Sometimes a Codpiece Is Just a Codpiece: The Meanings of Medieval Clothes
By Rachel Hartman
Strange Horizons (2001)
Introduction: We all know what the Middle Ages looked like. Medieval clothing, in particular, is easy to picture, since we’ve encountered it everywhere from movies to fairy tales to high school productions of King Lear. Even as a child I knew hennins, hose, pageboy haircuts, and pointy shoes. This vision of medieval Europe is highly stereotyped, of course, but that’s what makes it useful. The medieval setting is a staple of fantasy novels — it’s romantic, it’s picturesque, and it gives the modern, western reader a starting point in common with the author. Fashion may have changed substantially during the thousand years between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance, but there seems to be little point in a work of fiction delving too deeply into the subtleties — even if one describes the clothing in more detail, the reader will either get snagged on strange terminology or end up picturing stereotypical Medieval clothing anyway.
Sometimes a Codpiece Is Just a Codpiece: The Meanings of Medieval Clothes
By Rachel Hartman
Strange Horizons (2001)
Introduction: We all know what the Middle Ages looked like. Medieval clothing, in particular, is easy to picture, since we’ve encountered it everywhere from movies to fairy tales to high school productions of King Lear. Even as a child I knew hennins, hose, pageboy haircuts, and pointy shoes. This vision of medieval Europe is highly stereotyped, of course, but that’s what makes it useful. The medieval setting is a staple of fantasy novels — it’s romantic, it’s picturesque, and it gives the modern, western reader a starting point in common with the author. Fashion may have changed substantially during the thousand years between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance, but there seems to be little point in a work of fiction delving too deeply into the subtleties — even if one describes the clothing in more detail, the reader will either get snagged on strange terminology or end up picturing stereotypical Medieval clothing anyway.
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