Why do Musketeers need such gorgeous hats?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Let's figure out why the Musketeers had such strange headdresses.

Remember the films about the adventures of D'Artagnan and his friends, the Musketeers? As a child, I, like all boys, loved to watch them at every opportunity. After such views, we played for a long time in the yard at the musketeers, using long sticks as swords. And those who had panamas wore them for such games, imitating the luxurious wide-brimmed hats of movie characters. (We didn't know then that real Panama hats look very different!)

But why did the Musketeers have such strange headdresses in the first place? And not only among them … Why did many residents of those centuries wear wide-brimmed hats? The answer to this question turns out to be rather unpleasant. Maybe you already know? If not, then read on carefully - I hope you are not squeamish …

The fashion for such hats was dictated by the peculiarities of medieval cities. As we saw on the streets of the perfectly preserved centuries-old Marburg, the centers of large settlements were built up with multi-storey buildings that hung over the streets - the higher the floor, the further it protruded above the pavement below.

Unfortunately, in those days, there was no sewage system in town houses, and all townspeople used chamber pots to relieve themselves. In many cities of that time, there were special sewers that led sewage outside the city, but not all residents were eager to drag their pots outside - especially those who lived on the upper floors. Therefore, many simply poured them out of their windows, sometimes falling on the passers-by below.

There was even one story when a pot of shit was poured onto the mantle of the French king Louis IX. Good thing on the mantle! The king got up from where the attack came from, and found the culprit - a student who woke up early in order to better prepare for the exams. The good king granted the young man a scholarship. But it’s scary to imagine what it would be like if the contents of the pot got on the head of the monarch!

In 1270, in Paris, a law was passed prohibiting the pouring of waste and slop into the street, but many Parisians were not frightened by the threat of a fine for this crime. A hundred years later, they decided to soften the law - the pouring of pots was allowed, but they ordered the pouring out first to shout a warning three times into the street so that all passers-by had the opportunity to step aside.

Nevertheless, every time, going out into the streets of a large city, a passer-by risked getting on his head the contents of a chamber pot from one of the upper floors. That is why the inhabitants of large cities of that time began to wear hats with huge brims, a fashion that was adopted by the musketeers familiar to us from childhood.

The hats protected the hair and wigs of their wearers, and took on torrents of shit on occasion. By the way, this is why the custom went when meeting a lady to take off her hat from her head, and, bowing, take her as far back with his hand as possible:

Such a courteous curtsy distanced the smelly headdress from the delicate female nose.

I wonder if the creators of the musical about brave musketeers knew about the history of this beautiful gesture when they reproduced it on the screens of a multimillion-dollar country?..