Turbans, Onions, & Cheese, Oh My

Turbans, Onions, & Cheese, Oh My

Women’s Headdresses in 16th Century Ireland by Bantiarna Máel Brigte ingen Aimirgin

Only secondary and tertiary sources of 16th century women’s headdresses in Ireland remain and those come from foreigners who often had a poor view of the Irish.  Foremost among them were the English, who colonized Ireland and justified it by claiming to civilize them by wiping out their culture, including fashion.

There are, however, enough commonalities between disparate sources that suggest they were more or less accurate despite any prejudices held by the writer or artist.

(Abbess)	(Unknown Woman)

The most unremarkable of the headwear reviewed here is probably the veils found on stone carvings at St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny.  An abbess from a fragment of a chest and the tomb of an unknown woman wear the round veils so common in earlier centuries throughout Europe.  It’s quite likely the simple style was worn by women of various walks of life the tomb of Preston Knight’s second wife from 1540 has her wearing what appears to be a square veil with a decorative repeating pattern.  As was the custom in pre-modern Europe, married women covered their hair while unmarried women went uncovered and sometimes loose, although they would sometimes wear ribbons in their braids. (Dunlevy 62)

(Eleanor Dowdall)	(de Heere)
(Weiditz)

The German Trachtenbuch (Weiditz) has an Irish woman wearing a veil over a tall structure of some kind, possibly even a double-horned hennin.  However, her garments don’t resemble anything described or depicted anywhere else, so it may very well be a fantastical imagining based on the descriptions of leines with their full sleeves and could be considered a dubious source.   

The only possible description that might validate this as a true fashion among Irish women is in Discourse of Ireland, “At Lymerick they weare rolles of lynnen, each roll containing twenty bandles of fyne lynnen clothe, and made up in forme of a myter.”  The Trachtenbuch headdress could possibly resemble a miter.

There are two instances of women wearing what’s commonly called the Onion Hat due to the peak that’s gathered rather like leaves sprouting from the top of an onion, which is emphasized with green panels by Lucas de Heere.  The base under the panels is red and both are most likely wool due to the vibrant colours and the stiffness of the green panels where they’re gathered by a small golden ring before curling outwards.  A white linen roll serves as the brim and a pink chin strap secures it atop her free-flowing hair.  Note the clear similarity in silhouette between her hat and the helm of the soldier to her left.  

(de Heere)

The Onion Hat in Kostüme der Männer und Frauen in Augsburg und Nürnberg, Deutschland, Europa, Orient und Afrika has red and white panels that appear to be sewn together rather than one set layered atop another.  At the peak, the curved points are yellow and again are gathered with a golden ring. Although the points are likely fulled wool, the crown sections could be of any combination of linen, wool, or silk.  The brim and chinstrap are of white linen.  The manuscript also contains an Irishman wearing a similar helm as does the man standing next to the woman in Lucas de Heere’s, so it may very well have been a military style that women adopted.

(Kostüme der Männer und Frauen in Augsburg und Nürnberg, Deutschland, Europa, Orient und Afrika)

Perhaps the most famous of Irish headwear is the Cheese Mould Hat, so called because both Fynes Moryson and Luke Gernon both compare them to presses used in making cheese.,  A length of linen appears to be wrapped around the head, creating a soft crown in the middle and the tails forming little folds hanging about the ears.  Much like headdresses worn in the Low Countries in the previous century, strips of linen were stitched together in the round and placed atop the wrapped veil.  The wealthier seem to have added small caps atop the linen, which were most likely wool as they’re reminiscent of contemporary caps found preserved in peat bogs.  These caps were imposed by the English to boost their wool industry as well as suppress Irish culture by imposing their own fashions. (Dunlevy 64)

(van der Weyden)	(A Sibyl)

      

(de Heere)	(de Heere)	(Derricke)

There’s a theory that after the birth of her first child, a woman would move from the simple veil or kerchief that indicated her married status to the more elaborate linen roll hat, which could vary in style according to region, after the birth of her first child.  For example, in the Sligo-Leitrim area, it would be “much doubled over the head and tied in front” according to Francisco de Cuellar in 1588. (Dunlevy 62)

(de Heere)

Lucas de Heere depicts two women wearing tall, black, curving hats worn atop linen draped in the same manner as that worn under the Cheese Mould style.  The height of the hats and the curvature would require stiffening – if not support formed from wire or reeds - such as that created by the felting process, which would indicate beaver or wool.  Beaver fur hats were popular elsewhere in Europe in the 16th century, albeit of very different types than de Heere’s, so it’s possible these are the beaver hats mentioned by Gernon.  One hat has the slimmest bit of red, suggesting that the crown or back of the front brim was of a different piece.

Some of the upper classes accepted English fashions that were pressed upon them as part of England’s colonization campaign, which included gifting clothing to the Irish in order to “civilize” them.  The tomb of Marion Sherle from 1589 is evidence of this practice.  Lady Barnewall’s effigy wears what the Nation Monument Service describes as a French hood, although the silhouette could arguably be a coif.  Either way, the style is not one known to be native to Ireland.

Possibly the most ubiquitous – in terms of indigenous sources - design is the double-horned hennin, which appears on several tomb effigies but only when paired with gowns that echo the houppelande.  These are elaborately embellished with ruffles, what could be embroidery, and in two cases what seems to be tiers of dagging cut in a leaf pattern (Margaret FitzGerald and effigy of an unknown woman).  All have short veils that drape down the back.  The English left no criticisms of the hennins nor the gowns, so they might have been reserved for ceremonial purposes and were not for everyday wear.

(Tomb of Piers Butler and Margaret FitzGerald)	(Tomb of a Plunket Knight and His Wife)

 

(Tomb of Thomas and Ellen Buttyler)	(Tomb of Honorina Grace)	(Effigy of a Woman)

Whether or not the contemporary art of foreigners is precisely accurate, it supports written and graven evidence that Irish women in the 16th century were very creative with their headwear and the English hated their fashions.

References

A Sibyl. National Gallery of Art, Nuremburg. Pen with black and grey ink and grey wash on laid paper. <https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.75811.html#inscription>.

Abbess. St. Canice's Cathedral. Fragment of Tomb Chest in East Gable of Sexton's House. Kilkenny, 16th Century. Fragment of Tomb Chest. <http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/25943?show=full>.

de Heere, Lucas. Universiteitsbibliotheek Gent. Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes. Gent, Mid-16th C. Watercolour or gouache. <https://lib.ugent.be/catalog/rug01:000794288/items/910000094764>.

Derricke, John. The chief of the MacSweynes seated at dinner and being entertained by a bard and a harper. Woodcut.

Dunlevy, Maired. Dress in Ireland. Essex: B.T. Bratsford Ltd., 1989.

Effigy of a Woman. St. Mary's Parish, Gowran. Tomb. <http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/16391?show=full>.

Eleanor Dowdall. Trinity's Access to Research Archive. Tomb of a Preston Knight & his Wife. Stamullen, C. 1450. Tomb effigy. <http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/39720?show=full>.

Heere, Lucas de. Irish man and Irish woman.

Kostüme der Männer und Frauen in Augsburg und Nürnberg, Deutschland, Europa, Orient und Afrika. Ausberg, C. 1500. <https://bildsuche.digitale-sammlungen.de/index.html?c=viewer&bandnummer=bsb00011752&pimage=00093&v=5p&nav=&l=en>.

Tomb of a Plunket Knight and His Wife. Church of St. Nicholas, Dunsany. Stone. <http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/39839?show=full>.

Tomb of Honorina Grace. St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny. Tomb. <http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/25811?show=full>.

Tomb of Piers Butler and Margaret FitzGerald. St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny. Stone. <http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/25836?show=full>.

Tomb of Thomas and Ellen Buttyler. Franciscan Friary, Clonmel. Tomb. <http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/40628?show=full>.

Unknown Woman. St. Canice's Cathedral. Tomb of an Unknown Woman. Kilkenny, 16th Century. Tomb Effigy. <http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/25780?show=full>.

van der Weyden, Rogier. Mary Magdalene. Musée du Louvre. The Braque Triptych. Paris, 1452. Oil on oak.

Walker, Joseph C. Historical memoirs of the Irish Bards : an historical essay on the dress of the ancient and modern Irish ; and a memoir on the armour and weapons of the Irish. 2nd. Dublin: J. Christie, 1818. <https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:103689#?c=&m=&s=&cv=103&xywh=-3571%2C-185%2C9077%2C3685>.

Weiditz, Christoph. Allso gand the women in Ireland. Germanisches National Museum. Tractenbuch. Nuremburg, 1540. Watercolour or gouache. <https://dlib.gnm.de/item/Hs22474/343>.