Medieval Women and Bikinis--A Coda

Engraving by Israhel van Meckenem (Wikimedia Commons)

Professor Beatrix Nutz, who is studying the late medieval undergarments found in Lengberg Castle, has written a short, informal article about the finds for the August 2012 issue of BBC History Magazine.  I was able to find a copy of the relevant issue at my favorite local bookstore, and read the article. (Pages 43-46.) Because the article contains some facts I had not run across with regard to the Lengberg finds so far, it seemed like a public service to post about the subject one last time before Professor Nutz's formal study of the finds is published in NESAT XI.

The most interesting information in the article is that, contrary to my previous understanding, there are a few artworks that show women wearing or donning underpants.  However, those artworks are invariably pictures of "a world turned upside down", as Professor Nutz says in the article,  or, more precisely, pictures showing a woman usurping male authority and prerogatives.  The 15th century engraving above (which also appears in the BBC History Magazine article) is one such image.  It boldly depicts a woman literally "putting on the [under]pants" while she lifts her distaff to hit her spouse with it.  Clearly, the issue of women wearing pants of any kind was already a sensitive point in 15th century Europe; apparently,  Western distaste for women in pants did not suddenly emerge in Europe in the Victorian era.  

Professor Nutz's article also discusses the fact that some 16th century women, at least in Italy, wore drawers. She observes that two royal Italian women (Eleanor of Toledo and Maria de Medici) owned one or more pairs. I knew about these undergarments, which were not bikini-like at all; they were more like Victorian pantalettes in shape. Bella has a selection of pictures of surviving Italian women's drawers on the Realm of Venus website.

So the idea that underpants in general were masculine already existed in Europe in the late medieval/early Renaissance period, and suggests that most women wouldn't have worn them--or at least, that a woman might not have admitted to wearing them if she could avoid doing so. 

Finally, the BBC History Magazine article notes that the bikini-shaped underpants I discuss in my last post were "repaired three times with linen patches, now overlaying one another." (Page 44)  Apparently (as one would expect with underwear) that undergarment was washed often and much used, which probably contributes to the absence of visible stains on the Lengberg bikini.   I don't know enough about the effectiveness of testing archaeological fibers to ascertain the materials present in a stain, but I suspect most underwear that is likely to be found will not yield much information from such a test, due to frequent washing as well as the passing of time.  EDIT (8/29/2012):  (struck in light of comment by synj-munki below). Perhaps Professor Nutz's NESAT paper will reveal whether any such testing was attempted on the Lengberg finds, and, if so, what information it yielded.