Also, does anyone know if CoSG is still publishing the "Dragon"?

Thanks-

Chris Given-Wilson, An illustrated history of late medieval England
Donald King & Santina Levey, The V&A's Textile Collection: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750 Plates 19-21.
E Clive Rouse, Medieval Wall Paintings (A shire book)
Richard Marks, The Golden Age of English Manuscript Painting 1200-1500
The Paston Letters book.
Brass rubbing books,

The most commonly extant forms of English art from this period seem to be funeral monuments and manuscript paintings.

In Pleasures and Pastimes in Medieval England a brief mention is given to sumptuary laws being passed in England in 1463, 1477, and 1483 (p 52). There were a couple of sources listed that might have the potential to be useful.

In Monumental Brasses: the portfoilo plates of the Monumental Brass Society 1894-1984, there are approximately 40 rubbings from brasses dated between 1460 and 1480. Some 20-25 of them have ladies depicted. The Catalogue of Rubbings of Brasses (Muriel Clayton) lists 22 female brasses dated either 1470 or 1471. As I was looking through these it occured that they are probably more upper class than you are looking for, however, they seem to be by far the most common preserved art form in england from this period.

Stothard has a couple of interesting effigies.
Richard Beauchamp (begun 1442 finished 1465) - has mourners around the base, 7 of the ones decipicted are female, among other interesting details are prayer beads
Agnes wife of Sir John Crosby - he died 1475 but no other dating for this was available, among the interesting things about Crosby was that he was nouveau riche
There were a couple of others from the 1480's but they are also way upper class.

If there are any of these images you really want to see, let me know and i'll see what I can do to post them.

Also while looking for information I stumbled across a listing for the book below and was wondering if anybody had read it and had thoughts on it...
Fifteenth-Century Attitudes : Perceptions of Society in Late Medieval England
by Rosemary Horrox (Editor)

in reseraching an SCA costuming project, I discovered a whole chapter on English 15th century costume in Millia Davenports History of Costume book.

there's also a bit in the French 20,000 years of costume.

bonne chance!
--AM

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I've been doing most of my stuff for 1460's WoR with illustrations from the continent (mostly French and Flemish) for the overall look of the clothing, and then using English archaeology finds for as many details as I can. Too bad there aren't many textile finds from the mid-15th century....

The earliest clear pictures I know about, of English middle - or serving-class women, are a couple of portraits of Englishwomen by Holbein (another foreigner), probably from the 1520s. They are believed to be of Royal Household attendants, and the relationship of their clothing to that of their betters is certainly instructive, if too late for the RedCo. One of these is in the Detroit Institute of Arts, and I have good photos of it (Remind me to get this to you, Gwen, if you want it. Someday I will get a scanner).

I am intrigued by Margaret Scott's belief (for which she provides visual evidence in "The History of Dress series: Late Gothic Europe 1400-1500") that servants tended to wear clothing perhaps a generation behind the current fashion. In a couple of instances I have found example which seem to support this idea. Whether this holds for the middle classes in general is a question also worth pursuing, although walking down the street I see that it still holds true occasionally even today.

There are some English illustrations from the later C15th but you'll do well to find them!

The most famous series of illustrations are probably the Eton Murals. This is a series of wall paintings from c.1480 which show quite a few interesting details and are of high quality. However, like the 'Beauchamp Chronicle' (again c1480) it was probably produced by a Fleming for an English client ... as per 'The Arrivall' and or Van der Weyden's Donne Tryptich.

Another wall painting that's worth looking at is in the Pickering in North Yorkshire. This shows a whole range of images from Biblical scenes (partic. Herod) but you have to be very careful with this as it was heavily repainted in the c19th, for example the St george and the archer paintings frequently shown in modern books as C15th are actually c19th (thankfully a watercolour was taken prior to 'restoration') and the Vicar has kindly sent me both (and the conservation report.

Another source is the Buxton Senschal which is a wall painting in Norwich. Again restored but useful as it does show some details. Similarly there are other isolated wall paintings e.g. on the Isle of Wight which add to the overall picture.

When you put these alongside the extant written sources (whether Household accounts, wills etc.) together with some sideways literary remarks ... there's a Scottish Act which complains about the excesses in womens headcoverings and that they ought to wear the plain hoods like the English and Flemish ... what comes out is really very similar to the Flemish clothing. There are likely to be subtle differences ... certainly the reference to some of Edward's clothing post 1470 being of the 'Dutch guise' (maybe Dutch=Netherlands, maybe Dutch as-in Deutch / German, althohgh Germans are referd to as Germans in lists of Aliens ??) suggests some differences.

So overall, if you're looking for the middling degree then use the books mentioned previously, look for the archaeological details from the MoL books and compare with Continental ... it'll hint at differences, but essentially aim for a similar style to the Flemish.

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