The fine linens – cambric, lawn and holland – and their clothing use

 There were many types of fine linen in the early modern period, but the best known, and apparently most used, were cambric, lawn and holland. Being linen these fabrics were often sold by the ell rather than the yard, though both measures could be used. While the length of an ell varied across Europe, in England it was 45 inches.  These fabrics were used for all types of linen garments and accessories: smocks, shirts, bands, kerchiefs, whisks, ruffs, cuffs, aprons, caps, coifs, stockings, boot hose and their tops, handkerchiefs, waistcoats and even drawers, and also for sheets, table cloths, etc.

The origins of the fabrics and early English usage.

Cambric

Cambric was a fine white linen, its name supposedly coming from it originally having been made at Cambray in Flanders. A very early mention of the fabric is in 1526 when Henry VIII had a “sherte of camerykke the colar wrought with golde.” (1 p. 111) The portrait of Henry VIII from c. 1520, in the National Portrait Gallery, depicts him wearing this type of shirt, a detail is at Figure 1.

Figure 1: Detail from Henry VIII by an unknown Artist. C.1520. National Portrait Gallery, NPG 4690

Lawn

Lawn appears earlier in England, with the first references from the beginning of the fifteenth century. The poem, London Lackpenny (or Lickpenny), which was attributed to, but probably not written by, John Lydgate (c.1370-1451) has a verse:

Then to the Cheap I 'gan me drawn,
 Where much people I saw for to stand;
 One offered me velvet, silk, and lawn

A plice [a type of veil] of lawn was left in the 1415 will of Isabella de Willoughby of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, the will is in a fascinating mixture of Latin and English. (2 p. 382) Cotgrave’s 1611 dictionary definition of Lïnomple, “Some also terme Lawne.” Is "a fine thin open-waled linnen much used in Picardie (where it is made) for women's kerchers and Church-men's surplices." (3) The use of lawn for churchmen became so ubiquitous that the term lawn sleeves became indicative of church hierarchy. In a letter of 1674 Lord Herbert wrote to the Earl of Essex; “Wee are very vigerous in asserting our Religion, & find little assistance from those we might most justly expect it from (ye Lawne Sleeves).” (4 p. 177)

Figure 2: Lawn sleeves. Archbishop Ussher (d.1656) by an unknown artist. Durham University 

  

Holland

The first use of holland as a fabric may be in the list of the effects of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, who was killed at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322. The list includes a “quintepoint de Hoylaund,” possibly a coverpane or quilt or hanging of holland. (5 p. 349) In the first half of the fifteenth century holland, sometimes referred to as hollandcloth, was being used for kirtles, sheets, altarcloths, and other items.

The use of these fabrics for clothing

Generally people purchased the best quality linens they could afford for shirts, smocks and linen accessories. One linen could be bought for a large garment, such as a shirt, with finer linens purchased for smaller items such as bands and cuffs. This can be seen quite clearly in the purchases made by the Howards of Naworth Castle where in 1626 and 1627 there are three sets of purchases: “20 ells of holland for shirts for my Lord  £4 6s 8d,” “ lawne and camrick for bands and handkerchif 5s 9d,” and, “for 20 ells of hollin and cambrig and laune to mak shirts, bands and cuffs for my Lord the 13th June  £5 2s 0d.” (6 pp. 239-40)  The same distinction can be seen in James Master’s purchases in the 1640s and 1650s. He purchases holland, or frieze holland (from the area of the Netherlands known as Friesland) for his shirts and handkerchiefs, but cambric or lawn for bands and cuffs. He did not always choose the same fabric for an item, in 1654 when he bought boothose tops he spent “for 2 pa of boothose tops, one pa holland ye 2nd lawne 10s.” Some linens might be purchased to be used for more than one type of item, in 1647 he bought “17 ells ½ of frieze holland at 4s 6d the ell to make me 6 whole shirts and 4 caps £3 19s.” (7) A linen nightcap, or cap liner associated with Charles I is in the London Museum.

Figure 3: Linen cap. London Museum object no. 35.147/3

 

Women’s smocks would sometimes be left in wills. In 1617 Anne Lloyd left a holland smock in her will. (8 pp. 297-8) In 1613 Mary Newark, a servant of Susan, Lady Stanhope, had stolen from her “three holland smockes worth twelve shillings.” (9) In 1620 a gentlewoman, Jane Aubrey, left “one fine Holland smock wrought with black,” meaning that it had blackwork silk embroidery. (10) A late sixteenth century linen smock with blackwork embroidery is in the Manchester collection, and a detail of the embroidery is shown in in Figure 4. 

Figure 4: Detail of the blackwork embroidery on a late 16th century smock. Manchester Art Gallery

 

Holland could also be used for drawers, underwear, for men. It is believed the only English survival of this type of garment are the pair on the effigy of Charles II in Westminster Abbey, however they are of silk. (11 p. 88) His father Charles I had holland drawers in his wardrobe accounts, purchasing 23 pairs of holland drawers in 1633, 12 pairs in 1634 and 8 pairs in 1635. (12 pp. 81,84 & 88) The Marquis of Hertford’s accounts for 1641 also show 10 ells of Holland being purchased to make six pairs of drawers. (13 p. 17) Although drawers do sometimes appear below the nobility, they do so more often after the 1650s.

The fine linens were used for a variety of accessories. In 1607 a woman called Elizabeth Pike was charged with having stolen, among other items: “twenty fallinge bandes of cambricke worth forty shillings,” “eleven pairs of cambrick ruffe cuffes worth eleven shillings,” “a holland shirt worth ten shillings,” “two pairs of holland bootshose tops worth three shillings,” and “six holland hankerchers worth three shillings.” (9 pp. 25-33)

Figure 5: Blackwork embroidered handkerchief. 1600-25. Glasgow Museums

 

From the mid sixteenth century, until the second quarter of the seventeenth century, ruffs and ruff cuffs were worn by both men and women. In 1625 Abrie Boteman left in her will a “new piece of lawn which was bought to make a ruff.” (14 p. 6) The use of lawn for ruffs was common, in 1587 Queen Elizabeth paid sixty shillings for "six yards of good ruff-lawn well worked with cutwork, and edged with good white lace." (15 pp. 192-3) A surviving ruff in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremburg, has fine linen for the body of the ruff with a coarser linen neckband, the Rijksmuseum has a similar coarser neckband. (16 p. 30)

Figure 6: Ruff. c.1615-35. Rijksmuseum

 

Rebecca Howlet left her daughter a cambric kerchief in her 1636 will, and in the same year Dorothy Gayfor left a yard kerchief of holland. (17 p. 11 & 6) Kerchiefs could be of coarse linen, in 1624 Helen Hill left “2 holland neckerchiefs and 2 working neckerchiefs.” (18 p. 335) This implies that the working neckerchiefs were of a coarser linen.  By the second half of the seventeenth century whisks were replacing kerchiefs as neckwear for women. In 1658 Esther Harpur received a holland whisk costing 3s 6d. (19 pp. 266-98) In 1672 the rector Giles Moore purchased for his niece Martha Mayhew, “A Lawne wheske 3s 3d.” (20 p. 78)           

Figure 7: A fine lace edged kerchief. National Trust, Dunham Massey

 

Holland was common for aprons, and these are sometimes referred to in wills as their best apron. In 1686 Elizabeth Fry leaves “one Holland apron, [and] my work days’ aprons” (21) The gentlewoman Jane Aubrey owned both holland aprons and a lawn apron, and also “a lawn ruff and “... and two pairs of handcuffs of lawn …” and “and one crossed cloth edged about with bone lace which is of lawn.” (10) A portrait of Lady Wolley shows her wearing an almost transparent linen apron, a ruff, cuffs and an embroidered hood, all of which are almost certainly of these finer linens.

Figure 8: Lady Wolley (d.1638). Circle of Marcus Gheeraerts. The Chequers Trust.

 

The prices of the fabrics.

Cambric

In the Shuttleworth accounts between 1605 and 1621 prices for cambric ranged from 5s to 8s an ell. (22) In the Howard of Naworth Castle accounts between 1618 and 1628 they were 4s to 12s an ell. (6) The cambrics sold by the mercer Thomas Harris in 1632 ranged from 3s to 5s the ell. (23)

Lawn

In the 1570s bills for the Crayford sisters have, 5s an ell for holland for coifs, 8s an ell for lawn for partlets. (24 p. 170) The Kent grocer James Kennard has lawn in stock in 1637 at between 3s 8d and 5s. (25)

Holland

Analysis of probate accounts covering clothing provided to children in the period 1570 to 1714 has holland sold with a minimum price of 1s 3½d a yard and maximum of just over 7s a yard. (26 p. 50) In 1628 the chapman John Uttinge had a considerable range for holland cloth in stock, from “a peece of holland 8 yardes at 20d,” that is 1s 8d a yard, to 3s 4d an ell. (27 pp. 182-6) Household accounts show a wider range of prices. In 1620 the Howards of Naworth Castle twice paid 1s 4d an ell for holland. (6 p. 162) In 1651 James Master paid “for an ell of fine holland to make bands and cuffs 12s.” (7 p. 200) In 1641 thieves were charged with stealing from “the King's dwelling-house called St. James House," 20 ells of fine holland worth £1 per ell. (28 pp. 73-9)

References

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2. Surtees Society. Testamenta eboracensia; or, Wills registered at York. London : J. B. Nichols for the Surtees Society, 1836.

3. Cotgrave, Randle. A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues. London : Printed by Adam Islip, 1611.

4. Airy, O. ed. Essex Papers; vol. 1, 1672-79. London : Camden Society, 1890.

5. Turner, Thomas Hudson. The Will of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex. Archaeological Journal. 1846, Vol. 2.

6. Ornsby, G. ed. Selections from the Household Books of the Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle. Publications of the Surtees Society. 1878, Vol. 68.

7. Robertson, S. The expense Book of James Master 1646-1676 [Part 1, 1646-1655], transcribed by Mrs Dallison. Archaeologia Cantiana. 1883, Vol. 15, 152-216, pp. 152-216.

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10. Hampshire Record Office. Will of Jane Aubrey. Hants. RO 1620A/003. 1620.

11. Harvey, Anthony and Mortimer, Richard. The funeral effigies of Westminster Abbey. Woodbridge : Boydell, 1994.

12. Strong, Roy. Charles I's clothes for the years 1633-1635. Costume. 1980, Vol. 14, pp. 73-89.

13. Morgan, F. C. Private Purse Accounts of the Marquis of Hertford, Michaelmas 1641-2. Antiquaries Journal. 1945, Vols. 25, 12-42, pp. 12-42.

14. Allen, M. E. ed. Wills in the Archdeaconry of Suffolk 1625-1626. Woodbridge : Suffolk Records Society, 1995.

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16. Arnold, Janet. Patterns of Fashion 4: the cut and construction of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear, headwear and accessories for men and women c.1540-1660. London : Macmillan, 2008.

17. Evans, Nesta, ed. (1993) Wills of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury, 1636-1638. Suffolk Records Society. 1993, Vol. 35.

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21. Hampshire Record Office. Hants. RO 1686A/030. Will of Elizabeth Fry. 1686.

22. Harland, John (ed.). The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall… 1582-1621, Part 2. Cheetham Society. 1856, Vol. 35.

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28. Middlesex Sessions Rolls. Middlesex County Records: Volume 3, 1625-67. London : Middlesex County Record Society, 1888.