One gentleman's 1645-6 list of his linens

 

On the March 25th 1645 John Willoughby (1571-1658) of Leyhill, in the county of Devon made “a particular note of all my linen.” Two months later he added "More sent unto me first of June 1645.” There were more additions to the list on the 20^th November 1645 and the 26^th January 1645/6. John Willoughby was travelling at the time he made his note, from Devon, into Somerset and then to Wales, so this is probably not all his linen, just what he took with him. He wrote that he came into Wales on 14^th August 1645, and noted that he then sent home some linen, and had had two bands “stolen away” at Weston Bampfydle, a village in south Somerset where one of his three daughters lived. (1)

Willoughby, who was in his seventies, did not take part in the Civil War. He has been described as a moderate royalist, but he was well enough regarded by Parliamentarians for Fairfax, in November 1645, to tell his troops not to plunder Leyhill. This did not stop Willoughby from writing at one point that, “My house is, and hath been, full of soldiers this fortnight, such uncivil drinkers and thirsty souls, that a barrel of beer trembles at the sight of them, and the whole house nothing but a rendezvous of tobacco and spitting.”

The linens listed:-

Shirts

The list has three shirts and then a further two new shirts are added. Because of the amount of neck and wristwear that he owns these are unlikely to be like the shirt that belonged to Colonel Henry Slingsby (1602-1658), which he supposedly wore to his execution, and which has integrated collar and cuffs. They are more likely to be similar to the 1659 example in the Livrustkammaren, which was being worn by Admiral Claes Bielkenstierna when he was shot. An examination of, and pattern for, this shirt is in Pattens of Fashion 4. (2 pp. 26 & 74-5) (figure 1)

1. Admiral Claes Bielkenstierna's shirt, 1659. Livrustkammaren

 

 Neckwear and wristwear

In the first list Willoughby has seven bands, described as three with lace and four plain, these are accompanied by seven falls. Falls in this case may indicate cuffs, as later listings have the falls as pairs. The June additions include “3 bands and 3 pairs of falls, 2 of them plain and one of them with lace.” The November additions have “2 falling bands and 2 pairs of falls with lace and one plain,” and a further three pairs of falls and three new bands. In January there are three new bands and falls, two with lace and one plain. This means over a period of ten months he receives no less than fifteen bands, with a similar number of pairs of cuffs. He also has three neckcloths. Quite how much lace might be on the seven laced bands that he has is difficult to ascertain. An example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, dating to 1630-40, has a very deep lace edging. The plain bands are likely to resemble the band in the 1645 portrait of Sir Edward Nicholas (1593-1669). (figure 2)

2. Sir Edward Nicholas by William Dobson. 1645. National Portrait Gallery.

Linen caps

Willoughby has five caps, and a further “2 other linen caps within my satin caps and red cloth cap.” The portrait of Sir Edward Nicholas shows him wearing a cap of this type, though in black, so possibly satin and requiring a linen liner. The Victoria and Albert Museum has a plain linen liner, with earflaps, while the Museum of London has a linen liner with a trim of needle-made lace. The V&A example has been examined by Susan North, and a pattern has been produced. (3 pp. 158-61)

3. Linen cap liner, 1600-1640. Museum of London.

 

 Handkerchiefs

Six handkerchiefs plus one other “wrought handkerchief which MW sent me.” are in the list.  In November he adds one old handkerchief. The wrought handkerchief, wrought means embroidered, might be similar to an example in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, which has no lace, but does have an embroidered blackwork border. The pattern for the embroidery is available on the museum website.

4. Handkerchief. First half 17th century. Burrell Collection, Glasgow.

 

Linen leg and foot wear

Willoughby has three pairs of boot hose tops, three pairs of socks and one bootlace. Boot hose tops are quite common, you could have a plain linen hose leg, easily washable, and then a separate embellished top. A pair of boothose belonging to king Gustav Adolphus, which he wore at the 1632 Battle of Lutzen, are in the Livrustkammaren, they are in one piece rather than separated, but they illustrate well how the tops could be embellished. The socks are to protect the foot of a stocking from wear from a shoe, they are the seventeenth century equivalent to trainer socks, and are unseen within a shoe. 

5. Gustav Adolphus's 1632 boothose. Livrustkammaren.

 

References

 1. Gray, Todd. Devon Household Accounts 1627-59. Part 1. Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, new series, vol. 38, 1995.

2. Arnold, Janet. Patterns of Fashion 4. London : Macmillan, 2008.

3. Braun, Melanie et al. 17th Century Men's Dress Patterns 1600-1630. London : Thames & Hudson in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2016.

The Rebato

Figure 1: Underside of rebato in Metropolitan Museum, New York. CC

For the purposes of this blogpost a rebato is a wired collar, which can best be described as looking as though you have stuck your head on a plate. The term rebato may originally have related to any wire support that kept up the great ruffs and collars of the late sixteenth century. As Dent described them; “These great ruffes, which are borne up with supporters, and rebatoes, as it were with poste and raile.” (1)

 

Some of these supports for ruffs and collars were known as supportasse and picadils, these were more likely to be pasteboard and whalebone, but sometimes they were wire. Cotgrave defined a picadil as “a Pickadill, or supporter, of Pasteboord covered with linnen.” (2) Stubbes referred to a supportasse as “A certain device made of wyers... calleth a supportasse or vnderpropper. This is to be supplyed round about their necks under the ruffe,...to beare up the whole frame & body of the ruffe, from falling and hanging down.” (3)  Patterns have been made from the surviving picadils and supportasse that are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. (4) (5)

 

The fashion for the head on a plate style of rebato, in England at least,  dates almost exclusively from the first two decades of the seventeenth century. However the fashion appears to have continued later in other parts of Europe, particularly Germany and Austria, as can be seen in some of Hollar’s 1640s engravings, for example his Noblewoman of Bohemia, a Viennese gentlewoman, and a German merchant’s wife. In London in 1611 the Grocers’ Company made an effort to limit the use of such supports among their apprentices, stating that they should not wear, “any piccadilly or other support in, with, about the collar of his doublet.” (6 p. 91)

Patterns from six surviving rebatos, two in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, two in the Musee nationale de Renaissance, France, and one each in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nurnberg and the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, can be found in Patterns of Fashion, vol 4. (7) Links to some of the museum records are in the survivals list below.

Fig. 2. Detail from Anne of Denmark by Paul van Somer

The surviving rebatos have a, sometimes very complex, wire frame, usually in iron, see figure 1, which shows the underside of a rebato in Metropolitan Museum, New York. The frame is then wrapped in a silver, silver-gilt or gilt thread. They very occasionally appear in accounts, as in “A rebatoe wyer for Mrs Mary,” in 1612. (8 p. 10)  The neck edges tend to be bound with linen and/or silk, presumably to prevent rubbing. Over the frame is stretched a fine fabric, (silk, gauze, etc.) and this decorated with lace and/or embroidery, and edged with more lace. At least two of the survivals close with a hook and eye, in one case these are formed from a continuation of the neck wire. Another method of closure is the use of band strings, as can be seen in figure 2 a detail from Paul van Somer’s portrait of Anne of Denmark.

References

1. Dent, Arthur. The plaine mans path-way to heaven. London : Robert Dexter, to be sold at the signe of the brazen serpent in Powles Church-yard, 1601.

2. Cotgrave, Randle. A Dictionarie of the French and English tongues . London : Islip, 1611.

3. Stubbes, P. The anatomie of abuses. 1583.

4. Braun, M, et al. 17th-century men's dress patterns 1600-1630. London : Thames & Hudson, 2016. 978 0 500 51905 9.

5. North, S. and Tiramani, J. Seventeenth century women's dress patterns, book 2. London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 2012.

6. Heaht, J. B. Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London. London : Chiswick Press, 1869.

7. Arnold, J. Patterns of Fashion 4 : the cut and construction of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear, headwear and accessories for men and women . London : Macmillan, 2008.

8. Ornsby, G. ed. Selections from the Household Books of the Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle. s.l. : Publications of the Surtees Society, 68, 1878.

List of Survivals

Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nurnberg http://objektkatalog.gnm.de/objekt/T2062  PofF4, 29, p.92

Met Museum https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/222480   PofF4, 30, p.92

Musée de la Renaissance, château d'Ecouen  http://musee-renaissance.fr/objet/col-rebato PofF4,  31, p.92

Met Museum - https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/222482 with matching cuffs. No image on the museum’s website. PofF4, 32. p.93

Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich. PofF4, 33, p.93

Links to English Paintings and Prints

Below are links to some of the English paintings and engravings showing both men and women wearing the rebato.

c.1605-10 Unknown man, by Marcus Gheeraerts. Dunster Castle, National Trust

c.1605-15 Lady Francis Fairfax, style of Marcus Gheeraerts, York Museums Trust

1610-20 Portrait of a gentleman wearing a green doublet by an unknown artist. Mount Edgcumbe House

1611 Henry Prince of Wales (died 1612) by Robert Peake the Elder, Government Collection

1611  Philip Herbert, 4^th Earl of Pembroke by Isaac Oliver Folger Shakespeare Library CC4

1611 King Charles I when Duke of York by Robert Peake the elder at St John's College, University of Cambridge

1612 King Charles I when Duke of York by Robert Peake the elder at The Old Schools, University of Cambridge

1613 Richard Sackville, 3^rd Earl of Dorset by William Larkin, Kenwood House

1614 Isabella Rich, by William Larkin, Kenwood House

1615 A baby said to be Lady Waugh, by William Larkin, Weiss Gallery

1615 Philip Herbert, 4^th Earl of Pembroke by William Larkin, National Portrait Gallery

1616 Pocahontas by Simon van de Passe-

1616 Elizabeth Poulett by Robert Peake the Elder Denver Art Museum

1616 Richard Sackville, 3^rd Earl of Dorset by Isaac Oliver Victoria and Albert Museum

1617 Anne of Denmark by Paul van Somer, Royal Collection