Perfumed gloves

Last updated

Perfumed gloves, also referred to as sweet gloves, are perfumed gloves, often embroidered, introduced to England from Spain and Venice. They were popular as gifts in the 16th and 17th-centuries. Stories describe them as a conveyance of poison for Jeanne d'Albret and Gabrielle d'Estrees. [1]

Contents

Practice of perfuming

Perfuming gloves was practised in Spain, and forty valuable pairs were offered as a prize at a 16th-century jousting match. The leather was immersed several times in wine mixed with waters of lily, of roses, orange flowers, cloves, citron, storax, civet, and ambergris. In England, the permanently scented leather was called "washed", perfumed gloves were sometimes called "sweet gloves". [2] Perfuming enhanced the value of the gloves and also masked any residual odours remaining in the leather from the tanning process. [3] In 1562, the English ambassador in Paris, Nicholas Throckmorton, wrote to the ambassador in Spain, Thomas Chaloner, asking him to send gloves perfumed with orange flowers and jasmine for himself and his wife. [4]

Gloves for Princess Mary were perfumed by Cuthbert Blackeden, an apothecary who worked for Henry VIII. [5] Angelo Marie, a perfumer working for Mary, Queen of Scots, added velvet linings to Lord Darnley's gloves. [6] Prince Henry had perfumed gloves made of stag's leather and leather from Córdoba. [7] In 1599, the Earl of Rutland bought "washed" gloves in France, and bought perfuming materials for gloves from a London goldsmith, including pots of cotignac or marmalade of "plums with amber". [8]

Perfuming could be a domestic activity amomg the English elite. Elinor Fettiplace included methods for washing and perfuming leather with rosewater and fumes of benjamin and perfuming leather gloves in her 1604 recipe book. [9]

Amber gloves

Amber gloves were perfumed with "grey amber" or ambergris, produced by sperm whales. This was an expensive material, and substitute scents were made from mixes of musk, civet, gum tragacanth and other ingredients. [10] During the election of the Pope in January 1550, the Cardinals placed bets on the outcome, wagering valuable amber gloves, which were "essential" costume in Rome according to the Venetian ambassador. [11] The Spanish ambassador, the Marquis of Hinojosa, brought 200 pairs of amber gloves to distribute as diplomatic gifts at the English court in 1624. [12]

Perfumed gloves as gifts

Jeanne III of Navarre buying poisoned gloves from Catherine de Medici's parfumeur, Rene, history painting by Pierre-Charles Comte. Pierre-Charles Comte - Jeanne III of Navarre Buying Poisoned Gloves from Catherine de Medici's Parfumeur, Rene.jpg
Jeanne III of Navarre buying poisoned gloves from Catherine de Medici's parfumeur, René, history painting by Pierre-Charles Comte.

Catherine de Medici (1519-1589) gave gloves to her daughter Elisabeth of Valois (1545-1568), wife of Philip II of Spain. Isabella D'Este (1474-1539) made her own scents and gave gloves to Claude of France (1499-1524). Perfumed gloves were often given as presents by aristocrats and courtiers in Tudor and Stuart England. [13]

Elizabeth Neville, a daughter of John Neville of Chevet, had a pair of perfumed gloves costing £3-4s in her wedding apparel in 1526. [14] Archangelo Arcano, one of Henry VIII's gunners and military engineers gave the king perfumed gloves, and Princess Mary was given perfumed gloves. [15]

Elizabeth I and perfumed gloves

There were fears that gloves could be poisoned, and William Cecil wrote a memorandum for the safety of Elizabeth I, advising caution with gifts of perfumed clothing; "Item, that no manner of perfume, either in apparel or sleeves, gloves, or such like, or otherwise shall be appointed for your majesty's savour, be presented by any stranger". [16]

Some of Elizabeth's gloves were made by John Wynyard, a page of the royal wardrobe. His equipment in 1564 included a perfuming pan made of steel. [17] In 1562, John Dymocke, a jewellery merchant with English court connections visited Eric XIV of Sweden, bringing a gift of perfumed black velvet gloves. [18]

According to Edmund Howes, [19] when Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford returned from Italy in 1576, he brought "gloves, sweet bagges, a perfumed leather jerkin, and other pleasant things". Elizabeth was pleased with the scent of the gloves and thereafter it was known as the "Earle of Oxford's perfume". [20] Although the story is of the period, and later widely popularised by Isaac Disraeli and others, perfume by that name does not seem to have been much used by Elizabethans. [21]

Elizabeth sniffed gloves presented to her at Audley End in July 1578, and put them "half way upon her hands". [22] Around this time, an Italian perfumer of gloves, Guillam Bisco, settled in London's Queenhithe Ward, [23] and in 1583, "Frances Lewcattelly" (Lucatelli) a perfumer of gloves from Venice, who had been given permission to work in London as early as 1569, lived in Blackfriars. [24]

Lady Walsingham gave Elizabeth I scented gloves with cuffs embroidered with seed pearl in January 1589. Court musicians of the Lupo and Bassano families gave Elizabeth I perfumed gloves as New Year's Day gifts in 1599/1600. [25] Lady Anne Clifford gave Spanish leather gloves to Mary Sackville, the wife of Sir Henry Neville in December 1617. [26]

Jacobean diplomacy

Perfumed gloves were frequently given as gifts by diplomats. In September 1603 the Spanish ambassador to England, the Count of Villamediana, brought a "great store of Spanish gloves, Hawks' hoods, leather for jerkins, and moreover a perfumer". [27] In November Villamediana invited the Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Mar to dinner. According to Arbella Stuart, he asked them "to bring the Scottish ladies for he was desirous to see some natural beauties". The women from the Queen's household who accepted this invitation included Jean Drummond, the young Anna Hay, and Lady Carey. The ambassador gave Lady Carey a present of Spanish leather gloves at the dinner, and afterwards sent a gold necklace. These were diplomatic gifts intended to leverage support for Spanish policy at court. [28]

The Earl of Nottingham was involved in the negotiations with Spain known as the Somerset House Conference and the subsequent ratification of the treaty at Valladolid. The King of Spain, Philip III gave him jewels and gilt plate. Gifts for his wife, Margaret Howard, Countess of Nottingham, included perfumed gloves and other perfumed goods. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farthingale</span> Structure to support womens skirts in a desired shape

A farthingale is one of several structures used under Western European women's clothing - especially in the 16th and 17th centuries - to support the skirts in the desired shape and to enlarge the lower half of the body. The fashion originated in Spain in the fifteenth century. Farthingales served important social and cultural functions for women in Renaissance Europe as they expressed, primarily when worn by court women, high social position and wealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doublet (clothing)</span> 15th- to 17th-century mens garment

A doublet is a man's snug-fitting jacket that is shaped and fitted to a man's body. The garment was worn in Spain, and spread to the rest of Western Europe, from the late Middle Ages up to the 17th century. Until the end of the 15th century, the doublet was usually worn under another layer of clothing such as a gown, mantle, or houppelande when in public. In the 16th century it was covered by the jerkin. Women started wearing doublets in the 16th century, and these garments later evolved as the corset and stay. The doublet was thigh length, hip length or waist length and worn over the shirt or drawers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Howard, Countess of Nottingham</span> British noble

Margaret Stuart, Scottish aristocrat and courtier in England. She served as lady-in-waiting to the queen consort of England, Anne of Denmark. She was the daughter of James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray, and Elizabeth Stuart, 2nd Countess of Moray. The sailor and patron of Ben Jonson, Sir Frances Stuart was her brother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visard</span>

A visard is an oval mask of black velvet which was worn by travelling women in the 16th century to protect their skin from sunburn. The fashion of the period for wealthy women was to keep their skin pale, because a tan suggested that the bearer worked outside and was hence poor. Some types of vizard were not held in place by a fastening or ribbon ties, and instead the wearer clasped a bead attached to the interior of the mask between their teeth.

<i>The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses</i> Play written by Samuel Daniel

The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses was an early Jacobean-era masque, written by Samuel Daniel and performed in the Great Hall of Hampton Court Palace on the evening of Sunday, 8 January 1604. One of the earliest of the Stuart Court masques, staged when the new dynasty had been in power less than a year and was closely engaged in peace negotiations with Spain, The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses stood as a precedent and a pattern for the many masques that followed during the next four decades.

Jean Ker, Countess of Roxburghe, néeDrummond (c.1585–1643) was a Scottish courtier, serving Anne of Denmark in Scotland and England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zibellino</span> Womens fashion accessory

A zibellino, flea-fur or fur tippet is a women's fashion accessory popular in the later 15th and 16th centuries. A zibellino, from the Italian word for "sable", is the pelt of a sable or marten worn draped at the neck or hanging at the waist, or carried in the hand. The plural is zibellini. Some zibellini were fitted with faces and paws of goldsmith's work with jeweled eyes and pearl earrings, while unadorned furs were also fashionable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Trevannion</span> English aristocrat and keeper of Prince Charles

Elizabeth Trevannion, Countess of Monmouth, was an English aristocrat and keeper of Prince Charles.

Juan de Tassis y Acuña, 1st Count of Villamediana, was a Spanish diplomat and official, awarded his title by king Philip III of Spain in 1603, and the General Head of Spanish Post Offices.

Costume and gold and silver plate belonging to Elizabeth I were recorded in several inventories, and other documents including rolls of New Year's Day gifts. Arthur Jefferies Collins published the Jewels and Plate of Queen Elizabeth I: The Inventory of 1574 from manuscripts in 1955. The published inventory describes jewels and silver-plate belonging to Elizabeth with detailed references to other source material. Two inventories of Elizabeth's costume and some of her jewellery were published by Janet Arnold in Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlocke'd.

Lady Audrey Walsingham was an English courtier. She served as Lady of the Bedchamber to queen Elizabeth I of England, and then as Mistress of the Robes to Anne of Denmark from 1603 until 1619.

Dorothy Speckard or Speckart or Spekarde was a courtier, milliner, silkwoman, and worker in the wardrobe of Elizabeth I of England, Anne of Denmark, Prince Henry, and Henrietta Maria. Her husband, Abraham Speckard, was an investor in the Somers Isles Company which colonised Bermuda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots</span> Jewels belonging to Mary, Queen of Scots

The jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587), are mainly known through the evidence of inventories held by the National Records of Scotland. She was bought jewels during her childhood in France, adding to those she inherited. She gave gifts of jewels to her friends and to reward diplomats. When she abdicated and went to England many of the jewels she left behind in Scotland were sold or pledged for loans, first by her enemies and later by her allies. Mary continued to buy new jewels, some from France, and use them to reward her supporters. In Scotland her remaining jewels were worn by her son James VI and his favourites.

<i>Prince Henrys Welcome at Winchester</i>

Prince Henry's Welcome at Winchester was a masque produced by Anne of Denmark and performed in 1603 at Winchester on a day between 11 and 17 October.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Hay, Countess of Winton</span>

Anna Hay, Countess of Winton (1592-1628) was a Scottish courtier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewels of Anne of Denmark</span> Jewels belonging to Anne of Denmark (1574–1619)

The jewels of Anne of Denmark (1574–1619), wife of James VI and I and queen consort of Scotland and England, are known from accounts and inventories, and their depiction in portraits by artists including Paul van Somer. A few pieces survive. Some modern historians prefer the name "Anna" to "Anne", following the spelling of numerous examples of her signature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aura Soltana</span> Tartar woman at the court of Elizabeth I

Aura Soltana, also known as Ipolitan the Tartarian or Ipolita or Ippolyta, was a Tartar woman at the court of Elizabeth I after arriving from Russia to England, apparently as a slave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wardrobe of Mary, Queen of Scots</span>

The wardrobe of Mary, Queen of Scots, was described in several contemporary documents, and many records of her costume have been published.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coronation of James I and Anne</span> 1603 coronation in England

The coronation of James I and his wife Anne as King and Queen of England and Ireland was held on 25 July 1603 at Westminster Abbey. James had reigned as King James VI of Scotland since 1567. Anne was anointed and consecrated with prayers alluding to Esther, the Wise Virgins, and other Biblical heroines. It was the first coronation to be conducted in English instead of Latin. A planned ceremonial Royal Entry to London was deferred until 15 March 1604.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedding of Mary I of England and Philip of Spain</span> Marriage of Mary I of England and the future Philip II of Spain

Mary I of England (1516–1558) and Philip of Spain married at Winchester Cathedral on Wednesday 25 July 1554.

References

  1. ↑ George William Septimus Piesse, 'The Art of Perfumery and the Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants: With Instructions for the Manufacture of Perfumes for the Handkerchief, Scented Powders, Odorous Vinegars, Dentifrices, Pomatums, Cosmetics, Perfumed Soap', Chamber's Journal, (Lindsay & Blakiston, 1867), pp. 188, 189.
  2. ↑ M. Channing Linthicum, Costume in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries (Oxford, 1936), pp. 269.
  3. ↑ Lizzie Marx, Sofia Collette Ehrich, William Tullett, Inger Leemans, Cecilia Bembibre, 'Making Whiffstory: A Contemporary Re-creation of an Early Modern Scent for Perfumed Gloves', American Historical Review, 127:2 (June 2022), pp. 881–893.
  4. ↑ Samuel Haynes, Collection of State Papers (London, 1740), pp. 383, 387.
  5. ↑ Holly Dugan, 'Scent', Early Modern Court Culture (Routledge, 2022), p. 433.
  6. ↑ Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 16 (Edinburgh, 1916), lxvi, 433.
  7. ↑ William Bray, 'Extracts from the Wardrobe Account of Prince Henry', Archaeologia, vol. 11 (London, 1796), pp. 88-96.
  8. ↑ HMC Rutland, 1 (London, 1905), 417–18.
  9. ↑ Hilary Spurling, Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking (London: Viking Salamander, 1986), p. 15.
  10. ↑ Jutta Wimmler, The Sun King's Atlantic: Drugs, Demons and Dyestuffs in the Atlantic World (Brill, 2017), p. 97.
  11. ↑ Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers Venice, vol. 5 (London, 1873), p. 298 no. 627.
  12. ↑ Óscar Alfredo Ruiz Fernández, England and Spain in the Early Modern Era: Royal Love, Diplomacy, Trade and Naval Relations (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020), p. 69.
  13. ↑ Holly Dugan, 'Scent', Early Modern Court Culture (Routledge, 2022), pp. 428-9.
  14. ↑ John Croft, Excerpta Historica (London, 1797), p. 78
  15. ↑ S. William Beck, Gloves, Their Annals and Associations (London, 1883), p. 83.
  16. ↑ Samuel Haynes, Collection of State Papers (London, 1740), p. 368.
  17. ↑ Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 217.
  18. ↑ Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 5 (London, 1867), pp. 217–222
  19. ↑ Edmund Howes, Annales, or a Generall Chronicle (London, 1631), p. 868
  20. ↑ M. Channing Linthicum, Costume in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries (Oxford, 1936), pp. 268-9.
  21. ↑ Holly Dugan, 'Entertaining Perfumers in Early English Drama', Natasha Korda & Michelle M. Dowd, Working Subjects in Early Modern English Drama (Ashgate, 2011), p. 72 fn. 5.
  22. ↑ Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 217.
  23. ↑ William Page, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England (London, 1893), p. xlvii: Returns of Aliens Dwelling in the City and Suburbs of London from the Reign of Henry VIII to that of James I (London, 1902), pp. 285, 323: Holly Dugan, The Ephemeral History of Perfume: Scent and Sense in Early Modern England (Baltimore, 2011), p. 144: Holly Dugan, 'Entertaining Perfumers in Early English Drama', Natasha Korda & Michelle M. Dowd, Working Subjects in Early Modern English Drama (Ashgate, 2011), pp. 74-5.
  24. ↑ HMC Salisbury Hatfield: Addenda, 13 (London, 1915), p. 222
  25. ↑ John Nichols, Progresses of Elizabeth, vol. 3 (London, 1823), pp. 8, 457-8.
  26. ↑ Jessica L. Malay, Anne Clifford's Autobiographical Writing, 1590-1676 (Manchester, 2018), p. 70.
  27. ↑ Sara Jayne Steen, Letters of Arbella Stuart (Oxford, 1994), p. 182.
  28. ↑ Sara Jayne Steen, Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart (Oxford, 1994), p. 192.
  29. ↑ E. K. Purnell & A. B. Hinds, HMC Downshire, vol. 2 (London, 1936), pp. 423-5.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.