Fashion of medieval female headgear 1300's - hat, hairstyles, veils, 14th century

An overivew of the fashion of medieval female headgear 1300’s (14th century). Hats, veils and hair styles though images from source material.

In the 1300’s woman would wear anything from uncovered braids, to veils over barbet and fillet, caul and crespine, depending on rank, wealth and time.

Last edited: 17/5 2017

I gather pictures of head gear. I find them in illuminated manuscripts, sketches and in paintings. Some of the pictures are quite small and a bit blurred, but I thought it was important to have pictures from different sources rather than just the famous high quality ones.

Unmarried woman and uncovered heads

Unmarried girls would simply braid their hair. Quite a few woman also seem to have worn their hair in crespine/hair nets at the ears. Or in other hairstyles where the hair would be braided at the ear – like complicated ear buns.

“The Massacre Of The Innocents” Giotto, 1305, Italy. These are biblical woman (I think) so we should take the scene with a grain of salt, but the painter has clearly seen women with this kind of hair styles before.

Visitation Giotto, 1306, Italy

Bibliothèque nationale de France Français 343: ‘La Quête du Saint Graal et la Mort d’Arthus’ by Gautier Map, fol. 49v

Madonna And Child On A Throne (Front Side Fragment) By Duccio Date: 1308-1311

Cod. Pal. . Germ 848 Large Heidelberg Song Manuscript (Codex Manesse) – Zurich, about 1300 to about 1340

Codex Manesse, UB Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 848, fol. 319r: Herr Niune Between 1305 and 1315

c 1300-c 1340, The Decretals of Gregory IX, edited by Raymund of Penyafort

The Luttrell Psalte, 1325-1340

Tournai 1338-44. MS Bodl. 264

Lady with braided and pinned hair. Italy c. 1325-1340 From: Harvest Scene; Initial U: A Figure; Attributed to the Illustratore; Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy; before 1340

Birth of Julius Caesar, Les anciennes hystoires rommaines, Paris 14th century. British Library, Royal 16 G VII, fol. 219r

The Decretals of Gregory IX, c 1300-c 1340

Lady hunting with a falcon, c 1300-c 1340 The Decretals of Gregory IX, edited by Raymund of Penyafort 14a

c 1300-c 1340, The Decretals of Gregory IX, edited by Raymund of Penyafort 14a

1341, Austria, St. Pölten Herward von St. Andreae unspecified manuscript, initial V

Taccuino Sanitatis detail. – 1300–1400.

1390-1400 Bible Venceslas IV

Entry to Paris of Isabeau of Bavaria, queen of France, in 1389, miniature of Chroniques de Froissart

Wimple, gorget and veil

Married woman in Northern and Western Europe would wear some kind of head covering. Wimple/gorget and veil was still worn by older women, widows and nuns. Wild and elaborate headgear became is the name of the game, when noble woman choose how to finish an outfit. Though veils seem to be worn in the first half of the century.

Female falconer with big falcon gloves and a veil blowing in the wind.

Woman with braided hair under a veil blowing in the wind. She is hunting rabbits. c 1300-1340

Lady in bed wearing a veil and a circle of plants, c. 1300 – 1340

Simple veil held down by flowers or possibly beads or pearls (1305 – 1340)

Simple veil worn over a fillet, c. 1305-1315

Woman in a simple veil, Codex Manesse 1300-1340

Woman in veil and a circle of fabric under the veil. c. 1300 – 1340

Woman in veil first half of 1300’s

Queen justice wearing a crown, veil and her hair braided and pined. Justice, Giotto, 1306, Italy

Woman in a simple veil, c 1300 – 1340

Lady being tended to by her maid, c. 1325-1335.

Grieving women in veils. Saint Hedwig Washing the Feet of Lepers; The Burial of Saint Hedwig’s Husband Heinrich; Unknown maker; Silesia, Poland; 1353; Tempera colors, colored washes, and ink on parchment; Leaf: 34.1 x 24.8 cm (13 7/16 x 9 3/4 in.); Ms. Ludwig XI 7, fol. 30

Woman spinning using a spinning whele. She is wearing a simple veil. c. 1325-1340

Servent woman in a veil wrapped around her head. She is wearing a long cote with a cape over. As she is working the fire I think she is a commoner of some sort, possibly a servent. c. 1300 – 1340

A servent woman wearing what looks like a veil wrapped around her head. Possibly a servant. 1300’s

Veils and gorgets, c 1300-1340

Complicated hairstyle and fairly simple veil with flowers, 1300’s

Woman with braided hair under a veil, Yates Thompson 13 c. 1325-1350

Woman in a simple veil, Yates Thompson 13 c. 1325-1350

Veils and gorgets. Woman fighting monster with a spinning stick, c 1300-1340

Veils and gorgets, Yates Thompson 13 c. 1325-1350

Veils and gorgets, Codex Manesse 1300-1340

Lady with braided and pinned hair under a see though wail. Royal 6.E.ix, f. 13. detail ca. 1335-1340 Italy (Tuscany) British Library Royal 6 E IX: Regia Carmina (Address in verse to Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, from the town of Prato in Tuscany) fol. 13r – personification of Florence

Lady with braided and pinned hair under a see though wail. Harvest Scene, 1325-1340. Harvest Scene; Initial U: A Figure; Attributed to the Illustratore (Andrea da Bologna?) (Italian, active 2nd quarter of 14th century); Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy; before 1340; Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink on parchment; Leaf: 14.4 x 7.6 cm (5 11/16 x 3 in.); Ms. 13, verso

Barbet and fillet, caul and crespine

The barbet was a band of linen that passed under the chin and was pinned on top of the head. The barbet was worn with a linen fillet or headband, or with a linen cap called a coif, with or without a couvrechef (kerchief) or veil overall. It passed out of fashion by mid-century. The barbet and fillet or barbet and veil could also be worn over the crespine, a thick hairnet or snood. Over time, the crespine evolved into a mesh of jeweler’s work that confined the hair on the sides of the head, and even later, at the back. This metal crespine was also called a caul, and remained stylish long after the barbet had fallen out of fashion.

Cauls, the cylindrical cages worn at the side of the head and templers added to the richness of dress of the fashionable and the well-to-do. Other more simple forms of headdress included the coronet or simple circlet of flowers.1Wikipida

Linen barbet and fillet headress. First half of 1300’s

Woman presenting a chaplet wears a linen barbet and fillet headdress. c. 1305–1315.

Three ladies with barbette & a chin band and two ladies with braids and a cicle around the hair. c. 1300 – 1340

Lady with barbette & a chin band and two long braids, c. 1340

Lady with barbette & a chin band and a man with a circle around his chin length hair, 1340

The lady wears a blue cloak lined in vair, or squirrel, fur. First half of 1300’s

Woman in a garden on a breezy day. She wears a sheer veil confined by a fillet or circlet.

Lady in a blowing veil over crespine, c 1325-1340 Psalter (‘The Luttrell Psalter’), 1325-1340

Lady wearing a gorget and a rose pointed hood and hairnet/crespine. She looks to be outdoors.

Ladies with braided hair, c. 1350

Queen wearing a crespine, crown and veil. 1395. Effigies and Brasses: Hugues de Roucy A (1395). St Yved’s Church, Braine, Aisne, France

Other hairstyles worn by noble women

Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, mss. IV 684 et IV 685 – Jan van Boendale,Brabantsche Yeesten, (1279-1361)

Woman in a blue capuchon hood (with short liripipe) lined with red fabric. c. 1325-1340

A woman wearing a red hood on her head Illustration from the French Romance of Alexander, 1338–44

Workshop of Jamie Serra Altarpiece of the Virgin Spain (1370) Barcelona, Museo de Bellas Artes de Cataluña.

Woman in a bycocket, veil and wimple, c. 1380

Commoner’s hairstyle

Possibly the most comfortable 1200’s and 1300’s headgear is the cap, which is also called St. Birgitta’s Huva.2

Otherwise I mostly find simple veils wrapped around the head or possibly a wimple/gorget and veils. Sometimes combined with an open hood with an open short tail.