Poland of the Middle Ages

A form of Polish dress already existed in the early part of the 16th century and a Polish style of dress should be dated no later that the mid 16th century. Polish style becomes evident later while the dress in Hungary and Russian was established earlier. Polish fashion was influenced by many cultures including "oriental" which is believed to have entered Poland through Hungary. It is beleived that if you filled a room with Hungary and Polish men in the native clothing, no one could tell the difference. What most didn't understand, what the difference between Polish clothing and other contemporary clothing, was in the details.  Details like the closures (hook and eye, passamenterie, and/or buttons), ruffs and cuffs, using embroidery for decoration instead of bought laces and ribbons made the clothing Polish.

 

What region of Poland you were from had an influence on the clothing you wore. In East Prussia, Pomerania and along the Polish German border, you would see more of a German/Western influence. In Gdansk/Danzig you could see a German as well as a Flemish influence. Gdansk was one of the Polish cities that was part of the Hansa League. The Hansa League started as a group of sea merchants who banded together for protection. One of the most often used shipping routes of the Hansa League was Gdansk to Amersterdam to Setubal or Faro in Portugal. This opened the way for foreign clothing styles to make their way to Gdansk and into other parts of Poland by way of the Vistula River.

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While trade did open Poland to foreign influences on fashion, the nobility resisted such foreign fashions and those who wore foreign styles were often made fun of and ridiculed. Sigismund Augustus, king from 1548-1572, preferred Spanish style clothing. But when he went before the 1562-63 parliment to get their approval for his marriage to Barbara Radziwill, he wore a gray zupan (Polish coat). The importance and acceptance of the Polish style of dressing was illustrated when the Zebrydowski rebellion was call "The War of the Cropped Heads (Polish nobleman hair style) with the Pointed Beards (Spanish style of beard)"  By Sigismund II Vasa. Sigismund II Vasa was chastised for his preference for foreign fashion over Polish.

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Please note - When speaking of the nobility in this context, the nobility is the Szlachta, not to be confused with the royal court. Court dress followed the current tastes of the king and probably more so the queen.

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The burgher or merchant class didn't have a unique way of dressing. What was worn, including accessories, differed from town to town. Registers from Poznan list passementerie trimmed germaks (short coats). Every day delias (overcoats) used hooks and eyes.

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This link will take you to  potrait showing a delia with passementerie closures.

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Polish fashion was less popular in Poznan, more popular in Cracow. Foreign dress was rarely mentioned in the accounts from Warsaw and in the smaller towns, only Polish fashion was seen.

 

 

Townswomen wore many of the same pieces of clothing as their szlachta counterparts. They wore letniks and coifs with wimples. And there is also evidence that townswomen adopted some Western fashions. A woodcut of a woman from Poznan shows her wearing a ruffed collar and cuffs but the rest of her outfit is Polish.

 

This link will take you to a picture of the woodcut.

 

So, what is a letnik? That's like asking someone to define a dress. It could have short, long or no sleeves. It is never form fitting. It can be loose and full. Or follow the female figure without being tight, (tight like a gothic fitted cotehardie). It can have a high or low neckline.  And this is pretty much how Irene Turnau describes a letnik in "History of Dress in Central and Eastern Europe from the Sxteenth  to the Eighteenth Century." In books and paintings I've seen, it seems that younger women wear a closer fitting letnik. While older women wear a looser, gathered style that was belted high,  between the chest and natural waist. This way of wearing a belt was considered to be either a Flemish or German style. (Davenport 432). Considering Poland's contact with Flemish merchants through the Hansa League and sharing a border with Germany, it is easy to see how it could become part of the Polish style as well.   Turnau also says the letnik was a one piece gown "pulled on over the head" (Turnau 74). The term letnik was used beginning in the 1470's.  The letnik was loosely based on the Byzantine style of clothing. The Russian letnik is also a piece of women's clothing but it is much looser than the Polish letnik and more robe-like.

 

So what does a letnik look like?  I used three resources to put together examples of the Polish letnik. First I have examples from the Behem Codex.  The Behem Codex rated a brief mention in "The Book of Costume, vol. I" by Millia Davenport, page 380. This codex gave pictures of everyday life in 16th century Cracow merchants' shops. Many of these illustrations show women working in the shops. The bowmaker's shop includes a woman sitting in the corner embroidering. The shoemaker's shop includes a woman who is using a drop spindle.

 

 

In "The Mystic Middle Ages"  there were many paintings that showed examples of letniks. Most show the looser but belted letniks.

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Marstwo Polskie is a collection of Polish paintings starting with the Gothic era through Mannerism. Again, there and many examples of letniks most being belted.

 

 

 

 

I selected examples of letniks that show some of the different styles within this category. One example from the Behem Codex shows a short sleeved letnik with the sleeves trimmed with fur. The long sleeves of the undergown is also trimmed in fur.  In the example from Malarstwo Polskie by MARCIN CZARNY you have five different examples in the same painting.

 

 

These paintings were all done in cities in central to south central Poland. This tells me that for this area of Poland, letniks were commonly worn.  This doesn't mean that letniks weren't worn in the northern, western and eastern regions of Poland. Only that through central and south central Poland, the letnik was readily available.

 

*Please Note - The focus of my research has been the clothing worn by women in Middle Ages Poland. The clothing of men has been researched by others who have done excellent jobs of it.  If you wish more information on men's clothing please check out these links:

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Davenport Millia. The Book of Costume.Crown Publishers: New York, 1948

 

Folga-Januszewska, Dorota; Majewski, Lech. Mystic Middle Ages. Bosz: Lesko

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Turnau, Irena. History of Dress in Central and Eastern Europe from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Institute of the History of Material Culture, Polish Academy of Sciences: Warsaw,  1991

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Walicki, Michal. Malarstwo Polskie. Oficyna Wydawnicza: Warsaw,  1961