Bible Encyclopedias
Robes

Peers' Robes

As early as the end of the 14th century peers seem to have worn at their creation some kind of robe of honour; this we may conclude from the description of the investiture of the earl of Somerset in 1397 (Rot. Parl. iii. 343), which says: " le dit Monsieur John fut amesnee devant le Roy en Parlement entre deux Contes, c'est assavoir Huntyngdon et Mareschall, vestuz en un pane (Du Cange; pannus = 3. habitus vestimentum) come vesture de honor "; while in accounts of various creations of about the same time (Rot. Parl. iii. 205, 206) are used the words " advenienteque ... prefato Duce honorifice ... togato et ornato." An early illustration of their use is to be found in an illumination on the foundation charter of King's College, Cambridge (see fig. I), which represents the peers as From the foundation charter of King's College, Cambridge, 1446.

FIG. I. - Peers spiritual and temporal.

early as 1 44 6 wearing gowns, 'mantles and hoods of scarlet, furred with miniver, the mantle opening on the right shoulder and guarded with two, three or four bars of miniver, in the form of short stripes high up on the shoulder. The origin of these is as yet unknown, and it is not certain precisely when the peers' velvet robe of estate was first used. At the coronation of Henry VI. the king's own parliament robe was of scarlet and miniver (Gregory's Chronicle, ed. Gairdner, Camden Soc. pp. 165-70), so the peers' robes were certainly not yet of velvet; at that of Henry VII. (see Rutland Papers, 1842; " Device for the Coronation of Henry VII.") the king had a robe of crimson velvet and ermine, but the " lords temporall " are only said to have been " in their robes "; at that of Henry VIII. (see Hall's Chronicle) the king in his progress through the city wore a crimson velvet robe furred with ermine, " his knights and esquires for his body " wore crimson velvet, and " all the gentlemen," &c., scarlet, while we hear of the " lords spiritual and temporal, and of their costly and rich apparel, of several devises and fashions," and notably of the duke of Bucking ham's robe of gold and needlework (Stow's Annals, p. 813), which would show that the velvet robe of estate was not yet worn at the king's coronation. The duke of Richmond at his creation in 1525 (17 Henry VIII., see Brewer, State Papers, iv. 639) is described as clad in robes of estate, and the description of the investiture says that " the patent was read, the robe, sword, cap and circlet put on," and about this time references are found to the " parliament robes " of peers, implying that there were others.

An account of the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533, in J. Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. i. p. 1, says that in her progress through the city " all the lordes for the most part were clothed in crimson velvet," while at 2 In the United States few save Federal judges wear robes. The scarlet judicial robes were discarded at the Revolution. Those of black silk now worn are slightly modified academic gowns. John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1787), set the fashion by sitting in the LL.D. gown granted him by Columbia University.

Westminster the barons and viscounts wore their parliament robes, 1 the earls, marquesses and dukes wearing their robes of estate of crimson velvet " furred with ermins, poudred according to their degrees." This was also the case at the coronation of James I., and in Selden's Titles of Honour (3rd ed., 1672) the illustrations show the baron and viscount in parliamentary robes, the higher ranks in robes of estate. By the time of James II.'s coronation, however, the baron and viscount had the velvet robes of estate (see illustration on p. 188 of Perkins's The Coronation Book, 1902, where the surcoat also appears to have a pointed collar edged with white and to be sleeveless). The colour of these seems to have been crimson at first, sometimes varying to purple. They consisted of a long gown or surcoat with girdle, a mantle lined with ermine, a hood and a tippet of ermine, the rows being as follows: for a duke 4, a marquess 31, an earl 3, a viscount 21', and a baron 2.

Till late in the 18th century peers continued to attend the House of Lords in parliamentary robes, with the stars and ribbons of their orders, but robes are now only worn in the Hourse of Lords, e.g. at the opening of parliament, on occasions when the sovereign gives his assent to bills by " royal commission " (when five or six peers on the government side appear in robes, and the lord chancellor also wears his peer's robe of scarlet ermine), and at the introduction of a newly created peer, when the new peer and his two introducers wear their parliamentary robes (over morning dress) during the ceremony of introduction only. The mover and seconder of the Address no longer wear robes, but uniform. On all the above occasions, and when the peers as a body attend church or some other ceremony, the parliamentary robe of scarlet cloth is worn; in the present day it takes the form of a mantle opening on the right shoulder, with a collar of " ermine," and guarded with rows of ermine and gold lace round the right shoulder, varying in number according to the rank of the wearer. The modern coronation robes consist of a crimson velvet surcoat and a mantle with a tippet of ermine and with rows of ermine as in the parliamentary robes. The surcoat is no longer a gown, but a short sleeveless garment.

For Scotland, an order of James II. (1455) prescribed for earls " mantles of brown granick colour " open before, lined and faced in front, as far as the girdle, with white fur, and with hoods to match; for the other lords of parliament a red mantle lined with silk or fur, with a furred hood, while James I. (and VI.) in 1606 had to issue an order restraining the Scotch peers from wearing velvet robes in parliament, and confining them to those of scarlet cloth (Miscellany of the Maitland Club, vol. i. p. 147). The robes of the Scottish peers are now, of course, similar to those of the others.

The peeresses' robes at the coronation of Anne Boleyn are also described in the account mentioned above. The duchess of Norfolk, the train-bearer, was followed by " ladies being lords' wives " in scarlet robes furred with " lettice," while Wriothesley (loc. cit.) adds that the duchess was also in scarlet. 2 The order of the earlmarshal for the regulation of the peeresses' robes at the coronation of James II. (given in J. H. T. Perkins's The Coronation Book, 3902, pp. 202-5) shows that by then all peeresses wore the robes of state of crimson velvet, and minutely regulates all details, such as shape, powderings, length of train and width of the fur edging of the mantle. They have changed very little up to the present day.

Robes of the Orders of Knighthood

The history of the robes of the two oldest orders is given in great detail in Ashmole's Order of the Garter (London, 1672) and Anstis's Order of the Bath (London, 1725);1725); see also G. F. Beltz, Memorials of the Order of the Garter (London, 1841), p.1 -lii. In each case the robes These are well described in the account of the opening of parliament by Henry VIII. in 1537 given in Wriothesley's Chronicle of England (Camden Soc., 1875, ed. W. Hamilton): " all erles marques and lordes, all in their Perliament robes of scarlett furred with white, and their hoodes about their neckes, which were forty in number; everie duke having fower barres of white fur alongest the right side of their robes, and everie earle having three bars,.. and everie lord two barres in likewise." After her followed ladies being lordes' wives, which had circotes of scarlet, with narrow sleeves, the breast all lettice, with barres of pouders according to their degrees, and over that they had mantles of scarlet furred, and every mantle had lettice about the necke like a neckerchief, likewise poudered, so that by the pouderings their degrees might be known. Then followed ladies being knights' wives in gownes of scarlet." consisted of a mantle, surcoat and hood. The robes of the Garter were originally of blue woollen stuff, the surcoat and hood being powdered with garters embroidered in silk and gold. In the time of Henry VI. the mantle was first made of velvet, and between the time of Elizabeth and of Charles I. it seems to have been sometimes purple in colour. The surcoat varied in colour from year to year; in the reign of the founder alone, e.g., it was first blue, then black (possibly as a sign of mourning for the plague), then " sanguine in grain." The hood was made of the same material as the surcoat, and when hats began to be worn, was carried hanging over the shoulder. The number of garters embroidered on the surcoat and hood came to be fixed by rank, but after Henry VI. the surcoat seems to have been made of plain velvet. Robes were sometimes granted to ladies in the early days (see Beltz, p. ccxxi., for a list of those ladies), in which case the robe and hood were of the colour of the surcoat worn by the knights that year, and powdered with garters. The last lady to receive the robes was Margaret, countess of Richmond, in 1488. At the present day the mantle is of dark blue velvet, of the same colour as the ribbon, lined with this taffeta, and with the star embroidered on the left shoulder, the hood and surcoat of crimson velvet lined with white taffeta, and with these are worn a doublet and trunkhose of white satin and a plumed hat (see Lawrence-Archer, The Orders of Chivalry, p. 106).

The robes worn by the knights of the Bath created at the coronation of Henry IV. were green with furred hoods, and a white silk cord hanging from the left shoulder. 3 In the various accounts of later creations of knights of the Bath quoted by Anstis, the costume worn before the ceremonial bath seems to have been a priest-like garment of russet or grey, with a girdle and hood; after the bath, was put on a red surcoat and mantle, the latter with a lace of white silk, from which hung a pair of white gloves; and the final costume was a blue (later a purple) velvet or satin gown, with hood furred with miniver (later lined with sarcenet), and the white cord hanging from the shoulder, until it should be removed by the sovereign or a lady for some deed of valour. The mantle in the present day is of crimson velvet lined with white over a white satin under-coat and trunk-hose, and a plumed hat and white boots with red tops are worn. The mantle of the Thistle is of dark green velvet over surcoat, &c., of cloth of silver; that of St Patrick azure, with doublet and trunk-hose of white satin; that of St Michael and St George of Saxon blue satin lined with scarlet; and that of the Star of India of light blue satin lined with white.

House of Commons.- = The speaker of the House of Commons wears on state occasions a black damask robe with gold lace and a full-bottomed wig; in the House itself he wears a black silk robe with train and a full-bottomed wig. The clerks at the table wear barristers' gowns and wigs.

Judicial and Forensic Robes

It is frequently stated that judicial robes had their origin in the dress of ecclesiastics. But though ecclesiastics in early days frequently acted as judges, and though, as Fortescue says, the serjeant's long robe was " ad instar sacerdotis," judicial robes more probably arose from the ordinary civilian dress of the early 14th century. The chief argument for the ecclesiastical origin has been found in the coif (tena, birretum album), a cap of white linen or silk, tied under the chin, and described by Fortescue as " the principal or chief insignment and habit wherewith serjeants-at-law at their creation are decked," which is said to have been used by ecclesiastics to hide the tonsure when in court. This view is disposed of by Pulling (The Order of the Coif, London, 1884). More probably the coif was a head-dress in common use in the 13th century, which survived as the distinguishing mark of men of law. 4 As such it is found in a wardrobe-roll of 3 " Longues cottes vertes a estroictes manches fourres de menever, et chapperons pareil fourres de menever, en guise de prelats; et avoient les dits chevaliers sur la senestre espaule ung double cordeau de soye blanche a blanche houppettes pendans " (Froissart).

4 Mr Oswald Barron, in The Ancestor, vols. v. (p. 305) and vii. (p. 108 seq., plate xii.), has given reproductions of figures from MSS.

Richard II. (1391, see Fairholt, ii.. 341) in an entry for " twenty-one linen coifs for counterfeiting men of the law in the king's play at Christmas." The serjeant-at-law's " houve of silk " is also mentioned in Piers the Plowman (latter half of the 14th century) 1 together with his furred cloak. Chaucer, at the same period, describes his serjeant-at-law as wearing a party-coloured gown and girdle with bars.2 The earliest document quoted by Planche and others with reference to judges' costume is a Close-roll of 20 Edw. III. (1347). See also a wardrobe-roll of 21. Edw. III., and wardrobe accounts of II Richard II. and 22 Henry VI., all quoted in Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales, from which we gather that the robes of the judges varied in colour, in the 14th and 25th centuries, from scarlet to green or " violet in grain," and that their winter gowns were furred with budge or miniver.

For the early 15th century there are more data. Firstly, there is the illumination of the serjeant-at-law in the Ellesmere MS. of The Canterbury Tales (reproduced in Furnivall's 6-text edition for the Chaucer Society), in which he is shown wearing a short, party-coloured rayed gown of red and blue, lined with white fur, a hood and tippet edged with white fur, and a white coif with two little bands showing below the hood. Secondly, there are a certain number of effigies or brasses of judges and serjeants belonging to the first half of the 15th century. 3 Of judges, an early brass is that of Sir John Cassy (c. 1400) (see fig. 2).' For the second half of the 15th century the authority is Chief-Justice Fortescue, who, writing in the reign of Henry VI., describes the dress of the serjeant-at-law as follows: " Roba longa ad instar sacerdotis cum capicio penulato circa humeros ejus, et desuper collobium, cum duobus labellulis, qualiter uti solent doctores legum in universitatibus quibusdam, cum supra descripto birreto vestiebatur." " He was clothed in a long robe, after the fashion of a priest, with a furred cape about his shoulders, and above it a hood, with two bands, such as are used by doctors of laws in some universities, with the coif as described above " (De Laudibus Legum Angliae, cap. li.). Fortescue continues: " But being once made a justice, instead of his hood, he shall FIG. 2. - Sir John wear a cloak closed upon his right shoulder, Cassy, chief baron all the other ornaments of a serjeant still reof the Exchequer maining; saving that a justice shall wear no (c. 1400). party-coloured vesture, as a serjeant may, and his cape is furred with miniver, whereas the serjeant's cape is furred with white lamb (budge)." This description of Fortescue's is borne out by some illuminations from a 15th-century MS. representing sittings of the four superior of the 13th and 14th century, showing the coif worn by both clerks and laymen.

1 Prol. line 210 (ed. Skeat, Clarendon Press): " Jit honed there an hondreth in houues of silke, seriauntz it seemed that serveden atte barre "; and iii. 293: " Shal no seriaunt for here seruyse were a silk howue, Ne no pelure in his cloke, for pleding atte barre." 2 Prol. line 382 (ed. Morris, Clarendon Press): " He rood but homely in a medlee cote Girt with a ceint of silk, with barres smale; of his array telle I no longer tale." 3 The effigy " supposed to represent Sir Richard de Willoughby, chief justice of the king's bench " temp. Edward III., illustrated by Fairholt, p. 201, wears a long gown with girdle and skull-cap, no distinctively judicial dress. The figure of Robert Grymbald (temp. Henry II.), engraved from his seal by Dugdale, wears the ordinary dress of the time.

' See also that of Sir Hugh de Holes (1415; see Haines, Brasses, i. xc), and a stone effigy of Sir William Gascoigne in Harwood Church, Yorks (d. 1419, see Planche, Cyclopaedia, i. 427). Of serjeants-at-law, an early example is the brass of Nichol Rolond at Cople, Beds. (c. 1410, see Druitt, Costume in Brasses, p. 221); also that of Thomas Rolf at Gosfield, Essex (c. 1440, see Haines, p. 85), who wears a gown, tabard, tippet, hood and coif, with two bands showing below the hood, like the Ellesmere MS. figure. The inscription calls Rolf " legi professus," which Haines takes to mean " professor of law," Boutell and Clark (Archaeological Journal, vol. i. pp. 203-4) consider that he is a serjeant-at-law. Druitt (p. 224) remarks on the likeness of his tabard to that of a Master of Arts, but compares a figure on a 15th-century cope, who also appears to be a serjeantat-law and wears a tabard. That a tabard sometimes formed part of the dress of a serjeant, can be seen in the extract from the Liber famelicus of Sir James Whitelocke, quoted by Druitt, p. 225, footnote.

courts in the time of Henry VI. (reproduced in Archaeologia, vol. xxxix. p. 35 8, &c., with an article by G. R. Corner; see plate). In them we see the scarlet robes of the judges furred with min i ver, and the party-coloured rayed gowns, tippets and hoods of the serjeants, besides the costume of the minor officials of the court. Both serjeants and judges wear the coif, certain of the judges also wearing furred caps or turban-like head-dresses. The colour of the serjeants' party-coloured robes seems to have varied;⁵ in these illuminations they are blue and green, but by the 17th century, to quote Dugdale, Origines Juridiciales, cap. 38: " The robes they now use do still somewhat resemble those of the justices of either bench, and are of three distinct colours, viz. murrey, black, furred with white, and scarlet; but the robe which they usually wear at their creation only is of two colours, viz. murrey and mouse colour; whereunto they have a hood suitable, as also a coif of white silk or linen." (See also Pulling, p. 218, and Druitt, p. 225.) Sir E. Brabrook (Proceedings of the Soc. of Antiquaries, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 414) quotes descriptions of calls of serjeants showing that as late as 1700 the serjeants wore party-coloured gowns at their creation and during the year following, and stating on what occasions they wore their black, scarlet or purple gowns (the last with scarlet or purple hoods). At the last general call (1736), and at the creation of a serjeant in 1762, party-coloured robes were still worn, but at a creation of 1809 they are no longer found. Until their final abolition the serjeants wore purple robes at their creation, and on ordinary occasions a black cloth or silk gown, with a scarlet robe for state occasions.

Illustrations of judicial costumes in the 16th century are to be found in vol. i. of Vetusta Monumenta (Soc. of Antiquaries, 1747), in which are reproduced, firstly, a " painted table in the King's Exchequer," temp. Henry VII., on which the officials of the Exchequer are shown wearing t long gowns, furred tippets and mantles, with coifs (see fig. 3); and secondly, a sitting of the Court of Wards and Liveries, temp. Elizabeth, in which are shown serjeants wearing party-coloured gowns, tippets, hoods and coifs (see also Pulling, facing pp. 86 and 214)About this time the square cap, otherwise known as the cornered, black or sentence FIG. 3. - Figures wearing coif. cap (the last from the fact of its being put on by the judge when pronouncing sentence of death), begins to be seen in monuments (cf. that of Sir Richard Harpur, temp. Mary; Fairhold, p. 223). Sometimes this cap is worn over the coif only, sometimes over the coif and skull-cap (cf. the portrait of Sir Edward Coke, in Pulling, facing p. 180). The form also varies; sometimes, as in the portrait of Coke, it has no ear-flaps, some times, as in its present form, it has. The form with ear-flaps is held by some to be a combination of the square cap and skull-cap. The square cap was a mark of dignity, worn or carried on solemn occasions, hence its use when pronouncing sentence of death, to mark the solemnity of the moment.

Among the State Papers of 1625 is a " Discourse on what robes and apparel the judges are to wear, and how the serjeants-at-law are to wear their robes, and when," and on the 4th of July 1635 there was a " solemn. decree and rule made by all the judges of the courts at Westminster," which is quoted in Dugdale (loc. cit.) and Pulling (p. 215, footnote).

This costume is illustrated in Hollar's engraving of the coronation procession of Charles II. Towards the end of the 17th century the judges took to wearing wigs, and have continued to wear them ever since. The wearing of wigs naturally concealed the coif and velvet skull-cap, so a device had to be invented by which they could still be displayed. The expedient was hit upon of putting a round patch of white stuff, with a black spot in the middle of it, on the crown of the wig of certain of the judges, to represent the coif and skull-cap. The rank of serjeant no longer existing, this round patch has now disappeared, the only trace of it left being the circular depression on the crown of the wig.

The costume of judges of the High Court at the present day differs very little from that given in the order of 1635; but the cap is carried in the hand as a part of the full dress, and only worn when a judge is passing sentence of death. 6 The They were probably originally liveries; see G. R. Corner in Archaeologia, also Pulling, op. cit. pp. 211-12.

See an essay by Sir Herbert Stephen in Unwritten Laws and Ideals, ed. E. H. Pitcairn (Smith, Elder, 1899), from which the following paragraph is largely condensed.

From a brass in Deerhurst church, Gloucestershire.

From the Standard of Weights and Measures ( temp. Henry VIII.), in Vetusta Monumenta (Soc. of Antiquaries), vol. i.

One of four illuminations belonging to a law treatise, temp. Henry VI, found at Whaddon Hall, Bucks, depicting five presiding judges of the Court of King's Bench, wearing coifs and scarlet robes; below the King's Coroner, Attorney and Masters of the Court; two ushers at table swearing the jury; a tipstaff in charge of a fettered prisoner, two sergeants at law in coif on either side; in foreground six prisoners.

From Archceologia XXXIX. dress worn when trying criminal cases, attending church officially, and on " red letter days" in the courts, consists of a scarlet gown, with a broad black belt, a tippet trimmed with white fur, known by courtesy as " ermine " (this is worn only on state occasions), and a scarlet casting-hood, always worn with the scarlet gown, the end of which is passed under the belt. For summer the robes are of thinner stuff, faced with slate-coloured silk instead of ermine. The full-bottomed wig is worn on state occasions; at other times a wig is worn similar to that of barristers, except that it has one vertical curl just above the tail of the wig instead of the three rows of horizontal curls going all the way round.

The judges of the King's Bench Division have also a black gown, trimmed with ermine, which may be worn with the scarlet casting-hood when they sit two or more together. The summer equivalent of the black robes is in thin blue stuff, faced with silk. A costume like that of King's Counsel, namely, a black silk gown, with black cloth court suit, is the dress of judges when sitting alone to try civil actions, and of vicechancellors and judges of the Chancery Division, but Sir Herbert Stephen remarks that of late years certain of the judges have preferred on grounds of comfort the black or blue gown with scarlet casting-hood. The court dress of the judges of the High Court and of Indian and colonial judges consists of a black damask tufted gown, without train, worn over a black velvet court suit, with full-bottomed wig, lace bands and three-cornered silk hat.' The Lord Chancellor, when in the House of Lords, and sitting on Appeals, wears a black silk trained gown, over a black cloth court suit, with full-bottomed wig; he has also his peer's robe (see above), and his state robe of black damask with gold lace, worn over a velvet court suit, with full-bottomed wig, lace bands, &c.; the purse is carried on state occasions when in the royal presence. The state robe of the Master of the Rolls, the Lords Justices of the Court of Appeal, and the President of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Divisions is the same, except that they have not the purse, and similar to it is the full-dress gown of the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. The Lords Justices of the Court of Appeal sit in court in a costume similar to that of King's Counsel.

The Lords of Appeal have no official robes, but sit in ordinary civilian dress. On state occasions they wear their peers' robes. The robes of state of the Lord Chief Justice of England are the same as those of the judges of the High Court, except that his are trained, and he wears the gold chain of office, the " collar of SS." The Scottish judges have two sets of robes, one for Justiciary (i.e. the criminal court), which is also their full dress, and one for civil causes (Court of Session). The dress for the President and Ordinary Lords of Session was fixed in 16ro by an order of James I., and was of purple cloth, faced with crimson satin, with hood to match, the President's gown having crimson velvet instead of satin. The four " extraordinary Sessionaries " were to wear black velvet, satin, or silk gowns, lined with black. The Lord Justice General wore a scarlet gown lined with ermine and an ermine hood, the Lord Justice Deputy and Lord Justice Clerk black gowns with crimson satin facings and hoods (see Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 612). At the foundation of the High Court of Justiciary (1672) it was enacted " that for the splendour of that court, all the judges sit in red robes, faced with white, that of the Justice Generalls being lined with ermine for distinction from the rest " (see Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 88). The present full dress of the Lord Justice General is a scarlet silk robe with tippet and hood, the hood falling down the back; the collar is of ermine, with which the tippet, sleeves and gown are edged 1 Minute details of court and levee dress, judicial and legal, will be found in Dress worn at Court (pp. 60-61), issued with the authority of the Lord Chamberlain, and ed. H. A. P. Trendell, of the Lord Chamberlain's department (London, 1908), - also details of mourning costume.

and the hood lined. The Lord Justice Clerk wears a scarlet cloth robe and hood, and a white silk tippet lined with scarlet, the silk being perforated with small holes to imitate ermine, as also on the sleeves and edges of the gown. In front of the tippet on each side are two crosses in scarlet silk, and on each side of the gown six crosses. The ordinary Lords Commissioners of Justiciary have robes the same as those of the Lord Justice Clerk, except that the satin is not perforated. Instead of the bands worn by English judges, the Scottish judges wear a long fall in front.

The Bar. - There appears to have been no official costume for the bar until the end of the 17th century. Druitt (Costume in Brasses, pp. 232-33) gives a list of several brasses of in lege periti, or apprenticii ad legem, most of whom wear ordinary civilian costume, occasionally with the addition of a high cap. In the 16th and 17th centuries they wear the false-sleeved gown worn by civilians. Before the 17th century the costume worn by students at the Inns of Court and by " Utter Barristers " consisted of a stuff gown, and sometimes, in term-time, a round cap, which was worn in hall and in church (see Herbert, History of the Inns of Court (1804), p. 230). In Westminster Hall (see Pulling, p. 223) the same costume was worn, Benchers and Readers having a more elaborate gown with facings of black velvet and tufts of silk. Frequent laws were passed in the 16th century and later, forbidding the wearing of swords, cloaks, boots and spurs, &c., in hall, and insisting on the wearing of gowns by students of the Inns of Court when walking in the city. In the 17th century, barristers, like the judges, adopted wigs, the full-bottomed wigs being confined to judges, " King's Counsellors," &c., and ordinary counsellors wearing small wigs. In Hollar's engraving of the coronation of Charles II. the King's Counsel, the King's Attorney and Solicitor, and the Master of the Rolls wear a laced gown with hanging sleeves. The silk gown, full-bottomed wig and black court dress now worn by King's Counsel is generally held to date from the funeral of Queen Mary II., being the mourning dress worn by the wish of King William for a considerable period after the queen's death, and. adopted as a convenient costume ever since. There is a wellknown jest of Chief Baron Pollock to the effect that " the Bar went into mourning at the death of Queen Anne, and never came out again," which bears out this theory as to the origin of the costume. At the present time barristers wear black stuff gowns, with small wigs having three rows of curls round the head. King's Counsel wear black silk gowns over a cloth court suit (cp. the expression " to take silk," i.e. to become a K.C.); on full-dress occasions they wear a full-bottomed wig, and at court a black damask tufted gown over a velvet court suit. This is also the dress for state occasions of the AttorneyGeneral, Solicitor-General, &c.

Municipal and Civic Robes

The word " livery," the use of which is now practically confined to the costume of the " livery companies," the dress of men-servants, &c., originally meant an allowance of food or clothing granted to certain persons (Lat. liberata, Fr. livree). It is still used of the allowances of food made to the fellows of certain colleges. As early as the 13th century, according to Matt. Paris (Chron. Maj.; Rolls Series, III. 337), we find the citizens of London assuming a uniform dress to do honour to some great occasion, as, e.g., when in 1236 a body of them rode out to meet Henry III. and Queen Eleanor, " sericis vestimentis ornati, cicladibus auro textis circumdati, excogitatis mutatoriis amicti," or when 600 citizens rode out to meet Queen Margaret, wife of Edward I., " in one livery of red and white, with the cognizances of their misteries embroidered upon their sleeves " (see Stow's Survey, ed. Morley, p. 444). By the 14th century there is evidence of the adoption of liveries by the trades and fraternities. At the celebrations of the birth of Edward III. (see Riley's Memorials, p. 105) the mayor and aldermen were " richly arrayed in suits of robes," while the drapers, mercers and vintners were also " in costume." This need not, however, refer to liveries. G. Unwin (The Gilds of London, 1908) quotes a chronicler who records that by the year 1319 " many of the people of the trades of London were arrayed in livery," and an ordinance of 1347 of the fraternity of the Mercers commanding that " all those of the said mistery shall be clothed of one suit once a year at the feast of Easter," and Riley (op. cit. p. 516) quotes an order of 1389 allowing the sheriffs, on grounds of expense, to proceed to Westminster by boat instead of on horseback, " without there being any arraying of men of the trades in like suit for that purpose; except that such men of the trades as should wish to accompany them should walk in such suit of vestments of the livery of their respective trade as they might then have. " As to the liveries of the religious fraternities, Chaucer (Prol. 361) describes: " An Haberdasher and a Carpenter A Webbe, a Dyere, and a Tapicer," As, " clothed alle in a liveree Of a solempne and greet fraternitee." In 1389 there was a petition against the giving of liveries by the fraternities, on the ground that these gatherings were centres of political agitation, but in the statutes of Edward III. and Richard II. against liveries members of guilds were expressly excepted from these prohibitions. However, it was doubtless deemed prudent to make sure of the privilege, and so, when the livery companies were incorporated, they took care to have their liveries authorized by their charters.

These liveries consisted of a gown and hood, though the hood only was sometimes given; thus the Grocers' Company had in 1430 55 members in the full livery, 17 in hoods and 42 not in livery. It was also customary for such of the companies as wished it to present liveries to outsiders, for instance, to the mayor, should he belong to another company. Thus in 1399 the Tailors gave liveries to the king, the prince and the mayor, and hoods to the sheriffs. But in 1415 and 1423 the mayor and aldermen were forbidden to receive any livery except that of their own company. A similar custom was that by which a member of any company might send to the mayor a certain sum, receiving in return a suit of the livery of the mayor's company. The colours of the various liveries varied very much from time to time. Thus in 1414 the Grocers wore liveries of scarlet and green, which were changed in 1418 to scarlet and black, in 1428 to scarlet and blue and in 1450 to " violet in grain," with party-coloured hoods of violet and crimson. At first both gowns and hoods were party-coloured, but later a party-coloured hood was worn with a gown of one colour. The gowns were also lined and edged with fur. An early illustration of the liveries is to be found on the first charter of the Leathersellers' Company, granted them in 1 444 by Henry VI., where the members of the company are depicted kneeling before the king in short party-coloured gowns of red and blue, edged at the neck, wrists and round the bottom with fur and with white girdles (see fig. 4, from a coloured reproduction in W. H. Black's History and Antiquities of the Leathersellers' Co.). In the reign of Henry VIII., Holbein's picture of the king giving a charter to the Barber-Surgeons' Company shows the members of the latter wearing gowns of rich stuff, with red and black party-coloured hoods, three of the figures also in coifs. The form of gown which has survived, practically unchanged, till the present day, may be seen on the second charter of the Leathersellers' Company, granted them by James I. in 1604 (see fig. 5, and for coloured plate see W. H. Black, op. cit.). Here we see them in flat caps, long black furred gowns, with false sleeves, and having on the right shoulder party-coloured hoods of scarlet and black, the end of which is cast over the left shoulder and hangs down nearly to the edge of the gown. Besides the liveries of the city companies, and those of the mayor and sheriffs, there was often a special livery adopted by all the citizens on some great occasion, such as a visit of the sovereign to the City. W. St John Hope (Corporation Plate and Insignia, ii. 141) quotes a number of such cases, showing that the city livery was sometimes green, sometimes blue, sometimes violet, sometimes red and white, the city colours par excellence. As to the costume of the mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, &c., we have seen above the mayor " richly costumed," and the aldermen " in like suits of robes," at the birth of Edward III., and Riley (op. cit.) gives an order of 1378, that the aldermen are to ride to Westminster in the mayor's proces sion, " arrayed in a cloak and hood at least, that are partycoloured with red, scarlet and white, the red on the right side "; while he quotes (from Letter-book H. fol. cxlvi) the amusing sentence passed by his fellow-aldermen in 1382 on one John Seley, for disregarding the order to have his green cloak for the Whitsuntide procession lined with green taffeta. Thus before the 15th century the aldermen apparently had not yet their scarlet robes, but on state occasions wore the ordinary city livery. For the early 15th century we have the Liber Albus (written' c. 1419;. Rolls Series, ed. Riley), where we are told (p. 35) that " The Mayor, Sheriff and Aldermen were wont to array themselves in like suits of robes twice in the year, viz. when the mayor rode to Westminster to take the oath, and on the day following the feast of SS. Simon and Jude; and this raiment was trimmed with fur as befitting their honourable rank; and they would also dress themselves in suits of robes against the feast of Pentecost, these robes having a lining of silk." The scarlet, violet and black robes, still worn by the Lord Mayor, aldermen, &c., were early in use. There is an order of 1421 (8 Henry V.) that the aldermen should use " togis et armilausis de scarleto," and in numerous accounts of royal receptions and other solemn occasions in the City we are told that the mayor and aldermen were in scarlet (W. St John Hope, in Corporation Plate and Insignia, i., Introd. lxxxv seq., and ii. 138-147, quotes a number of these, and treats the whole subject of mayors', &c., robes very fully). The Liber Albus (i. i, ch. vi.) also shows us the mayor and aldermen assembled at the Guildhall on the day of the election of the new mayor induti togis de violet. As to the form of the dress in the 14th and 15th century, we can see from brasses of lord mayors and aldermen (see Haines, Manual, pp. cc-cci; and Cotman, Norfolk Brasses. There is a fine series of brasses of mayors, &c., at Norwich) that it consisted of a long gown, a mantle fastened on the right shoulder and a hood.