CLEARANCE 14th-15th c. Womens Linen ‘Lancelot du Lac’ Cotehardie

Our new 14th century gown is a form of cotehardie based on contemporary artwork, specifically the splendid examples in the Lancelot du Lac manuscript (c.1380). This magnificently illustrated rendition of Chretien de Troyes’ account of the quest for the Grail, was produced for the court of Bernarbo Visconti, Count of Milan, and it remains one the most cherished pictorial sources for fashion, arms, and armour in aristocratic courts of the late 14th century.

The gowns depicted in Lancelot are of a classic form that was particularly popular in northern Italy and France during the last quarter of the 14th century: a gown fitted in the torso with a front-closure, flaring from the hips into full skirts and a short train. The arms are generously full to the elbow, at which point they significantly taper to follow the line of the forearm. The sleeve buttons from elbow to the cuff with cast, metal buttons, as is depicted in the manuscript. We have followed contemporary artwork by seaming the sleeve at the elbow and making the lower sleeve out of a contrasting color of fabric. This was a common, and particularly attractive, feature of the Italian cyprianae, which we have faithfully reproduced.

The gowns shown in the Lancelot manuscript are meant to represent the clothing of a royal court, and their real-world counterparts would have been cut and sewn to fit each customer. Because they are a very difficult garment to fit “off the rack”, we have departed from what is illustrated for the garment’s closure. While these are universally buttoned in the Lancelot manuscript, this again requires customers to either have a tailored garment, or to wear their cotehardie with a loose fit. Not satisfied with this, we have chosen to use the same front-lacing placket design that has made our early 15th century front-laced gown so popular, and allows a better fit for a wider variety of body-types. Lacing was a common alternative amongst middle-class and aristocratic ladies of the late 14th century.  Our standard lace is a natural color or you can get black for an additional charge. The cyprianae itself was always side or back-laced, while front-laced “cottardite” in “French fashion”, are specifically denoted in the trousseau of Valentina Visconti, upon her 1389 marriage to Charles V son Louis, the Duke of Orleans. This combination of function and fashion creates a unique gown that is easy to dress yourself in, yet would look at home in the illustrated pages of a 14th century romance.

Our Lancelot du Lac gown is available in linen with a linen contrast lower sleeve. All edges are finished or fully enclosed, improving both aesthetics and durability. As was done in the 14th century, the cotehardie can be worn alone over a linen undergown, or beneath a sideless surcoat, exposing to the belt worn at the hips.