Did medieval pants have pockets?
Pockets first began appearing on waistcoats and trousers about 500 years ago. As you probably already know, about half the population wasn't wearing trousers back then. In Medieval times, both men and women both wore bags that tied around their waists and filled them with whatever bits and bobs they needed.
Medieval trousers were traditionally worn under a short tunic or with a small cloak and were usually ankle length. If the trousers were loose, the excess material was bunched around the waist and “hung in folds around the legs.” Garters or leggings sometimes accompanied narrow trousers.
From the 17th century to the late 19th century most women had a pair of pockets, which was similar to a handbag. Pockets were worn between their dress and their petticoats and could be switched from one outfit to another.
The short answer is no, no pockets. The long answer is that you wouldn't generally speaking have pockets built into your clothing like we do, but you might have a pouch, purse or scrip which fastened to your belt or girdle.
According to historian Rebecca Unsworth, it was in the late 15th century that pockets became more noticeable. During the 16th century, pockets increased in popularity and prevalence.
Pieces of fabric attached to the trousers forming belt loops so that the garment could be at held in place at the waist by a belt. Leggings, usually worn in pairs, acted as additional protection for the legs.
Since the early Middle Ages, European men had worn breeches, loose-fitting trousers that were held at the waist with a belt or a draw-string. These might have a stirrup to secure the hem of the breeches inside a shoe, or they could be loose at the ankle.
The epitome of Victoriana! 1890s skirt styles were smoothed around multiple petticoats and, depending on the weight of your fabric, skirt side pockets were still found at the side back area and mostly on the right hand side.
Medieval peasants clothing in Europe
Medieval peasants would usually wear a tunic, short breeches or sometimes long trousers depending on the severity of the weather. The longer trousers that were worn by medieval peasants were usually tied with thongs.
Medieval Europe
Trousers in this period, generally called brais, varied in length and were often closed at the cuff or even had attached foot coverings, although open-legged pants were also seen.
How did knights go to the toilet?
While wearing all that, a knight desperate for the toilet would have most likely needed the assistance of his squire to lift or remove the rear culet, so that he could squat down.
Whereas a single-handed sword on average weighed 2–4 lbs., even the large two-handed “swords of war” of the fourteenth to the sixteenth century rarely weighed in excess of 10 lbs.
What did knights wear? The answer is not knighties. In later days, knights might indeed wear suits of metal plate armor, but more typically early knights would be clad in tough leather or perhaps a chain mail shirt called a hauberk (French) or byrnie (English), like their earlier Roman counterparts.
HAVE you ever compared women's clothes to men's and wondered why we get such little pocket space compared to mens roomy pockets? Expert Emily Keller, who has been a fashion designer for 10 years, explained that ladies' pockets are smaller, or often fake, because it cuts costs to reduce the size and fabrics used.
Christ says eventually pockets were phased out not because of witches, but because of the Industrial Revolution. “Clothing can be mass-produced for the first time. You're not necessarily sewing your clothing at home, so the need to have an attachable pocket is just phased out for some reason,” she said.
In 1873, Levi Strauss & Co. and Jacob Davis received U.S. Patent No. 139,121 for Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings. There were four pockets on the original pants and all of them were riveted—three on the front, including a small pocket above the larger right pocket.
At last we can state that longer belts were designed mainly to hold more decoration and to allow the owner to handle the length more flexibly, whether for practical or aesthetical reasons.
Other colors were unusual, but not unknown: pale yellow, green, and a light shade of red or orange could all be made from less-expensive dyes. All these colors would fade in time; dyes that stayed fast over the years were too expensive for the average laborer. Men generally wore tunics that fell past their knees.
When peasant men and women did wear shoes, they favored a low, leather boot, which probably lasted six months at most. By the twelfth century, shoes were held on a person's feet by leather thongs, which were laced around the ankle; examples from the next century also show these lacings going up the side of the ankle.
Said tights were called “hose” and were a staple item in a male's wardrobe. European men used to wear them all the way through the middle-ages while horseback riding.
Did medieval people wear leggings?
In mid-15th-century England, a law restricted the wearing of short tunics that revealed the male buttocks to members of the upper class. In works of art, men of this, um, standing are often depicted wearing what we would call tights or leggings (hose) beneath their skimpy tunics.
The change came at the end of the 18th century and into the Regency period (1811-1820) when petticoats and voluptuous skirts went out of fashion and instead the slim-line, empire-waist Regency gowns came to the fore. These dresses had no room for pockets - it would mess with the lovely silhouette, so pockets had to go.
In the 18th century, women did have pockets, but they were separate pieces of clothing – they looked like little sacks that you tied around your waist with a bit of ribbon or string. Kind of hard to explain verbally, but it makes sense when you see them!
This pocket was made with white cotton broadcloth and bound with printed cotton quilting fabric. The design was embroidered with cotton DMC thread (No. 798). The tie was made from a length of cotton tape (25mm wide), made long enough to tie around the waist.
Hair was cleaned with water, sometimes mixed with ash and herbs to make it shiny and sweet-smelling. Daily combing was also important, and was sometimes combined with the sprinkling of special powders (made from fragrant ingredients such as rose petals).
Soap, mainly soft soap made from ash lye and animal fat, was used by washerwomen whose employers paid for it. Soap was rarely used by the poorest people in medieval times but by the 18th century soap was fairly widespread: sometimes kept for finer clothing and for tackling stains, not used for the whole wash.
Soap was sometimes used and hair was washed using an alkaline solution such as the one obtained from mixing lime and salt. Teeth were cleaned using twigs (especially hazel) and small pieces of wool cloth.
The first recorded reports of trousers were made by sixth century BC Greek geographers. They noted the appearance of Persian, Eastern and Central Asian horse riders. The comfort they provided from extended periods on horseback made trousers a practical choice.
In the United States, Elizabeth Smith Miller designed an early version of pantslike clothing for women around 1851. It consisted of a skirt extending below the knees and loose “Turkish” trousers that gathered at the ankles, and it was worn with a short jacket on top.
Pockets as we know them more or less disappeared from women's clothing, though they continued to be a fixture on men's tailoring. That is, until the 1920s, when women co-opted menswear styles for themselves — and therein took back the pocket! What a time to be alive. (The right to vote was exciting, too.
Did knights have to pee in their armor?
It's a myth that armor was so heavy that the knight had to be lifted on to his horse with a crane. But he did need attendants to pick him up if he fell off his horse in battle. When the fighting was over, they cleaned his armor with a mixture of sand and urine to stop it from getting rusty!
Castles weren't always cold and dark places to live.
But, in reality, the great hall of castle had a large open hearth to provide heat and light (at least until the late 12th century) and later it had wall fireplace. The hall would also have had tapestries which would have insulated the room against too much cold.
There was a lot of recycling and upgrading done to armor while it was in use, and pieces that fit were used and reused, often to death. Pieces that were too small were more likely to end up shoved aside. So it may be like getting to a shirt sale late--all that's left is "small" and a couple of "extra-large".
The use of plate armour declined in the 17th century, but it remained common both among the nobility and for the cuirassiers throughout the European wars of religion. After 1650, plate armour was mostly reduced to the simple breastplate (cuirass) worn by cuirassiers.
Some records indicate that knights were paid two shillings per day for their services (in 1316), and when this is converted into 2018 valued pounds, this translates roughly to 6,800 pounds per day.
It is the fact that shield vanished from knight combat gear in circa 1400s, and the reason was, as we know - "plate armor became too tough and shield were useless, etc".
These included archery, jousting, hammer-throwing, and wrestling. In some areas they played early versions of football (soccer), cricket, bowling, or golf.
A knight wore a coat of mail called a hauberk made of metal rings linked tightly together to protect his body. Underneath this he wore a padded shirt called an aketon.
A full suit of armour weighed from 20 to 25 kilograms (45-55 lbs) - less than a modern infantryman would carry in equipment - and it was distributed evenly over the body so that a knight could move with some freedom.
Women Want Attention
It's a common notion that women wear revealing clothing to gain attention. This belief isn't just limited to the opposite sex but extends to other women as well. People mostly do things they want for themselves, which also applies to women.
Why are women's clothes worse than men's?
Women's jeans have smaller pockets than men's, they are made with less cotton and more spandex/polyester which means they have to be washed more often.
If you've ever bought a new suit or dress slacks, you've noticed some pockets are sewn shut. The reason for this is purely aesthetic. Manufacturers want suits to retain their tailored look, but as people try the clothes on they can alter the fabric's shape.
“Wealthy women back then did not dress themselves — their lady's maid did. Since most people were right-handed, this made it easier for someone standing across from you to button your dress.” Fancy! The tradition has stuck and women's shirts today, including Moore's, place buttons on the left side.
Women's fashion became more complex and less functional (think-corsets and bustles) and garments were designed to fit more tightly. This meant that women couldn't hide their pouches as easily beneath their clothing, so they'd carry their belongings around in a garment called a reticule (an early version of the purse).
'Pockets give me confidence and swagger. Instead of sliding meekly into a room of strangers, my knuckles white around a clutch bag, I can stick both my hands into my dress pockets, arms akimbo, thus taking up more space in the world.
Pants with the tiny pocket are called "five-pocket pants," but the tiny pocket isn't actually the fifth one. The fifth pocket is actually on the back-left, added to Levi's 501 jeans in 1901. An original pair of Levi's "waist overalls" from around 1890, the oldest in the company's archives. Levi Strauss & Co.
archives that date back to 1879," said Tracey Panek, a historian for Levi Strauss & Co. Those original copper-riveted jeans had a tiny pocket to hold small pocket watches for working men, from carpenters and miners to railroad engineers. And the design stuck ever since!
Why do jeans have tiny pockets? The small pocket is actually called a watch pocket because it was originally intended as a safe place for men to store their pocket watches. It dates back to Levi's first-ever pair of jeans, which hit the market in 1879.
Made of wool, the trousers had straight legs and wide crotches and were likely made for horseback riding. In most of Europe, trousers have been worn since ancient times and throughout the Medieval period, becoming the most common form of lower-body clothing for adult males in the modern world.
Also, breeches (britches) was a term used by the 15th century to simply mean trousers.
What type of pants did knights wear?
The legs were protected by mail leggings called chausses, or by mail stockings held up round the waist. A knight wore spurs on his heels to prick his horse and make it move. Spurs were a sign of knighthood, for being on horseback was an important part of being a knight.
Breeches/Pants: Breeches covered just the hip and thigh (ending above the knee) in Medieval male clothing, while some men wore longer pants. You will often find these made of cotton when you're looking for Medieval costumes.
The first recorded reports of trousers were made by sixth century BC Greek geographers. They noted the appearance of Persian, Eastern and Central Asian horse riders. The comfort they provided from extended periods on horseback made trousers a practical choice.
The most common colors for peasant clothing were brown, red or gray. Both men and women wore clogs made of thick leather. In cold weather, both men and women wore cloaks made of sheepskin or wool. They also wore wool hats and mittens.
When trousers of a similar style became popular during the Restoration in England, they became known as pantaloons, Pantaloon being an Anglicization of Pantalone. Fashions changed over the years, but pantaloons continued to be the word used to refer to various types of trousers.
