Here's another example of a plain caul in a civilian context, under a hat.

Sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tapestry_po...eyden.jpg:

Quote:

Description English: A detail from the The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald tapestry, dating from around 1450, in the Historical Museum of Bern. Source Campbell, Lorne & Van der Stock, Jan. Rogier van der Weyden: 1400–1464. Master of Passions. Davidsfonds, Leuven, 2009

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The image that interested me in The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald tapestry was actually not the one above, but the execution scene in the left-hand panel below. In some black and white reproductions of this image, the man about to be executed appears to possibly have a hairnet on - the colouration is uniform (whereas some other depictions of hair in the tapestry have clear detail suggesting strands and curls of hair), and the 'hairline' is quite uniform, whereas most of the other depictions that are clearly hair are more 'raggedy'.

This isn't the case for all of the figures who clearly have exposed hair, such as some tonsures. Does anyone have a better quality reproduction of this image? The detailed version on Wikimedia, below, looks like it has been scanned from a book, and at that level of detail, the printing matrix gets in the way of detail.

If this image did indeed show us a hairnet, then that would be the fourth 'strongly circumstantial' image we have for this issue, and I'd feel happier about taking this all to print ... however, at this resolution, I don't yet feel confident that it's not just an 'undetailed' depiction of hair.


(Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...nbald.jpg)

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Here's an interesting example from Jean Marot (c. 1500-1520) BNF Français 5091, Le Voyage de Gênes, fo. 2v.

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8427230m/f16.item

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Mart, that's more than just interesting ... the whole image shows that this is another one of someone wearing a head covering with their helmet nearby, in a context that's strongly suggestive that they've just taken it off ... what I've come to call the 'strongly circumstantial' images in relation to this issue.

That brings us to five confirmed examples; time to find some time and write this all up for wider publication!

Mart, I could almost kiss you for finding this; would you settle for a acknowledgement in an academic publication instead? :lol:

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Sean, do you have a reference for the image of the sleeping soldier from Imareal, c. 1515 you posted earlier? It doesn't come up on an Imareal search for 'haarnetz' ... would be good to have the image details if I do end up taking this to publication. Cheers!

Mark T,

What's also noticeable is that two men in the background have nothing but their hair on their heads, the one on the left also with a close helm/armet and the one on the right with a sallet.

Notation in lieu of a kiss is quite acceptable. :p

Hi Mart,

Yes, the fact that we see both people without and with hairnets (circumstantially) 'under' helmets mirrors that we also see this with hairnets under hats. We also have some cases of images of head coverings worn on their own, both in military and civilian contexts - although these are often the more fancy examples. In both cases, this might suggest that the hairnet/caul was both a function item which kept hair out of the way, as well as a possible item of fashion in its own right.

Having used one under either a hat or helm (though not in combat) for most of a weekend, I can attest to their effectiveness in keeping hair in place in general activities. I'm hoping that a jousting friend, who also just happens to be a military historian and historical costume maker, will test one during some jousting to give us some solid 'living history data' as well.

Oh, and your acceptance of notation is noted! :lol: Thanks again for your help on this ... I think it's a great example of how myArmoury can be a site for a mix of posing historical questions (for which we have no known published sources), then using deduction, image searching using an international network of amateur researchers and online databases, and living history experimentation to arrive at a plausible solution backed by historical images and modern testing. Great stuff!

Makes me wonder how many other examples of this kind of thing myA is responsible for ...

While not a hairnet, here's another image of a fairly close-fitting cap, similar to others in this thread, again showing full armour and the helmet nearby. While this isn't shown in such a way to suggest it has 'just been placed on the ground' as in some of the execution scenes, the image - and the context it comes from - suggests more of a display of what armour looked like at the time. It's therefore possible that this image suggests that the cap would have been worn under the helmet.

This one comes from the recently rediscovered Thun Sketchbook, thought to have been destroyed in WWII. The images from the Sketchbook, as well as commentary by Dr. Pierre Terjanian, can be found in the Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorischen Museums Wien (Band 13/14), which can be purchased here: http://www.zabern.de/buch/Jahrbuch_des_Kunsth...Wien/24137

Thanks so much to Tom Biliter for drawing this to my attention, and for providing the scanned image below. A larger image with more detail can be found here: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YfYm9XcPS1Q/UvADb0dYGlI/AAAAAAAANrc/hnMLkja0iKc/s2048/Thun%252520Extra%252520Images002.jpg

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