The origins and significance of academic robes
Alfred's Cakes
the academic caps and robes, and their specific significance?'
My understanding of universities is that they were established by
secular authorities (usually the king) and were the only competition to
the Church's monopoly on knowledge and learning.
As the Middle Ages progressed and the Crusades brought back books and
rediscovered knowledge, from hitherto unknown Hebraic, Arabian, and
Egyptian cultures, the Church's ability to suppress independent thought
was undermined. My understanding is also that, post Plague, new
freedoms came about which were unheard of in pre Plague times.
It was around this time that the establishment of guilds and university
degrees came about. There followed the establishment of a hierarchical
order and the degree system found in guilds, Oxbridge colleges and
academe.
Different figures within the academic hierarchy wear different hats,
robes and adornments (sleeve stripes, coloured edging to robes, cords
and tassels etc).
What do these signify. What are their origins? What are the origins of
the degree ceremonies?
Anyone have any ideas?
jackli...@earthlink.net
Yes, look up google history academic robes, the robes were to keep warm
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=524612
It was during the Middle Ages that academic worlds began to develop the
variety of colors on the gowns and hoods until the wearing of today's
traditional academic dress as a tradition emerged. Most of them come
from the universities of Europe during the twelfth century and like the
pages, squires, and knights of the medieval military, the academic
world has traditionally acknowledged three basic levels of distinction
and achievement.
Students and teachers in many medieval universities such as
Paris, Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge organized themselves into guilds.
Gradually the academic costume became distinctive for Bachelors of Arts
(the apprentices), Masters of Arts (the teachers), and Doctors
(teachers who had completed postgraduate studies). Most of the
distinctive characteristics appeared in the hood, which was originally
a practical element of dress, but which evolved into a separate and
purely ornamental article, draped over the shoulder and down the back.
The academic cap was a later development. It was first conferred as a
symbol of the M.A. degree.
- Lunce, Stephen E. Phd, Regalia History
For almost a thousand years the square cap, the flowing black gown, and
the elaborate ceremonial hood for those earning advanced college
degrees has been the distinctive style of academic dress. It's roots
lie in the oldest English speaking institution of higher learning,
Oxford University, which earliest beginnings go back to around as far
as 1096. It was here that the traditions of academic regalia first
developed from the garments worn by monks and clerics when long robes
were needed for warmth in unheated buildings. One example of required
graduation regalia cited by a historian occurred early the century at
the Council of Oxford. In 1222 a closed, flowing gown called cappa
clausa was deemed necessary. The bishop of Canterbury ordered his
English clerics to wear it. Consequently this article of clothing came
to be considered the academic dress for university masters who, as
clerics, wore it. As time went by and education became more readily
available to the laity the garment became standardized as an
exclusively academic one. The enormous variety in color and material
began to indicate the position and wealth of the wearer. Over time
unique gowns emerged to designate various professions, trades and
religious orders.
The beginnings of academic regalia
During the 14th century policies of certain colleges in England began
to forbid "excess in apparel" and stipulated a long gown for all
scholars. Oxford and Cambridge set down an explicit academic dress code
implementing academia control over all particulars. In 1311 an ordinary
headdress of medieval laymen termed the pileus, was agreed to by the
Church at the Synod of Bergamo and became the customary headwear at the
universities. Eventually a rounded skull cap replaced the hood. There
are a few European institutions of higher learning that still sport
this style as part of their regalia. It's from this kind of hat that
today's square cap called the pileus quadralus or more commonly known
as Oxford's mortar board is customary. Today's tassel is also an
elaboration of the tuft that was a part of the Master's caps.
Mortarboards with tassels are displayed over the left front quadrant
and the tassel's color signifies the academic program area. One source
explains that according to the Burgon Society which researches academic
regalia states, "The first was a black skullcap and the second was a
tufted, square cap called a pileus quadralus that was worn on top of
the skullcap. The tufted cap evolved into a stiff-cornered cap that
would not drape across the wearer's face. The term "mortarboard" was
first used in an 1854 novel, The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an
Oxford Freshman, as a sarcastic reference to the cap's shape."
Cowls worn by monks of the Middles Ages as protection against the rainy
weather of Europe is the source of today's hood as an academic
vestment. They were "worn over a short cape, known as a tippet, and had
a tail, known as a liripipe." The original purposes of these items were
to aid in pulling the "hood over the head and wrapped around the throat
to keep the hood in place." Nowadays even though the hood is never worn
during graduation ceremonies the tippet remains as a remnant of the
hood with the liripipe as the funnel-shaped part that drapes down the
back of the robe. This practice of wearing the hood hanging down the
back stems from the convention of medieval monks using the hood as a
bag draped over the shoulders as a 'contribution bowl' for clients and
well wishers while in attendance of the King's Court.
Trimmings and the European approach to academic dress were imported to
the United States as early as colonial times. In 1895 an
Intercollegiate Code standardized the regalia. They met at Columbia
University to establish the first academic costume code regulating the
cut, style and materials of robes. Specifications of different colors
for different disciplines were also created. Records indicate that the
first time caps and gowns were worn at a U.S. graduation ceremony was
in 1894 at the University of Michigan.
Things that hang from people's mirrors <more>
James Beck
>
>Alfred's Cakes wrote:
>> Someone I know recently posed the question 'what are the origins of
>> the academic caps and robes, and their specific significance?'
>>
>> My understanding of universities is that they were established by
>> secular authorities (usually the king) and were the only competition to
>> the Church's monopoly on knowledge and learning.
>>
>> As the Middle Ages progressed and the Crusades brought back books and
>> rediscovered knowledge, from hitherto unknown Hebraic, Arabian, and
>> Egyptian cultures, the Church's ability to suppress independent thought
>> was undermined. My understanding is also that, post Plague, new
>> freedoms came about which were unheard of in pre Plague times.
>>
>> It was around this time that the establishment of guilds and university
>> degrees came about. There followed the establishment of a hierarchical
>> order and the degree system found in guilds, Oxbridge colleges and
>> academe.
>>
>> Different figures within the academic hierarchy wear different hats,
>> robes and adornments (sleeve stripes, coloured edging to robes, cords
>> and tassels etc).
>>
>> What do these signify. What are their origins? What are the origins of
>> the degree ceremonies?
>>
>> Anyone have any ideas?
>
>Yes, look up google history academic robes, the robes were to keep warm
>
>http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=524612
Well, they're certainly good for that...
[snip]
bill
or smock - here in italy and i think france is a continuation of the
tradition and i saw a travelogue on portugal once where students
wearing a poncho-type garment would serenade the ladies in the evening.
if they were well received or wished to show special favor they would
tear off a bit of the cloak and give it as a token in appreciation of
an educational evening ... students with the most ragged edge to their
cloak being alpha males in display.
- bill