A Cultural History of Hair in the Middle Ages (The Cultural Histories Series)

The Middle Ages were a time of great innovation, artistic vigor, and cultural richness. Appearances mattered a great deal during this vibrant era and hair was a key marker of the dynamism and sophistication of the period. Hair became ever more central to religious iconography, from Mary Magdalen to the Virgin Mary, while vernacular poets embellished their verses with descriptions of hairstyles both humble and elaborate, and merchants imported the finest hair products from great distances. Drawing on a wealth of visual, textual and object sources, the volume examines how hairstyles and their representations developed-often to a degree of dazzling complexity-between the years AD 800 and AD 1450. From wimpled matrons and tonsured monks to adorned noblewomen, hair is revealed as a potent cultural symbol of gender, age, sexuality, health, class, and race. Illustrated with approximately 80 images, __A Cultural History of Hair in the Middle Ages__ brings together leading scholars to present an overview of the period with essays on politics, science, religion, fashion, beauty, the visual arts, and popular culture. The Enlightenment was the Golden Age of hair. Hair dominated fashion as never before or since, with more men and women than ever donning elaborate wigs and hairdos. Such unprecedentedly extravagant styling naturally increased the demand for professional hairdressers, who in turn created a new range of hair-care products and a new literature of hair-care advice. This volume offers a record of their marketing success, mindful that the ultimate product of this culture of consumption was the consumer. Literary and visual arts celebrated the ambitious coifs of the period, but they also lampooned the most fashionable in society. By exploring paintings, prints, plays, poems, novels, treatises, and advice manuals, the contributors to this volume show how hair in this period expanded beyond the fashionable and the superstitious, and became newly understood as material, inspiring empirical research and powering applications such as in the woollen goods industry. The essays in this volume--covering religion and ritualized Belief, self and society, fashion and adornment, production and practice, health and hygiene, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, class and social status, and cultural representations--explore hair's many meanings and its importance during the Enlightenment period A Cultural History of Hair presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. This set of six volumes covers nearly 3,000 years of Hair and its physical, spiritual, social and cultural dimensions.01. A Cultural History of Hair in Antiquity (600 BCE - 800 CE)02. A Cultural History of Hair in the Medieval Age (800 - 1450)03. A Cultural History of Hair in the Renaissance (1450 - 1650)04. A Cultural History of Hair in the Age of Enlightenment (1650 - 1800)05. A Cultural History of Hair in the Age of Empire (1800 - 1920)06. A Cultural History of Hair in the Modern Age (1920 - 2000+)0Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters: Religion and Ritualized Belief; Self and Society; Fashion and Adornment; Production and Practice; Health and Hygiene ; Gender and Sexuality; Race and Ethnicity; Class and Social Status; Cultural Representations. This structure allows readers to gain a broad overview of a period by reading one volume on its own, or to follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Superbly illustrated, the full six volume set combines to present the most authoritative and comprehensive survey available on Hair through history How have our attitudes to hair changed over time? In what ways have new technologies influenced hair-related practices and beliefs? Is hair just about fashion or does it express social, spiritual, and cultural meanings? In a work that spans nearly 3,000 years these ambitious questions are addressed by 60 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. With the help of a broad range of case material they illustrate trends and nuances of the culture of hair in Western societies from ancient times to the present. Volume editors ensure the cohesion of the whole, and to make the set as easy as possible to use, chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the reader the choice to gain an overview of a period by reading one volume, or to follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Themes are: Religion and Ritualized Belief; Self and Society; Fashion and Adornment; Production and Practice; Health and Hygiene; Gender and Sexuality; Race and Ethnicity; Class and Social Status; and Cultural Representations Cover Contents List of Figures General Editor’s Preface Introduction 1 Religion and Ritualized Belief, 800–1500 2 Self and Society 3 Fashion and Adornment 4 Production and Practice 5 Health and Hygiene: Hair in the Medical Traditions 6 Gender and Sexuality 7 Race and Ethnicity: Hair and Medieval Ethnic Identities 8 Hair and Social Class 9 Cultural Representations: Head and Body Hair in Medieval Art Notes Bibliography Contributors Index