The hennin (French: hennin /ˈhɛnɪn/;[1] possibly from Flemish Dutch: henninck meaning cock or rooster)[N 1] was a headdress in the shape of a cone, steeple, or truncated cone worn in the Late Middle Ages by European women of the nobility.[2] They were most common in Burgundy and France,[citation needed] but also elsewhere, especially at the English courts,[3] and in Northern Europe,[citation needed] Hungary and Poland. They were little seen in Italy.[citation needed] It is unclear what styles the word hennin described at the time, though it is recorded as being used in French areas in 1428, probably before the conical style appeared.[citation needed] The word does not appear in English until the 19th century.[4] The term is therefore used by some writers on costume for other female head-dresses of the period.[5]
With many characters or stories in pop culture, the hennin is the element used to identify princesses of any kind, as well as that of courtesans or any important woman of royalty.
- ^ Le Nouveau Petit Robert: Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française, s.v. hennin. Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert, 1993. ISBN 2-85036-506-8.
- ^ "Cornet" from Herbert Norris, Medieval costume and fashion 1999 (orig 1927 :445–48.
- ^ Norris shows examples from the reigns of Henry VI and Edward IV
- ^ OED, "Hennin"
- ^ Piponnier and Mane are among the writers who use it, just for conical head-dresses, p. 80
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