Medieval Clothing and Fabrics in the Middle Ages (by Melissa Snell)
In medieval times, as today, both fashion and necessity dictated what people wore. And both fashion and necessity, in addition to cultural tradition and available materials, varied across the centuries of the Middle Ages and across the countries of Europe. After all, no one would expect the clothes of an eighth-century Viking to bear any resemblance to those of a 15th-century Venetian.
So when you ask the question “What did a man (or woman) wear in the Middle Ages?” be prepared to answer some questions yourself. Where did he live? When did he live? What was his station in life (noble, peasant, merchant, cleric)? And for what purpose might he be wearing a particular set of clothes?
Types of Materials Used in Medieval Clothing
The many types of synthetic and blended fabrics people wear today were simply not available in medieval times. But this didn’t mean that everyone wore heavy wool, burlap, and animal skins. Different textiles were manufactured in a range of weights and could vary greatly in quality. The more finely woven the textile was, the softer and more costly it would be.
Various fabrics, such as taffeta, velvet, and damask were made from textiles like silk, cotton, and linen using specific weaving techniques. These were not generally available in the earlier Middle Ages, and were among the more expensive fabrics for the extra time and care it took to make them. Materials available for use in medieval clothing included:
By far the most common fabric of the Middle Ages (and the core of the flourishing textile industry), wool was knitted or crocheted into garments, but it was more likely woven. Depending on how it was made, it could be very warm and thick, or light and airy. Wool was also felted for hats and other accessories.
Almost as common as wool, linen was made from the flax plant and theoretically available to all classes. Growing flax was labor-intensive and making linen was time-consuming, however. Since the fabric wrinkled easily, it wasn’t often found in garments worn by poorer folk. Fine linen was used for the veils and wimples of ladies, undergarments, and a wide variety of apparel and household furnishings.
Luxurious and costly, silk was used only by the wealthiest of classes and the Church.
Less costly than flax, hemp and nettles were used to create workaday fabrics in the Middle Ages. Though more common for such uses as sails and rope, hemp may also have been used for aprons and undergarments.
Cotton doesn’t grow well in cooler climes, so its use in medieval garments was less common in northern Europe than wool or linen. Still, a cotton industry existed in southern Europe in the 12th century, and cotton became an occasional alternative to linen.
The production of leather goes back to prehistoric times. In the Middle Ages, leather was used for shoes, belts, armor, horse tackle, furniture, and a wide assortment of everyday products. Leather could be dyed, painted, or tooled in a variety of fashions for ornamentation.
In early medieval Europe, fur was common, but thanks in part to the use of animal skins by Barbarian cultures, it was considered too crass to wear in public. It was, however, used to line gloves and outer garments. By the tenth century, fur came back into fashion, and everything from beaver, fox, and sable to vair (squirrel), ermine, and marten was used for warmth and status.
Use the Medieval Monday Index to discover other topics relating to daily life in the Middle Ages.
The alerion is lord over all other birds. Bigger than an eagle, it has razor-sharp, fire-colored wings. However, this bird is also exceedingly rare. There is only one pair in the world at a time.
The parandrus (or tarandos) was a beast the size of an ox, with long, dark hair, and the antlers of a stag. It was able to hide itself by changing its appearance to blend in with its surroundings.
It is unclear if this creature was supposed to pose any threat, or if its exotic nature and abilities were merely a curiosity.
The cerastes is even more flexible than an ordinary serpent, and has horns protruding from the top of its head. There might be two, like those of a ram, or four small horns.
Ever heard of an aspidochelone? This sea-monster is similar to a whale, but it has spines along the ridge of its back, a turtle-shell, and a head like a snake.
No doubt you’ve heard of centaurs, which are generally good and noble creatures. But what about the onocentaur?
The onocentaur is often depicted carrying a club or bow for a weapon, and is sometimes seen working together with the siren, luring men to their doom.
A caladrius is a white bird, typically associated with royalty. Its excrement placed directly onto the eyes was said to cure blindness.
Here’s another strange one…a gryllus. This funny looking medieval “monster” has a head and legs, but no arms or body.
Scrolls and manuscripts dating back to the 13th and 14th century often contain marginalia–broad margins and blank space that was filled with different notes and drawings (you can read more about them in my previous post, (
Many fairy tales tell us that princesses spent years confined to towers waiting for knights to rescue them, little more than decorative pawns to be traded by their father. But the lives of historical princesses paint a very different picture. Here, through the lives of the five daughters of Edward I, historian Kelcey Wilson-Lee shares seven lessons on what it was to be a real medieval princess…
A marginal note written in Latin and buried deep within one of the 16 heavy registers used by to record the business of the archbishops of York between 1304 and 1405 first alerted archivists to the adventures of the runaway nun. “To warn Joan of Leeds, lately nun of the house of St Clement by York, that she should return to her house,” runs the note written by archbishop William Melton and dated to 1318.
While many crops and other goods were able to be moved by hand, or by using animal-drawn carts, boats were also an important mode of transportation in the Middle Ages. They could bear larger and heavier loads, and allowed merchants to trade over long distances. They brought goods into the medieval world from exotic places, sparking a desire for shorter, less difficult passages, which eventually led to world exploration. There were a variety of ships built and used in the Middle Ages, and there isn’t enough space in this post to explore them all. For today, I’m going to focus on those used by merchants, since they had the most impact on daily life.
For Northern Europe, the Cog was a standard merchant ship—though more accurately, it was a general term used for a variety of ships that had similar attributes. Cogs were built small at first, but with need and advances in ship building techniques, its size grew over time. The cog’s hull had high sides, and its bow and stern castles were all fortified. Though it did have oars for rowing, a single square sail was its primary means of propulsion. Cogs were difficult to sail as they were slow and not especially maneuverable. But their most distinguishing, and useful feature, were their wide, flat bottoms, which made them spacious vessels that could hold bulky loads. These ships could carry 200 tons of cargo, which was about ten times the amount that a Viking ship could hold. Cogs were able to travel along rivers, through the tidal coasts of Northern Europe, and in the shallow waters around the Low Countries. Built to be sturdy, they could be beached, and even run aground, without sinking.
One odd feature about the cog was that the horizontal deck planks were intentionally built with gaps between them, which allowed water to drain from the deck into the cargo hold below. There the water was pumped out with simple bilge pumps. This required some innovation when it came to packing and storing the cargo so that it wouldn’t get wet and be ruined before arriving at its destination. Therefore, most cargo was enclosed in very large (252 gallon) barrels, called “tuns” (from where we get the term tonnage).