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This page demonstrates a style of women’s headwear which appears to feature a set of long ties (or “tails”) which extend from the back of the neck to the top of the head; the tails are usually tied at the top of the head. This coif, presumably made from white linen, appears more often on working women (including peasant women and shepherdesses), and occasionally on women in bed, as a sort of nightcap. The coif seems to be most common in the last quarter of the 15th century, but does appear in early 16th century illustrations as well.
I do not believe that these are all the exact same sort of cap. There seems to be different styles involved, and different manners of construction. The commonality is the general overall shape, and the ties that go on top of the head.
Different people use different names for this sort of headwear. Sarah Thursfield (The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant) calls it a “tailed cap”; Kass McGann (Reconstructing History Patterns) refers to a similar cap as a “proto-coif.” Historic Enterprises’ version is called a “winged coif.”
For some modern costumers’ re-creations of this cap, see Edyth Miller, Hémiole, Oda Wlslagre dicta Widoeghe, Matilda la Zouche, Sevenstarwheel, Sylvie la chardonniere, or Ysabel la Broderesse.
- Annunciation, book of hours (PML M.1093, fol. 57r), 1465-1475
- Fols.
4r,
25v,
108v,
148v,
150v,
Le roman de la rose (Douce 195), end of the 15th century.
Fols. 67v and 109v seem to show this (or a related cap) worn under an open hood.
- Bathsheba bathing (fol. 211r) and the wife of Dives (fol. 279r), the Hours of Anne of France (PML M.677), 1473
- January (fol. 1r),
June (fol. 3v),
July (fol. 4r),
November (fol. 6r),
December (fol. 6v),
Annunciation with dancing shepherds (fol. 20v),
the Hours of Charles d’Angoulême (BNF Latin 1173), c. 1475-1500
- Mining illustration by Robinet Testard, late 15th century; similar illustration at Gold mining, The Book of Simple Medicines (BNF Fr. 12322, fol. 121v), c. 1520-1530
- Campania (fol. 11) and Saxony (fol. 53), Secrets of natural history (BNF Fr. 22971, fol. 11), c. 1480-1485
- The suicide of Canace (fol. 58r) and Cydippe writing (fol. 124v), Heroides (BNF Fr. 875), 1496-1498
- Arachne making a net (fol. 17v),
Demophile reading (fol. 22),
Iaia (fol. 58),
and Sulpicia leaves to find her husband (fol. 72),
De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 599, fol. 22v), 15th-16th centuries. Note that some of the illustrations show a white layer (fols. 17v & 58) or black layer (fol. 72) under the coif; this may be a simple band or filet of some sort.
- The conception of Hercules; Hercules strangles the serpents Histoires de Troyes (BNF Fr. 252, fol. 73), 15th-16th centuries
- June (fol. 3v) and December (fol. 6v), the Hours of Henry VIII (PML H. 8), c. 1500
- Birth of the Virgin, Choir Breviary (Laud Misc. 93, fol. 144r), beginning of the 16th century
- December, the Great Hours of Anne of Brittany (BNF Latin 9474, fol. 15), c. 1503-1508
- Fols.
7r,
162v,
190r, Roman de la Rose (PML M.948), c. 1525
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