First of all, I seem to be finding them in paintings from pre- 1450- does anyone have any information that these would have been worn about 1470? I don't want to be seen wearing my gramma's hood!

Next, AM- you said that you made yours of linen- why do you think they would have been made of linen and not wool?

Also, you mentioned something about colors. I counted the number of times colors occur in my version of the Decameron and this is what I came up with:
Red (or any variation like salmon): 31
Black/grey: 4
Green: 3
Brown/red: 3
Blue: 1

What do we think was worn under these? A small coif? Just the hair? I don't think my big turban would fit, and the hood doesn't seem to be big/bulky enough to fit over one in any case.

One of the things I really like is that in many cases in the Decameron, the wings are pinned up in such a way as to stick out of the middle of the forehead like a horn- very weird and cool!

Gwen asks about "flemish hoods"
and says:
Next, AM- you said that you made yours of linen- why do you think they would have been made of linen and not wool?

actually, what I have is one of the white linen coifs that we see in franco flemish illos with the floppy bits over the ears. Not the same animal at all, if what you're thinking of is what I'm thinking of . Hows that for vague?

Oh, my kingdom for a scanner!!!!!
check out the pictures on: http://www.liripipe.com/maisnie/

the first girl on the left has what I have. a white linen coif like object. I often tuck the "ears" into the band just to keep them out of my way. I assume its linen becuase it seems to fold up easily and is always white.

the girl in the middle is wearign what I call a "flemish hood", and yes, they do tend to be colors. Since they're colors, I'm betting theyre wool and not linen. Plus the way they stick out seems to be a heavier fabric. cool, eh?

Someone "helpful" made me a "flemish hood" out of cotton (sigh). and no way does it have enough body to do anything liek the pciture. But a friend of mine has one out of fairly heavy linen and it seems to hold its shape a bit better. Still not the cool "wings" effect, though.

Given that I've never seen an example of boning or other extrinsic stiffeners in this period(I could be wrong, of course, I'm a cook not a costumer!!!), I am assuming blythely that the shape is based on the inherant shape of the fabric, and not from any gizmos.

I think the girl in the flemish hood has wisps of hair sticking out?? definately not long down her back, though, so at least its in a bun or something.

at least this is my spin on it...Cant wait to hear what other folks think!
--AM

The latest positive date I have at hand is 1450, I will dig around in the stuff at home later.

Look very closely at that picture, both the girl on the left and in the middle. I have a larger dpi scan of it here: http://www.mit.edu/~nprive/dance.JPG. The book that i scanned it from (A medieval book of seasons) listed it as late 15th cent. How late, I dunno. There are little edges of white underneath of the red hood, and a glimpse of something tightly bound under the white tied hood. I think that there is a linen kerchief or veil pinned? under the hood, and I am pretty sure I have seen other pictures with something white peeking out from under the hood.

I am going to scan in another picture, which is for the white hood, and put it here: http://www.mit.edu/~nprive/whitehood.JPG
where it is more clearly seen (altho with the wrong hood. and i should probably make a seperate topic, but whats up with the decoration on the *lining* of the dress and not the outside? well, anyway...). That image is from Boccaccio, Le livre des cleres et nobles femmes.

Most of the ones that I have seen are black, sometimes red. Take at look at http://www.mit.edu/~nprive/appleharvest.JPG http://www.mit.edu/~nprive/january.JPG http://www.mit.edu/~nprive/snowballfight.JPG
which are all from different months of Heures de la Duchesse de Bourgogne, French, 1450. And I would be overjoyed to find a book with more than just little segments of this manuscript, but I haven't had any luck looking. All of the hoods there are black or red.

I was trying to figure out last winter how to get the sides of one of those to stick out, and I think it might work with a thick wool if the cut is right, but it is a fairly difficult shape. I gave up, and ended up going with this form instead: http://www.mit.edu/~nprive/sweeping.JPG
which, altho the scan doesn't show the details well, has a wide folded-over edge in the front, but no 'wings'. The long 'pipe' does tend to act like a lead weight and try to pull the thing back off of your head. I had to wrap two braids around my head, pin those down (I cheated and used bobby-pins at the time), pin a linen kercheif over that, and then pin the hood through both the braids and the kercheif. The kercheif, if pinned carefully back, was not necessarily visible under the hood.

Anyway back to the illustrations

The buttons are not an unusual feature of hoods of this type (at least in the later c14th and early c15th and they were usable, in theory at least). The Museum of London Dress Accessories book contains fragments of a c14th hood which matches this pattern with the rows of small buttons. When closed these form a tight fit under the chin and down the neck, leaving a narrow tube for the face, which could be folded back.

However rows of buttons is a very c14th style. I can't recall seeing them on later hoods so I'd steer clear of them.

The trick to remember with these hoods is that, despite their wild appearance they are simple hoods. The flaps at the sides are created by simply creating a tight fitting hood with a long cowl (about 4" in front of the face). The fit is too tight to actually be pulled over the head (hence the buttons) but by the mid c15th they were being worn open as a matter of course. The sharp angle is because of the angle between chin and face, plus the need to make the outer edge wider than the area by the face, so it can be folded back.

The slight prick ears at the back are formed by the cloth as it 'breaks' at the top of the head for the lirapipe to fall down the wearers back. These lirapipes are narrow and long and almost always present (typically when not it's because you can't see the back) (you'll find plenty of English re-enactors who don't bother and confuse this hood with he white linen cap described elsewhere)

These are almost certainly a good heavy wool. Well napped and fulled to give a waterproofing, and as a result they do form these folds quite naturally.

I would suggest that they were held in place using pins into the cul or kerchief underneath. This would creat a very stable headcovering and fit in well with usual practice for womens headwear right up to recent times.

Another common way of wearing these hoods, and a result you'll see more in later illustrations if you look, is by taking the lirapipe and winding it around the head. This is what is seen in the Ferreting tapestry (If someone offers web page space I'll send a jpeg ) which dates to c.1470 from memory.

Also there are references to this style of hood elsewhere. There is a Scottish Act of Parliament which complains about the excesses of Sciottish women's headdresses an suggests they wear the simple hoods like the Flemish and English. Unfortnatly there are precious few illustrations of English women not in formal headgear. However of the few there are simple hoods like the Flemish ones described do appear (e.g. in he (albeit heavily restored) Buxton Sensechal in Norwich.

As to what is worn underneath I'd suggest that either a simple caul or kerchief.
There is at least on French illustration ( http://www.bnf.fr/enluminures/images/jpeg/i4_0059.jpg ) which shows the characteristic low-horned netting of a later c15th caul, as seen under the more formal headresses in English funerary depictions of the 1470's, appearing from under the hood (just like in Gwen's Decameron pis 6 & 7). Unfortunately looking at the clothing I'd date this to the 1440's and th text is no help (c15th!), however the illustration is useful as it hows the same hood worn by mistress and servant, with the mistress having the caul beneath the hood (and consequently a more elaborate shape to the hood) whilst the servants' hood is flatter.

A similar hood appears in Rene of Anjou's illustrations ... can't remember which one off hand so this is all from memory I'm afraid ... but there is a group praying to the Virgin in a setting which is notable for the amount of arabic decoration on the wall etc. The Lady kneels in a formal gown nd henin, he servant next to her has the hood with the lirapipe wound up.

I'll try and fish out more specific details if I get the chance

I think an important point to consider is that the wide 'winged' Flemish hood is a variant of this form of Hood. In illustrations of the same date/mss you can see the exaggerated sides of the hood forming the 'wings' more on the better sort than the labourers .... but this is as might be expected.

Similarly I noticed that the later hoods of this type seem to loose their sharp chin/face corner (and hence the wings) in many of the later paintings e.g. Memlinc's Passion Alterpiece where a Mourner wears a red hood (possibly with a lirapipe judging by the fold on the top of the head) but here there is no attempt to follow the fitted shape of a close fitting hood as per the start of the century ( http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/m/memling/altar/index.html )
A problem in looking at these illustrations is the content of the images themselves and the style of the pictures. The datable illutrations of the 1470's tend to be from he Flemish Masters rather than Mss illuminations and there are corresponding differences in content.

However I'll address a few points first before returning to the illustrations.

1. Lirapipe or not
Personally I'd say that in this classic form of the Flemish Hood the lirapipe is almost universal. In the Decammeron illustrations you've shown only 4 is questionable. However 4. does show a what looks like a short lirapipe folded forward. This style of wear appears in some Rene of Anjou illustrations on a slight variant hood and on other headresses into (at least) the 1480s.
Also 4. shows a simplified styling (which may be the artist as much as the hood) and lacks the angle of the 'wings'

2. The 'Wings'
I stand by the fact that if made in precisely the same way as a normal hood with a close fit running from the chest to the throat, round th throat to he chin and then jutting out past the end of the chin, to form what is essentially a tube to surround the face, then when this centre-front seam is not joined you will get the characteristic 'wings'. The 'points' of the 'wings' being the chin-face angle.
Certainly as the hood became less functional as a closed hood I'd expect this to become exaggerated over time, particularly amongst the more middling sort rather than the labourering sort. In the same way that the (to use the French name for convenience) Chaperon developed from a real hood.
The neck sectoin appears to become smaller. the angle more exaggerated, but the form is still essentilly the same.

3. Prominence of the hoods 'wings'
It is just a though but for a garment of this sort a little starch might work wonders ... notice in the JPeg I referened before that the Lady's 'wings' are far more rigid than the cllapsed form of her maid.

Ok now to the meat ... hopefully this will make sense (like any of the rest has!)

In Jean Le Tavernier's c.1460 illustration of a Burgundin Marketplace a seamstress is steated in the bottom left of the picture by the gate. She has what is almost certainly a Flemish hood.

In a mid c15th copy of Froissart showing the Jousts of St Ingelvert (British Library MS Hrley 4379 ff19 & 20) in the background women ae visible wearing Flemish hoods.

In a Mss in the Musee Conde in Chantilly called Le Rustican, and dated .1460, the months are depictd by various labours. December shows a Woman wearing a black Flemish hood with the lirapipe wrapped around the head. It's worth noting that in the summer months she wears only her kerchief.

A mourner in the Entombment by The Master of the Virgo Inter Virgines (last 1/4 c15th prob 1490) has a white kerchief visible below a black Flemish hood.

In a mss of the Roman de la Rose which is frequently used but I forgot the Mss (sorry) but from the clothing dates to c.1490 I'd guess a Woman is shown seated with a distaff, on her head an be seen the edge of a white linen cap covered by a red Flemish hood.

In an illustration of The Hours of the Virgin c.1500 women in the fields are shown wearing Flemish hoods, one red, the other Black (with the lirapipe wrapped around her head).

Again there are the c.1470's Ferreting tapestries (incl. one in Burel collection in Glasgow) which show women wearing the Flemish hood with the lirapipe wound around the head.

There are certainly variations to this hood both by date and locale, identifying these subleties is more difficult. But a clear derivative is visible in the illustration of 'The City of God' of mid c15th date in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris (ms fr18 f.3v) which shows plainer versoins of this hood, the sides are flatter and more rectangluar, more akin to he frontlet in shape, but clearly of a lirapipe hood.

In Rene of Anjo's Book of the Tournament the scene depicting the Review of the Helms shows a maid carrying her Lady's gown wearing what appears to be a small frontlet-style hood with a lirapipe folded up on top of the head (this must require pinning?) but the chracteristic 'u' loop een on frontlets and henin-style headwear ... this is probably a pin.

In the Beuachamp chronicles this develops further where the hood has become a frontlet and the skull is covered by a small square cap.

So in summary. I still feel that the Flemish hood was widely worn in an informal manner by most middling and lower degree women, but it was ceasing to be the standard fashion accessory of the 1430-1450's. The fitting became less precise and the wings developed into the frontlet as the fitting became more subdued and rectangular.

As a BTW one of the Badges worn by the noblemen listed in the 1475 Expedition of Edward IV to France is described as a 'Flemish Wives Hood' (or some close appromimation to those words)

OK ... any comments