cloth. As the century advances the bagpipe
sleeves shrink in size and the tunic skirts are shortened (fig. 35). The
old habit of going armed with anelace or baselard dies away in spite of
troublous times. In the middle of the century the tunic is often no
longer than a modern frock-coat, its sleeves little wider than those of
a modern overcoat. Dress, indeed, becomes at this time convenient and
attractive to our modern eyes. The last quarter of the century sees a
new and important change. The tunic or gown, which was the garment of
ceremony answering at once to our dress coats and frock coats, runs down
to the feet. An act of 1463 ordered that coats should at least cover the
buttocks, but fashion achieved suddenly what law failed to enforce. Men
who had polled their hair short allowed it to grow and hang over the
shoulders. The belt carries the purse or gipciere more commonly,
although weapons are rarely seen, and it is notable that, as the
Reformation approaches, the fashion of wearing a large "pair of beads"
in the belt becomes a very common one. Last of all, the shoes change
their shape. The reign of Edward IV. had seen the pointed toes as
iniquitously long as ever the 14th century saw them. Even the long
riding boot has the curving point, although otherwise much resembling
the jack-boot of the 18th century. But after Bosworth Field the soles
broaden, the point shrinks back and then disappears, and the footprint
becomes shovel-shaped.

[Illustration: FIG. 36.--A Gentleman and his Wife. (From a brass of
1435.)]

Women's dress in the 15th century often follows the man's fashion of the
furred gown, the skirts being lengthened for all difference. But the
close-bodied and close-sleeved gown, with skirts broadening into many
folds below the hips, is often seen with the long and plain cloak drawn
with a cord at the breast, widows wearing this dress with the _barbe_, a
crimped cloth of linen drawn up under the chin and ears and covering the
collar-bone. With the barbe went the kerchief, draping head and
shoulders. The bossed cauls of the earlier head-dress, drawn high on
either side of the head until face and head-dress took the shape of a
heart, are characteristic of the age (fig. 36). In some cases the cauls
are drawn out at the sides to the form of a pair of bulls' horns or of a
mitre set sideways. In the time of Edward IV. we have a popular
head-dress to which has been given the name of the butterfly. The hair
in its c