pen at the
chest, having long sleeves, which are slit up for the arms to go through;
this cloak, or surcoat, is trimmed with ermine in front, and has the
appearance of what we should now call a fur shawl. The young King has long
hose, and shoes similar in shape to high slippers. In the same painting
Queen Margaret, his wife, wears a gown with tight bodice opened out on the
hips, and having long and narrow sleeves; she also has a cloak embroidered
with fleurs-de-lis, the long sleeves of which are slit up and bordered
with ermine; a kind of hood, much larger than her head, and over this a
veil, which passes under the chin without touching the face; the shoes are
long, and seem to enclose the feet very tightly.

[Illustration: Fig. 416.--Costumes of the Thirteenth Century: Tristan and
the beautiful Yseult.--From a Miniature in the Romance of "Tristan,"
Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century (Imperial Library of Paris).]

From this period gowns with tight bodices were generally adopted; the
women wore over them a tight jacket, reaching to a little below the hips,
often trimmed with fur when the gown was richly ornamented, and itself
richly ornamented when the gown was plain. They also began to plait the
hair, which fell down by the side of the face to the neck, and they
profusely decorated it with pearls or gold or silver ornaments. Jeanne,
Queen of Navarre, wife of Philippe le Bel, is represented with a pointed
cap, on the turned-up borders of which the hair clusters in thick curls on
each side of the face; on the chest is a frill turned down in two points;
the gown, fastened in front by a row of buttons, has long and tight
sleeves, with a small slit at the wrists closed by a button; lastly, the
Queen wears, over all, a sort of second robe in the shape of a cloak, the
sleeves of which are widely slit in the middle.

At the end of the thirteenth century luxury was at its height at the court
of France: gold and silver, pearls and precious stones were lavished on
dress. At the marriage of Philip III., son of St. Louis, the gentlemen
were dressed in scarlet; the ladies in cloth of gold, embroidered and
trimmed with gold and silver lace. Massive belts of gold were also worn,
and chaplets sparkling with the same costly metal. Moreover, this
magnificence and display (see chapter on Private Life) was not confined to
the court, for we find that it extended to the bourgeois class, since
Philippe le Bel, by his edict of 1294, endeavou