[Ansteorra] Undies

[Stefan li Rous]

On Sep 20, 2006, at 7:15 PM, Michelle Hartz-Coutts wrote:

> It's my understanding that underpants/drawers/bloomers are an 18th  
> century invention. There is a famous story about Ben Franklin at  
> the French court. A lady-in-waiting took a header in her fancy gown  
> and exposed her privates. Franklin is said to have told the Queen,  
> "I am happy to see, Madam, that your ladies do not wear drawers,  
> and the gates of Paradise are always open."
>
> Anyway, I studied medieval and Ren lit at grad school, and I am  
> quite certain that for Europe at least, "underwear" in period meant  
> your shift or your shirt.

Be careful of confusing the name and the item. Just because the word  
meant something else then, doesn't mean they didn't wear what we  
would think of as underwear today. It also may vary by region, by  
time and by class.  And yes, there are similar stories of Victorian   
ladies as well not wearing drawers.

There are a number of illustrations that definitely show nothing  
being worn. However, for at least a few days each month women were  
likely to have worn something.

For a bunch of info collected over the years, see this file in the  
CLOTHING section of the Florilegium:
underwear-msg     (85K)  8/28/04    What to wear under garb. SCA and  
period.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CLOTHING/underwear-msg.html

Folks might also find these similar files in the same section of  
interest:
corsets-msg       (64K)  6/14/04    Tudor and Elizabethan corsets.  
making them.
codpieces-msg     (15K)  8/28/04    Codpieces. Making and fitting them.
hose-msg          (76K)  6/24/99    Hose and leggings.
hose-manu-MA-art  (22K) 10/21/97    "Hosiery Manufacture in the  
Middle Ages"
                                        translated by Johanna Lemercer.
pants-trews-lnks  (10K) 11/ 9/05    Links to info on medieval trews  
and pants by
                                        Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****