And foremost amongst these accoutrements is the splendid, snail-like codpiece, which seems to be positioned so centrally that it draws our eye to it irresistibly. Nine variations of slops and breeches with codpiece. (He was, of course, dead by the time that Holbein made this likeness.) His son, also Henry, stands in front, hogging the limelight, looking a little like a stout tailor's dummy from which almost every bit of fashionable accoutrement known to a prosperous male in the 1530s has been hung. Henry VII stands behind his son, looking suitably ghostly. When I looked at it one Saturday morning a couple of years ago, I saw an unusually tall portrait in a dimly lit room which showed off two kings – and no one else. To lovers of codpieces, this is something of an advantage, as you will discover. It excludes, for example, two of Henry's hapless queens entirely. When I say that the cartoon is diminished, I mean that it is much narrower than the painting.

Remee van Leemput (1607–1675) National Trust, Petworth House (adapted from Hans Holbein the younger) 1669 The owners like to decorate their pieces with metallic thread, satin tufts, bows and other trimmings. In the late 1590s, it evolved into a more stylish protruding penis sheath that might be padded. Henry VII (1457–1509), Queen Elizabeth (of York) (1466–1503), Henry VIII (1491–1547), Queen Jane Seymour (1509–1537), and Edward VI (1537–1553), as Prince of Wales At its earliest appearance in manly fashion, the codpiece was simply a flap of fabric. His only son, a sickly boy, died before he could procreate. Alas, and as we are all, of course, aware, it was not to be. A codpiece which testified to male bragadoccio. Amongst these adornments of Henry's was a codpiece, always. – was quite extraordinary – and much remarked upon at the time for its eye-catching splendour and its singularity. His attentions to the particular of dress – tilt of hat, many beringed fingers, shoulder pads, etc., etc. He needed to impress all those European lineages which had been in existence much longer than the Tudors had – or would ever be. The Tudor monarch Henry VIII was a power-dresser. This was the codpiece, and its role was a protective one, to safeguard the precious honourable member from harm.īy the sixteenth century, everything had changed. So a triangle of cloth was fashioned, perhaps out of a piece of coarse linen. It was an important fashion item of European clothing during the 15th16th centuries. It may be held in place by ties or buttons. Certainly nothing that might require the services of a tailor. A codpiece (from Middle English cod ' scrotum ') is a triangular piece that attached to the front of men's hose, covering the fly. Something fairly crude and simple and triangular, came the answer, to protect the wearer from harm. A Legend of Saints Justus and Clement of Volterraĭomenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494) The National Gallery, London

Mideval codepiece