We shall commence our historical sketch from the fifth century, at which period we can trace the blending of the Roman with the barbaric costume—­namely, the combination of the long, shapeless garment with that which was worn by the Germans, and which was accompanied by tight-fitting braies.  Thus, in the recumbent statue which adorned the tomb of Clovis, in the Church of the Abbey of St. Genevieve, the King is represented as wearing the tunic and the toga, but, in addition, Gallo-Roman civilization had actually given him tight-fitting braies, somewhat similar to what we now call pantaloons.  Besides this, his tunic is fastened by a belt; which, however, was not a novelty in his time, for the women then wore long dresses, fastened at the waist by a girdle.  There is nothing very remarkable about his shoes, since we find that the shoe, or closed sandal, was worn from the remotest periods by nearly all nations (Figs. 402 and 403).

[Illustration:  Fig. 402.—­Costume of King Clovis (Sixth Century).—­From a Statue on his Tomb, formerly in the Abbey of St. Genevieve.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 403.—­Costume of King Childebert (Seventh Century).—­From a Statue formerly placed in the Refectory of the Abbey of St. Germain-des-Pres.]

The cloak claims an equally ancient origin.  The principal thing worthy of notice is the amount of ornament with which the Franks enriched their girdles and the borders of their tunics and cloaks.  This fashion they borrowed from the Imperial court, which, having been transferred from Rome to Constantinople during the third century, was not slow to adopt the luxury of precious stones and other rich decorations commonly in use amongst Eastern nations.  Following the example of Horace de Vielcastel, the learned author of a history of the costumes of France, we may here state that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to define the exact costume during the time of the early Merovingian periods.  The first writers who have touched upon this subject have spoken of it very vaguely, or not being contemporaries of the times of which they wrote, could only describe from tradition or hearsay.  Those monuments in which early costume is supposed to be represented are almost all of later date, when artists, whether sculptors or painters, were not very exact in their delineations of costume, and even seemed to imagine that no other style could have existed before their time than the one with which they were daily familiar.  In order to be as accurate as possible, although, after all, we can only speak hypothetically, we cannot do better than call to mind, on the one hand, what Tacitus says of the Germans, that they “were almost naked, excepting for a short and tight garment round their waists, and a little square cloak which they threw over the right shoulder,” and, on the other, to carry ourselves back in imagination to the ancient Roman costume.  We may notice, moreover, the curious description given