History of Western Civilization through FASHION: #12 Cavaliers! (1630-ish..)

"I wear puffy slops and I cannot lie
you other brothers can't deny
with my ermine cape and my pear-like shape
and the bows on my knees -
I'm fun!"

When Queen Elizabeth died, the Jacobian era began with the reign of James I. (Jacobus is Latin for James so the time period is called Jacobian rather than Jamesian or Jamish or whatever.) James I liked to study the Greek classics, write books (my favorite is A Counterblaste to Tobacco where he yells about how awful tobacco is), go hunting with his homies, avoid war with Spain, torture witches, fight with Parliment, authorize the establishment of Jamestown in Virginia, reduce the national deficit, commision the official King James version of the Bible (which we use today), avoid being blown up by Guy Fawks on 11/5/1605 (which was the beginning of the most firework-y holiday in England), become a raging alcoholic, and support playwrights (Shakespeare) and a whole pile of guys who are now known as the Cavalier Poets. (My favorite is this guy because I sometimes have the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old boy.)

Oh, and he had seven kids (three of whom survived) with his wife Anne of Denmark who was a big supporter of "natural philosophy", which means she dug science and gave money to guys like Francis Bacon and William Gilbert.

So, really, that's not a bad list at all. He, unfortunately, tended to run the government by appointing his unqualified good-'ol-boy buddies to do all the work for him while he hung out in the woods. This caused problems and scandals since the qualities that make dudes awesome to hang out with don't necessarily translate into good governmental practice. But, when James died, everyone was sad because he kept taxes low and he did everything he could to keep England and Scotland out of wars with other countries. The best posthumous quote is "As he lived in peace, so did he die in peace..."

Henry IV

Meanwhile, in France, Henry IV was a king who had the revolutionary idea of not fighting wars with folks in his own country. Instead he would say "Yes, we could throw our armies at each other, where I would doubtless kick your behind, but instead, how about I give you some of the cash I would spend on this war and you can take it home and roll around in it like Scrooge Mc Duck? Yes? No? Maybe? Sleep on it..."

Pictured: Henry IV's domestic policy

Henry also said something which has turned into a famous political catchphrase.

Si Dieu me prête vie, je ferai qu’il n’y aura point de laboureur en mon royaume qui n’ait les moyens d’avoir le dimanche une poule dans son pot!

Get it? Oh. Here's the translation:

If God keeps me, I will make sure that no peasant in my realm will lack the the means to have a chicken in the pot on Sunday!

So if you ever hear someone say "A chicken for every pot!" they are (probably unknowingly) quoting Henry IV.

Well, what does this have to do with fashion? Everything as it happens. After the major social upheaval of the previous generation (Science! America! Protestants! War!), these two guys followed a strict policy of "Everybody just calm the heck down." Clothing, as a result went from high-strung abstract tight-laced big-shouldered panic to droop-shouldered high-waisted draped puffy relaxed decadence. Here, I will show you.

"My dog loves me"

"I got a new hat!"

"Mr Painter man, please make my clothes flutter like there's a breeze but don't
mess up my hair, okay?"

"Hi. I own a lot of pearls."

"Um, Mr Painter... I think that the chest of my portrait is... anatomically incorrect..."

"What?"

Peter Paul Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower

Incidenally, artists started getting seriously better. The above painting is a self-portrait by Peter Paul Rubens. My older sister had it in some art history books when I was a kid. I remember spending hours looking at this painting. I'm pretty sure I was just obsessed with his socks. Incidentally, Rubens was Flemish and the Dutch (and other assorted Scandinavians) held on to the ruff style for a long time after everyone else had gotten rid of it.

Anyway, life was not bad.

So there we are. I really like the Cavalier period but no one else seems to. At the Rennaisance Faire here in Vegas there's a pack of guys who walk around in wonderfully well-done Dutch Cavalier style clothing and everyone acts like they aren't there. Everyone instead wants to look at guys like this

Which kind of makese sense because that mustache is epic

instead of a pack of fat dudes.

This is literally the only picture I could find of these guys.

"Seriously?"

Yeah, I know, it makes no sense to me either. But, it's perfectly normal for me to prefer the Cavalier period because of when I came of age. You see, this pattern of Panic/Calm has happened before. Here are some examples.