Prefix: A short version of this post is also available in Dutch. An extensive article on medieval women's caps and the cap of St. Birgitta (a Swedisch saint of the 14th century) is to be found in: Dahl, C.L. & I. Sturtewagen, 2008, The Cap of St. Birgitta, Medieval Clothing and Textiles vol. IV, pp. 99-129.
1. Maciejowski Bible
White fabric caps can relatively often bee seen on women in medieval art from the 13th to 15th centuries. Examples are known from Italy, France, The Low Countries, Scandinavia, ... These images can teach us much about how the caps were constructed and how they were worn. Fig. 3 in particluar is very interesting because we can see the ties are not two seperate ribbons, but form a loop. On fig. 4 a seam on the back of the cap is clearly visible.
2. Tacuinum Sanitatis, c.1390, Paris, BNF, MS. Lat. Acq. 1673, fol. 11r.
3. Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, Frankrijk, c.1475-1500, Glasgow University, MS Hunter 252, fol. 186r.
4. Liturgische kalender uit Kamerijk, 1275-1300, Den Haag, KB, 76 J 18, fol. 211v.
Also written sources give information about women's caps. The word that is regularly used in Dutch witten sources is 'huve' or 'huvete'. The word 'huve' is not exclusively used for female headgear, but also for men's. For a more detailed discussion about the terminology of women's caps see Dahl, C.L. & I. Sturtewagen, 2008, The Cap of St. Birgitta, Medieval Clothing and Textiles vol. IV, pp. 99-129.
Item off twe vrouwespersonen sick onder een ander dat huvete afftogen kijflicken, dat is vijff marck, Westerw. Landr. 53, 3 (Source: Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek).
TRANSLATION: About two women who quarreled and ripped each others 'huvete' [= cap] away, that makes five 'marck' [=monetary unit].
Van huven, die sy voir mire vrouwen gecoft hadde, Oorl. v. Albr. 308 (Source: Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek).
TRANSLATION: Of 'huven' [=caps], that she had bought for my lady.
Other written sources (eg. the ca. 1370 Bruges Livre des Métiers) tell us that huves could be made in silk or in linen and that they were often worn underneath a veil, which makes total sense. This may be the cause of the fact that women's caps are much more rare in iconographic sources than the well known male coifs. However this does not necessarily mean that they were worn less regularly. Also the caps for a good base for pinning upper veils to, and they are a less labour intensive alternative to knotted silk hairnets.
5. The cap of Saint Birgitte in the Birgittine Convent in Uden, photo's by Isis Sturtewagen.
An original medieval cap (dating between the 13th and 16th centuries) is in the posession of the Birgittine Convent in Uden, The Netherlands. This cap is believed to have been Saint Birgitta's of Sweden and is kept as a relic. On this original the ties were broken, so it is not completely clear wether it were two seperate ties of one loop similar to the cap in fig. 4 however it is very probable they formed a loop. This is also how the cap was restored during the conservation in the ealry 1970's.
6. Arrangement of the cap, Medieval clothings and textiles vol. 4. Fig 6.11 p. 122
The women's caps could have been worn in different ways, depending on how long the loop was en how many times it could be wrapped around the head. The method above is the same as we can see in the Maciejowski Bible and Tacuinum Sanitatis.
7. Reconstruction of the cap of Saint Birgitta by Isis Sturtewagen (nevermind the modern clothing)
Above is my own attempt on making a women's cap. It is made out of linen and lacks the emroidery that was found on the cap of Saint Birgitte. I plan on making a silk 'huve' somewhere in the future which will have all the embroidery applied to it.
I showed you a couple of reconstructions of the cap in
a previous post on this blog. Catharina Oksen (from the Middelaldercentret in Denmark) has also made a
lovely reconstruction (text in Danish).