Analysis: A highly valued item of durable clothing at home, the cloak was what made the notion of 'Irishness' visible and distinct in Europe
From the 12th to 16th centuries, the mantle was synonymous with Irish identity at home and abroad. In Ireland, it was a highly valued item of clothing: kings and the nobility were known to wear mantles of the finest quality and the brightest colours. But to a European audience, the mantle was what made the notion of 'Irishness' visibly distinct.
The mantle is a type of long woollen cloak. Sleeveless, it is worn by draping it around the body, but can be secured by a brooch or pin. In surviving Irish saga texts, including the thirteenth-century Togail Bruidne Da Derga ('The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’), it is clear that mantles with long or ‘curled’ wool were especially prized. These features of the Irish mantle made it different to many European cloaks at the time, which tended to be shorter and lined with velvet or fur.
The Irish mantle was among the most common export item out of Ireland. Unlike other exports, which included hide, fish, wool and linen, it was a finished product. Mantles that were of particularly high quality became an item of clothing for the elite in Europe, so much so that the Pope’s agent received permission to export them in 1482.
In part, the popularity of the Irish mantle may be due to how durable the garment was. It was ideal for the wet climate of Ireland and its hardy nature was valued across Europe. But the high level of export meant that the Irish themselves became closely connected with this type of clothing, which they so frequently traded as well as wore.
Evidence suggests that the mantle was not only clothing for the elite, but could be worn across multiple classes in Irish society. This is attested in how woollen fragments of the mantle were found in places such as Cork and Drogheda in a late medieval urban context. But it also has been demonstrated in Irish literature that women, like men, often wore the mantle too.
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In the 11th century Tochmarc Becfhola tale (The Wooing of Becfhola), Becfhola is introduced to the audience by the fine quality of her purple mantle. Other surviving stories also feature women wearing or owning a mantle, including characters from the 13th-century saga-tale Acallam na Senórach (The Colloquy of the Ancients), where the woman, Créde, gifts each member of the heroic warband, the Fianna, 'a valuable mantle'.
To a European audience, women dressing similarly to men was seen as scandalous. In 1397, Catalan pilgrim Ramon de Perellós was shocked on his visit to Ireland by how Irish women ‘shamelessly show all their privates’ by wearing the mantle. While full of indignation, it should be noted that de Perellós is not stating that women went naked in Ireland, but that the dresses under their mantles were not made from the same heavy material as he may have expected.
In either case, his discussion of Irish women’s style of clothing reveals the tension felt by medieval Europeans at the time, where sumptuary laws were put in place to restrict what women were permitted to wear and to regulate consumption and material goods in society. While sumptuary laws in Europe were largely an attempt to control societal and sexual morality, the sumptuary laws enacted by the English colony in Ireland reveal a different fear: the English assimilating to Irish customs and fashions.
This is most potently shown in how the mantle was repeatedly restricted or banned. In 1466, Dublin city council banned wearing the mantle as a ‘daily garment’, while it was stipulated in 1537 that any ‘mantle, coat or hood made in the Irish fashion’ was to be entirely outlawed (under an act passed by Henry VIII, who had made himself king of Ireland). These sumptuary laws reflect the fears of English communities that if they adopted Irish styles of clothing, like the mantle, it would result in the loss of their own distinct identity.
At the same time as these restrictions, Gaelic Ireland was undergoing a revival. From the mid-14th to early 16th century, there was a renewed interest in native Irish literature and learning. This is attested in all quarters of society living in Ireland. This was so much so that English families, like the Butlers of Ormond in Kilkenny, were known to have adapted Irish customs into their own. As Irish customs became more popular, it followed suit that native items of clothing, including the mantle, were worn with greater frequency.
As tensions turned to war in the late 16th century, the mantle would eventually fall victim to its own popularity
The popularity of the mantle is shown in illustrations of Ireland from Albrecht Dürer (the German Renaissance painter) to John Derricke (an English illustrator). Although these illustrations typically date from the early 16th to early 17th centuries, they show that the mantle was commonly associated with the Irish, even when they were abroad.
As the connection between the mantle and Irish identity grew, tensions also developed. This is predominately shown in the sumptuary laws of Ireland that attempted to curb the style in the face of its revival. As tensions turned to war in the late 16th century, the mantle would eventually fall victim to its own popularity. By the 17th century, the mantle was worn less and less until it eventually was no longer worn at all. Due to political pressure and the rigours of fashion, the mantle became outdated and long forgotten.
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