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Decorations: Henry

GLOVES do not appear to have been worn by either sex before the eleventh century. Jewelled gloves formed part of the regal habit of the Norman monarchs. In the effigy of Henry II. at Fontevraud jewels are represented in the centre of the gloves; also on the statue of Richard I. in the same abbey, and on the effigy of King John at Worcester. That gloves were worn by the higher classes in the reign of Henry I. we find from the Bishop of Durham's escape from the Tower, as, "having forgotten his gloves, he rubbed the skin off his hands to the bone in sliding down the rope from his window." In the reign of Henry II., gloves--some short, some reaching to the elbows--enriched with jewellery and embroidery, were worn generally by the nobility. On opening the tomb of Edward I. in Westminster Abbey in 1774, the ornaments belonging to the backs of the gloves were found lying near the hands. Queen Elizabeth gave George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, her glove, which he had encircled with diamonds, and bore it afterwards in tilts, in front of his high-crowned hat. In the Book of the Royal Wardrobe of Scotland (1579), among other articles of jewellery, is mentioned a hawk-glove set with twelve rubies, seven garnets, fifty-two great pearls, and the rest set over with small pearls. Queen Mary of Scotland's ordinary gloves were of the gauntlet form, and embroidered with gold, silver, coloured silks, and small pearls.

Pearl-embroidered slippers are mentioned as worn by ladies, in Massinger's play of "The Guardian" (1632).

CHAPLETS OR THE HEAD were sometimes decorated with jewels; thus, in the "Lay of Sir Launval":-- "Their heads were dight well with all Everych had on a jolyf coronal, With sixty gemmes and mo."

Barclay, in the "Ship of Fooles" (commencement of the sixteenth century), describes Pleasure as singing:-- "All my vertue is of golde pure, My gay chaplet with stones set." Hats were ornamented with jewels on the bands. Henry VIII., in 1514, received among other gifts from the Pope a hat or cap of purple velvet with two jewelled rosettes. This monarch is represented in an old picture, at the time of his interview with Francis I., with a hat of black velvet, having a white feather turning over the brim, and beneath it a broad band of rubies, emeralds, and diamonds, intermixed with a profusion of pearls. Crispin de Passe's portrait of James I. exhibits him wearing a jewelled hat of very costly and elaborate character. Single pearls were also frequently hung at the side where the brims were turned up, or groups of precious stones, set in gold, like a modern brooch, were placed in the centre of the hat, or else confined to the stems of its group of feathers.

In the comedy of "Patient Grissell" (1603) one of the characters says, "Sir Owen and myself encountering, I veiled my upper garment, and enriching my head again with a finer velvet cap, which I then wore with a band to it of orient pearl and gold, and a foolish sprig of some nine or ten pounds price or so, we grew to an importance."

Lady Fanshawe, in her "Memoirs," gives a description of the costume of a gentleman at this period (1610); in which a black beaver hat is mentioned, buttoned on the left side with a jewel of twelve hundred pounds value. A rich upright curious gold chain made at the Indies, at which hung the king, his master's picture, richly set with diamonds and cost three hundred pounds. On his fingers he wore two rich rings.