tripes or rays and figured with patterns are brought in from the
ports. Rare furs are eagerly sought. But the simplicity of line is
remarkable. The drawings made for Matthew Paris's lives of the two Offas
show people of all ranks clad without a trace of the tailor's fantasy.
Kings and lords, churchmen and men of substance go in long gowns to the
feet, the great folk having an orphrey or band of embroidery at the
somewhat low-cut neck (fig. 27). Some of the sleeves have wide ends cut
off at the mid-forearm, showing the tight sleeve of a shirt or smock
below. Fashion, however, tends to lengthen sleeves to a tight wrist, the
upper halves being cut wide and loose with the large armholes
characteristic of most ancient tailoring. Over this gown is worn an
ample cloak fastened at the neck with a brooch or clasp, and sometimes
fitted with a hood. The dress of the common folk and of men of rank when
actively employed is a tunic which is but the gown shortened to the
knee, a short cloak to the knee being worn with it (fig. 28). Belts and
girdles are narrow and plain, the thongs without enrichment, showing no
beginnings of the rich buckles and heavy bosses of a later fashion.
Shoes and low-cut boots are slightly pointed, and hats, caps, hoods and
coifs of many types cover the head. The women are like to the men in
their long gown, but the head is wrapped in a coverchef hanging over the
shoulder and bound with a fillet round the brow. Gloves are common in
this age; "scraps of the cloth or the skin," says a poet, "do not want
for a use: of them gloves are made."

[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Labourers (temp. Hen. III.). (From Cotton MS.
Nero, D.i.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 29.--A Group of Clerks (early 14th century). (From
Royal MS. 19 B. xv.)]

[Illustration: FIG. 30.--English Ploughmen of the 14th century.]

14th century.

At the court of Edward II., son of a king who went simply clad, Piers
Gaveston and his like began to set the fashions for a century which to
the curious antiquary is a garden of delights. For the history of the
14th-century clothing illuminations are supplemented by a number of
effigies upon which the carver has wrought out the last details, by
monumental brasses, and by contemporary literature and records (fig.
29). Garments take many shapes; sleeves, skirts and head-dresses run
through many fashions; while personal ornaments are rich and beautiful
to a degree never yet surpassed. With the beginning of the ce