Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince - A Study of the Years 1340-1365 Paperback / softback - 1980

Something of a landmark in the history of dress... the period is notably rich in its documentation and by carefully analysing both the manuscript sources and published accounts [the author] is able to produce an abundantly detailed narrative of the changes in fashion... Tighter clothes outraged moralists, incensed monastic chroniclers and stirred poets... in the last chapter the author discuss[es] the relationship of the garments she has meticulously reconstructed with their possible representations in manuscript illumination, sculpture and painting... Of lasting value... a pioneering book which will be of enduring value to historians of dress and art alike. APOLLO

The evidence for this scholarly and detailed study is drawn in the first instance from documentary sources... contemporary illustrations reinforce the written evidence... The book contains much that is of wider interest than the subject matter suggests: the various mottoes used by Edward III are discussed, and the problem of his expanding waistline is revealed; there are interesting sidelights on the new orders of chivalry. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW

1340 to 1363 were years notable for dramatic developments in fashion and for extravagant spending on costume, foreshadowing the later luxury of Richard II's court. Stella Mary Newton's ground-breaking study discusses the costume of the period in quite remarkable detail, drawing on surviving accounts from the royal courts, the evidence of chronicles and poetry (often from unpublished manuscripts), and contemporary paintings. Her exploration of aspects of chivalry, particularly the choice of mottoes and devices worn at tournaments, and of the exchange of gifts of clothingbetween reigning monarchs, offers new insights into the social history of the times, and she has much to say that is crucial to the study of illuminated manuscripts of the fourteenth century.