The Tudors got their own TV show, which, from what I've seen, took some historical liberties. But I'm not sure even TV can come close to the nuttiness of the real thing. Here, Horrible Histories offers a glimpse of a few Elizabethan laws about clothing.
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5 comments:
Horrible Histories are beyond wonderful.
(I go to watch one video and... end up with a three hours long HH playlist. And truly happy ^_^ .)
the sumptuary laws were frequent and may be considered to be more in the breach than the observance most of the time. Henry VIII exempted women from sumptuary law on the grounds that women should look good. The woollen hat law - highly unlikely to be a knitted one, but a biretta cut out of wool - was a re-enactment of a pre-tudor law by IIRC Edward IV. It wasn't just those at court who were subject to such laws, a peasant was not allowed to wear hose cut from cloth costing more than 10d a yard or to trim his clothes with any fur but common grey rabbit. Nobody was allowed to wear imported cloth such as the Flemish dickerdinen or strijplaken although the Flemish had superior looms to the English weavers. This is wht Flemish weavers were invited to Norwich in one of the phases of mass immigration which so typifies the richness of what became what Napoleon was to later call contemptuously 'a nation of shopkeepers.
The first no no I saw when Sir William walked in was that he was wearing purple. :)
Thanks! I needed a good laugh today.
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