The first twenty years of the sixteenth century had hardly passed when it seemed as if the earth was peopled by a new race, whose bustling activity, self-assurance, and exuberant joy were in strong contrast to the spirit of the preceding century. The invention of printing opened the world of intellect to all: from distant and newly-discovered regions of the globe came wonderful narrations which widened the views of men; the Renais sance introduced higher standards for all the circumstances of life; important inventions multiplied and rendered accessible the means of existence; and the Reformation restored to the people their old vitality. The distinctive article of apparel of this period is the cloak (Schallbe), perhaps the most complete achievement of the tailor's art, at once appropriate and com fortable, becoming and pliant, suitable for summer as well as for winter. Its earliest form is shown in Figure 3, its perfected form in Figure 4, with its wide fur trimmings as worn by senators and noblemen during the first half of the sixteenth century. The cap (Bard) suited the cloak; it was a velvet head-covering (jigs. 3-5), of various forms and well adapted for all sorts of decorations; both sexes wore it almost alike.
The pointed shoes underwent a complete transformation: they were henceforth worn quite broad at the toes (fig. 4), as if man wished to tread upon as much as possible of the newly-won soil. Special appliances were necessary to hold them in place, since they were made far too large.
They were fastened to the foot by means of a closely-fitting shoe con cealed within the more roomy outer one, or by a strap tied across the foot, or they were even sewed to the lower edge of the hose. The costume of the men was completed by a dagger and rapier. The ladies sometimes carried a small dagger also, but it is not recorded that they ever made a bloody use of it.
It may here be mentioned that certain of the patrician families of the German imperial cities enjoyed the privilege of arraying their daughters on the occasion of their marriage processions as " crown brides "—that is to say, with princely adornments—and, naturally, no effort was spared to make such a display as should testify to their exalted position. Figure 5 (i5/. 36), copied from an engraving by Hans Sebald Beham, one of the best engravers of that time, shows the magnificence of the costume. This will be more evident if we remember that the dark lines of the engraving represent variously-colored silks and velvets. This commendable mode did not escape the fate of all other fashions: it was exaggerated and car ried to an extreme, one or another detail being developed and made prom inent, until the proportions of the whole were distorted. The slashes on
the shoulder, elbow, and knee, which at first had been made for comfort, were lengthened along the upper arm and leg, and the openings were filled out with fine linen or gay materials. These were gradually puffed out more and more, until the bag-trousers or " trunk-hose" (of which Figure 6 is not an exaggerated specimen) was the result. It is said that as many as forty or even a hundred yards of lining, besides other material, were used in a single garment. The lansquenets were the leaders in this style. Laws and sermons were powerless against it: people clung to the fashion until they became tired of it, when they discarded it more rapidly than they had taken it up.
At this point the inventive faculty of the Germans seems to have become exhausted; the regulation of fashions passed to foreign nations, with whom it has remained down to the present. In truth, the minds of men were occupied with more important matters. The division of the Church, though fully accomplished, entailed unforeseen dangers which greatly imperilled Germany during the early part of the following cen tury; and the people willingly followed the foreign lead which gratified their desire for change.
The Spaniards, who had attained under Charles V. a foothold in the North, became the arbiters of fashion. They, like the Romance nations generally, had not given as much play to the vagaries of fashion as the Germans. Instead of the expansive styles adopted by the latter, they preferred a courtly trimness and closeness. The German costume was full and flowing; that of the Spaniards was stiff and straight. They wore the slashes on the jacket and hose, and even on the shoes (jigs. 9, to), not for ease of movement, but in order to increase the splendor of the costume by the trimming of the edges and by the use of underlying variously colored stuffs.
The cloak (Schaube) was transformed into a small loose sack with stiff projecting collar and wide sleeves. The cap was enlarged into the shape of a hat by a wire or pasteboard inside. The so-called "goose-belly'," or peaked stomacher, became the fashion for the jacket by padding it and carrying it down in front to a peak (p1. 36, fig. 9.). The hose, cut essen tially like the German article, was stiffly padded and covered with its puffs only the upper part of the thigh. Such was the Spanish costume, which was long used in the theatre and was known as the Old German. In Germany, however, it never extended beyond court circles.