparel” had already to be rebuked in scholars (cf. the Constitution of Archbishop Stratford, 1342), while the statutes of certain colleges require of the scholars the tonsure and a “decent habit” suitable to a clerk (cf. Statutes of Peterhouse, 1344, and of Merton Coll., Oxford), i.e. a long gown (toga or tunica talaris), which it is stipulated in some cases must be closed in front. Some colleges had liveries, prescribed perhaps by the founder of the college' and laid down by the statutes. The differences of colour and shape in the -undergraduate gowns of most of the Cambridge colleges are supposed to be a survival of this. There was also an ordinance of Richard II. for King’s Hall, Cambridge (1379), which fixed the dress of a scholar as the roba talaris, over which, if a bachelor, he should wear a tabard suited to his degree. The undergraduates seem in the early days to have worn a hood, the ordinary head-covering worn by all, but they gradually teased to do so, until nobody below the rank of a bachelor might wear one.
It is proposed to give here (1) a list of the various parts of the academic dress, with a few remarks on each; (2) a short account of the early costume of the various degrees; (3) a sketch of any changes which have taken place since the Reformation.
The Gown (toga, roba, or tunica talaris) was worn by all degrees, as befitting clerks. It is hard to determine whether there was at first any difference between the gown of the higher degrees, which some maintain was the roba, and that of the lower degrees, the toga or tunica talaris, but it seems improbable. It was frequently fur-lined, but the use of the more costly furs was forbidden to all below the degree of Master, except sons of noblemen, or those possessing a certain income, bachelors using budge (see in Anstey's Munimenta Academica, p. 301, the ​statute of 1432 de admissions ad pelluram). Students, and even doctors in theology (Mun. Acad. ii. 393), were also restricted to budge, and to sad-coloured habits. The robes of masters were to be flowing and reach to the ankles (see Mun. Acad. p. 212, an order of 1358 to the tailors not to stint the robes, which should be “largae el talares,” because clerks should be distinguished from the laity).
Fig. 6.—Members of New College, Oxford, from Chandler MS. (15th century).
The Cope, worn as part of academic dress over the gown, probably originated in the ordinary cappa clericalis, or everyday mantle of the clergy, which had been introduced into general use in England by synods of 1222, 1237 and 1268. This kind of cope, closed in front, and originally black in colour, is generally known as the cappa clausa, and sometimes, for convenience' sake, had a slit in front to allow of the passage of the hands. It was worn by Regent Masters when lecturing (Mun. Acad. p. 421) and as a full dress by certain doctors. By the second half of the 14th century differences of colour occur; e.g. the Chancellor represented in a 14th-century miniature in the Oxford Chancellor’s Book (reproduced by J. W. Wells, The Oxford Degree Ceremony (1906), facing p. 19) wears a scarlet cope closed in front, lined with miniver and with tippet and hood of miniver, and there is also a mention in an ancient statute of Cambridge of a red cope worn by Inceptors in Canon Law (Clark, p. 102). The Rev. N. F. Robinson (loc. cit. p. 195) quotes the will of R. Browne, archdeacon of Rochester (d. 1452), to prove that the habit of a doctor of civil law was violet; he also thinks that that of a doctor of theology was green, and of a doctor of canon law scarlet. By the 16th century all copes were scarlet. Clark (p. 138) gives as evidence “ Stokys' picture ” in the Cambridge Registrary. The scarlet cappa clausa has survived to the present day at Cambridge as the dress worn by the Vice-Chancellor and by Regius Professors of Divinity, Law and Medicine when presenting for degrees. It is now open down the front, but the fur edging only reaches half-way down, marking the place where the slit used to be. At Oxford the so-called “cope” which is the Convocation robe of certain doctors is not a real cope, but is probably derived from the medieval tabard, the out-of-door dress worn by the clergy and others, it having become customary by the beginning of the 16th century for Regent Masters to wear the tabard at lectures as more convenient than the cope (Rashdall, II. ii. 639, and Mun. Acad. p. 421, where the pallium is spoken of as an alternative to the cappa clausa. The pallium is most probably to be identified with the tabard). The capa manicata mentioned in Anstey (Mun. Acad. p. 421, &c.) seems to have been a shorter gown with bell-shaped sleeves reaching to the elbow, and lined with fur, worn by masters and bachelors of arts (see Druitt, p. 124), and a shorter tabard is also occasionally found (Robinson's Taberdum ad medias tibias). These are illustrated in fig. 6 from a MS. of the 15th century at New College, Oxford. The D.D.’s wear the cappa clansa, the other doctors tabards (see also pl. iii., xvi. in Archaeologia, where William of Wykeham and all the doctors wear long sweeping tabards, as ample as copes), the Warden a shorter tabard, reaching just below the knees, and the M.A.’s gowns or tabards with false sleeves.
Plate V. :
| D.C.L., Oxford. | | L.L. D., Cambridge. | | D.D., Oxford. |
| | D.D., Cambridge. | | Doctor of Music, Oxford. | |
| M.A., Oxford. | | M.A., Cambridge. | | M.A., Trinity College, Dublin. |
| Robes lent by Ede Son & Ravenscroft, Chancery Lane, London. |||||
​ hood had gone out of use by the end of the 16th century. Bachelors’ hoods were to be lined throughout with fur (Mun. Acad. p. 361), which we learn from the statute de admission ad pelluram (1432) to have been budge. Masters and noblemen might use miniver, or silk in summer (Mun. Acad. pp. 283, 301). There were evidently hoods of at least two kinds for masters, sometimes called respectively caputium and epomis, whether corresponding to the distinction between regents and non regents we do not know. (See Mun. Acad. p. 638, will of Thomas Bray, M.A., and Robinson, loc. cit. In the Oxford Corpus Statutorum of 1768 the epomis is worn with the ordinary gown, the caputium with the scarlet habit.) At a later date, at Cambridge, a distinction was made between the hoods of non-regents, which were lined with silk, and those of regents, which were lined with miniver. Later again the regents wore their hoods in such a way as to show the white lining, while the non-regents wore theirs “squared,” so that the white did not show. Hence the name “White Hoods” and “Black Hoods” given to the upper and lower houses of the old Senate respectively. It is not settled when the modern colourings of hoods arose; they probably followed those of the gowns of the faculties, but about these we are equally uncertain. The Oxford Proctor still wears a miniver hood. The modern Cambridge hood has preserved the original shape more closely than the Oxford one, being a hood and tippet combined, the hood having square corners. The tippet, which appears as part of the early costume of certain doctors, was probably, like the judges’ tippet, originally the shoulder-cape forming part of the same garment as the hood. Clark and others would derive it from the almuce (q.v.), but do not seem to show any definite grounds for so doing. Its place seems to have been taken by the scarf Worn by D.D.’s, &c., probably developed from the hood with long liripipe as worn turban wise on the head or as a scarf round the shoulders. It seems rather far-fetched to derive the scarf from the two pendants of the almuce. (See article Vestments and cp. the mayor’s scarf mentioned above.)
There seem to have been at least three varieties of academic head-dress: firstly, the doctor’s skull-cap with “apex” as illustrated in the Chandler MS. drawings; secondly, the square cap of cloth as prescribed by Laud’s statutes of 1636 for graduates and foundation scholars (similarly for Cambridge by Burleigh’s letter to the vice-chancellor in 1588), with its counterpart olg velvet worn by doctors; thirdly, a round cloth cap prescribed by the Laudian statutes and Burleigh’s letter for under raduates who were not foundation scholars, with the round ca of velvet for doctors which survives as part of their full dress to the present day. The square cap was adopted at the universities, according to Robinson, after 1520, in imitation of the university of Paris. For the development of the modern “college cap,” see Biretta. In this connexion should be mentioned the term “tuft-hunting,” i.e. attempting to thrust oneself into the society of one’s social superiors, derived from the gold tufts or tassel worn by noblemen and fellow-commoners on their college caps.
As to the dresses of the different degrees, the drawings from the Chandler MS. give a good idea of the early costume. It is also well illustrated by brasses. Doctors of theology seem to have worn a tippet but no hood. Masters of Arts seem to have worn a gown, over which was a garment with bell-shaped sleeves reaching to the elbow, a tip t and a hood (see Druitt, plate facing p. 136, and p. 135). The same dress was sometimes worn by B.A.’s (see brass of John Palmer, B.A., d. 1479, New College, Oxford, in Druitt, p. 141), and bachelors of law and divinity, the latter being generally already M.A.’s (Druitt, p. 139). Haines’s theory is that after the middle of the 15th century the dress of the M.A.’s was changed, and they wore a sleeveless tabard reaching to 'midway between ankle and knee. This costume certainly occurs on brasses, chiefly of the 16th or late 15th centuries, but the change is hard to explain.
Academic dress underwent much inquiry and some revision at the time of the Reformation, chiefly in the direction of sobriety and uniformity, “excess of apparel” being repressed as severely as ever, but not with much more effect. Burleigh’s letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University (1585), and the statutes of Queen Elizabeth, strictly enforce the wearing of cap and gown by all, and hoods and habits by those entitled to wear them, and similar regulations were made for Oxford by Laud’s statutes of 1633, further details being dealt with by a decree of 1770. Academic dress during the 17th century may be further studied in Bedel Buck’s book (1665, see Appendix B. to Peacock, Observations on the Statutes of the University of Cambridge), and Loggan’s plates of academic costume in Oxonia Illustrata (1675) and Cantabrigia Illustrata (1690, ed. J. W. Clark, 1905).
There have been few far-reaching changes since Loggan’s day. Cambridge has of late years inquired into and revised her regulations as to dress, and in the Ordinances (latest ed. 1908, Statute A, cap. VII. p. 303) clear rules are laid down; the 'Oxford regulations (see Statuta et Decreta Univ. Oxon. ​for 1909, Tit. xiv., de vestitu et habitu, pp. 327–312) have not been revised lately, and some of 'them are a dead letter.
Doctors of both universities have three sets of robes: firstly, the full-dress gown of scarlet cloth; secondly, the congregation habit and hood of scarlet (now at Cambridge a cope, at Oxford the so-called “cope”); thirdly, the black gown. The first is worn by all doctors except the doctor of music, and is accompanied by the round cap of velvet. The Oxford D.D. also wears a cassock, sash and scarf. The scarlet gown is of a different and older shape than the M.A. and B.A. gowns. As now worn, it is faced with silk of the same colour as the hood of the faculty. The second, or cope, has now gone almost out of use, but is still worn when presenting for degrees, &c. It is sometimes worn over the black gown. There are several types of black gown, but the tufted gown of Loggan’s day has now gone out of use. The M.D. and Mus.D. black gowns at Cambridge are now made after the pattern of the LL.D. gown, with wing-like sleeve and flap collar, trimmed with black lace, but the D.D., D.Sc. and Litt. D. wear the M.A. gown, the former with the scarf, the two latter with lace on the sleeve, placed horizontally for D.Sc. and vertically for Litt. D. Some doctors of divinity wear the full-sleeved gown with scarf. The head-dress of a D.D. is the square cap, that of the lay doctors' the velvet bonnet with gold cord. At Oxford, too, some doctors wear the M.A. gown, others the doctor’s laced gown. The M.A. and B.A. gowns are two varieties of the civilian gown of the 15th and 16th century. The B.A. loose-sleeved gown is no longer worn with the sleeve tucked up round the elbow.
The Oxford sleeveless commoner’s gown, though still by statute talaris, now reaches little below the waist, the full-sleeved scholar’s gown to the knees. The tufted silk gown, of the gentleman-commoner and the nobleman's gold laced gown as not yet abolished by statute, but have fallen into disuse. Vice-Chancellors have no official costume, but wear the habit of their degree. The Chancellors of the older universities wear a black damask robe with gold lace, and a black velvet square cap with gold tassel or a doctor’s velvet bonnet with gold cord; those of the newer universities have robes “created” by the robe-makers, who are nowadays to a large extent the arbiters of academic dress.
For the colours of the hoods of the various university degrees see Universities ad fin. (C. B. P.)
* ↑ For the sovereign's coronation robes, see “The King's Coronation Ornaments,” by W. St John Hope, in The Ancestor, vols. i. and ii., also L. Wickham Legg, English Coronation Records, 1901. The “parliamentary robes” used to be of crimson or purple velvet, furred with ermine. See the above, 'also 'the inventories of the wardrobes of sovereigns, &c.
* ↑ In the United States few, save Federal judges wear robes. The scarlet judicial robes were discarded at the Revolution. Those of black silk now worn are slightly modified academic gowns. John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1787). set the fashion by sitting in the LL.D. gown granted him by Columbia University.
* ↑ These are well described in the account of the opening of parliament by Henry VIII. in 1537 given in Wriothesley’s Chronicle of England (Camden Soc., 1875, ed. W. Hamilton): “all erles marques and lordes, all in their Perliament robes of scarlett furred with white, and their hoodes about their neckes, which were forty in number; everie duke having fower barres of white fur alongest the right side of their robes, and everie earle having three bars, . . and everie lord two barres in likewise.”
* ↑ After her followed ladies being lordes’ wives, which had circotes of scarlet, with narrow sleeves, the breast all lettice, with barres of ponders according to their degrees, and over that they had mantles of scarlet furred, and every mantle had lettice about the necke like a neckerchief, likewise poudered, so that by the pouderings their degrees might be known. Then followed ladies being knights’ wives in gownes of scarlet."
* ↑ “Longues cottes vertes a estroictes manches fourres de menever, et chapperons pareil fourres de menever, en guise de prelats; et avoient les dits chevaliers sur la senestre espaule ung double cordeau de soye blanche a blanche houppettes pendans” (Froissart).
* ↑ Mr Oswald Barron, in The Ancestor, vols. v. (p. 105) and vii. (p. 108 seq., plate xii.), has given reproductions of figures from MSS. of the 13th and 14th century, showing the coif worn by both clerks and laymen.
* ↑ Prol. line 210 (ed. Skeat, Clarendon Press): “Jit houed there an hondreth in houues of silke, seriauntz it seemed that serveden atte barre "; and iii. 293: “Shal no seriaunt for here seruyse were a silk howue, Ne no pelure in his cloke, for pleding atte barre.”
* ↑ Prol. line 382 (ed. Morris, Clarendon Press): “He rood but homely in a medlee cote Girt with a ceint of silk, with barres smale; of his array telle I no longer tale.”
* ↑ The effigy “supposed to represent Sir Richard de Willoughby, chief justice of the king’s bench” temp. Edward III., illustrated by Fairholt, p. 201, wears a long own with girdle and skull-cap, no distinctively judicial dress. The figure of Robert Grymbald (temp. Henry II.), engraved from his seal by Dugdale, wears the ordinary dress of the time.
* ↑ See also that of Sir Hugh de Holes (1415; see Haines, Brasses, i. xc), and a stone effigy of Sir William Gascoigne in Harwood Church, Yorks (d. 1419, see Planché, Cyclopaedia, i. 427). Of sergeants-at-law, an early example is the brass of Nichol Rolond at Cople, Beds. (c. 1410, see Druitt, Costume in Brasses, p. 221); also that of Thomas Rolf at Gosfield, Essex (c. 1440, see Haines, p. 85), who wears a gown, tabard, tippet, hood and coif, with two bands showing below the hood, like the Ellesmere MS. figure. The inscription calls Rolf “legi professus,” which Haines takes to mean “professor of law,” Boutell and Clark (Archaeological Journal, vol. i. pp. 203–4) consider that he is a serjeant-at-law. Druitt (p. 224) remarks on the likeness of his tabard to that of a Master of Arts, but compares a figure on a 15th-century cope, who also appears to be a serjeantat-law and wears a tabard. That a tabard sometimes formed part of the dress of a serjeant, can be seen in the extract from the Liber famelicus of Sir James Whitelocke. quoted by Druitt, p. 225, footnote.
* ↑ They were probably originally liveries; see G. R. Corner in Archaeologia, also Pulling, op. cit. pp. 211-12.
* ↑ “See an essay by Sir Herbert Stephen in Unwritten Laws and Ideals, ed. E. H. Pitcairn (Smith, Elder, 1899), from which the following paragraph is largely condensed.
* ↑ Minute details of court and levée dress, judicial and legal, will be found in Dress worn at Court (pp. 60–61), issued with the authority of the Lord Chamberlain, and ed. H. A. P. Trendell, of the Lord Chamberlain’s department (London, 1908),—also details of mourning costume.
* ↑ Sir G. G. Young in a pamphlet called The Place of the Lord Mayor in proceeding through or within the City of London (1852), quotes various royal visits to the city which seem to show that the Lord Mayor did not always wear his crimson velvet robe on these occasions. Thus in 1638 Charles I., on going to meet Marie de Médicis, was met by the Lord Mayor in scarlet, which was also worn at the entry of Charles II. in 1660. In 1702, when Queen Anne went to a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s, the Lord Mayor wore crimson velvet, with the collar and jewel; but in 1705, at the thanksgiving after Blenheim, he met the queen on horseback, dressed in scarlet. In 1714, at the reception of George I., the Lord Mayor wore crimson velvet robes.
* ↑ The recorders had from an early date annual suits of robes like the mayor, aldermen, &c. See Liber Albus, p. 43: “Habet itaque Recordator pro feodo de Camera totiens et talem vesturam lineatam sive penulatum, quotiens et qualem Major et Aldermanni capiunt annuatim." The chamberlain, common serjeant, &c., had also gowns (see an order of 1523 in St J. Hope, ii. 146). For the sword-bearer's cap of maintenance see article Cap and St John Hope i. lxxvi-lxxix. For mayor's and sheriff's chains see ibid. pp. lxxix-lxxxiv.
* ↑ Practically the only detailed study of early English academic costume is a paper on “English Academic Costume (Medieval),” by Dr E. C. Clark, in Archaeolog. Journal, vol. l. pp. 74 seq., 137 seq. and 183 seq., which contains a mass of information, and upon which the present article is to a great extent based. Rashdall (Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, vol., ii. pt. ii.) and Druitt (Costume on Brasses, ch. ii.) each devote a chapter to the subject; Rashdall treats of both the English and continental universities, not very thoroughly, Druitt of English academic dress only, but thoroughly. Clark gives many facts about foreign, as well as the English, costume.
* ↑ See Rev. T. A. Lacey in Transactions of the St Paul's Ecclesialogical Society, vol. iv. (1900), p. 128, &c. Also Rev. N. F. Robinson in the same (1898), pp. 181–220.
* ↑ Clark (pp. 138-39) treats of the palhlurn and tabard as two separate garments, deciding that the pallium was a kind of tippet. Robinson considers the pallium to correspond to the tabard, his taberdum talare, which the Rev. T. A. Lacey (p. 128) also compares with the chimere of Anglican bishops. (See article CHIMERE, where the chimere is likewise traced to the tabard.) Moroni, Dizionario dell erudizione storica-ecclesiaslica, s.v. zimarra, says that professors of the university of Rome wear black zimarre while teaching. This recalls the pallium of Regent Masters (Mun. Acad. p. 421) and Inceptors in arts and medicine (id. p. 430).
* ↑ The Chandler MS. The drawings from which the illustration is taken are reproduced in the Transactions of the St Paul’s Ecclesialogical Society, p. 208, with an explanatory article by the Rev. N. F. Robinson, and in Archaeologia, vol. liii. pl. i., with notes by T. F. Kirby. Robinson identifies the various groups of the Society of New College on his plate i. (xv. in Archaeol.) by the aid of a statute of the College settling the order of standing in choir and at processions, and thus claims to settle the question of the dress of the various kinds of Doctor and Bachelor, M.A.’s, &c., at the period.
* ↑ In the present article “liripipe” will be used of the tail of the hood, “tippet” of the shoulder-cape, sometimes forming part of the same garment as the hood, sometimes not, and “scarf” of the “tippet” or scarf, e.g. of D.D.’s, Anglican clergy.
* ↑ “that no non-graduate scholar (with the usual exceptions of noblemen, &c.) shall wear any kind of hood in public, unless it have the liripipe sewn on, and not woven in one piece, as the ancient and venerable custom of the university demands." The meaning of this is not clear; Anstey (marginal note ad loc.) takes it to mean that the tail of the hood should be sewn to the hood; others that the tail of the hood should be sewn down to the gown; cf. Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's, Yeoman's Tale: “Till that I understood How that his cloke was sowed to his hood, For which, whan I hadde long avysed me, I demed him some Chanoun for to be, " which shows that this method of sewing the hood, whatever it were, was used to define rank; others again hold that “liripipium” here means a tippet or shoulder-cape, and that for some reason the hood was to be sewn to the tippet and not made all in one piece with it, Rashdall reads “consuetum” instead of “consutum” (footnote ii. p. 641). The Constitution of Archbishop Bourchier (1463) forbids undergraduates to use liripipes or “tippets” round the neck in public (Clark, p. 85), so the sewing down of the liripipe at the back may have been to prevent this improper use as a scarf. But in this case, what is the force of “et non context um”?
* ↑ An interesting survival, which only disappeared about the middle of the 19th century, was the little black hood placed round the neck of candidates going in for viva voce in all examinations subsequent to responsions at Oxford. This was a survival of the custom of conferring on sophistae generales, i.e. those who had assed the first stage of the exercises for the B.A. degree, a hood of' plain black cloth. See A. Clark’s Introduction to the Registers of Oxford University, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 22 (Oxford Hist. Soc., 1887).
* ↑ See Caius’ Statutes (1557), also an account of the entertainments at Cambridge on the visit of Queen Elizabeth, 1564, given in Nichols, Progresses, vol. iii., “Theologiae Baccalaureos ac non-Regentes primum, sericis caputiis induti, tum Regentes Magistri suis pelliceis albescentibus decorati; tandem Juris Artiumque Baccalaureos suis agninis bracceis conspicui."
* ↑ See Rev. E. Wickham Legg in Trans. of St Paul’s Eccles. Soc. vol. iii. Also Lacey and Robinson (loc. cit.).
* ↑ The subject is discussed in detail by Clark, “College Caps and Doctors’ Hats,” in Archaeol. Journal, vol. lxi., and N. F. Robinson, “Pileus Quadratus,” in Transact. of St Paul’s Ecclesiological Socy., vol. v. pt. i. (1901). There is also much miscellaneous information in C. Wordsworth, University Life in the 18th Century, p. 499 seq.
* ↑ See for doctors’ costume, J. G. and L. A. B. Waller’s Series of Monumental Brasses (London, 1864), plate of “Four Ecclesiastics,” from New College, Oxford, who are also illustrated in Druitt, pp. 131, 129, 119; and for M.A.’s and B.A.’s, Druitt, p. 135 seq. and plate facing p. 136. On the brass of John Lowthe, D.C.L., should be noticed the two curious long streamers or liripipes hanging from the back of his tabard or hood. It is hard to say what they can be; but the closest parallel is in the two streamers on the back of the old Oxford commoners’ gown, which were probably survivals of sleeves. They are said to have given rise to the term “plucking,” i.e. failing in examination, the story being that a man’s creditors might assemble at the conferring of degrees, and by “plucking” at his gown prevent him from going up for his degree.
* ↑ It is just possible that this sleeved garment may be the capa manicata mentioned in Mun. Acad. p. 421, “nullus regens in artibus . . . in capa manicata lectiones legat ordinarias, sed in pallio vel capa clausa." Clark (pp. 188, 189, &c.) identifies the cappa manicata with the tabard, but if, as suggested above, the pallium is the tabard, the cappa manicata cannot be the same. Braun, Liturgische Gewandung, p. 308, shows that a sleeved cope, called cappa manicata, did develop from the cappa clericalis or everyday cope of the clergy, at the end of the 12th century, its use being forbidden by various synods. It is possible, then, that the capa manicata may have been worn by non-regents, the tabard (which Haines alleges to have been adopted generally by M.A.’s in the late 15th century), or pallium, by regents.
* ↑ The essential parts of Laud’s statutes, Burleigh’s letter, &c., with much other matter bearing on academic costume from the 16th century onwards, will be found in C. Wordsworth’s University Life in the 18th Century (London and Cambridge, 1874, p. 485 seq.). To the passages quoted by him may be added the following from Johannis Berebloci Commentarii, an eye-witness’s account of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Oxford in 1566 (published in Elizabethan Oxford, ed. C. Plummer, Oxford Hist. Soc., 1887); at one of the disputations Mr. Campion, M.A., was dressed as follows: “To a illi tum Dalmatica talaris fuit, manicis remissis ac largitate sua digluentibus. Huic pallium inductum est undique consutum, praeter quam qua dextro patebant aditus. Postremo erant humeri superius pellibus albis, candoreque lucentibus, redimiti. Atque hic tum habitus fuit omnium magistrorum, praeterquam quod nonnulli, loco'palludamenti illius pellicei, serico utebantur, omni colore variegate." This points to the wide-sleeved gown, tabard and hood as the dress of masters, but the colour of the hood was evidentl not fixed. For Doctor White, D.C.L., “ ei vestis Dalmatica filerat talaris, ex electiori et clarissima purpura; lato clavo coccineo superius induebatur, additum postremo humeris paludamentum est ejusdem coloris, cum serico subtegmine, similique tum vestiti habitu omnes Doctores sedebant." Here vestis Dalmatica would be the ordinary gown, clavus latus the scarlet gown, and paludamentum the hood, as before. For costume up to the middle o the 19th century see Wall-Gunning, Ceremonies observed in the Senate House at Cambridge (1828).