Henin

From MiddleWiki

A common modern term for the tall steeple headress popular in northern Europe in the late 15th century. The term Henin comes from a deragatory sermon of the time wherein the priest calls these wicked and evil garments "Henin." The ladies and gentlemen of the time would have simply called them hats or bonnets, not needing to differentiate the style.

There are many conflicting theories of Henin construction and as no hats have survived to the modern era it cannot be said there is one true answer on how they were made. Lady Lyonnete teaches a class on this hat, and describes it briefly in her Burgundian costume handout: http://cleftlands.cwru.edu/BurgundianCostume.pdf

Modernly called a "Princess hat", this cone-shaped headdress and veil has become iconographic of medieval dress. The modern conception of the veil issuing from the tip of the hat alone grew out of a misinterpretation of artwork of the time. The transparent silk veiling available in Europe at the end of the 15th century was highly prized and it is quite likely that the tall hats evolved specifically to show off larger lengths of the expensive cloth. When draped over a hat, the double-thickeness of material which forms at the end of the 'cone' is more opaque and therefore shows up in artwork distinctly. Modern eyes looking at the artwork see the double thick fold of material at the end of the hat and assume this is all there is to the veil, missing the rest of the fabric draped over the entire hat.

See also: Burgundian.