Codex of Costumes

Codex of Costumes

In 2010, the Spanish Ministry of Culture made an exciting and important acquisition: the Códice de Trajes or “Codex of Costumes”. It is a wonderfully illuminated witness to the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500–58), who ruled over the first empire over which the “sun never set”. It consists of 125 watercolors showing the style of dress in various regions around the world both in and near the massive Hapsburg Empire in Europe or the Spanish Empire in Africa and the New World, which were united under Charles V, who came closer than anyone since the Emperor Charlemagne to achieve the medieval concept of a universal monarchy uniting all of Christendom, the so-called res publica Christiana. Furnished with captions in German, the splendid manuscript from ca. 1546–7 is of inestimable value as a reference work concerning the customs and fashions of the period. Instead of parchment, the manuscript was creating using paper which, according to the watermark, was created in Augsburg in 1546.

An Irreplaceable Source of 16th Century Fashions

The 125 miniatures of this manuscript are a parade of Portuguese, Berbers, Indians, French, English, Turks, Tatars, Irish , Croats, and Hungarians, and also feature more detailed depictions of the peoples of Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. Although it is not known who created the manuscript, the influence of various Northern Renaissance masters can be seen in this work such as Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), especially with regard the dress of Nuremburg, Livonia, or among the Turks, as well as Albrecht Altdorfer (ca. 1480–1538) and Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531). Furthermore, there is evidence of the influence of the anonymous workshop on contemporary masters like Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), particularly in the miniature showing the emperor and seven prince-electors, or Lucas de Heere (1534–1584), whose image of a lancer on horseback from ca. 1570 is faithfully recreated from the opening page of the Codex of Costumes. Then again, both could be copies based on the same model. Georg Hoefnagel (1542–1601) also produced horse riders very similar to those in this manuscript for his famous Civitates Orbis Terrarum. Numerous other artists were influenced by the work including Jost Amman (1539–91) and Cesare Vecellio (ca. 1521 – ca. 1601).

An Artist’s Travelogue?

The manuscript at hand was created during the second half of Emperor Charles V’s reign during a time when fashion as we know it developed. Previously, clothing had simply been an expression of one’s station, but the increasing money supply of late medieval Europe resulted in a dramatic revolution in fashion that was so unsettling to the social order that it resulted in sumptuary laws. First appearing in the 13th century, sumptuary laws were meant to act as a moralizing influence intended to restrict people to their social class while also limiting public displays and the ruinous expenses that were being incurred by members of the wealthy classes madly pursuing the newest fashions. Practically speaking, they limited luxurious fabrics to the noble classes, but were ultimately ineffective. Although likely created in the imperial cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg, the miniatures may very well be based on sketches accumulated while accompanying the Emperor on his travels throughout Spain, Flanders, and Germany. The miniatures apparently originate from between 1513 and 1515 and were later transformed into widely-disseminated woodcuts in 1526.