Description: Fashion was probably more important in the 16th century than it is today. Wealthy people would even sell their land to buy clothes. When Sir Nicholas Throckmorton went to court in 1583 he recorded in his diary that he paid for his clothes by selling land and borrowing his brother's inheritance. On the other hand poor people wore exactly what their parents and grandparents had worn the century before.

In the early 16th century the German fashion for massive padded clothes was popular. By the 1550s fashion was influenced by the severe styles of Spain. Small waists and long legs became highly fashionable. Bright colours were replaced with blacks and browns. Just ten years later brighter colours were back in fashion, with rich reds and expensive purples being favoured by royalty. A writer of the time complains of shirts 'which is horrible to hear, some ten pounds apiece'. This was about a year's salary for a mason's apprentice.

There were even rules about what you could wear depending on how much your earned and how much property you had. Different colours had special significance. Purple was both light and dark. It was expensive to make and therefore the supreme royal colour. Red and gold were the colours of fire and the sun. Purple and gold together was a particularly powerful combination.

Teleport to the courtyard to see the fashionable clothes worn by the Yeoman of the Stable.