Under garments – pourpoints and hybrid pourpoints

Classical pourpoints

What did Jean Creton wear under his houppelande? A pourpoint or doublet was the typical garment a man would wear under a houppelande. During most of the 14th and 15th centuries, they were characterized by:

• Function as an under garment
• Fitted (even shaping) over the torso
• Grande assiette pattern design
• Waist or hip length
• Narrow or puffy sleeves
• A semi-high collar

In the first decade of the 15:th century (1400-1410) there seem to have been a great deal of experimentation with crossovers between pourpoints and houppelandes. Jean Creton’s manuscript shows no pourpoints but other contemporary manuscripts do:

Gallery 1. Pourpoints with bag sleeves under houppelandes from the French 1401 translation of Jean Bocace’s Des cleres et nobles femmes.

Gallery 2. Short outer garment pourpoints with bombarde sleeves. Left and middle: from the French 1401 translation of Jean Bocace’s Des cleres et nobles femmes. Right: Sachsenspiegel manuscript 1405

Gallery 3. Mostly short pourpoints: Left and middle: from the French 1401 translation of Jean Bocace’s Des cleres et nobles femmes. Right: from manuscript BNF Latin 9684 Catilin 1r, France, 1401

Gallery 4. Mostly short outer garment pourpoints with bag sleeves, from the French 1401 translation of Jean Bocace’s Des cleres et nobles femmes.

Hybrid pourpoints – ”Houppoint”

Millicent de Tibetot Fastolf refers to the hybrid garment shown in the images as a ”courtly transitional gown”, while Tasha Kelly provides several examples but without naming the garment.

It has a few characteristics that distinguishes it from classical pourpoints and from houppelandes:

• It was an outer garment
• It was long enough to potentially merit an undergarment (probably a plain pourpoint) to fasten the hosen to
• It would be fitted, not drapey, over the chest
• It would have bag sleeves or (less commonly) bombarde sleeves
• It often had two colors, but it was not uncommon for it to be white

A common element with the houppelande is that the body was usually fur-lined. Bombarde-sleeves were also fur-lined, and possibly bag sleeves as well, to get warmth and the right draping.

Gallery 5. Long pourpoint with bag sleeves, ”houppoint”, from the French 1401 translation of Jean Bocace’s Des cleres et nobles femmes. Note that all of them have dagged wrist ruffles.

Gallery 6. Long pourpoints, ”houppoint”, from the French 1401 translation of Jean Bocace’s Des cleres et nobles femmes

What did Jean Creton wear under his houppelande?

We can only really say that it is plausible that Jean Creton had an under garment that was tight around the wrist and had a wrist ruffle. Based on other manuscripts, it seems likely that Jean Creton would wear a pourpoint with bag sleeves under his houppelande. As he had another outer garment, the pourpoint was probably short. As Jean Creton had a discrete style when it comes to colors, it would quite possibly be white. We do not know if his hosen were mi-parti (two-color) or unicolor, but again they were likely to be unicolor.

Under the pourpoint he would have a short linen shirt and breeches.