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Academic Dress on John Speeds Maps
by Alex Kerr
The maps of Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire in John Speeds
celebrated atlas, Theatre ofthe Empire of Great Britaine, published
in 1611/12, each include figures in academic dress.
The two on the Oxfordshire map (1605) are in fact in Cambridge
dress and reappear onthe Cambridgeshire map (1610) where they
properly belong. They are joined by two otherfigures.
The colouring of the dress on the maps is arbitrary: the
contemporary painters hadlittle idea of the appropriate colours,
which naturally depend in any case on correctidentification of the
robes. And modern colourists of the old maps do no better.
Oxfordshire (1605)
Cambridgeshire (1610)
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John Baker in his 1984 article The Dress of the Cambridge
Proctors in Costumerecognised that the figures on the right were a
DD and a proctor in Congregation dress. TheDD wears an open-sleeved
black gown. Over this he has the scarlet cope, which is still
worn,
now open down the front, by the Cambridge vice-chancellor when
admitting to degrees. Theproctors black mantle later shrank to
become the cape-like ruff, still part of the Cambridgeproctorial
dress.
The two figures on the left may represent a Cambridge regent MA
and a doctor ina lay faculty (LLD or MD) in Congregation dress. The
MA (like the proctor) is still wearing
the open-sleeved gown that would be replaced a few years later
by the bag-sleeved undressgown that we associate with MA dress
today. The lay doctors gown has coat-style sleeves,one of several
acceptable patterns at this time. Over this he wears a cappa,
scarlet like theDDs, with armholes above the elbows and redundant
sleeves or pendants trimmed with a
bar of fur hanging behind the arms. This garment went out of use
in the early 19th century.
Regent MA Lay doctor in Congregation
DD in Congregation (Vice-Chancellor) - Proctor
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It seems likely that Speed intended to illustrate the corporate
identity ofCambridge University by four representative senior
figures: a regent master, a lay doctor, a
DD doubling as vice-chancellor, and a proctor.The doctors are
bearded and wear the neck ruff still fashionable for
professional
gentlemen of mature years. The MA and the proctor are younger,
clean-shaven and wear theturn-down collar known as a falling band,
preferred by the younger generation at this time.
All four wear a square cap, which seems to have soft corners, as
we would expect at this date.This evolved into the stiff
mortar-board only a couple of decades later. The bunches of hair
onthe sides of the head look anachronistic to me and I wonder
whether in the original sketchesthese were meant to be the side
pieces often found on the skull part of the cap covering theupper
part of the ear, before wigs became fashionable.
All four have hoods lined with fur. Fur rather than silk still
seems to have beenusual at this time for masters and doctors in
full dress and for doctors in Congregation dressor (at Oxford)
Convocation dress. (In the previous century silk had been permitted
as an
alternative to fur only for summer use.) By the later 17th
century silk had replaced fur formasters and doctors, in practice
if not in the regulations, except - as it happens - onCambridge
doctors Congregation dress and the Oxford proctors hood, where fur
remains tothis day.
There is every reason to think these drawings are pretty
accurate, even thoughthey are simple sketches added to the maps as
decoration. For our purpose they are in fact
valuable evidence of academic dress in the first decade of the
17th century, when there arefew portraits, engravings and other
pictorial material to go on.
This is a summary of an illustrated talk given at the Burgon
Societys
Spring Conference in London in April 2013.
For information about the Burgon Society
visithttp://www.burgon.org.uk
