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1. H. Pirenne, Medieval Cities, Doubleday, New York, 1925, pp.71-2.
2. Ibid., pp.64-6.
3. F. Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Phillip II Two Volumes, Fontana, London, 1981, I p.155.
4. Ibid.
5. R. de Roover, "The Organization of Trade" in Postan et.al., Trade and Industry in the Middle Ages, p.63.
6. Reginald of Durham, "Rags to Riches", in D.C. and J.H. Trueman, The Merchant's Domain: The Town McGraw Hill Ryerson, Toronto, 1973, pp. 9-10 and 15 -16.
7. R. De Roover, p.43.
8. B.Lewis, The Muslim Discovery of Europe, pp.186-7.
9. R.L.Reynolds, "Shall We Gather At the River" in Trueman, pp.15 -16.
10. De Roover p.42.
11. Ibid., p.119.
12. Ibid., p.122.
13. Ibid., p.120.
14. Ibid., p.125.
15. Ibid., p.127.
16. Snorri Sturlusson, King Harald's Saga: Harald Hardradi of Norway M.Magnusson (trans.), Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1982, p.64.
Chapter 10:
Revealing the Figure
The Crusades and the opening of trade routes which resulted from them had immediate and long term effects on women's fashion. Not least of these was an influence on women's attitudes to their physical appearance.
Women's bodies had long been ignored by an apparently indifferent male aristocracy consumed by war, or by a clergy which regarded women's bodies as sacks of (all too tempting) corruption. Now the female form began to appear through the materials of increasingly sensual fashion.
Of course, the increasing confidence of women in their own being was a slow and fitful occurrence. One should not look for an immediate and consistent change from Dark Age shabbiness to a High Medieval couture.
Rather, most of the changes that were wrought took place gradually over the centuries.
And in particular, the influence of the Crusades led to changes in the textiles, rather than in design.
Fabrics including silks, damasks, thin cottons and other soft materials were introduced. These affected styles, leading to costumes which could be finely pleated and gathered, thus tending to reveal the figure.1
The connection between the First Crusade and women's clothing, as well as men's, is apparent.
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