Terminology
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| Gustavus Adolphus boothose in the Livrustkammaren |
We speak of stockings and that
term was certainly used in the seventeenth century, but other terms were also
being used, and as the meaning of words changed it is sometimes difficult to
understand precisely what is being talked about. Hose, from which we get the
term hosiery, originally referred to something that covered the entire leg.
Once breeches appear the term hose can be used to indicate either the stockings
or the breeches, so as late at 1647 there are references to pockets in hose. (OED, 2017) There are also
references to upper stocks, meaning the breeches, and nether stocks, meaning
the stockings. Knit is another complicated word, which can mean simply tied or
knotted, rather than knitted; so each reference has to be looked at in context.
Origins of knitting
The history of knitting is a complex and difficult one to
disentangle, not least because earlier techniques like nalebinding, a form of
sewn looped textile, can be confused with knitting, but it is generally assumed
it started in the middle east around 1000AD (Rutt, 1987). By the mid
sixteenth century knitted hose is mentioned often and examples are found in
graves all over Europe, and not just those of the upper classes, though they
tend to predominate. The best known are probably the scarlet silk knitted
stockings of Elenora de Toledo who died in 1562.
The sixteenth century
In sixteenth century England
stockings were already being made of worsted thread as well as silk, and even
Queen Elizabeth wore them, being first supplied with Norwich worsted yarn hose
in 1576. When she visited Norwich in 1578 there was a pageant, and on the stage
were “small women children” spinning worsted at one end of the stage with more
knitting the hose at the other end. (Arnold, 1988). By 1583 when Philip
Stubbs published his Anatomy of Abuses, he was complaining that, “every one
almost, though otherwise very poor, having scarce forty shillings of wages by
the year will not stick to have two or three pair of these silk nether stocks,
or else of the finest Yarn”. This is obviously an exaggeration, but it points
to how common knitted stockings were becoming.
Prices
The price of stockings varied considerably depending on the
quality of the yarn, and also on the complexity of the pattern and decoration. Thirsk
(1973) states a Kirby
Lonsdale stocking dealer in 1578 had stockings valued between 7d and
22d a pair, while over a hundred year later in 1692 chapman Ann
Clarke had stockings between 6d and 26d a pair (Spufford, 1984). These are, for want
of a better term, working class stockings. Silk stockings were considerably
more expensive; in 1647 James Master paid 19 shillings for green silk stockings
(Dalison, 1883 ). Interestingly it is
not always the cheapest stockings that are given to the poor. In 1649-50
clothing given to the poor of St Giles, Cripplegate, London included a total of
60 pairs of stockings at 22d the pair (Saunders, 2006). The stockings for the New Model Army
varied in price from 12d to 22d a pair depending on the contract. (Mungeam, 1969)
Materials
People might own both knit and cloth hose, for example the
list of clothing given to a servant between 1580 and 1610 includes both “for
knitting a pair of woollen hose for her 4d” and “for two pair of hose for her
of the defendant’s own cloth.” (Anthony, 1980) Stubbs lists knitted
stockings as being of “jarnsey (jersey), worsted, crewel, silk, thread and such
like.” (Stubbes, 1583) Cloth hose could
involve a wider variety of fabric; linen, worsted, fustian, kersey, silk and
satin are all mentioned at various times. The Victoria and Albert Museum has a
pair seventeenth
century linen cloth hose with a simple embroidery around the triangular gusset
at the ankle (this area is known as the clock), and up the rear seam. Because
linen has less give than other fabrics, they are tightened at the ankle by
lacing through fourteen pairs of eyelet holes. (Rothstein, 1984) In one six month
period in 1635 King Charles received 24 pairs of fine linen boothose with
welted tops, and 40 pairs of grey boothose, with no fabric specified. (Strong, 1980) Irish cloth
stockings were particularly prized for their hardwearing qualities, and were recommended
for those emigrating to the New World. William Wood in 1639 advised intending
settlers that they were, “much more serviceable than knit ones”. (Poppy, 2003)
Colours
Subbs says that knit stockings where, “green, red, white,
tawny and else what.” (Stubbes, 1583) In an inventory of
1619 the Earl of Dorset has stockings in black, white, green, purple, tawny,
yellow, murrey, grass green, crimson, pearl and watchet (a greeny-blue), often
the colour matched that of his suit. (MacTaggart, 1980) On the other hand
poor children at Beecles in the 1630s were being issued with grey knitted hose.
(Spufford, 1984)The fragments of
whalers stockings found in graves dating from c.1614 to c.1660 at Smeerenburg
contain blue, red, green and black. (Vons-Comis, 1987)
Decoration
From quite early on the patterns of knitted stockings could
be quite complex. The 1562 Eleonora
de Toledo stockings have a complex pattern
consisting of panels of double moss stitch and double garter stitch separated
by narrow stripes of reversed stocking stitch and a central wale, the tops have
a lozenge pattern, each diamond containing four eyelets, with a zigzag of purl
to their top and bottom. (Orsi Landini,
1993).
As well as decoration in the knitting itself the stockings could also be
embroidered. The stockings in the grave of a daughter of Christian IV of
Denmark, who died in 1628, were embroidered with metal threads on the outside
of the stocking. The pattern over the cloaks shows a peacock with an outspread
tail above a five petalled flower, the stalk of which continues down the foot
with leaves and flower buds. (Ostergard, 1988)
Many knitted stockings, plain and patterned, had a false
seam at the back, this could be made simply by knitting a purl stitch at the
end of every round, though this is not always the case. The false seam could
sometimes be quite complex in design. A seaman from the Spitsbergen burials
wears two stockings which do not form a pair, one has a false seam, the other
does not. (Vons-Comis, 1988)
Cloth hose could also be heavily embroidered. The embroidery
was either around the clocks for stockings to be worn with shoes, or at the top
for boothose. An example is the surviving
linen boothose supposedly worn by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden at the Battle
of Lutzen in 1632, the tops have an elaborate pattern of cornucopia, flowers
and birds done in black silk and gold thread. (Rangstrom, 2002)
Make do and Mend
At all levels of society and for all types of stockings,
darns, patches and repairs were made. By 1599 an English to Spanish language
book has the phrase “Looke well to see if the stockings have any stitches
broken in them.” (Minsheu, 1599) Queen Elizabeth’s
accounts have references to “lengthening of a payer of white silk hose at the
tooes with silke” and for “lengthenynge of a payer of silke knit hose in the
feet and toppes.” (Arnold, 1988) The stockings of the
Spitsbergen whaler were both darned especially at the knees, and both stockings
are so patched under the foot it is impossible to see the original
construction. (Vons-Comis, 1988) With the Gunnister
stockings from a burial in Shetland at the end of the seventeenth century,
both feet have been replaced, one with part of the leg of another stocking and
the other with coarsely woven cloth. (Henshall, 1951-2)
Patterns
The earliest pattern for knitting stockings was published in
Natura Exenterata in 1655, as Rutt (1987) says it is
imcomplete and hard to follow, being three pages long written in a single
sentence. Rutt has modernised the spelling and punctuated it, however it is
still imcomplete as it stops just before the toe. Several costume historians
and re-enactors have tried to create useable variations of this pattern and
others, you can find these patterns online. Paterns for cloth hose change
little, so they can be adapted from the patterns that appear in Thursfield (2001) and Mikhaila. (2006)
References
Anthony, I. 1980. Clothing given to a servant of the late sixteenth century in Wales. Costume.
1980, Vol. 14.
Arnold, J. ed. 1988. Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe unlock'd. Leeds :
Maney, 1988.
Dalison, Mrs,
transcriber. 1883 . The expense book
of James Master, Esq., of Yotes Court, Mereworth, 1646-55. Archaeologia
Cantiana. 1883 , Vol. 15.
Henshall, A and
Maxwell, S. 1951-2. Clothing and
other articles from a late 17th century grave at Gunnister, Shetland. Proceedings
of the Society of Anitquaries of Scotland. 1951-2, Vol. 86.
MacTaggart, P and A.
1980. The rich wearing apparel of
Richard, 3rd Earl of Dorset. Costume. 1980, Vol. 14.
Mikhaila, N. and
Malcolm-Davies, Jane. 2006. The
Tudor tailor. London : Batsford, 2006.
Minsheu, John. 1599. Pleasant dialogues in Spanish and English. 1599.
Mungeam, G. 1969. Contracts for the supply of equipment to the New
Model Army in 1645. Journal of Arms and Armour Society. 1969, Vol. 6.
OED. 2017. Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2017.
Orsi Landini, R.,
Ricci, S and Westerman Bulgarella, M. eds. 1993. Moda alla corte dei Medici: Gli abiti restaurati di
Cosimo, Eleonora e don Garzia. Firenze :
Centro Di Cat, 1993.
Ostergard, E. 1988. The coffins of two royal children in Roskilde
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archaeology. London : Archtype, 1988.
Poppy, P. 2003. Mary Ring: the clothing of an early American settler.
Costume. 2003, Vol. 37.
Rangstrom, L. 2002. Modelejon manligt mode 1500 tal, 1600 tal, 1700 tal.
Stockholm : Livrustkammaren, 2002.
Rothstein, R. ed.
1984. Four hundred years of
fashion. London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1984.
Rutt, R. 1987. A history of handknitting. London :
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Saunders, A. S.
2006. Provision of apparel for the poor
in London, 1630-1680. Costume. 2006, Vol. 40.
Spufford, M. 1984. The great reclothing of rural England: petty
chapmen and their wares in the seventeenth century. London : Hambledon
Press, 1984.
Strong, R. 1980. Charles I's clothes for the years 1633 to 1635. Costume.
1980, Vol. 14.
Stubbes, P. 1583. The anatomie of abuses. 1583.
Thirsk, J. 1973. The fantasical folly of fashion: the English stocking
knitting industry 1500-1700. Textile History and Economic History: essays in
honour of Julia de Lacey Mann,. Manchester : Manchester University
Press, , 1973.
Thursfield, S. 2001. The medieval tailor's assistant. Carlton : Bean,
2001.
Vons-Comis, S. 1988. Seventeenth century garments from grave 579, Zeeuwse Uitkijk, Spitsbergen.
[book auth.] P Walton and J Wild. Textiles in northern archaeology. London :
Archetype, 1988.
Vons-Comis, S.Y.
1987. Workman's clothing or burial
garments?: seventeenth and eighteenth century clothing remains from
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from research into seventeenth century whaling in Spitsbergen. Oslo :
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