Of Virtue Rare by Linda Simon

Author:Linda Simon [Simon, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2016-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

VIII - Bosworth

True hope is swift and flies with swallow’s wings;

Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.

RICHARD III, Act 5, Scene 2

IN 1485, the population of England numbered some four and a half million. Of these, only twenty families made up the higher nobility. A merchant class was rising, but poverty was endemic. Wandering beggars roamed the roads and swarmed into London across the only span that crossed the Thames, London Bridge. The nine-hundred-fifteen-foot expanse of wood and stone was lined with four-and five-story buildings, some arcading the roadway. Beneath the bridge, oblivious of the turmoil of London life, thousands of swans floated peacefully.

Beggars made travel perilous, and many who journeyed recited a litany of rhymes: “A Charm Against Robbers,” “A Charm Against Thieves,” “A Charm for Travellers.” Some of the aggressive beggars were poor students who found solicitation in fine English or Latin a way of acquiring a small subsistence. Begging became so popular that restrictions had to be enacted, and no scholar was allowed to beg on the highways until the chancellor of the university duly determined his poverty and provided him with a certificate. The student-beggars, often armed with the swords they considered indispensable, were aggressive adolescents and were no less a threat to the innocent traveler than were less educated vagrants.

Life was characterized by risk and danger, but also by gaiety, exuberance, and a love of display. Those who could, tried to keep up with the latest fashions, which by the late fifteenth century were extremely stylized. Padding was used to create wide shoulders for men’s abbreviated tunics, which reached only a few inches below the waist. Women’s gowns were long, high-waisted, and often bore a flowing train. Most intriguing were the women’s elaborate headdresses, so heavy that a small cap of wire netting beneath was necessary to lessen the discomfort and strain on the head. Shoes reached an absurdity in width and had broad, blunt toes, where only decades before they had had pointed toes curling so far up the leg that attachments were needed to prevent the wearer from tripping on his own feet.

Dress delineated class, and sumptuary laws were passed at intervals to prevent the lesser classes from assuming noble postures. In 1464, for example, no one below a lord or knight of the Garter — or his wife — could wear purple, cloth of gold, velvet, or sable; the fine for infraction was twenty marks. The wearing of satin or ermine by those of low estate was fined ten marks. An income of forty shillings a year was necessary to permit the wearer to sport scarlet cloth and any fur except lamb. The lower classes were doomed to cloth that cost less than eleven pence per yard, and girdles fastened with anything but silver.

The well-dressed man wore a shirt, breeches, short jacket, long coat, stomacher (similar to a jeweled cumberbund), hose, socks, and shoes. Shirts were edged with lace embroidered with silk, especially at the collar and cuffs. Women’s cloaks were

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