So I did a bit more digging on the dagged-sleeved houppelande.
It seems to be rather specific, and is described in all the sources I've found as a style which was in fashion under the reign of Charles VI of France (1380-1422), although it seems to have stayed in style until the 1430's.
In the Bedford Hours (BL Add. MS18850), (painted by a Parisian artist), the dagged-sleeved houppelande seems in fact worn by all (?) the ladies of the French court depicted on 288v. Note that it is not worn by the Queen.
As noted by Edouard Charton in an 1847 article about houppelandes, the surcot (what the Queen is wearing here) was what one would wear for full regalia: " a traditional costume that would be worn at most once or twice a year".
For everyday wear, "both at the court and in the city"..."the houppelande was therefore the fundamental item in a woman's attire".
![[Image: bedfordhoup.png]](https://voynichviews.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/bedfordhoup.png)
There was apparently a similar style to the houppelande which was in fashion in Italy, the cioppa, but this doesn't seem to have featured dagged sleeves.
The dagged-sleeved houppelande with a low neckline (as opposed to the collared ones, which can be found in the Netherlands) seems to have been pretty much a French courtly trend.
In the Stuttgart Kartenspiel, probably made in Swabia, Southwestern Germany, c1427-1431, we do find a blue dagged sleeved houppelande, but again the neckline is collared:
![[Image: db8c217d29edb25af5b5813d244dc577.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/db/8c/21/db8c217d29edb25af5b5813d244dc577.jpg)
Perhaps there are more exceptions and I am just not searching properly. But from what I can find so far, the dress we see in the Voynich seems to be very specific to France and the height of fashion for the carbon-date period.
Those Voynich girls may be ugly, but they sure were on trend.
It seems to be rather specific, and is described in all the sources I've found as a style which was in fashion under the reign of Charles VI of France (1380-1422), although it seems to have stayed in style until the 1430's.
In the Bedford Hours (BL Add. MS18850), (painted by a Parisian artist), the dagged-sleeved houppelande seems in fact worn by all (?) the ladies of the French court depicted on 288v. Note that it is not worn by the Queen.
As noted by Edouard Charton in an 1847 article about houppelandes, the surcot (what the Queen is wearing here) was what one would wear for full regalia: " a traditional costume that would be worn at most once or twice a year".
For everyday wear, "both at the court and in the city"..."the houppelande was therefore the fundamental item in a woman's attire".
There was apparently a similar style to the houppelande which was in fashion in Italy, the cioppa, but this doesn't seem to have featured dagged sleeves.
The dagged-sleeved houppelande with a low neckline (as opposed to the collared ones, which can be found in the Netherlands) seems to have been pretty much a French courtly trend.
In the Stuttgart Kartenspiel, probably made in Swabia, Southwestern Germany, c1427-1431, we do find a blue dagged sleeved houppelande, but again the neckline is collared:
Perhaps there are more exceptions and I am just not searching properly. But from what I can find so far, the dress we see in the Voynich seems to be very specific to France and the height of fashion for the carbon-date period.
Those Voynich girls may be ugly, but they sure were on trend.
![[+]](https://www.voynich.ninja/images/collapse_collapsed.png)