It can be
funny sometimes to think how styles and trends and the epitome of manliness
have changed over the years. When this writer was a little girl, manly men wore
white Y-front undies and never went without a white chesty Bonds singlet (at
least, that’s what my father wore ... and does to this day. Some of us don’t
move with the times so easily, it seems).
Five hundred
years ago, the epitome of the quintessential manly man was expressed in the
codpiece. Worn almost exclusively through the 1500’s and all but gone by the
1600’s, this was one unforgettable garment which was basically underwear worn
as outerwear.
Men of this
era wore hose to cover their legs; these did not cover the genitalia as well. The stylish length for jackets and doublets
rose over time, and men found themselves embarrassingly exposed in their nether
regions when they sat or mounted their horses. To cover their genitals, they
wore a simple piece of linen which was tied down or buttoned to the hose. It was
named the codpiece, from the Middle English word “cod” which meant “scrotum”.
The codpiece also offered better freedom of movement.
It wasn’t
long before codpieces became a way for men to enhance rather than hide the
area. They were padded, embellished, and made longer and bigger - to the point
of being ridiculous. Some were crafted from metal. The bigger a man’s “ego”,
the bigger he wore his codpiece.
There may
have been other reasons for this than to simply emphasise and exaggerate a
man’s sexual wares. Anthropologists believe that the prevalence of venereal
diseases dictated the use of codpieces to allow them contain dressings and
medications for the area, without being obvious to others.
King Henry
VIII of England is perhaps the most famous wearer of the codpiece; a look at
his surviving armour shows just how big he wore this garment. Considering that
it is well known that he suffered from advanced and severe syphilis, and in
light of the medication theory, one can surmise that perhaps it wasn’t all
about his ego. Not entirely, anyway.
These days
we usually only see codpieces at Renaissance Fairs and on Superhero costumes...
