被遺忘的服飾：西方中世紀內衣簡介

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被遺忘的服飾：西方中世紀內衣簡介

（Overlooked and Undervalued: Underwear in the Middle Ages）

JUNE 23, 2018 BY MEDIEVALISTS.NET

By Madeleine Colvin

翻譯：魷條（New man）

來源鏈接：Overlooked and Undervalued: Underwear in the Middle Ages

Despite being one of the most important garments, underwear is the part of medieval clothing that is often ignored and unexplored in historical fiction and costuming. Modern day costuming and fashion appears to have a fascination with the corsets and crinolines of the Victorian era, but has little interest in what came earlier. What can we say about this element of fashion, which has been overlooked for far too long?

儘管曾是最重要的服飾之一，在歷史小說中和戲劇舞台上的中世紀時期的內衣卻往往被人們忽視，少有人因好奇而去一探究竟。現代的戲服和時裝設計對於表現維多利亞時期的緊身衣和紋樣獨特的裙帶有著別樣的熱情。然而對於之前中世紀時期的服飾卻彷彿置若罔聞。今天我們就來談一談這一久已被忽視的潛在的時尚元素。

While corsets can be related to modern undergarments, such as 「Spanx①」 and other waist-training and body shaping contraptions, what about earlier underwear makes it utterly ignorable? And what about the undergarments of men? This article is a brief overview of what underwear looked like in the middle ages, and how it compares to what we』re likely to wear today. While modern underwear may appear to be on a quest to shrink smaller and less visible each year, it actually had big beginnings!

緊身胸衣與現代的內衣頗有幾分相像，尤其像「Spanx①」的產品和其他那些束腰和塑形的小發明。那為何更早先的內衣如此默默無聞呢？中世紀的男士內衣又是怎樣的？本文試圖勾勒一副關於中世紀各式內衣的簡筆畫，並將其與今天的衣服相匹配和比較。今天的內衣在試圖「儉省布料」和追求與穿著者渾然一體方面越走越遠，而最初的內衣其實與之大相徑庭！

註：

①Spanx：美國一家製造修身短褲和裹腿的內衣製造商[1]。

The underwear of men is much more prevalent in historical art sources than that of women, possibly because the idea of an unclothed man was considered to be humorous opposed to lewd. There were two common items of underclothing in the middle ages: braies② and undertunics③. If we want to think about what men wear nowadays, these can be compared to modern undershirts and boxers.

歷史上對於男士內衣的描繪相較於女式內衣更多見，可能是穿內衣的男人形象更傾向於戲謔而非淫穢。中世紀主要有兩種常見的內衣，braies②和undertunics(襯衣)③。形制有些類似今天的襯衫和拳擊短褲。

註：

②Braies：中世紀歐洲人穿的一種褲子，源自古凱爾特人和日耳曼部落。在中世紀晚期成為專門的內衣。它常常掛在膝蓋或小腿部分，造型類似現今的短褲。最初由皮革和羊毛製成，後來逐漸出現了採用棉花和亞麻布的款式。天主教徒又將其稱為「Braccae」[2]。

③Undertunic；類似一種襯衣的內衣。在談到盎格魯撒克遜男裝時，有相關闡述：「亞麻質地的undertunic式襯衣穿在羊毛做成的tunic式外套裡面[3]。」tunics，簡單的外衣的總稱。長度有從肩部到臀部或腳踝的不同款式[4]。注意不要混同於「tunica（丘尼卡）」；後者是羅馬人直接將未染色的羊毛或亞麻布鬆散地披在肩上形成的穿著[5]。

Modern men』s underwear and shirts are usually made from a cotton or a cotton/ polyester blend, and are stretchy to allow for them to conform to the shape of the body and not be visible underneath your outer-clothes. Medieval underclothes were a little bit different – though they weren』t intended to be visible, it was not seen to be so much of an insult to have them peeking out in places that your outer clothes do not cover. Undertunics were long and billowy, sometimes floor or knee length depending on the length of the outer clothes. Commonly, under tunics were usually tucked into a man』s underwear.

當今的男士內衣常常由棉或棉+滌綸混紡而成，很好地裹藏在外衣下，富有彈性且合身。然而中世紀的情況則不太一樣，人們不會刻意露出內衣，但被人看到內衣也不是什麼尷尬的事情。undertunics長而蓬鬆，從及膝長的到拖地長的都有，人們根據不同外衣來搭配。且下擺常會卷進貼身褲子里。

In the Middle Ages, pants as we know them today were not in fashion. Modern costuming interpretations often consider the pants of the Middle Ages to be 「tights」, but they were actually made from two separate pieces of fabric, and didn』t become a singular item resembling 「pants」 until later in the fifteenth century. Instead, men wore long, fitted socks that went from toe to hip and created a general look similar to tight pants. They were tied at the waist to either lacing on their braies (underwear) or to a separate cloth belt worn under their clothing. Because of the nature of these 「pants」, braies had a few different designs, ranging from short and resembling boxer-briefs to long and hanging loosely under the knee in billowing mounds of fabric. Some of the most famous examples can be found in the Maciejowski Bible (Morgan Bible)④, which features a number of unclothed men, giving us a greater understanding of what the average man in the middle ages would wear under his outerwear.

在中世紀，穿短褲尚未流行。今天的戲服常常將中世紀的短褲描繪成某種「緊身褲」，但在15世紀前，短褲更像是由兩片單獨的織物拼湊起來的。相反，一種合身的，從腳趾頭拉到腰上的男士襪倒是非常像緊身褲。這種襪子通過一條系帶系在braies或是一條單獨的布腰帶上。因此braies也不得不衍生出包括類似拳擊內褲的短款式樣和懸掛大量蓬鬆布料的過膝長款式樣等的多種款式。一些最著名的例子可參考MaigjoukScript聖經（摩根聖經）④中關於男士內衣的描述。

註：

④Morgan Bible：摩根聖經（皮爾蓬特摩根圖書館，紐約，M.M. 638）又被稱為十字軍聖經或MaigjoukScript聖經，是中世紀一本46頁對摺本的插畫聖經。該書以基督徒視角，描繪了希伯來經文中的畫面和十三世紀法國的風土人情[6]。

So men』s underwear was a little bit more voluminous but otherwise not so different from modern day. What came earlier for women, before the cinched waist and structured undergarments? It is a pretty simple answer: glorious shapelessness. In our day and age, woman may choose to achieve their preferred figure through fitted undergarments, but early undergarments were more likely to just be a loose linen dress. Reference images of women in underwear in the Middle Ages are few (they are more likely to be depicted as either completely nude or fully clothed), but this loose fitting dress is the most commonly observed. This garment was often referred to as a 「smock」 or 「chemise」, and was the most common undergarment for women for well over 500 years, from the early medieval period through to the Renaissance.

總體來說中世紀男士內衣較為寬鬆，與如今的穿著倒也不算相去甚遠。在束腰的服飾和有框架的內衣出現之前女士內衣又是怎樣的呢？簡單地說就是有著燦爛而自由的形制。如今婦女可以選擇穿合適的內衣來展現理想的身材，但早期的內衣則更可能就是一件寬鬆的亞麻服裝。表現穿內衣女性的中世紀繪畫很少（她們多以要麼穿戴整齊或者乾脆什麼也不穿的形象出現），而寬鬆的內衣是最常見的。從早期中世紀到文藝復興的500年間，這些款式的內衣又被稱為「smock」或是「chemise」（smock所指應該基本和chemise相同）。

A few different designs and materials can be noted with the chemise, with the most common material being linen. Poorer civilians may have worn undergarments made from hemp cloth, while noblewomen had been known to have smocks made of silk. Underdresses have always been depicted in manuscripts as being either white or off white, either made from opaque fabric or from more sheer, see-through material (which was most likely very, very fine linen or silk). Some dresses, such as those worn by the colloquially known 「Bohemian Bathhouse Babes」 in the Wenceslas Bible⑤, wear spaghetti-strapped dresses with a more fitted torso that appears to provide some support comparable to the modern bra.

Chemise款式的內衣通常由以亞麻布為主的幾種材料製成。沒錢的老百姓大多穿的是麻布內衣，而貴族則有絲綢質地的服飾。史料的手稿中喜聞樂見的內衣常被描繪成白色或是近乎白色的，由不透明或是半透明（如上好的絲綢和亞麻）材料製成。在溫塞拉斯（wenceslas）聖經⑤中，一些被戲稱為「波西米亞浴嬰」的女人穿的衣服，這是一種用「義大利面式樣「的束帶裝飾的連衣裙，似乎有了一些像是現代胸衣的合身感。

註：

⑤Wenceslas Bible（the Bible of Wenceslaus IV）：以德語寫成的，分有多卷的手抄本聖經（德語稱Wenzelsbibel）。由波西米亞國王溫塞拉斯四世委託，在布拉格於十四世紀九十年代寫成。它是聖經最早的德語譯本[7]。

With such loose undergarments, it』s easy to assume that the fashion of the day must have been of similar silhouettes, but that was not the case at all! Particularly in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, fashion appeared to favor tight fitting over dresses of wool of silk, showing off a tight bosom and fitted waist, flaring out into a full, straight skirt. An example can be taken from the The Book of the City of Ladies (1405), where we can see women wearing flattering, contoured dresses.

既然內衣如此寬鬆，你可能會想像當時的時尚或許也和今天差不多，然而情況卻並非如此。特別是在十四、十五世紀時，女裝流行的款式大多是羊毛和絲綢質地的緊身連衣裙。緊繃的胸部襯托著腰部的曲線，組成一整條傾瀉而下的直筒裙。《女市民》中有著關於這種穿著的典型例子，插畫上的婦女穿著合身的波浪形裙子。

You may also be wondering what women did for underwear on their lower body. The answer to that is…. nobody knows! There are no reliable historical sources on the matter, and it is a common conclusion that women didn』t wear briefs of any variety. If they did, we can assume that they were similar to those of men, resembling small shorts. Researchers tend to disagree on this subject, and there is currently no definitive answer to this question.

另一方面，人們甚至不知道中世紀的女性下半身是否穿內衣。因為現存的文獻對此幾乎隻字未提，而普遍的觀點認為女士貼身短褲在當時尚未出現。假若真的存在這類內衣，我們猜測它和男士短褲會很相像。相關的問題也依然在爭論。

In modern times it may seem counterproductive to wear a loose, billowy chemise under a tight overdress, but underwear was worn for more than just support in the Middle Ages. It also provided a vital extra layer of warmth and shielded sensitive skin from itchy woollen outer clothes. It also protected expensive outerwear from sweat and other wear and tear, extending its life and requiring much less washing, which was especially important with delicate materials such as silk.

現代人可能無法理解在緊束的外衣下穿寬鬆內衣的做法。但在中世紀，內衣不僅提供了額外的保溫層，還將敏感的皮膚和使人發癢的毛衣外套隔開。對於昂貴的外套，內衣避免了汗漬和其他不必要磨損的出現。這降低了清洗頻率並延長了外套的壽命，對於絲綢質地的服飾來說是很重要的。

Every time we make a historical discovery, we learn more and more about daily life in the Middle Ages. Just a few years ago, we discovered a series of undergarments from the 15th century that resemble bras, completely changing our perspective on historical underwear. Domestic matters such as underclothes may seem mundane, but having an understanding of things like this helps deepen our knowledge of the past and make sense of who we have become today. It is easy to forget that items that are often overlooked and undervalued are the most essential.

每一個歷史發現，都讓我們更了解中世紀的日常生活。關於十五世紀一系列內衣的發現，改變了人們對中世紀內衣的印象。關於內衣的這些日常瑣事看似無聊，但對它們的了解及與現狀的比較，加深了我們對過去的認識，讓我們知道自己成為了什麼樣的人。人們常常忘記那些被低估和遺忘的東西有時恰恰是最關鍵的。

Reflecting on everything, it becomes clear that the true utilitarian use of underwear really hasn』t changed much in the last 700 years. However, one can』t help but note that while medieval underwear was loose and large, modern underwear seems to be getting smaller and smaller. Not to mention that underdresses and slips appear to have gone out of fashion years ago, reserved to be worn with only the sheerest of dresses. There is much to say about the difference in beauty standards from the Middle Ages to today – but maybe I』ll save that for another time. Hopefully this article has brought some clarity to the matter of underwear, and has ignited an interest in what usually remains hidden – after all this is simply a brief overview, there is so much more to be discovered!

我們發現在過去的七個世紀里內衣的實際用途並沒有多大的改變。然而引人注意的是中世紀的內衣更大更寬鬆而今天的內衣似乎變得越來越小。更不用說裙式內衣和襯裙都已經被簡單的薄裙子取代。關於中世紀與現代的審美差異大有可談之處，暫且按下不表。希望這篇文章已經對內衣研究的概況進行了一定的闡述，並且引起了大家對這些不起眼的生活細節的關注，這其中還有很多有趣的內容等待發現。

Our thanks to Madeleine Colvin and Mykhaylo 「Miha」 Skorobogatov of ArmStreet for this article. ArmStreet is an international company with offices in the US, Australia and Ukraine. Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, USA, it was founded as a co-op of several LARP game masters and designers, and is now a world leader in top-quality medieval costumes. Click here to visit their website. You can also like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @armstreet.

See also More on medieval bras – new details on 15th century find

參考文獻

[1] Spanx.[EB/OL].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanx

[2] Braies.[EB/OL].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braies

[3] Anglo-Saxon_dress .[EB/OL].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_dress

[4] Tunic .[EB/OL].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunic

[5] Tierney T. Byzantine Fashions - Coloring Book[J].

[6] Morgan_Bible. [EB/OL].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Bible

[7] Wenceslas Bible.[EB/OL].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslas_Bible