Female headgear from 1000 to 1300

Compared to later periods the woman of the early medieval period wore pretty simple head dresses. Often just a veil but towards the later period the barbette and fillet combination became popular among the noble women.

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. They are organized by century and by style.

Read more about the styles of the medieval female head dress, here.

1000’s

Woman with her hair in some sort of hair do down her back and a blue head band. Notice that her dress is a wrap around affair – much like the romans wore – possibly a stola. She is not wearing an under dress. 1000’s

Probably the virgin Mary with her head covered both in a (palla) cape over her head and something under it. 1000’s

1100’s

Veils, sometimes worn with wimple or gorget

In the 1100’s women wore veils to cover their hair  in keeping with Christian custom, which was often parted in the center and hung down in long braids. The braids might a wig purchased from the dead. The wimple and veil combination was introduced in the later part of the century.

The Emperor and the countess wear overgowns and mantles trimmed with bands of gold embroidery. The countess wears a linen veil draped over her hair. Hugo von Cluny, Heinrich IV and Mathilde von Tuszien source: Cod. Vat. lat. 4922 (completetd in 1115 AD)

Two women from “The Raising of Lazarus”, folio 11v, detail from the Hunterian Psalter, Glasgow University Library MS Hunter 229 (U.3.2)

Grammatica showing the trumpet-sleeved bliaut characteristic of the later 12th century, from the Hortus Deliciarum, c. 1180

Eve spinning in a long gown with straight sleeves and a linen veil, c. 1170. Hunterian Psalter c. 1170

Woman spinning, c 1180

A peasant in tunic, hose, hat and short shoes and a woman spinning with an unweightened teen. She is wearing a knee long tunic over a shift and a veil wrapped around her head.

Two “vigins” with very long hair. Bliaut, 1100’s

1200’s

Veil, wimple, gorgets and huva caps

The wimple and veil of the 1100’s still seen on nuns today, was still worn mainly by older women and widows. Veils and gorgets were also common. A gorget covers the neck. It was a tube that draped around the neck and sometimes covered the upper chest. 1maniacalmedievalist

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

Widows would wear wimple and veil From the Morgan Bible, c. 1250

One lady is wearing a wimple and veil, while the other lady is wearing a cap. From the Morgan Bible, c. 1250

Simple veil, c. 1280

Woman i a cap c. mid-1200’s Possibly the most comfortable 1200’s and 1300’s headgear is the cap, which is also called St. Birgitta’s Huva.

Worn like the St. Birgitta’s Huva on the far right, c. 1280

Woman with long loose hair, c. 1280

Lady wearing a indigo surcoat, late 1200’s end of the 13th century France Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, U 964 – Biblia Porta fol.178r

Barbette, chin band and crespine or caul (hair net)

One distinctive feature of 1200’s and 1300’s women’s headwear was the barbette (headdress), a chin band to which a hat or various other headdress might be attached. This hat might be a “woman’s coif”, which more nearly resembled a pillbox hat, severely plain or fluted. The hair was often confined by a net called a crespine or crespinette or caul, visible only at the back. Later in the century the barbette and coif were reduced to narrow strips of cloth, and the entire hairdress might be covered with the crespine, the hair fashionable bulky over the ears. Coif and barbettes were white, while the crespine might be colored or gold.3Wikipida

Barbette and a chin band c. 1240

Lady wearing the barbette and a chin band. c 1260 Detail from “The Rutland Psalter”, medieval (c 1260), British Library Add MS 62925. f 39r

Nurse wearing a hairnet or snood c. 1285

Noble woman in a barbette with a chin band and crespine, c. 1285

Lady wearing the barbette and a chin band over a cap or coif. c. 1280

Barbette and fillet, c. 1280

Female commoners

1100’s

1200’s

Nurse wearing a hairnet or snood c. 1285

Useful links

• maniacalmedievalist on 1200’s headgear