Map Margins

In my quest to find additional sources for middle class clothing in England, I took a tour of the maps in Civitates orbis terrarum.  This is a 6 volume set of maps of the world published between 1572 and 1617 in Cologne.  The volumes are edited by Georg Braun with many of the engravings done by Franz Hogenberg.

Many of the maps contain figures in the margins.  It can be difficult to date the figures as the engravings often pre-date the publication date by a decade or more and the engravings are often based on drawings made even earlier.  On the upside, we know that Hogenberg did actually visit England around 1568-9, which is more than we can prove for some of the illustrators of the costume books I looked in my last post.  Additionally, some of the original drawings of the English maps and figures are by a William Smith, who I presume to be an Englishman.

You can find more details in this blog and on this site.  

Even knowing all the challenges with using this as a source for costume study, I still find the collection of figures quite interesting.

London

From volume 1, published 1572, drawn ~1560, high resolution, supporting details

Cambridge

From volume 2, published 1575, drawn ~1574 (William Smith), high resolution, supporting details

Oxford and Windsor

From volume 2, published 1575, high resolution, supporting details

Bristol

From volume 3, published 1581, drawn 1568 (William Smith), high resolution, supporting details

Chester

From volume 3, published 1581, drawn by William Smith, high resolution, supporting details

Norwich

From volume 3, published 1581, drawn by William Smith, high resolution, supporting details

Canterbury

From volume 4, published 1588, drawn by William Smith, high resolution, supporting details

Nonsuch Palace

From volume 5, published 1598, engraving dated 1582, high resolution

York / Shrewsbury / Lancaster / Richmond

From volume 6, published 1617, drawn by Hondius, high resolution, supporting details

In looking at these with the dates that are known and comparing to the handy pictures by decade from The Tudor Tailor (p.13), here are my best guesses as to dates of the costumes.  The size of the ruffs are the easiest feature to track across time...

London - 1550-60's

Cambridge - 1560-70's

Oxford and Windsor - 1560-70's

Bristol - 1560's

Chester - 1570's

Norwich - 1570's

Canterbury - 1570's

Nonsuch Palace - 1570's

York / Shrewsbury / Lancaster / Richmond - 1590's-1600's