Sumptuary law

I've been toying with the idea of a new re-enactment character. I've played peasants, burgess's wives, ladies and a prioress (Benedictine, if you're really interested), but I've never played a whore. Now, I'm thinking of a career in the stews.

I don't suppose it will go down very well at the kind of history fair where they bring innocent children to be educated. But it might be great fun for the other re-enactors (though I wouldn't want to give them too many ideas).

Anyway, I was doing a bit of research - on the grounds that 'Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted'. Even if I never create the costume and the character, I'll probably end up using the information in a novel. And I came up against the sumptuary laws.

Now the intriguing thing about sumptuary laws is the way they crop up time and time again as a way of forcing people to expose their identities through their clothing - and to conform to a persona and an existence laid down for them by the state. Interestingly, the early Middle Ages only expected clerics and monks to dress the part. But as the merchants grew increasingly wealthy, laws were passed to stop them wearing clothes that aped the nobility. That only happens in the 1340s and later.

Prostitutes come in for special notice, because of course they would use any means they could to make themselves attractive - and that generally meant adopting aristocratic fashions. Look at Altdorfer's tart (pictured above) - she's got a plumed hat, an extravagantly pleated chemise that must have used yards of thin linen, an extensive décolettage, slashed sleeves; everything money could buy.

So the sumptuary laws try to rein back this excess;

• No fur! - London, 14th century; no "budge" or "revers"
• No precious metals! - Paris, 1427: no gold or silver buttons or belt buckles, or pearls. (And no fur.)
• No head covering! - Arles: modestly covered hair was the mark of the virtuous married woman.

And then there are also laws which try to make prostitutes easily distinguishable from virtuous women. They might have to wear striped hoods (London, 14th century) or red rosettes (various French towns), just as Jews had to wear yellow in some towns.

However, I think my whore will have fur. The very fact that it was forbidden surely shows that prostitutes were definitely wearing it - and if my prostitute is rich enough to afford fur, she's probably also rich enough to afford it being confiscated. In fact, if she's lucky enough to have as her client a merchant dealing with the Baltic trade, say in Norwich or London, she might well get furs as a present from time to time.

What is sad, though, is how many women entered the brothels because they had no other choice. Orphan girls ended up there - so, terribly often, were women who had been raped and lost their 'honour'. So I think my character, though she may be a rich and fortunate woman in some ways, will have a story to tell that certainly isn't all high life... and maybe that will have to come out in a book, rather than re-enactment.