We now come to the time of Louis IX. (Figs. 414 to 418), of that good king who, according to the testimony of his historians, generally dressed with the greatest simplicity, but who, notwithstanding his usual modesty and economy, did not hesitate on great occasions to submit to the pomp required by the regal position which he held.  “Sometimes,” says the Sire de Joinville, “he went into his garden dressed in a camel’s-hair coat, a surcoat of linsey-woolsey without sleeves, a black silk cloak without a hood, and a hat trimmed with peacocks’ feathers.  At other times he was dressed in a coat of blue silk, a surcoat and mantle of scarlet satin, and a cotton cap.”

The surcoat (sur-cotte) was at first a garment worn only by females, but it was soon adopted by both sexes:  it was originally a large wrapper with sleeves, and was thrown over the upper part of the robe (cotte), hence its name, sur-cotte. Very soon it was made without sleeves—­doubtless, as M. Quicherat remarks, that the under garment, which was made of more costly material, might be seen; and then, with the same object, and in order that the due motion of the limbs might not be interfered with, the surcoat was raised higher above the hips, and the arm-holes were made very large.

[Illustration:  Fig. 414.—­Costume of a Princess dressed in a Cloak lined with Fur.—­From a Miniature of the Thirteenth Century.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 415.—­Costume of William Malgeneste, the King’s Huntsman, as represented on his Tomb, formerly in the Abbey of Long-Pont.]

At the consecration of Louis IX., in 1226, the nobles wore the cap (mortier) trimmed with fur; the bishops wore the cope and the mitre, and carried the crosier.  Louis IX., at the age of thirteen, is represented, in a picture executed in 1262 (Sainte-Chapelle, Paris), with his hair short, and wearing a red velvet cap, a tunic, and over this a cloak open at the chest, having long sleeves, which are slit up for the arms to go through; this cloak, or surcoat, is trimmed with ermine in front, and has the appearance of what we should now call a fur shawl.  The young King has long hose, and shoes similar in shape to high slippers.  In the same painting Queen Margaret, his wife, wears a gown with tight bodice opened out on the hips, and having long and narrow sleeves; she also has a cloak embroidered with fleurs-de-lis, the long sleeves of which are slit up and bordered with ermine; a kind of hood, much larger than her head, and over this a veil, which passes under the chin without touching the face; the shoes are long, and seem to enclose the feet very tightly.

[Illustration:  Fig. 416.—­Costumes of the Thirteenth Century:  Tristan and the beautiful Yseult.—­From a Miniature in the Romance of “Tristan,” Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century (Imperial Library of Paris).]