Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 4573
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  • Title: Limiting Yardage and Changes of Clothes: Sumptuary Legislation in Thirteenth-Century France, Languedoc, and Italy [In Western Europe, the first laws to control the expenditure and display of dress by laypersons appeared in the thirteenth century. The initial period of regulating activity in Occitania, France, and Italy developed from ecclesiastical laws regulating clerical dress, but the political origins and motivations for the legislation varied by region. Italian and Occitan cities based their legislation upon Roman law, while northern regions of France used customary law; the cities of Montpellier and Siena focused more attention on women’s display than men’s, while most French regions were more interested in keeping a clear correlation between social status and wealth in general. The effects of sumptuary legislation on people in these regions are reflected by numerous sartorial concerns in contemporary vernacular poetry and didactic literatures. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Medieval Fabrications: Dress, Textiles, Clothwork, and Other Cultural Imaginings.  Edited by E. Jane Burns.  Palgrave, 2004.  Pages 121 - 136.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Clothing in Literature Fashion Montpellier, Herault, France Law Occitania Politics Siena, Siena, Italy Social Class Sumptuary Laws
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  • Geographic Area: France;Italy
  • Century: 13
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  • Year of Publication: 2004.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 1403961867