Farthingale
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A farthingale is one of several structures used under Western
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an women's
clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...
- especially in the 16th and 17th centuries - to support the
skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are ...
s in the desired shape and to enlarge the lower half of the body. The
fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...
originated in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
in the fifteenth century. Farthingales served important social and cultural functions for women in Renaissance Europe as they expressed, primarily when worn by court women, high social position and wealth.


Spanish farthingale

The Spanish ''verdugado'', from which "farthingale" derives, was a hoop skirt originally stiffened with esparto grass; later designs in the temperate climate zone were stiffened with osiers ( willow withies), rope, or (from about 1580)
whalebone Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...
. The name ''verdugado'' comes from the
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
''verdugo'' ("green wood", or the more modern meaning of "executioner"). The earliest sources indicate that
Joan of Portugal Joan of Portugal ( uˈɐnɐ 31 March 1439 – June 13, 1475) was the Queen of Castile as the second wife of King Henry IV of Castile. The posthumous daughter of King Edward of Portugal and Eleanor of Aragon, she was born in the Quinta ...
started to use verdugados with hoops in Spain. Joan had provoked much criticism as she allegedly wore dresses that displayed too much décolletage, and her wanton behaviour was considered scandalous. When she started to use farthingales, court fashion followed suit. As Joan had two illegitimate children by Pedro de Castilla y Fonseca, rumors abounded that she used the farthingale to cover up a pregnancy. The earliest images of Spanish farthingales show hoops prominently displayed on the outer surfaces of skirts, although later they merely provided shape to the overskirt.
Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...
is said to have brought the fashion into England on her marriage to
Arthur, Prince of Wales Arthur, Prince of Wales (19/20 September 1486 – 2 April 1502), was the eldest son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and an older brother to the future King Henry VIII. He was Duke of Cornwall from birth, and he was crea ...
, in 1501. She and her ladies were observed to wear "beneath their waist certain round hoops, bearing out their gowns from their bodies, after their country manner". However, there is little evidence to show that she continued to wear this fashion as she adopted English styles of dress. In March 1519 at a masque at Greenwich Palace female dancers in fanciful "Egyptian" costumes wore black velvet gowns "with hoops from the waist downwards", which may have been farthingales. Farthingales remained a fixture of conservative Spanish court fashion into the early 17th century (as exemplified by Margaret of Austria), before evolving into the ''guardainfante'' of 17th-century Spanish dress.


Farthingales in England and Scotland

One of the first references to a farthingale in England comes from the accounts of Princess Elizabeth in 1545 that describe a farthingale made of crimson Bruges satin. The courtier Elizabeth Holland owned two red Bruges satin farthingales in 1547.
Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Stanhope; before 1512 – 16 April 1587) was the second wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1500–1552), who held the office of Lord Protector during the first part of the reign of their n ...
asked for her clothes, including a farthingale to be sent to her in the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
in 1551. Nicholas Udall mentioned "trick ferdegews and billements of gold" in his comedy '' Ralph Roister Doister'' written around 1552. In 1560, Edward More published a poem in which he argued that "verdyngalles" did not contribute to unseemly pride as the materials used, fustian, buckram, and red cloth, were inexpensive. A chest of costume for drama at
King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...
, in 1554 contained some items fashioned from disused vestments, including two pieces of blue silk which were "tranposyd to wardyngalis" with a pair of sleeves. Spanish farthingales were bought by
Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous ...
and became an essential element of Tudor fashion in England. Mary's chamberer Jane Russell was given a farthingale made from
fustian Fustian is a variety of heavy cloth woven from cotton, chiefly prepared for menswear. History and use Known in Late Latin as ''fustaneum'' or ''fustanum'' and in Medieval Latin as ''pannus fustāneus'' ('fustian cloth') or ''tela fustāne ...
. At a dinner for French diplomats in May 1559, the farthingales of
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
and her ladies took up so much space that some women of her privy chamber had to sit on the rush-covered floor. Farthingales were bought for children, including Ann Cavendish, the nine year old stepdaughter of Bess of Hardwick in 1548. Margaret Willoughby had farthingales made of buckram covered with red cloth and "red russell" in September 1550.
Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...
and Mary Kitson were bought "verdingalles" in December 1573. Mary, as Countess Rivers, made bequests of clothing in 1641 including a carnation and black taffeta fathingales and rolls. The French educated
Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...
had a black taffeta "verdugalle" in 1550, and another of violet taffeta, and a set of fashion dolls with 15 farthingales. Whale bone was bought to shape her farthingales in 1562. The contemporary French physician Ambroise Paré noted the use of baleen from the mouths of whales for women's "vertugalles" and "busques".


French farthingale roll

French farthingales originated in court circles in France.
Jeanne d'Albret Jeanne d'Albret (, Basque language, Basque: ''Joana Albretekoa''; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Joana de Labrit''; 16 November 1528 – 9 June 1572), also known as Jeanne III, was Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572. Jeanne was the daughter of He ...
had a farthingale stiffened with rushes, ''jonc'', in 1571. They first appeared in England during the 1570s. On 17 March 1577 the English ambassador to Paris, Amyas Paulet, sent a new type of farthingale to Queen Elizabeth I stating that it was "such as is now used by the French Queen and the Queen of Navarre." Janet Arnold has stated that this new style was probably a roll that sat on top of the cone-shaped Spanish farthingale. Randle Cotgrave, in his ''Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues'' (1611), defined the French farthingale as "the kind of roll used by such women as weare no Vardingales." Several wardrobe accounts and tailors' bills of the late 16th century give us an idea of what these rolls were made of: they were stuffed with cotton and rags, and stiffened with hoops of whalebone, wire, or ropes made of bent reeds.
Buckram Buckram is a stiff cotton, or occasionally, linen or horse hair cloth with a plain, usually loose, weave, produced in various weights similar to muslin and other plain weave fabrics. The fabric is soaked in a sizing agent such as wheat-starch ...
(stiff canvas) is the most commonly mentioned material. Other references describe the rolls being starched. Here are a couple of sample references to rolls from
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
's Wardrobe Accounts (MS Egerton 2806): :* (1585) :* (1586) There are no extant examples of this style of undergarment, and only one illustration, a satirical Dutch engraving of c. 1600, that shows the bum-roll being affixed by a tiring-woman. From contemporary references, and the visual cues provided by the engraving, it appears to have consisted of a bolster-like roll either stuffed or held out with reeds which, being fastened around the hips, served the purpose of widening the skirts at the hip area, creating drapes. Some modern costumers conjecture that the French farthingale and the "great farthingale" were one and the same garment, the difference in shape and construction being due to changes in fashion from the 1580s to the 1590s.


French wheel farthingale or great farthingale

A second style of French farthingale, also known as the wheel, great, drum or cartwheel farthingale, became fashionable in England during the 1590s. It seems to have consisted of several hoops made from whalebone that graduated outwards from the level of the waistline in a wheel shape. This structure was often supported by a padded roll underneath, and was distinct in appearance from the other French farthingale roll, as it had a hard edge from which the skirts dramatically fell. Although there are also no surviving examples of this type of garment, there are a number of references to a "Great Farthingale" in Queen Elizabeth I's wardrobe accounts during the time when this style was in vogue. "Great" in this context referred to the large circumference of the farthingale, which was required in order to achieve the fashionable silhouette. Changes in the shape of the farthingale impacted the construction of other garments including the "forepart", the exposed front or apron of the skirt or kirtle made from richer fabrics. Later forms of the forepart were larger and wider and some surviving examples seem to have been extended to accommodate the new shape. The great farthingale appears to have been worn at an angle ("low before and high behind") which visually elongated the wearer's torso while shortening her legs. The angle was likely created by the use of bodies (corsets) or boned bodices with long centre fronts that pushed down on the farthingale, tilting it. Such an effect has been shown in many reconstructions of the garment. Some historians have raised doubts about the size of these garments, which some contemporaries claimed could be as wide as 1.4 metres. Instead they claim that the seemingly enormous size of these garments was an optical illusion created by wearing it with a pair of bodies (corset) that elongated and streamlined the torso. Criticisms of farthingales are also indicative of spatial anxieties relating to fears about these garments creating intimate personal spaces around the female body, masking the appropriation of social status, and physically displacing men. These fears continued into the eighteenth and nineteenth century, where tropes about the size of hoop petticoats ( panniers) and
crinoline A crinoline is a stiff or structured petticoat designed to hold out a skirt, popular at various times since the mid-19th century. Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was used to ...
s continued.


Anne of Denmark and the fashion of farthingales

Farthingales for Queen Elizabeth were made by specialist Robert Sibthorpe.
Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...
had her gowns altered in 1603 to suit English fashions, and employed Robert Hughes to make farthingales from 1603 to 1618.
Robert Naunton Sir Robert Naunton (1563 – 27 March 1635) was an England, English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons at various times between 1606 and 1626. Family Robert Naunton was the son of Henry Naunton of ...
thought that Anne's farthingale might conceal a pregnancy in October 1605, writing, "The Queen is generally held to be pregnant, but no appearance eminent by reason of the short vardugals in use". During celebrations in London in 1613 at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate, it was said that women wearing farthingales were not admitted to crowded events to save space. The letter writer John Chamberlain hoped this would lead to the demise of the fashion. Princess Elizabeth herself was wearing a whalebone farthingale and "bodies" made by John Spence. In June 1617 Leonora, Lady Bennet's large English farthingale drew unwelcome attention from a crowd in the streets of Amsterdam. In December 1617 the Venetian ambassador Piero Contarini was surprised by the size of Anne of Denmark's farthingale which was four feet wide at the hips. Large styles of French farthingales remained popular in England and France until the 1620s when they disappeared in portraiture and wardrobe accounts. They were replaced by small rolls or bum-rolls that persisted throughout the rest of the seventeenth century. In Spain, the Spanish farthingales evolved into the '' guardainfante'' and remained an identifiable part of Spanish dress until the eighteenth century. Anne of Denmark's daughter,
Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. The couple's selection for the crown by the nobles of Bohemia was part of the p ...
, was in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
in 1620. She wrote of her surprise at the large Spanish style ruffs and Spanish style gowns worn without farthingales by aristocrats and townspeople. She ensured her gentlewomen adapted to the culture. A well-known anecdote concerning farthingales dates from the end of this period. It was said that in 1628 Jane, wife of the English ambassador Peter Wyche in Constantinople astonished Ayşe Sultan, wife of
Murad IV Murad IV (, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ''; , 27 July 1612 – 8  February 1640) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad I ...
, with her farthingale and she wondered if all English women had such an unusual shape. This story may have been composed in condemnation of the fashion.


Farthingale sleeves

In England, sleeves were enlarged and shaped with a whale bone armature, worn as a support underneath wide sleeves, and these were called "farthingale sleeves" or "vardingall sleeves". They could also be called "trunk sleeves". An account from William Jones for making a gown for Queen Elizabeth includes "a payer of vardingall sleves of holland cloth bented with whals bone and covered with riben." Another account from Jones, for the queen's dwarf Tomasen in 1597, includes a "paier of verthingale slevis of fustian". Jones made many pairs of farthingale sleeves in the 1580s, perhaps for the women of Elizabeth's court. Such sleeves were worn by women outside court circles. Anne Williamson of Wilne in Derbyshire (a granddaughter of Lord Mordaunt), wrote in December 1590 to her husband about a London tailor who was making her "a pair of verdingale sleeves & a French verdingale". A Welsh MP William Maurice asked a Shrewsbury tailor to provide a French bodice with farthingale sleeves for his young daughter or cousin in 1594. Farthingale sleeves for
Catherine Fenton Boyle The Rt Hon. Catherine Fenton Boyle, Countess of Cork (1588 – 16 February 1630), was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and the wife of the 1st Earl of Cork. Biography Catherine Fenton Boyle was born around 1588. She was the only daughter of Sir Ge ...
cost 4 shillings and 4 pence in October 1604 from Robert Dobson, a London tailor. In 1605, Catherine Tollemache wrote to her London tailor, Roger Jones, about farthingale sleeves covered with satin, and he suggested another style of sleeve now in fashion would be "fytter" for her new gown. In 1607 there were discussions about taxing imported whale fin baleen, "used only in sleeves and bodies for women". A surviving single English farthingale sleeve with its whalebone hoops and an outer silk sleeve was rediscovered in 2022. These items, connected with the Willoughby family of
Wollaton Hall Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the outbuilding ...
, were shown on the television program, ''
Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...
''. A collection of Elizabethan costume remaining at Wollaton Hall was described in 1702 by the family historian Cassandra Willoughby.


Farthingale pins

The wardrobe accounts of Queen Elizabeth mention the purchase of thousands of special "great verthingale pynnes", "myddle verthingale pynnes", and "smale verthingale pynnes" from 1563. These were probably used for pinning deep tucks in fathingales to hold whalebone supports, and to position heavy silk skirts in place over the farthingale. Elizabeth's pin-maker or "pynner" was Robert Careles. He delivered recycled old farthingale pins and other pins to " Ippolyta the Tartarian", a young Russian woman brought to Elizabeth's court by
Anthony Jenkinson Anthony Jenkinson (1529 – 1610/1611) was born at Market Harborough, Leicestershire. He was one of the first Englishmen to explore Tsardom of Russia, Muscovy and present-day Russia. Jenkinson was a traveller and explorer on behalf of the ...
. She had a farthingale made of
mockado Mockado (also moquette, moucade) is a woollen pile (textile), pile textile, fabric made in imitation of silk velvet from the mid-sixteenth century.. Mockado was usually constructed with a woollen Carpet pile, pile on a linen or worsted wool warp ( ...
fabric. Pins for
Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria of France (French language, French: ''Henriette Marie''; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to K ...
were made by Thomas Ardington. In 1631 his bill included 13,500 "middle vardingale pins".Caroline Hibbard, 'The Queen's Patronage', Erin Griffey, ''Henrietta Maria'' (Ashgate, 2008), p. 129.


See also

*
1500–1550 in fashion Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number) *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album), 2007 * ''15'' (Phatfish album), 2008 * ...
*
1550–1600 in fashion Year 155 ( CLV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 908 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 155 for this year ...
*
1600–1650 in fashion Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number) *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen * ''Sixteen'' ...
* Hoop skirt *
Crinoline A crinoline is a stiff or structured petticoat designed to hold out a skirt, popular at various times since the mid-19th century. Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was used to ...


Citations


General and cited references

* Anderson, Ruth Matilda (1979). ''Hispanic Costume 1480–1530''. New York: The Hispanic Society of America. . * Arnold, Janet (1986) 985 ''Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women 1560–1620'' (revised edition). Macmillan. . * Arnold, Janet (1988)
2020 ''Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd''
Leeds: W. S. Maney and Son. . * Bendall, Sarah (3 May 2019)
"The Case of the 'French Vardinggale': A Methodological Approach to Reconstructing and Understanding Ephemeral Garments"
''Fashion Theory'', 23:3: The Making Turn. . * Bendall, Sarah (November 2019)
Take Measure of Your Wide and Flaunting Garments': The Farthingale, Gender and the Consumption of Space in Elizabethan and Jacobean England"
''Renaissance Studies'', 33:5. . * Bendall, Sarah (February 2022)
"Whalebone and the Wardrobe of Elizabeth I: Whaling and the Making of Aristocratic Fashions"
''Apparence(s)'', 11: Modes Animales (Animal Fashions).


External links


Elizabethan Costuming, including information about farthingales
* {{Historical clothing, state=expanded 15th-century fashion 16th-century fashion 17th-century fashion Undergarments Skirts Women's clothing