Traveling in Silk and Velvet: A Look at the Story of Joan of England, the Princess that Time Forgot
College
College of Visual and Performing Arts
Department
Fine Arts
Faculty Mentor
Laura Dufresne, Ph.D.
Abstract
In 1348, Princess Joan, the third born child to Edward III and Philippa, heads off on a journey through France on her way to Castile, all set for an arranged marriage to Prince Peter. In an lavish effort to impress his foreign allies, the King has outfitted his daughter in the best that money can buy. A wedding dress made with more than 150 meters of rakematiz, a thick imported silk embroidered with gold; a suit of red velvet; two sets of twenty four buttons made of silver gilt and enamel; five corsets woven with gold patterns of stars, crescents, and diamonds; a green rakematiz gown with inbuilt corset, embroidered all over with images of rose arbors, wild animals, and wild men; a brown rakematiz gown with inbuilt corset, a base of powdered gold, and an embroidered pattern of roundels, each enclosing a lion as a symbol of monarchy; riding clothes; beds and bed curtains; a portable chapel elaborately decorated with dragons and gold; and many more objects, from 12,000 pins to everyday wear. This elaborate parade of a trousseau is detailed in the Royal Wardrobe Accounts of 1347, one of the only sources for a lost masterpiece of English textile and fashion production. Ignoring the advice of officials in Bordeaux not toland, Joan became the first notable English victim lost in the Plague that swept over France in 1348, and her body and trousseau were eventually lost in a fire that purged the city. Joan was a girl who in the words of her father, Edward III, was “…our dearest daughter, whom we loved best of all, as her virtues demanded.” This paper endeavors to recreate what the lost trousseau of Joan looked like, all while exploring the life of a forgotten English princess.
Course Assignment
MDST 305 – Dufresne
Start Date
21-4-2017 2:45 PM
Traveling in Silk and Velvet: A Look at the Story of Joan of England, the Princess that Time Forgot
West Center, Room 217
In 1348, Princess Joan, the third born child to Edward III and Philippa, heads off on a journey through France on her way to Castile, all set for an arranged marriage to Prince Peter. In an lavish effort to impress his foreign allies, the King has outfitted his daughter in the best that money can buy. A wedding dress made with more than 150 meters of rakematiz, a thick imported silk embroidered with gold; a suit of red velvet; two sets of twenty four buttons made of silver gilt and enamel; five corsets woven with gold patterns of stars, crescents, and diamonds; a green rakematiz gown with inbuilt corset, embroidered all over with images of rose arbors, wild animals, and wild men; a brown rakematiz gown with inbuilt corset, a base of powdered gold, and an embroidered pattern of roundels, each enclosing a lion as a symbol of monarchy; riding clothes; beds and bed curtains; a portable chapel elaborately decorated with dragons and gold; and many more objects, from 12,000 pins to everyday wear. This elaborate parade of a trousseau is detailed in the Royal Wardrobe Accounts of 1347, one of the only sources for a lost masterpiece of English textile and fashion production. Ignoring the advice of officials in Bordeaux not toland, Joan became the first notable English victim lost in the Plague that swept over France in 1348, and her body and trousseau were eventually lost in a fire that purged the city. Joan was a girl who in the words of her father, Edward III, was “…our dearest daughter, whom we loved best of all, as her virtues demanded.” This paper endeavors to recreate what the lost trousseau of Joan looked like, all while exploring the life of a forgotten English princess.
