Tag Archives: 14th century

Bodiam Castle

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Ruth

Near the end of the Hundred Years War, England was losing badly. We know from the modern map that England lost all of its continental possessions except for the Channel Islands. Calais was part of the British Empire until 1558, … Continue reading →

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14th century castles

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Ruth

Wales was conquered; the Crusades had effectively closed even if they didn’t want to admit it. The Hundred Years’ War between England and France continued to rage all through the 14th century, off and on, taking turns with the plague … Continue reading →

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14th century: short and long

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Ruth

Men’s fashion in the 1300s ran to extremes. Shoes often had extremely long points in the front, such that “pattens,” the wooden strap-on platforms used to keep leather feet out of rain and snow puddles, required long extensions to support … Continue reading →

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14th century: evolution of the single-layer gown

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Ruth

Until about 1350, getting dressed meant putting on something colorful over a white linen gown. The design of the outer garment changed, but the basic idea was always the same, until the outer garment became more or less vestigial. The … Continue reading →

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The importance of heraldry

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Ruth

People have a tendency to emphasize and celebrate things once they have ceased to be important in an urgent, primitive way, because it’s only then that these things can become socially important. For example, when the railroads were first built, … Continue reading →

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13th and 14th centuries: men’s hats

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Ruth

Men’s hats in the 14th century flourished, with some rather odd quirks that persisted into the next century. Men still wore the linen coif, the close-fitting cap that now most resembles a traditional baby’s cap. (Of course the baby’s cap … Continue reading →

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Modern European cooking begins

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Ruth

1400: firewood is scarcer than ever, with just one iron forge using up to 100 oak trees per year. Wild game animals are hoarded by aristocrats on their shrinking forest estates (parks). But beer is flowing, with a surplus of … Continue reading →

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Post-plague diet shift

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Ruth

The collapse of the medieval farm economy had a very wide impact on European society. Farming had been based on semi-slavery in which tenants owed the landowner certain days of free labor. They weren’t allowed to leave this contract without … Continue reading →

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The Great Mortality

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Ruth

Although historians count the Middle Ages as running through 1450, when Constantinople fell to the Turks, there’s a compelling argument for ending the era a century sooner, in 1350. By that year, Europe as it had been for the last … Continue reading →

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