But of the artificiality and extravagance of the costumes of these times
we have direct contemporary evidence, and loud contemporary complaints.
Now, it is the jagged cut of the garments, punched and shredded by the
man-milliner; now, the wide and high collars and the long-pointed boots,
which attract the indignation of the moralist; at one time he inveighs
against the "horrible disordinate scantness" of the clothing worn by
gallants, at another against the "outrageous array" in which ladies love
to exhibit their charms. The knights' horses are decked out with not less
finery than are the knights themselves, with "curious harness, as in
saddles and bridles, cruppers, and breast-plates, covered with precious
clothing, and with bars and plates of gold and silver." And though it is
hazardous to stigmatize the fashions of any one period as specially
grotesque, yet it is significant of this age to find the reigning court
beauty appearing at a tournament robed as Queen of the Sun; while even a
lady from a manufacturing district, the "Wife of Bath," makes the most of
her opportunities to be seen as well as to see. Her "kerchiefs" were
"full fine" of texture, and weighed, one might be sworn, ten pound--

That on a Sunday were upon her head.
Her hosen too were of fine scarlet red,
Full straight y-tied, and shoes full moist and new.

...

Upon an ambler easily she sat,
Y-wimpled well, and on her head a hat,
As broad as is a buckler or a targe.

So, with a foot-mantle round her hips, and a pair of sharp spurs on her
feet, she looked as defiant as any self-conscious Amazon of any period.