Working Bibliography

Calkin, Siobhain Bly. “Marking religion on the body: Saracens, categorization, and The King of Tars.” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 104.2 (2005): 219+. World History in Context. Web. 3 Oct. 2016. http://prox.miracosta.edu/login?url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Journals&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=WHIC&search_within_results=&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA406902224&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=ocea63505&jsid=7f790684dd5c2cc4fec0c80472e6613a

This article is a dissection of the tale of The King of Tars, which examines the challenges of distinguishing between a Saracen, people who live in desert areas, and a Christian and the possible negative implications of failed categorization and differentiation. Belonging to a certain kinship was such a growing concern in the Middle Ages that councils were created, like the Council of Nablus and the Fourth Latern Council which passed laws, that established legal doctrines, like Gratian’s Decretum, that required Muslims, Jews and Christians to vary in costume. These wardrobe, and as described in the following citation, geographical boundary distinctions were to decrease peoples physical desires between differing groups by limiting contact in order to prevent interracial, intercultural and interfaith martial and sexual relations from occurring. However, the text goes on to warn that wardrobe alone does not warrant membership to a group but that if the woman were to convert and be truly transformed that this conversion would not only be naturally reflected through clothing but through biology as well. In conclusion, the beliefs in the Middle Ages, as is evidence in the tale of The King of Tars, are that biology, religion and costume are inextricable.

Cox-Rearick, Janet. “Power-Dressing at the Courts of Cosimo De’ Medici and François I: The “moda Alla Spagnola” of Spanish Consorts Eléonore D’Autriche and Eleonora Di Toledo.” Artibus Et Historiae 30.60 (2009): 39-69. Web. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25702881?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Eleonore d’Autriche and Eleonora di Toledo are two women of nobility who were raised in the imperial dominions of the Spanish court. As societal women they were expected to marry to other men of nobility particularly when those marriages involved the acquisition of territory, forming allegiances and ending war, for instance. Even when Eléonore was married to François I, King of France, and Eleonora was betrothed to Cosimo de Medici, Duke of Florence, they still chose to wear traditional Spanish fashions. The two European consorts openly defied the traditional dress of their new homelands by continuing to don Spanish influenced dress throughout their reign including during entrée or entrata ceremonies (a right of membership ceremony). These public displays of allegiance to the imperial court of Spain through costume were met with praise from some and resentment from others.

Currie, Elizabeth. “Fashion Networks: Consumer Demand and The Clothing Trade in Florence from The Mid-Sixteenth to Early Seventeenth Centuries.” Journal of Medieval & Early Modern Studies 39.3 (2009): 483-509. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.prox.miracosta.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=a39381f0-3f13-4204-92ac-f1223e261688%40sessionmgr4010&hid=4104

 Fashionable Florentines were a visual reminder of the sophisticated local network of economic and social relationships as well as an indicator of their financial, cultural, social and aesthetic distinction. Foreign textiles were available in Florence, but they were somewhat limited and were monitored closely as Florentines and Italians in general preferred to buy local goods and they developed close working relationships with the mercers, merchants, and artisans with which they worked. Due in part to this close working relationship that families had with craftsmen and women they were also deeply involved with managing the overall process from start to finish in the production of their clothing and one dress would have also commonly required the expertise and skill of 20+ craftsmen and women. The author highlights a few of the most prominent families of the time which had such a working relationship such as the Medici’s and Machiavelli’s. The purchasing and selling of garments on credit and the fact that some of the artisans may have even been family members and/or friends helped strengthen the bond and commitment between consumer and retailer/manufacturer. This close working relationship also suggests that the design of clothing was really a group effort between the family and artisans rather than previous assumptions that the consumer pushed fashion trends. Highly specialized and individualized skills for each piece of a garment were soon slowly replaced by a few artisans who specialized in a number of the processes towards the end of the 16^th to the beginning of the 17^th century.

Fewster, Kathryn J. “The Role of Agency and Material Culture in Remembering and Forgetting: An Ethnoarchaeological Case Study from Central Spain.” Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 20.1 (2007): 89-114. History Reference Center. Web. 3 Oct. 2016. http://prox.miracosta.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.prox.miracosta.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=26701371&site=hrc-live

The author discusses using various methods, as described by different theorists, to explain social remembering and forgetting and some possible pessimistic as well as optimistic reasons for such mentalities and behaviors. She investigates the history of two villages, Solosancho and Villaviciosa, that are found within the Castilla y León region of Spain. Since interracial, intercultural and interfaith martial relations in Christian society are essentially forbidden, as is detailed by the previous citation, then drawing geographical boundaries is only logical to limit contact between differing groups in order to prevent physical desires from forming as well as wars being waged due to those lustful desires. Although seemingly a bit off topic, the history in this source provides yet one more piece of evidence to my thesis that social structures were crucial to kinship as demonstrated via costume, so much so that Christianity fought long and hard at arbitrary geological borders to maintain ethnic segregation and partly because of these skirmishes, ethnic segregation laws were enacted. Either way, there are records of conflicts between Muslims and Christians in the areas just south of the Gredos mountains in Spain as where ethnic differences converged.

Hodges, Laura F. “Reading Griselda’s Smocks in the Clerk’s Tale.” The Chaucer Review 44.1 (2009): 84-109. Web. http://www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/pdf/25642132.pdf

This break down of Chaucer’s The Clerks Tale serves as a description of the variety seen in smocks from the very basic hemp and animal hid ones to the over elaborately decorated smock of linen and/or silk with embroidery called blackwork. Even the name smock is varied depending on chronology and region and can also be called chemise, shift, shert (e), camisia, camica, camise, sark or serke, but they all describe the, “…traditional undergarment, denned by Jacqueline Herald as the ‘functional washable layer of clothing worn between the skin and the outer woolen or silk garments’”. The synopsis is meant to provide a deeper comprehension of Chaucer’s costume descriptions particularly his detailed imagery of the smock in The Clerk’s Tale. Laura Hodges uses the history of the smock as well as its context in other historical documents and other scholars research to fully paint a picture of the smocks importance. The author pays particular attention to Griselda’s conversion to Christianity, her status transcendence from commoner to nobility and back, and how the story can be told through, and is directly reflected by, the description of her basic “worn” smock made of poor fabric to a Marchioness whose smocks were constructed of the finest materials appropriately decorated.

Patch, Diana Craig. “A “Lower Egyptian” Costume: Its Origin, Development, and Meaning.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 32 (1995): 93-116. Web. http://www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/40000833?&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

This article details the differences in costume between Upper and Lower Egypt with an emphasis on the variation of beads and beading and how they differ between the two region as well as between Kingdoms and Dynasties. The author focuses on the beaded apron and hip drape and pays special attention to the amulet, a falcon or sparrow like bird commonly present in both Upper and Lower Egyptian attire. She also discusses which pharaohs would have donned the papyrus-flower beads versus the lily beads, for example, and their possible symbolic meanings. This source includes primary sources of Lower Egyptian reliefs as well as drawings and pictures of the restrung beads based on evidence, although there is some dispute to the accuracy of the restrung hip drape. The author also states that certain beading patterns, such as with the apron, are distinctive and invariable while the hip drape as difficult to discern due to its variation and limited representation. In conclusion the papyrus and the lotus beads are another discerning element of royal Egyptian costume.

Roccos, Linda Jones. Ancient Greek Costume: An Annotated Bibliography, 1784-2005. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2 Oct. 2016. http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.prox.miracosta.edu/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzg4NjI4OF9fQU41?sid=faaa66ba-d24b-4010-b311-15c4b32032c5@sessionmgr4009&vid=0&format=EB&rid=1

The authors introduction describes how costume can act as a primary language of sorts since it is the first thing that people see, how, even upon first glance, it discerns “friend from foe and peasant from prince” and how costume both simultaneously unites and divides. This source serves as a reference to Ancient Greek costume studies and is not itself a study of Greek costume. The author briefly discusses costume from the Archaic period to Antiquity and how definitive regional and chronological lines cannot necessarily be drawn mostly due to variations in nomenclature in historical documentations. Within this resource the author provides examples of costume variations such as how, “a young girl appears in a belted peplos in Athens (in Attica) and an open unbelted peplos in Sparta (in Laconia)”, as well as references to scholars in various costume fields of interest. This is a good starting point for further studies into Ancient Greek costume as it touches on the wide variety of garment nomenclatures, ways in which the same garment is used differently based on region and/or time as well as the difficulty and accuracy in deciphering between these facts.

Rublack, Ulinka. “The Birth of Power Dressing.” History Today 61.1 (2011): 20-27. History Reference Center. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.prox.miracosta.edu/hrc/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=55e31f92-22c0-426f-a351-87059b7576f9%40sessionmgr2&bdata=JnNpdGU9aHJjLWxpdmU%3d#AN=58087890&db=khh

With increased exploration in the Renaissance, particularly overseas, people began to think more about how they felt and appeared and concerned themselves with how they would appear to future generations as well. A heightened self-awareness began to develop in conjunction with the Humanist Reform that emphasized the importance of spirituality and justified materialism as virtuous and as a way to increase individuality and human happiness, all essential pieces to the movement. Even the Puritans and Protestants believed in these values due to the fact that it removed the excess and extravagance from the “narrow elite” thereby, in a way, preventing the republic’s decline, as experienced by ancient Rome. With increased interactions between countries, nation-states and “New Worlds”, trade and access to quality made goods constructed by skilled craftsmen previous centuries individuals were more able to pursue such values. Constant change was not met with open arms by everyone, however, as the Moralists thought that rapid change seemed “threatening and corrupting” and that dressed actually shaped mentalities. This belief led to an increase in sumptuary laws in Italy, although they were often suspended when foreign dignitaries visited, and other beliefs that foreign clothing would also make someone lascivious and put them at higher risk for other immoral behaviors. Despite these counter balance movements and clothing legislation, fashion persisted allowing certain colors like yellow to be highly sought after by the wealthy eventually trickling down to commoners and even prostitutes. The ability for fashion to move down the social scale was a new concept that originated in the Italian Renaissance. Also acting as a counterbalance softer pastel colors were stylish and various shades of black for both sexes were popular which conveyed the message of sumptuous restrain. The ability for fashion to move down the social scale was a new concept that originated in the Italian Renaissance.