THE LIFE OF THE PEOPLE     

The reconquers, and their economic, social and military implications, marked the life of the people of Aragón during centuries XI and XII. The combatants had greater variety of offensive arms and elements of defense. The monetary system was influenced by the economic crisis and currency with a gradual reduction in the proportion of noble metals was coined. As a result of Reconquista, the incorporation of Islamic cities originated an important cultural and artistic enrichment for Aragón, that thus became a bridge between the western world and the Arab. In these centuries they bloom in all its wealth, the style Romanesque and its derivation, the cisterciense.

 

THE DRESS - A GREAT VARIETY OF ARTICLES TO THE SERVICE OF THE SOCIAL CLASSES

The economic differences and of class, like the different functions carried out in the society, imposed different atuendos and forms to dress. While the pirenaicos shepherds dressed in " black and short cloth that arrived to them until the knees, footwear with albarcas done of leather... and uses long capes until the elbow, with edges, to which they call sayas... ", the privileged groups were adorned with luxurious clothes, of Eastern inspiration and made with rich fabrics of import.

 

Like underclothes, the most habitual articles were the jacket and the stockings. It raises, practically all the population used the túnicas or sayas, of variable length. As shelter clothes mentions pellizones (for the women adorned in the cuffs and the neck); and the mantles or layers, with sleeves, popularized throughout century XIII. Serve as example which annually received for their dress the chaplains of Liesa: " a layer, sayo, stockings, two jackets, linen fabric panties, shoes, a skin and pellón".

     Drawing of the clothes of an Aragonese king

 

The miniatures of Greater Vidal - exceptional illustration to know clothes second half of the XIII - are faithful reflection of the different atuendos that carried our ancestors.

Miniature of " Greater Vidal " than gathers several types of dress