Dagging in Detail

This page provides examples of dagged clothing, mostly from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, on men and women. It offers examples of different garments that show dagged decoration, as well as different dagging patterns that were used on medieval garments.

Documentable Details includes a few extant examples of dagged textiles, taken from Textiles and Clothing. See also “The Iconography of Dagged Clothing and Its Reception by Moralist Writers” in Medieval Clothing and Textiles 9.

See also Adventures in Dagging and Adventures in Dagging; 14th century Dagge manufacturing Techniques from archaeological examples.

• Musicians in particolored tunics cut with long dags on fols. 17r and 29r in the Maciejowski Bible (PML M.638), 1240s
• Romance of Alexander (Bodley 264), c. 1338-1344
  Dagged hoods on fols. 43v, 69v, 82v, 83r, 123v, 124r(a), 124r(b), 138v, 152v, 165r, 174r
• Lancelot du Lac (BNF Fr. 122), 1344
  Dagged hoods on fols. 83v, 109v, 113v, 119r, 137v, 139v, 146r, 147v, 149v, 152r, 168r, 198v, 208r
• Dagged hoods on fols. 5v and 68v of Le roman de la rose (Selden Supra 57), 1348
• Voeux du paon (PML G.24), c. 1350
  Dagged hoods on fols. 2r, 3v, 4r, 22r, 25v, 37v, 40r, 44r, 45v, 46v, 56r, 59v, 67r, 70r, 81v, 109r, 113v, 133v
• A hood on a man buried in Tournai, c. 1350
In þis tyme, Englisshe men so muche hauntted and cleuyd to þe wodnes and foley of þe strangers, þat fro þe tyme of þe comyng of þe Henauderns, xviij. ȝere passid, þey ordeyned and chaungyd ham euery ȝere diuers schappis of disgyngeȝ of cloþing, of long large and wyde cloþis, destitu and desert fram al old honeste and good vsage; & anoþer tyme schorte cloþis & stret-wasted, dagged & ket, & on euery side desslatered & boned, wiþ sleues & tapets of sircotys, & holdeȝ ouere longe & large, & ouermuche hangynde, þat if y soþ schal say, þey were more liche to turmentours & deuels in hire cloþing & schewyng & oþer arraye þen comen.

The Brut

• A hood at the coronation of Clarette (BNF Fr. 12565, fol. 257), mid-14th century
• Works of Guillaume de Machaut in BNF Fr. 1586, c. 1350-1355
  Men's dagged cotes: fol. 1v, 9r, 10r, 12v, 17v, 21r, 23r, 24r, 32v, 40v, 42v, 43r, 44v, 51r, 52r, 53v, 55r, 56v, 65v, 76r, 78v, 93r, 96r, 100v, 104v, 105v, 109r, 110v, 111r, 114r, 117r
  Men's dagged hoods: fols. 21r, 26r, 28v, 30v, 32v, 38r, 38v, 40v, 44v, 51r, 56v, 58r, 64v, 76r, 78v, 82v, 89r, 91r, 93r, 94r, 95r, 96r, 102r, 109r, 111r, 114r, 118r, 121r
  Men's dagged cloaks: fols. 51r
• Ordre du S.-Esprit au Droit-Désir (BNF Fr. 4274), 1352
  Men's cotes and hoods in fols. 2v, 3r, 3v, 4r, 4v, 5v, 6v, 7r, 7v, 8r, 8v, 9r
• Dagged hoods on fols. 179v and 183v of Omne Bonum (British Library Royal 6 E VI), c. 1360-1375
• Saint John the Evangelist with Acteus and Eugenius by Francescuccio Ghissi, c. 1370
• Men in dagged cotes and hoods at the endowment of the Order of the Star in the Grandes chroniques de France (BNF Fr. 2813, fol. 394r), c. 1375-1380
• Grandes chroniques de France (BNF Fr. 10135), 4th quarter of the 14th century
  Dagged men's cotes on fol. 103v, 353v
  Dagged cloak on fol. 62r
• Men's gowns and hoods on fols. 15, 23v, 51, 56v, 68, 75, 134v, 189, 194, 203v, 210v, Chroniques de France ou de St Denis (British Library Royal 20 C VII), after 1380
• A dagged cloak on Prince William of Hatfield, 1385
j goune de sanguino frisio, una cum dagges

Wardrobe accounts of Richard II

• Men's dagged gowns in fols. 8v, 18v, 58r, and 95r in the Roman de la Rose (Douce 332), end of the 14th century
• Tacuinum sanitatis (BNF NAL 1673), c. 1390-1400
  Men's dagged gowns on fols. 5v, 7, 11v 12, 15v, 17, 18, 20, 20v, 23, 25v, 28v, 30v, 33, 38, 38v, 41, 46, 52, 53, 53v, 54, 77 (also dagged cloak), 78v, 79, 80, 82v, 83, 83v, 84, 84v, 85, 85v, 86, 88, 92, 93, 95, 96v, 99, 100v, 103
  Women's dagged gowns on fols. 20, 38v, 41, 52, 84
  Men's dagged hoods on fols. 7v, 18, 23, 28v, 29, 29v, 38, 38v, 90, 95
  Women's dagged headdresses on fols. 22, 30, 40v
ffor wolde þey blame þe burnes þat brouȝte newe gysis,
And dryue out þe dagges and all þe duche cotis

Richard the redeles, passus tercius, ll. 192-193

• A hood on a laborer, Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 1166, fol. 28v), end of the 14th century or beginning of the 15th century
• Men in dagged hoods & gowns on fols. 50, 171v, 267, and 351, Grandes chroniques de France (BNF Fr. 73), 14th-15th century
• A man's gown on Miserere Mei, 1400
• A man's gown in the dance at the Court of Mirth in Le roman de la rose (Douce 371, fol. 6r), c. 1400
• A messenger retrieves a letter from his dagged hood, pen and ink drawing c. 1400
• A hood (one of the few images of a woman in a dagged hood) in a drawing of women with wild men (PML M.346, fol. 3v), c. 1400
• Men's gowns on fols. 2r & 41v and hoods on fols. 12r & 25r of La Prinse et mort du roy Richart (Brit. Lib. Harley 1319), 1401
• Men's hoods and gowns on fols. 344, 410, and 549, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 10), beginning of the 15th century
• Fols. 1, 2, and 2v in Épître d'Othéa (BNF Fr. 848), beginning of the 15th century
• Book of the Hunt of Gaston Phébus (BNF Fr. 616), beginning of the 15th century; dagged men's clothing (mostly dagged hoods, a few dagged cotes/gowns) on fols. 51v, 53v, 54, 55, 56v, 57v, 58v, 63, 63v, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 73v, 85v, 86, 87, 92, 94, 101, 103, 105v, 111, 114, 118, 118v
• Terence's Comedies (BNF Latin 7907 A), c. 1400-1407
  It seems like the illustrator is using dagging as a visual representation of some aspect of the characters in question -- vanity, perhaps -- so I have grouped these illustrations by the character represented.
  Thraso (fols. 35r, 43r, 49r, 49v)
  Aeschinus (fols. 77v, 78v, 80r, 89r, 96v)
  Philotis (fol. 99v)
  Phormio (fols. 125r, 125v, 136v, 137r, 138r, 140r)
• Men's headwear in the frontispiece of Troilus and Criseyde (Corpus Christi College 61, fol. 1v), early 15th century
• The Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry (Met 54.1.1a, b), c. 1405-1409
• The Bedford Hours (Brit. Lib. Add. 18850), c. 1410
  Women's gowns on fols. 2r, 4v (?), 288v
  Man's gown on fol. 11r
  Men's hoods/chaperons on fols. 289r, 289v
• Manuscript with works of Christine de Pizan (Brit. Lib. Harley 4431), c. 1410-1414; men's and women's dagged clothing on fols. 48r, 56v, 103r, 106r, 143r, 153r, 154v, 265r, 376r
• Philotis, Terence of the Dukes (BNF Latin 664, fol. 210v), c. 1410-1415
• Jean de Berry departs on a voyage in the Petites Heures of Jean de Berry (BNF Latin 18014, fol. 288v), c. 1412
• Fols. 4r and 53r, Réponses à Charles VI et Lamentation au Roi sur son état) (Bibil. Publique et Universitaire, Geneva, Fr. 165), c. 1412
• Men's and women's gowns in January, April, May, August, Très riches heures du Duc de Berry (Musée Condé 65), c. 1412-1416
• Decameron, c. 1414-1419
• Louis II of Anjou in a chaperon with a dagged edge, c. 1415
• Maria d'Harcourt et d'Aumale in a gown with dagged sleeves in the Breviary of Marie de Gueldres (Germ. Quart. 42, fol. 19), c. 1415
• The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1420
• The Nine Worthies fresco at Castello della Manta, c. 1420
  Several examples, especially the gown and headwear of Deipyle and Thamyris
• Men's dagged hoods on fols. 20v, 160v, 169v (also a dagged man's gown on that folio), and 173v of the Hours of Charlotte of Savoy (PML M.1004), c. 1420-1425
• A man in a dagged chaperon and houppelande with dagged sleeves in a book of hours (PML M.27, fol. 6v), c. 1420-1430
• A man in a dagged hood in a book of hours (PML M.453, fol. 2), c. 1425-1430
• Men's headwear in fols. 24r and 37v, Piers Plowman (Douce 104), 1427; also, a dagged tunic on fol. 26v
• The gown and chaperon worn by Lijsbeth van Duvenvoorde, 1430
• The Devonshire Hunting Tapestries, especially Falconry, the Swan and Otter Hunt, and the Boar and Bear Hunt, 1430s
• Portrait of a goldsmith in a dagged chaperon by Jan van Eyck, c. 1430
• A man's headdress in a stained glass panel with a couple playing chess, c. 1430-1440
• The Decameron (BNF Arsenal 5070), 1432
  Fols. 12v, 27r, 116r, 132v, 162r, 208r, 211v, 226v, 276v, 321v, 330v, 341r, 350v
Hawkynge, huntynge, and dawnsynge,
Thow moste forgo for any thynge;
Cuttede clothes and pykede schone,
Thye gode fame þey wole for-done.

John Mirk's Instructions for Parish Priests

• The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (PML M.917/945), c. 1440
  Dagged hoods on fols. 52v, 38, 60v, 67r, 86v, 180, 97 (the tippet on Isaac's hood), 101, 105, 224
  Dagged cloak on p. 237
• Men's dagged hoods on fols. 21r, 324r, and 395v of the Egmont breviary (PML M.87), c. 1440
• Man's hood in Ponthus petitioning the kings of England and Scotland in the Talbot Shrewsbury book (British Library Royal 15 E VI, fol. 219v), 1444-1445
• Men's headwear in a detail from the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden, 1445-1450
• Gowns and headwear on men and women weepers from the tomb of Isabella of Bourbon by Renier van Thienen, c. 1475-1476; for good dagging details, see BK-AM-33-D, BK-AM-33-E, and BK-AM-33-J