[MR] Mendicant Orders

[Maymunah al Siqilliyah]

I was in Assisi in 2006 and sketched the garment of St Francis that is 
on display there.  This would be representative of the garments worn in 
the beginning of his order.  It was very rough, heavy wool and was very 
large compared to the man himself.  Very, very large.  There was no 
hood; the neck line was a simple "boat" type neckline.  In short, it was 
a large opening in the square cut top of the garment.  To create the 
hood, it was just pulled up over the head.  This makes no sense unless 
you have a grasp of how large the garment was .  The belt was a simple 
rope with the three knots in it.  The sandals were very simply made out 
of straw with straw rope going up the ankle to hold them on and looked 
flat, scratchy and generally uncomfortable. However, within a hundred 
years or so, it had evolved to be much more like what we see today, with 
the seperate hood and better quality wool.  To see pictures of that in 
art, find a book on the Basillica of St Francis in Assisi; there are 
many, many frescoes with monks in them wearing what would be normal 
habits of about 1350.

I do not think Francis' habit would be comfortable. It is coarse and 
scratchy wool, the cheapest kind that only peasants wore.  It would be 
way too hot in summer.  It's open, roominess plus the sandals would have 
been very cold in the winter.  They slept in them and had only one so I 
suspect they stunk to high heaven.

I would be glad to scan and send you a picture of the sketches if you 
cannot find anything in a reference book about his garments.

The burial garments of St Clair are also there.  These are quite 
different, although they are really, really big also.  In fact, I wonder 
if her burial garments were something she never would have worn in real 
life as they would have drug on the ground by more than a foot and been 
very voluminous.  The sleeves would have almost hit the ground with her 
arms way up inside them.  If she wore them, she did not do much of 
anything with them on.  The chemise was very fine linen and lots of it, 
with linen damask inserts in various places, neck, under arms and hem.  
Seems odd again to use the best fabric in places vulnerable to getting 
dirty.  The wide skirts were cartridge pleated into one of these damask 
inserts under the armhole gussets.  This garment was definitely NOT a 
statement of poverty.


On 10/20/2010 10:23 AM, Eric Rankin wrote:
> Good Morrow, friends,
> Praytell, would one of you be able to point me in the right direction for
> finding garb that the various Mendicant religious orders wore (Franciscan,
> Dominican, etc)?  After a trip to a Benedictine Monastary for a choir
> performance when I was in high school, I've always been in love with a habit. 
> It looks so comfortable. 
>
> I guess I'm looking for any kind of Monastic clothing (if any of the military
> orders like the Knights of Santiago, Teutonic Knights, etc wore habits, they
> would fall in too).  I don't really have a set time period either so that will
> either make it really easy or too vague.
> Gramercy
> YIS
> Tymothe Rankyn of Cathanar
>
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
>                     The Merry Rose Tavern at Cheapside
>      List Info: http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/
>    Submissions: Atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
> Subscriptions: http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/listinfo.cgi/atlantia-atlantia.sca.org