OF SIX MEDIEVAL WOMEN 



hitherto mere personal badges, became attached 

 to noble families. By the thirteenth century, 

 when the bourgeoisie had become rich, they 

 were worn by the sumptuously attired wife of 

 the lord to distinguish her from the equally 

 sumptuously attired wife of the wealthy burgher. 



Such, in mere outline, was the daily life of 

 the mediaeval lady. Descriptions of the lady 

 herself seem to be mere replicas of an admired 

 and fixed type, for there is in them such a same- 

 ness of delineation, that we can only imagine 

 that poets sang of qualities that pleased, and did 

 not attempt to individualise. All are good and 

 gracious, beautiful, and slight of figure, with 

 delicate hands and tapering fingers, small feet, 

 fine and glossy hair, and grey eyes, laughing and 

 bright. Only occasionally are these attractions 

 varied and enhanced by the telling of beauty 

 unaided by paint and hair dye. 



It is hardly necessary to speak, save very 

 generally, of woman's dress, for much has already 

 been written on the subject. For everyday use, 

 garments of wool or linen, according to the 

 season, and with much fur in winter, were worn. 

 At weddings or tournaments, or on any other kind 

 of fete-day, the ladies vied with each other in 

 rich cloth of gold and silver, in silks woven with 

 threads of gold and patterned with conventional 

 design, and in all kinds of iridescent silken stuffs 



xxvi 



