I just posted a fresh Renaissance English History Podcast on Fashion, Clothing, and Sumptuary Laws in Tudor and Elizabethan England. Below is the audio to listen, and the show notes are on the podcast website, englandcast.com.
Here are some fun things I learned this episode:
- Decorating a fur with jewelry, like sapphire claws or a ruby tongue, was a Thing. Henry VIII had two of them, sable, decorated with turquoise, with the aforementioned ruby tongues, and other fun things. You’d either drape it over your shoulder, or carry it around like a pet. Because carrying around bejeweled dead animals like they’re little pets is the height of fashion. Said no one ever.
- There was a semi-famous cross-dressing woman called Mary Firth in the 17th century who wore trousers, drank in public, smoked cigars, appeared on a stage, acted as both a fence and a pimp. She is an incredibly colorful cross-dresser.
- Everybody, not just Henry VIII, wore codpieces, which were just like zippers, only not.
- Sumptuary Laws were super detailed. And while they were mostly to make sure everyone dressed according to their status, they also helped the English economy by limiting imported fashions.
- Everyone, not just poor people, wore wool. Mostly as underwear or petticoats.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
