It was completely inevitable that a Tudor themed blog was going to end up discussing aspects of the TV show “the Tudors”. You will no doubt be aware that for a variety of reasons this caused a bit of a stir – this piece by Clemmie Moore in the Daily Mail sets the scene nicely. Perhaps I will go into our opinion of this program at a later date but I thought I would touch upon the subject of breasts for this post.
I had been looking at an illustration in R.E. Pritchard’s book ‘Shakespeare’s England’ and came across a picture of a wealthy and well dressed lady. The image was taken from the Roxburghe ballads – I was interested to note that the dress the woman is wearing is so low cut as to expose her breasts. As copies of this are freely available online (and are well worth browsing through if you have a spare hour or two) I had a look at some of the images, I have reproduced a few of them here.
As you can see – it is quite clear that the women depicted are either showing a great deal of cleavage (left) or have completely exposed their breasts. What is going on here? Could ‘The Tudors’ actually be more accurate than we have given them credit for?
There is a suggestion that it was not uncommon for women to bare their breasts in public and that the fashion for doing so was adopted following the example set by women from the upper classes. Liza Picard discusses women’s dress in her book ‘Elizabeth’s London’ and covers the issue of Tudor attitudes towards the display of female breasts.
Apparently, the French ambassador was surprised to see Queen Elizabeth I with her bosom completely exposed. Picard goes on to say that reformers deplored this fashion and saw exposed breasts everywhere. Exactly what they really saw may be uncertain though as what is considered ‘indecent’ tends to vary from person to person?
I wonder though, about the extent to which images from the ballads can be taken as evidence for frequency of breast exposure? It is quite well known that putting a half naked woman on the front of a magazine is likely to increase it’s sales. I was (briefly) tempted to call this post something like ‘Warning! Naked Tudor breasts exposed’ – I suspect it would have increased our hits! but how many people would have come back and do we really want/need lots of hits from people who surf the net looking for breasts? (see this re this subject).
I think it is likely that the publishers of the ballads were just as aware that sex sells and this is the reason they include lots of half naked women? I also wonder about how acceptable it really was to show breasts? I don’t recall seeing any painted portraits of Queen Elizabeth or other court ladies with exposed breasts – unless anyone can correct me about this?
This post has also been featured on this website which is well worth a look.
See also ‘ Tudor breasts exposed again & a tribute to the Clash’
In regards to your point about Elizabeth, it is well worth remembering that every single portrait or representation of Elzabeth was very tightly controlled. They are all deeply symbolic and she really was the master of her own image. She actually issued a standard set of rules that had to be followed by any painter doing a piece of work for her.
As for the wider court, I don’t honestly know. It wouldn’t suprise me terribly. When people talk about our morals and ethics now what they are really talking about is Victorian morals and ethics. Early Modern England hadn’t been poisoned by this insane sense of decency and obviously, it goes without saying that it was quite a chauvanistic society. The idea of high society women being topless and being comfortable with it also would not be new, a tradition going all the way back to Ancient times, and before that!
A highly inventive topic for discussion though, I doff my cap to you.
(Good to know I’m still young enough to snigger when i read ‘touch on breasts’ aswell. I’m ok with it)
[...] forcing her to wear her now iconic wig. Elizabeth also favored dresses that exposed her breasts, the fashion of her youth, well into her [...]
I stumbled on this blog from ty.rannosaur.us and just wanted to comment. I have a distinct memory of being a kid (7? 8?) at a museam with my parents where a majority of the portraits from this time period had women with exposed breasts. It must have made an impression for me to remember it so distinctly 20 years later, but I have never since seen such a painting. I was begining to believe it was a false memory or a dream, so thank you for making me feel a little less insane and perverted
Hi Melly – pleased to have been able to help you!
Maybe history meant their cleavage, and sometimes the dresses were cut so low that some of the girls experienced wardrobe malfunctions…..? Then again these pictures explain why King Henry always had a fancy for some girl or another. To see so many boobs would be distracting even for me! Then again, men wore cod pieces and that I think should have never gone out of fashion!
Parts of the boob-fashion were reprised in late 19th century Paris.
Basically its low-cut dresses, with breasts supported by corsets – getting lower and lower like the hemlines of a skirt.
To the point where the entire top half of the breast sits out and is exposed, including the nipple.
I’ll go out on a limb with others and say that “exposed her breasts” does NOT imply that the entire breast was exposed. Considering earlier fashions, exposing cleavage is probably what they meant. And of course divorced from context, it’s possible that depictions of women with nipples exposed were meant to illustrate brothels, not court dress.
What actually happened and what was really shown is quite different then what is stated…. compared to what is show in this year of 2012… they were very modest….under most circumstances….
Elizabeth
I must admit it seems hard to believe that women would really appear like this in public. Most things I have read suggest that this was a modest age in terms of bodily display.
However, some of the evidence suggests otherwise.
I would really like someone to come onto this blog & give a definitive answer – you sound quite certain, but what is your evidence for this?
The first picture shows a style that was common in the early Jacobean court–1600 to 1610. Paintings show a decorative collar over a low cut dress showing cleavage, but not fully exposing the breasts. I don’t know about the second one, but I’ve read in Renaissance Italy fully exposed breasts were sometimes seen on Court women.
See J D Wilson life in Shakespeare’s England ‘Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich’ in her 65th year was reported by Paul Hentzner, (Travels in England 1598) “her bosom was uncovered, as all the English ladies have it till they marry”.
Thanks for the info Jessica – haven’t read this but I think you are referring to this book
Life In Shakespeare's England