Three of these curious effigies present a striking similarity in general design, costume, and execution; the form of the head-dress is the same in all of them, being a peculiar flat cap, which appears to have been a prevalent fashion of female attire during the thirteenth century. It here assumes nearly the same appearance as the cap of estate which at an early period formed part of the insignia of nobility; the precise mode in which it was arranged is not easily to be described, but it was placed over the reticulated caul, now termed in Southern Europe the crespine, in which the hair was confined on either side of the face. A broad band passed beneath this cap round the head, and under the chin; the hair was parted on the forehead. Examples of this peculiar fashion of the female head-dress appear in many works of sculpture and illuminations executed in the thirteenth century; a good illustration is given in the plate representing an effigy of a lady, in Romsey church, Hampshire[1], and the same attire is frequently introduced in sculptured capitals or corbels, such as those which have been given by Carter[2] from the chapterhouse at Southwell, erected in the reign of Henry III.
The rest of the costume of these figures is equally characteristic of the thirteenth century; the loose robe confined at the waist by a narrow strap and buckle, and falling so low as to envelope the feet entirely in its folds, the mantle kept in its place by a narrow strap crossing the breast and held in the left hand, the square cushion under the head, are all fashions observable in the monuments of that period. The fashion of closing, by means of a circular brooch, the vent or fente, which was made in the upper part of the robe, in order that it might fit more closely around the throat, may be seen in several monumental effigies, especially those of Berengaria the queen of Richard I., and Isabel d'Angoulesme, the queen of John[3].
- ↑ Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, by Thomas and G. Hollis.
- ↑ Ancient Sculpture and Painting, vol. ii. pl. lxxx. p. 109. See also Carter's Ancient Architecture, Part i. pl. lxxviii. Amongst numerous illuminated MSS. which supply representations of this head- dress, may be noticed Harl. MS. 1527, executed apparently in France about the middle of the thirteenth century. From this MS. Strutt has given a good example. See his Dresses, vol. i. pl. xli. The fashion appears to have been more common in France than in England; Montfaucon has given two interesting examples, furnished by the monumental effigies of the wives of Erard de Trainel. Date 1236—1250. Mon. Franc, ii. p. 169, pl. xxxiv. The same head-dress may be noticed at Notre Dame, Paris, in subjects sculptured about the year 1257; in one of these, representing the murder of the Innocents, there is a figure in mailed armour, precisely similar to the Cashel effigy, as regards the head.
- ↑ Stothard's Monumental Effigies.
