Henry VIII ascended the throne as King of England in April 1509 and he is credited with bringing to great prominence the codpiece, a fashion element that rose in stature as Henry did, and fell out of favor not long after his death.
At left you see the big piece right out in front on his suit of armor, on display in the Tower of London. Below, right, you can see it as a flourish on his costume front. Why would he want to have such large, elaborate and fancy cases made for "the family jewels"?
Maybe it is true that the English, under a former monarch, intimidated the French with the power of the prominent armor piece and the soldiers, so suited with this item, terrified their enemies. Or, as some have theorized, Henry VIII suffered from syphilis and some sort of bandage protection was needed, or it was a large pocket for actually carrying things like real jewels.
Knowing that the man beheaded wives for failing to produce sons, set himself up as the head of the Church of England, and otherwise ruled with fierce force, he had to choose his symbols of power. Some kings or queens would require certain obeisance such as never turning a back on the monarch, always approaching or leaving on knees, bowing or whatnot. Now I've not studied this in-depth but you would think probably that wearing a codpiece as big or bigger than the King would be a bold way to threaten the king. It was probably an unwritten rule of dress, fashion and behavior, to, like the king, wear skirts and codpieces. Imitating the king would be a way of showing obedience, worship, acceptance of authority and acquiescence to leadership.
Anyway, his attempts to prove his worth, exercise his power and to fulfill his duty of establishing a male heir to the throne today may beget all sorts of questions of psychology, culture, fashion, power, sociology, hegemony...
This is interesting. I know the codpiece primarily as a recurring joke in Shakespeare.
Posted by: Janet | April 03, 2009 at 07:44 AM
As ridiculous as it looks, it reminds me of the cone-bra costume Madonna used to wear.
Posted by: allison | April 03, 2009 at 08:30 AM
The Tudor/Elizabethan period fascinates me. I just re-read the sad story of Ann Bolyen, mother of the first Queen Elizabeth.
Posted by: Hattie | April 04, 2009 at 03:14 AM