t the upper classes continued to wear the long Merovingian
style of hair. After the reign of Charlemagne, it was the fashion to shave
the hair from above the forehead, the parting being thus widened, and the
hair was so arranged that it should not fall lower than the middle of the
neck. Under Charles the Bald, whose surname proves that he was not partial
to long hair, this custom fell into disuse or was abandoned, and men had
the greater part of their heads shaved, and only kept a sort of cap of
hair growing on the top of the head. It is at this period that we first
find the _cowl_ worn. This kind of common head-dress, made from the furs
of animals or from woollen stuffs, continued to be worn for many
centuries, and indeed almost to the present day. It was originally only a
kind of cap, light and very small; but it gradually became extended in
size, and successively covered the ears, the neck, and lastly even the
shoulders.

No great change was made in the dress of the two sexes during the tenth
century. "Nothing was more simple than the head-dress of women," says M.
Jules Quicherat; "nothing was less studied than their mode of wearing
their hair; nothing was more simple, and yet finer, than their linen. The
elegant appearance of their garments recalls that of the Greek and Roman,
women. Their dresses were at times so tight as to display all the elegance
of their form, whilst at others they were made so high as completely to
cover the neck; the latter were called _cottes-hardies_. The
_cotte-hardie_, which has at all times been part of the dress of French
women, and which was frequently worn also by men, was a long tunic
reaching to the heels, fastened in at the waist and closed at the wrists.
Queens, princesses, and ladies of the nobility wore in addition a long
cloak lined with ermine, or a tunic with or without sleeves; often, too,
their dress consisted of two tunics, and of a veil or drapery, which was
thrown over the head and fell down before and behind, thus entirely
surrounding the neck."

[Illustration: Fig. 409.--Costume of a Scholar.

Fig. 410.--Costume of a Bishop or Abbot.

Fac-similes of Miniatures in a Manuscript of the Ninth Century ("Biblia
Sacra"), in the Royal Library of Brussels.]

We cannot find that any very decided change was made in dress before the
end of the eleventh century. The ordinary dress made of thick cloths and
of coarse woollen stuffs was very strong and durable, and not easily
spo