The earliest academic dress worn in England was undoubtedly clerical.  At the establishment of Oxford and Cambridge, students were ordained into either minor or major clerical orders, and were thus confined by the dress regulations of that order.  These clerics wore robes with a cowl or hood, which then evolved (by the mid fifteenth century) into the garments illustrated at right.

This style of clothing was worn at the universities until the reformation, at which point the doctors adopted the Tudor robe[1], commonly worn by gentlemen throughout Northern Europe in the sixteenth century (see right). The robe was worn over common clothing.  Sumptuary laws and university regulations were relaxed, allowing the robes to be furred (as at right) or lined in silks of bright colors.

The gown, hood, and mortarboard which we generally associate with Cambridge and Oxford has evolved from the sixteenth century Tudor loose robe and the biretta cap, sported by our friend Erasmus in the inset above.

The color of a doctor's hood was restricted by sumptuary customs to black, red, or blue, excepting doctors of theology and canon law, who, as religious men, were restricted to black.  These limitations provided the justification for the modern practice of assigning different hood colors to each discipline, which was not done until the 18th century.

Doctors of Divinity

Doctors of Canon Law

• Restricted to black cappa clausa

• Black pileus to be worn (except for monks) with hood or caul.

• Until the fifteenth century the outer garments were to be lined only in wool or sheepskin, but afterwards they could be lined in fur.

• Black cappa clausa or pallium lined with sheepskin or wool but never fur. 

• Forbidden to use the cappa mantica

• Black pileus worn

• Wore a large hood, extending beyond the shoulders, lined with fur or silk.

• This dress did not survive the reformation.

Doctors of Civil Law

Doctors of Medicine

• Red pallium with blue caul lined in white fur

• Red or blue cappa mantica or sleeved tabard

• Red pileus with a blue button at the apex.

• Hoods were lined in rich fur or silk, doubled back to show the lining.

• Lectured in crimson cappa mantica with blue hood trimmed or lined in fur.

• Wore pileus. 

Doctors of Music

This degree does not really emerge until the Reformation, having been a degree which did not confer any special rights or privileges to the recipient.  Because of the mundanity of this degree, the recipients were not truly included in university life.  However, in the few times when they are mentioned or portrayed, they seem to adopt the dress of Doctors of Medicine or Civil Law.

The cappa is always depicted under either a cowl or hood.  Because of this, the cut of the garment is unclear, but it appears to be similar to the Benedictine robe.  It is evident, however, that there is a large amount of fullness at the hem, and that this fulness is evenly represented all the way from the hem to the neckline.  In my opinion, this drape can be achieved through only one method:  to cut the cappa as an elongated circle. 


 

The tunica, the garment worn beneath the cappa, has not been clearly evidenced.  However, it is presumably either the habit of the religious order of the wearer or, when the scholar is a layperson or secular cleric, an ordinary secular garment.  A simply-cut lay tunic is depicted above, based upon extant surviving garments of the 12^th –14^th century[2].

The tunica was probably lined with fur or wool, as some cuffs are shown with a “border” of fur (more likely the fur lining showing at the cuff)   

1.            Triangular gores can be sewn together to form a circle. (yellow lines on the diagram)

2.            Several lengths of fabric can be sewn selvedge to selvedge to create one very wide piece of fabric (orange lines on diagram).

Various forms of the cappae, differenciated by the location of the arm slit(s) include:

Cappa clausa:  Open (conjecturally) from the waist to the neck, fastened with a brooch. (red line above)

Pallium (cappa nigra):  Not to be confused with the liturgical garment, open from each armpit to the waist (green line above).

Cappa mantica:  a shorter garment than the cappa clausa or the Pallium, arm slits cut as shown above in purple.

Most cappae were black and could be made of wool or silk.  Fur of various sorts were used as linings – prohibitions were placed, securing the finest furs for high ranking doctors (this of course was often waived for persons of means).  

The cowl/hood is the easiest item of academical costume to reproduce as several medieval hoods survive from excavations in London.  See Crowfoot’s Textiles and Clothing c. 1150-1450 for information on the cut and construction of this garment.

Unless specifically restricted, both the hood and cowl of Masters or licentiates (and those of high estate) could be lined with wool or fur in the winter and silk in the summer.