Subject: nobleman, gentleman
Culture: Tudor English
Setting: late Tudor / Elizabethan period, England mid-late 16thc
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
Wrightson 1982 p23-24
"There was no doubt among contemporary commentators that gentlemen occupied a place of special estimation in the social order. The very term 'gentlemen' was employed by them as a group expression, implying a certain homogeneity of social position and identity of interests, perhaps even a collective consciousness, which was attributed to no other single social group -- though they might on occasion speak broadly of 'the common people', or 'the poor'. Gentlemen stood apart, and the possession of gentility constituted one of the most fundamental dividing lines in society. At the same time, however, it was recognized that the line dividing gentlemen from the rest in the body of society was a permeable membrane and that the collective identity of gentlemen concealed a considerable degree of internal differentiation. ....
"In the first place gentlemen as a whole were not a legally defined group in English society. Different degrees of gentility were defined with more or less precision. Thus the peerage of dukes, earls, marquises, viscounts and barons was distinguished by its heritable titles, its favoured position before the law, and its privileged parliamentary status. Lords were born or created by the crown. .... Knights were created by the monarch for service and, more generally, from among those of armigerous family who could afford the accoutrements of a knight ... They were in fact sparingly created among crown servants and leading county families under Elizabeth I, more lavishly under her successors. Below the knights in the scale of precedence came esquires, officially including the heirs male and descendants of heirs male of the yunger sons of peers; the heirs male of knights; certain office holders (such as Justices of the Peace) who held the title by courtesy; and finally those whose direct male ancestors had held the title by long prescription. Gentlemen were in strict definition the younger sons and brothers of esquires and their heirs male."
* Nye 1993 p26-27
"In the mid-sixteenth century, the system of English honor closely resembled the French. Great lords commanded political allegiance on the basis of personal oaths of loyalty; as in France the alliances forged on these bonds were unstable and ephemeral. English gentlemen dueled to protect their honor and enjoyed a monopoly of the practice, as did their Gallic brethren. There was an intimate relation n England between blood and lineage, which 'predisposed to honorable behavior.' And there was the same urgent drive that required men of honor to affirm their status in violent deeds of renown.
"Yet, more effectively than their Valois and Bourbon cousins, the Tudor monarchs managed to capture for the English state the loyalty men of honor once felt for regional political communities. They did this by championing a unifying dynastic religious credo, so men could serve God and country, adn by their patronage of a humanist and cosmopolitan education, which made learning virtuous and honored service to the state. Tudor absolutism may have been short-lived, but it succeeded in crushing in a few generations the noble 'honor communities' that had compromised the chief resistance to the state-building process. The French nobility not only took much longer to subdue, but absolutism left untouched its feudal, regional, and military prerogatives.
"England also experienced in the era a degree and quality of social and economic change that largely bypassed France. A vigorous capitalism and a prosperous gentry encouraged English nobles to cultivate marital and business alliances with their lesser brethren, which both watered down 'blood,' and made it and the life it sustained more dear. In his celebrated attack on the duel, Bacon advanced an argument that 'It is in expense of blood as it is in expense of mony. It is no liberality to make a profusion of mony upon every vaine occasion, not noe more it is fortitude to make effusion of blood except the cause bee of worth.' Summing up these developments, James has argued,
Against these winds of intellectual mutation and social change, some aspects of honour stood relatively firm. There could be no whole-hearted rejection of blood and lineage in a society for which this was still a central concept. But uncertainty about the status of heredity in relation to other aspects of honour increased, with a proneness to present honour, virtue and nobility as detachable from their anchorage in pedigree and descent."
* Richardson 2015 p5
"... Mary (reigned 1553-58) and Elizabeth (reigned 1558-1603) ... presided over a thriving court in which the wearing of armour and arms not only reflected the fashionable tastes of the nobility, but also their military careers. Many of the politicians and courtiers were warriors too, and the age was one of almost continual conflict as the wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants were played out on the European stage."
* Wrightson 1982 p19
"The broad structure of society emerges clearly enough, yet the social order was also far too complex to be anatomized in terms of any single criterion. It had burst through the constraints of traditional classifications into functional 'orders' and only with difficulty could its component parts be adequately identified.
"William Harrison's scheme of society can provide an example. Of the four 'degrees of people' distinguished by Harrison, the first degree consisted of gentlemen. Though internally differentiated into the titular nobility, knights, esquires and 'last of all they that are simplie called gentlemen', this group was defined in general as 'those whome their race and blood or at least their vertues doo make noble and knowne'."
* Norris 1938 p524
"The differences in social grade during the Elizabethan era are so clearly expressed by William Harrison that his own words are better than any modern description. Thus he wrote: 'We in England divide our people commonly into four sorts, as gentlemen, citizens or burgesses, yeomen, and artificers or labourers. Of gentlemen the first and chief (next the King) be the prince, dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons, and these are called gentlemen of the greater sort, or (as our common usage of speech is) lords and noblemen: and next unto them be knights, esquires, and last of all they that are simply called Gentlemen.' He disapproves, however, of young men going abroad to sow their wild oats. 'Noblemen's and mean gentlemen's sons are foolishly sent to Italy, from whence they bring home nothing but mere Atheism, infidelity, vicious conversation, and ambitions and proud behaviour, whereby it commeth to pass that they return far worse men than they went out.' No wonder that when later on some of them became courtiers, although they were most learned knowing many languages and writing well, they had the reputation of being the biggest liars out."
Costume
* Condra 2009 p70-71 (Sara M Harvey, "The northern Renaissance" p61-78)
"In the second half of the sixteenth century, the width of the male silhouette narrowed. While some padding was still used, it was nowhere near as unrealistically proportioned as previous decades. Doublets were worn cut closer to the body but often had a protruding belly that was stuffed with padding. This odd shaping was known as the 'peascod belly.' Doublets in general were far more structured, often stiffened with reed or whalebone. By and large, they closed with a series of many small, round buttons, although some were held together with ties tipped with aglets. The doublet's shoulders were capped in a narrow epaulet or sleeve roll that extended slightly over the sleeve, or the armhole could be ringed with tabs (shaped pieces of fabric) or picadils (fabric loops). These additions gave width to the shoulders without the cumbersome padding. Tabs and picadils were also used to trim the bottom of the doublet in place of or even in addition to skirting.
"Jerkins, or sleeveless jackets, were still worn over doublets for many nobles and worn on their own by the lower classes. Jerkins often were made with epaulets, very small rolls, tabs, or picadils at the shoulder, especially if they were the primary garment or worn over a doublet that had no shoulder decoration. Jerkins could also be closed with buttons or ties.
"The very full, very short breeches known as pumpkin, kettle, or onion breeches were very fashionable for court dress, often worn over full-length hose. Canions were leggings often worn in conjunction with the very shortest of breeches, the culots. Culots were hardly more than a set of padding worn around the hips and were usually not even seen below the skirting of the doublet. The canions were laced to those culots and usually came to just below the knee. They were a close fit, but not tight. Instead of hose, stockings were usually worn when canions were used, and sometimes the stockings were worn pulled up over the knee. For everyday wear, Venetian breeches were worn. Large, outlandish codpieces were no longer worn by men. While codpieces were often still used, they were usually of a small, utilitarian scale and well hidden by the deep gathers at the waist of the popular styles of breeches, all of which were very full though the hips. [SIC]
* Capwell 2012 p97-98
"The idea that the Italians had somehow debased the honourable pursuit of swordsmanship by applying scientific theory to it, thus transforming it into a much deadlier, more murderous activity, resonated with English audiences, who were often suspicious of foreign culture. Such suspicions were not by any means limited to aspects of swordsmanship, but applied to all external, and at this time especially Italian, influences. Rapier and clothing fashions were attached, literally and metaphorically, at the hip; the xenophobic concern about foreign fencing methods being practiced in England was mirrored by a distrust of Continental costume. Shakespeare's fellow dramatist Robert Greene, in A Quip for an Upstart Courtier (first published in 1583), described foreign fashion as:
some monster ... a very passing costly paire of Velvet breeches, whole panes being made of the cheefest Neapolitane stuffe, was drawne out with the best Spanish satine, and marvellous curiously ouer wipt with gold twist, interleaved with knots of pearle, the Netherhocke was of teh purest Granade silck, no cost was spared to lett out these costly breeches, who had girt unto them a Rapyer and Dagger gilt, point pendante, as quaintly as if some curious Florentine had trickte them up to square it up and down the streetes.
.... as proudly as though they ahd there appointed to act some desperat combat.
... such a straunge headlesse Courtier lettinge up and downe like the Master of a Fence scoole about to plat his Prise.
... An Upstart, come out of Italy, begot of Pride, nursed by Self-love and brought into this countrey by his companion Newfanglenesse."
* Norris 1938 p524-525
"Many nobles and gentlemen attending on Her Majesty are shown in the drawings of Queen Elizabeth's coronation procession .... Two are given ... as being examples of the style fashionable at this time. .... The decorations of the doublet consists of six cuttes of varying length on the chest and three on each of the four tabs which form the basque: the large puffs on the shoulders are also decorated with them. The close-fitting sleeves are similarly treated with rows of very small cuttes. An upstanding collar is now an essential part of the doublet.
"... [T]he slops were gradually increasing in size .... Those worn by young Courteney are much more in evidence, and the latest are even more pronounced. .... The fashionable contour of slops is a slope from the waist to their widest at the base, where they turn up under, and surround the thigh.
".... The full material and panes are fixed to a hip-yoke, which is covered by a basque, to ensure a sloping line on the hips.
"When the full material which formed slops was covered with panes, they were said to be 'pansid.'
"The other gentleman wears the same kind of suit underneath a short coat cut on the semicircle plan. The coat has a wide open collar and puffed sleeves with rectangular false sleeves hanging from under the arm, the complete garment fastening with one button at the throat. Both gentlemen wear the same kind of hat ..., as also hosen, shoes, and swords slung by hangers from the waist-belt."
Rapier & Dagger
* Richardson 2015 p82
"The character of the swords carried by the nobility changed completely during the Tudor period. During Henry VIII's reign the basket-hilted broadsword evolved from the old, cross-guarded medieval sword. During Elizabeth's reign a completely new type of sword became popular, the rapier. This weapon with its complex guard and long, slender blade, was accompanied by a whole new style of swordsmanship, introduced by the new fencing masters of Italy and France, in which intricate play with the point replaced the cut and thrust of the broadsword. The new rapiers were often accompanied by matching daggers, and fencing with sword and dagger was a new skill expounded in the fencing manuals which became essential for the education of gentlemen. These new swords, like the armour and clothes with which they were worn, were often highly decorated, and became a status symbol for the wealthy as well as practical arms."
* Northern Branch Arms and Armour Society 1968
"Rapier fencing became a popular national pastime in England with the granting of a Royal Charter by Henry VIII, for the establishment of a 'Corporation of Maisters of Defence'."
* Capwell 2012 p97
"The role of weapons in everyday life was a subject of passionate debate in the late 16th century, as it is in many parts of the world today. The rapier was an especially provocative topic, because its role in society was multi-faceted. Arguments ranged from the fundamental to the specific. Some questioned the basic morality of the rapier as an idea, arguing that it was not appropriate to wear the rapier in a civilian context. Others accepted the rapier as a fact of life, but disagreed about how it should be used and what it should look like. Everything about the rapier was contentious -- the motivations behind its creation, its size and proportions, the extent of its decoration, and the virtues or weaknesses of the various fencing styles that employed it.
"The controversy was most virulent in England. A domestic tradition of swordsmanship had existed in England since the Middle Ages. However, despite some evidence for an early English interest in the Italian fashion for rapier fencing, it seems that Continental fencing trends took much longer to catch on in England than elsewhere. As J. Starkie Gardner observed, perhaps it was because 'It is the nature of Islands to exhibit some peculiarities in their fauna and flora, and this insularity is no less pronounced in the manners and customs of the human beings inhabiting them'. Whatever the reason, it is clear that Italian fencing theory and practice took longer to reach England than elsewhere. An Italian work on fencing was not translated into English until 1594 and it seems to have ignited fierce debate. The essential points of English objection seem to have become common knowledge by 1597, when William Shakespeare's play An Excellent conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet was first published. The work includes a number of illuminating references to Italian fencing method and English reactions to it. The fencing debate is presented by establishing the character of Mercutio as the critical English voice, while Tybalt is presented as the preening follower of the Italian fashion ....
"[....] Mercutio speaks in a disparaging way of 'fashionmongers', so obsessed with the 'new forme' of swordsmanship based on cold, scientific principles, the 'time, dystance and proportion'. Perhaps the most topical of all Mercutio's remarks is his dismissal of Tybalt as 'the very butcher of a silk button', apparently a direct reference to a celebrated boast of the Italian fencing master Rocco Bonetti that he could 'hit any English man with a thrust, just upon any button in his doublet'."
* Capwell 2012 p114
"In a style of fighting that, under the influence of the Italian masters, placed strong emphasis on the skilful [sic] control of 'measure' or distance, the length of the blade was extremely important. The fashion for very long duelling blades, which were useless in war, was frequently seen by civic authorities as a sign of the breakdown of social order, since t heir only purpose could be murder in streets and churchyards. The English crown attempted to regulate the length of rapier blades several times, first in 1557. The language of the first proclamation illuminates the contemporary attitude towards very long-bladed rapiers:
Divers naughty and insolent persons, have now of late attempted to make quarrells, riots, and frays .... And for the accomplishment of their naughty purposes and quarrells, have caused swords and rapiers to be made of a much greater length, then heretofore hath been accustomed, or is decent to use and wear .... Their highnesses minding to take away the occasion of such mischiefs and disorders, do straightly charge and command all and singular their justices of peace ... that from henceforth no person or persons, of what estate, or condition so ever he or they be, do use or wear by night or by day, nor sell any sword or rapier above the length of a yard and a half quarter in the blade at the most .... upon pain of the loss of such weapons so used or worn, contrary to the tenor and effect of this proclamation, and to suffer imprisonment of his or their bodies, and to make fine at their majestys will and pleasure.
The 1557 proclamation appears not to have had the desired result, for it was repeated in 1562, as the diarist and clothier Henry Machyn reported:
'The viij day of May was a proclamation of the act of array ... that no sword to be but a yard and a quarter of length the blade.'"
* Capwell 2012 p33
"In 1562 the government of Queen Elizabeth I issued a proclamation regulating the possession of rapiers which were [']sharpened in such sort, as may appear the usage of them can not tend to defence, which ought to be the very meaning of wearyng of weapons, in times of peace: but to murder, and evident death['].
"The opposition to long rapiers was buttressed, especially in England, by the strong argument that the rapier was utterly useless in war, giving ammunition to the feeling that it was somehow frivolous, irresponsible, even dishonourable. Sir John Smythe (c. 1537-1607), an Englishman with a long soldiering career behind him when he wrote his critical military treatise Certain discourses ... (1590), cited crucial faults in the rapier which ruled out its use on the battlefield. Their great length prevented them from being drawn in close ranks, but perhaps more importantly:
Swords being so long, do work in a manner no effect, neither with blowes nor thrusts where the press is so great, as in such actions it is; and the Rapier blades being so narrow, and of so small substance, and made of a very hard temper to fight in privat frays, in lighting with any blow upon armour, do presently break, and dso become unprofitable .... All which considered, their opinion of such long Swords, or Rapiers to be worn either by horsemen, or footmen armed, is very ignorant.
Yet these criticisms did not lessen the rampant, run-away popularity of the rapier among the fashionable elite, among whom 'private frays', as Smythe called them, were the height of fashion. The civilian sword designed for non-military combat, in duels, street-fights and street-wise self-defence, whose identity came to be defined by its very long, narrow, stabbing blade, became one of the quintessential icons of life during the High Renaissance."
* Capwell 2012 p113
"By the last quarter of the 16th century the rapier blade had grown very long. Extreme blade length was usually seen as a benefit in sword-play which emphasized movement in and out of distance as the primary defensive tactic, and angle of attack as the main offensive consideration. Among the numerous possible advantages, a longer rapier was foremost, and swordsmen therefore demanded even lengthier blades. In his Description of England (1577) the clergyman and historian William Harrison (1534-1593) wrote:
Seldom shall you see any of my countrymen above eighteen or twenty years old to go without a dagger at the least at his back or by his side, although they be aged burgesses or magistrates of any city, who in appearance are most exempt from brabbling and contention. Our nobility wear commonly swords or rapiers with their daggers, as doth every common servingman also that followeth his lord and master. Some desperate cutters we have in like sort which carry two daggers or two rapiers in a sheath always about them, wherewith in every drunken fray they are known to work much mischief; their swords and daggers are also of great length and longer than the like used in any other country, whereby each one pretendeth to have the more advantage of his enemy. But as many orders for the intolerable length of these weapons, so I see as yet small redress, but where the cause thereof doth rest, in sooth for my part I wot not."
"At the time, London was swept up in the moral panic surrounding the adoption of the rapier. Long, slender, and razor-sharp, the rapier was usually paired with a second weapon—a small, left-handed parrying dagger—rather than a shield. The dagger came to be elaborated into striking, creative forms—sawtoothed blades that could be used to capture and control the opponent’s sword, or 'trident' daggers that split into three at the press of a spring.
"To the eyes of English fencers, the rapier was a threateningly foreign instrument, one suited to a more aggressive fighting style. Yet advocates of the English style found themselves backed into a corner. They could argue that the rapier was a more dangerous weapon (Silver wrote lengthily of the 'great slaughters' it caused), but that reflected rather embarrassingly on their own swordsmanship."
* Marsden 2013 p16
"In England, the Italian master Giacomo Di Grassi taught the use of the rapier in the late 16th century. This was much to the annoyance of more traditional gentlemen such as George Silver, who saw the weapon, and the practice of dueling with it, as murderous."
