Over their tunics both men and women wore narrow belts around their waists, and they could attach various objects to their belts, money pouches and knives being among the most common. Her tunic was also like a man’s, but it always went to the floor. When a woman wore hose, it generally went only to the knees. Medieval women did not wear braies instead, their first piece of clothing was a shirt that was a longer version of the man’s shirt. Tunics could have sleeves or be sleeveless, and they usually had a large head opening, which might have laces so that the material could be gathered close to the neck for warmth.

Over all of these layers came a tunic, which for laborers probably reached no further than the knee, so that it did not get in the way while the peasant worked. Over the braies and hose was put a linen shirt, which reached at least to the thighs and was slit up the side for mobility.

In many ways hose resembled loose modern stirrup pants. Although medieval pictures depict hose as formfit-ting, the lack of elastic probably meant that it fit close to the body but not snugly.

Next a peasant pulled on a pair of woolen hose that ran from waist to foot and was attached to the braies by several leather thongs. They could be run through this belt to shorten the braies when one was working in the heat. Sometimes braies had ties at the bottom of each leg. Elastic and zippers are modern inventions, and buttons were expensive decorations for a wealthy person’s clothing, so braies were held up by rolling the top over at the waist several times and cinching it in place with a belt. The first piece of clothing a man put on was a pair of half trousers made of linen or another thin material known in English as braies, they resembled modern boxer shorts but went down to about mid calf. Men’s and women’s clothes differed to some extent. A person usually had only one article to wear while the rest were being washed. Moreover, a peasant generally owned only a few pieces of clothing: two of each undergarment, one outer garment, a hat, a belt, and a pair of shoes. They made their own basic garments or purchased secondhand ones from a merchant who specialized in selling used goods. Medieval peasants rarely, if ever, bought new clothes. Clothes were thus an important investment, and an expensive one. Involved stripping the guilty person and making him or her face his sentence naked. In fact, a common part of medieval punishments For example, while medieval men and women sometimes stripped down to their shirts when doing heavy labor, both sexes considered public nakedness exceptionally embarrassing once one was no longer a child. It kept a person warm, covered nakedness (which was considered shameful), and marked a person’s status. Clothing in medieval Europe, even among peasants, had several functions. The difficulties in heating peasant residences help to account for peasant clothing. Perhaps it is not surprising that peasants generally went immediately to the fields in the morning and returned to their homes only a few hours later for the main meal. The fire had to be stoked new wood and other supplies had to be gathered and the heat had to radiate from the fire. Mornings were long and chilly, because reheating the house usually took hours. To minimize such hazards, the fire was allowed to die down into embers during the evening and at night, so that the house cooled significantly while people were sleeping. Medieval records are filled with stories about people, especially young children, falling into a fire and being critically burned. Although fire was essential for peasants, it was also a danger. The thin sticks that a peasant gathered were frequently bundled together to make something approximating a log and, therefore, a more consistent and durable fire. Wood, however, was an exhaustible resource, and peasants were generally entitled only to windfall wood-branches or trees blown down in storms. When a spark flew off into these objects, the peasant coaxed it into flame by blowing on it and gradually feeding slightly larger kindling to the flame until a usable fire was achieved. In the fire pit the peasant built a small pile of highly flammable objects, including materials such as dry grasses, tiny pieces of wood, or old scraps of cloth. If the fire died out, it had to be restarted either by using embers borrowed from a neighbor or with a flint and steel, a relatively valuable tool. Maintaining it was crucial and an ongoing chore. The fire pit in the center of a peasant house served as the sole source of heat, the cook fire, and the primary light source. Farmers and Peasants: Clothes and Hygiene

Medieval outfits peasant