** boys tunics : late middle ages








Boys'Tunics: Late Middle Ages (13th-15th Centuries)


Figure 1.--This is a miniatures from a 15th century Latin codex. The manuscript could have originated in northern Italy, but we are not sure. The first minature shows a woman and a boy (I think because of the short hair). They are picking dill. This boy wears a tunic cut quite long. He has bare legs and feet. That seems more common for a rural scene. Click on the image to see another minature showing three boys picking cherries. The boys wear shorter tunics with hose and shoes.

People in the Middle Ages tended to wear long gowns, even the men. In the late middle ages this began to change. It should be understood that in the middle ages fashion did not change at the same rate as modern fashions. Whole centurries passed with little change in fashion. Obly in the late middle ages did the pace of fashion change quicken. You can see it in Renaissance painting. Boys and young adults began to dress differently than older men. The fashionable outfit was a tunic worn with coloful hose that extended all the way up the leg. The effect was rather like modern tights. Less fashionably attired country boys would more likely go barefoot. The length of the tunics varied. The tunic was not a boyish style, although boys wore them. They were also worn by young adults. Some were very short. This also was not a particularly boyizh style. Rather the short tunics were an afectation of fashionable youths and young adults. The particularly short tunics casused some church men to comment unfavorably on the fashion. Paintings and illustrations suggest that the tunics were done in bright colors. We suspect that this may have been the case with fashionable urban families, but in the country less colorful tunics were worn.








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Created: 4:29 AM 11/9/2008
Last updated: 4:29 AM 11/9/2008