Clothing from The Hunting Book of Gaston Phebus

[Fearghus Macildubh]

Greetings all,
I really like the clothes that the dog handlers and huntsmen are wearing.
I picked up a copy of the aforementioned book from Ebay, based on some line drawings in Mary G. Houston's book on medieval costume http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486290603

The preface to my copy of Phebus is not specific on when that particular manuscript is thought to have been written. The Bibliotheque National de France dates the manuscript from the 15th century. http://www.bnf.fr/enluminures/manuscrits/aman10.htm

The question I have is when? From the clothes that the noble hunters are wearing, I think it has to be the first quarter of the 15th century. Is this correct? For the valets and handlers, given the tradition of giving clothing as part of an estate, do their clothes represent fashion from a decade or so earlier? Or is the beginning of separate fashions for the servant class?

I did notice that in some Italian art from slightly earlier, specifically Alticheiro's frescoes in Padua's Oratorio di San Giorgio, soldiers wearing similar clothes to the servants in the book. (I can't find online images of the specific figures) The bag sleeved houplande/gown/tunic especially. http://www.bnf.fr/enluminures/images/jpeg/i5_0028.jpg

So, more or less, is what is the correct period for the clothing that the grooms and valets are wearing the Hunting Book? Is it gentlemen's clothing from a few decades earlier?

[Tailoress]

You are correct. It's around 1405-10, from what I can tell, at least the copy you have. The original text was published in 1389, so some folks confuse that fact with the date of the more famous illuminated version that is published now and widely available, MS français 616, held at the Bibliotheque Nationale. There are multiple illuminated copies out there, but that one is the one that we tend to see the most of.

The clothing is distinctive to the early 15thc and has elements not yet seen in the clothing of the late 14th, so for those who are trying to get a particular time just right, I don't suggest these illuminations for those going into the late 14thc, unless educated changes are made, particularly to the sleeve styles and headgear.

[Karen Larsdatter]

You might also want to look at these websites on the BNF's manuscripts of the Book of the Hunt:
http://expositions.bnf.fr/phebus
http://classes.bnf.fr/phebus

The Morgan Library also has a manuscript of the Book of the Hunt dated c. 1407; you can see some images from an online exhibition at https://www.morganlibrary.org/exhibitio ... id=MedHunt

[James B.]

I did a gallery of gowns and you can see the decade by decade change in gown fashion on it: http://www.historiclife.com/Essays/Houppelands.htm

I made a Gaston outfit with the really extreme sleeves like the guy in green with the tighter body here:



I need to find a picture of me wearing it, I am sure I got one at Pennsic.

[Fearghus Macildubh]

Thanks everyone! I think the illustrations in my book are from the 1405 manuscript. Looking at James's page, I think I'm aiming for the first decades of the 15th century, French I suppose, given I am really drawn to the styles in Phebus and St Dennis.