The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century (65 page)

Noblewomen’s clothing at the end of the fourteenth century. Tunics are still ground length, but the supertunic is now a fi gure-hugging, short, fur-trimmed garment, like a modern jacket. Tunics also become more closely fi tted to the upper body and arms, like modern dresses.

Peasants’ clothing in the early fourteenth century. Tunics and supertunics are shorter and more practical than the fl owing robes of their social superiors, but the principle of cutting clothes that hang from the shoulders is the same.

Laborers’ clothing at the end of the fourteenth century. Here builders are wearing tailored cotes with buttons, or doublets, and more substantial hose.

Women’s clothing in the early fourteenth century. The long kirtles hang from the shoulders and reach to the ground. Sleeves are kept close to the wrist with laces.

In 1400 working women are still wearing long-sleeved kirtles much like their grandmothers, although they may be closer fi tting. Only the noblewoman at the loom is wearing a modern tailored gown of more than one fabric.

The braies this boy is wearing are like those commonly worn by men in the early fourteenth century. They are loose, tied at the knee, and then drawn up and rolled around the waistband.

Images of extreme cruelty provide an opportunity to study men’s underwear. This late-fourteenth-century picture of the Templars’ burning shows how braies are now much shorter and tighter, to allow men to wear tight hose and very short tunics over the top.

This fourteenth-century view of the world shows East at the top, Jerusalem in the center, the Red Sea top right (in red), and England bottom left (also in red). Also labeled are Damascus, Babylon, the tower of Babel, Rome, Paris, fourteen English towns, various places mentioned in romances about Alexander the Great (Macedonia, Alexandria, and Persepolis), and regions inhabited by fabulous races, such as the cyclops and troglodytes.

This map is at least forty years old by 1300, but it demonstrates the importance of rivers in picturing the country. The position of Canterbury—southwest of London—should warn you not to use it for navigational purposes.

Coaches can cost up to a thousand pounds and are only used by royal women and countesses. Note the fi ve horses all in a line: this is usual practice for pulling heavy wagons and coaches. Note also the pet squirrel on the arm of the lady at the front.

Early-fourteenth-century cogs have stem posts and stern posts with rudders. Typically they have single masts and one large sail. Ships like this are the mainstay of the merchant fl eet, as well as the basis of the navy in wartime.

Late-fourteenth-century cogs incorporate elements of the designs of hulks and Genoese carracks, and are larger—up to 120 feet long in a few cases.