Male hair styles and head gear from 1000 to 1300

Unlike in later periods men in the early middle ages don’t seem to have had any problem walking around bare headed but hats and coif win popularity as the period goes on. Men are shown both clean shaven and with full beards and the hair is either short or to the chin.

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. 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.

1000’s and 1100’s

Men of the upper classes often went bare headed.

The liripipe in the form of hood and attached shoulder-length cape was worn during this period, especially by the rural lower classes, and the fitted linen coif tied under the chin appeared very late in 1100’s.

Small round or slightly conical caps with rolled brims were worn, and straw hats were worn for outdoor work in summer.

1000’s

Men seem to have gone mostly bare headed unless the hat served a purpose – such as keeping the rain and sun of your head on travel. They wear their hair either chin long or chopped close to their head. Both men with full beards and clean shaven men are shown in the pictures.

Two musicians with chin length curly hair. Possibly black men? 1000’s

Group of elderly men (possibly the disciples). They look short haired and bearded with no head covering. 1000’s

Group of men. One clean shaven and two with beards. They all have rather short hair.

Three clean shaven men with a short hair cute. 1000’s

Man with full beard and chin long wavy hair. 1000’s

Group of elderly men (possibly the disciples). They look short haired and bearded with no head covering. 1000’s

More elderly men with full beards. One is possibly wearing a fur hat or he has very fussy hair.

King with curly hair and a full beard

Group of elderly men (possibly the disciples). They look short haired and bearded with no head covering. One is clean shaven. 1000’s

Group of men (possibly the disciples). They look short haired and bearded with no head covering. One is clean shaven. 1000’s

King with a full beard, short hair that is long in the neck is wearing a ring of gold around his head.

Long haired man with pointy beard, c. 1040

man with green hat, c. 1065

1100’s

The Emperor wearing a little hat, c. 1115

A long haired man with a beard in a green tunic with red details and large sleeve openings. c. 1170

1200’s

Hair and beard were moderate in length, and men generally wore their hair in a “pageboy” style, curling under at neck length.

Man wearing a wide brimed hat – it looks like it might be a straw hat, c. 1250

Noble man wearing a coif, c. 1280-1285

Male commoners

1100’s

In the 1100’s Men would often wear a chaperon in the form of hood and attached shoulder-length cape was worn during this period and the fitted linen coif tied under the chin appeared very late in the century. Small round or slightly conical caps with rolled brims were worn, and straw hats were worn for outdoor work in summer.

Two men working a field. They both have longish hair. C. 1170

Notice his chin long hair and chin curtain, c. 1170

Wine peasant with a bare shortish head, c 1180

Wine peasant in a simple coif, c 1180

Peasant in a simple coif, c 1180

Peasant in a hood, c 1180

Peasant in a flat hat, c 1180

Peasant wearing a coif and a chaperon hood c. 1180

Wine peasant wearing long hair, c. 1180

1200’s

In the 1200’s hats would include a round cap with a slight brim, the beret, the coif, the straw hat and the chaperon. The coif are simple with a center seam.

Peasant sewing. He is wearing an cowl (outer garment with a hood) over a long tunic. He has a beard and is caring a wicker bag full of grain, c. 1201-1225