Synopsis
Em and Jesse talk about Italian sumptuary laws, which unlike the British ones, were more aimed at women. Then they talk about fashion “dos” of the middle ages.
Notes
1/ So, the difference between having a title and being part of the peerage is this. In America, when you earn a lot of money, you get to be part of a special club where you are allowed to accumulate “social dollars” (rizz, street cred, social capital, whatever) and then spend it to get stuff you want (meet Taylor Swift, drive an F1 car, sit at the 50 yard line at the Superb Owl, shoot yourself into outer space). We don’t have a real “nobility” here, we have the rich and famous and everyone else. In the UK, you can be rich but you can’t buy your way into the peerage. And this is why the British class system is the way it is (rigid). Peers make the laws (remember that the House of Lords still exists). When I say baronets and knights aren’t noble, I mean they’re not peers. (This gets very complex, because some titles are hereditary and some are not, the king can write special things into your letters patent, etc. But the bottom line is James I started using the title baronet as a way of getting rich merchants to give the crown money in exchange for being able to be called Sir and pull rank on a limited number of knights.) Or at least I think this is how things are.
2/ It’s like the set up to an Onion article, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Patrick Stewart called upon to raise troops for British invasion of France…
3/ Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: this council did a lot of famous stuff. Very important!
4/ Married saints: St Therese of the Little Flower (Lisieux) was not married. But her parents are the only (to date) married couple to be canonized: Sts Louis and Zelie Martin. St Catherine of Sweden is the daughter of St Bridget of Sweden (c1303–1373).
5/ Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood.
6/ Medieval slashed sleeves–see some awesome medieval and early modern slashing here!
Diane Owen Hughes “Sumptuary Law and Social Relations in Renaissance Italy” in Disputes and Settlements: Law and Human Relations in the West ed. John Bossy; 69–99.
7/ There’s a Frog and Toad story where Toad winds up finding a bunch of buttons and sewing them onto his coat. The story about the illegal buttons reminded me of it.
Our Flag Means Death, s1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prQDst-tAJ8
8/ Allison Fizzard, “Shoes, Boots, Leggings, and Cloaks: The Augustinian Canons and Dress in Later Medieval England” from the Journal of British Studies 46(2), 245–262.
Jesse and I went to Rome once and played “identify the order” based on the vestments of various monks and nuns in the Vatican. [Still 100% possible!–Jesse]
9/ No shade to community theater; I know ya’ll work hard. [The real backbone of the theatrical community!–Jesse]
10/ Buttons for ornamentation: you can actually get suit coats with ornamental buttons on the cuffs. It makes me feel happier to know this has a medieval origin, because it does feel like a cheaper choice by the manufacturer. [It was the cheaper choice in the Middle Ages too, but it was meant to look fancy!–Jesse]
11/ As mentioned in the last episode, Em did a reading and a panel about historical accuracy in fantasy writing about the middle ages; they’re on youtube:
Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDSlNulRx6s
Panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcjyH749eH8
Podcast: Play in new window | Download