The Frivolous Cake

another one

Because the thing about it is that it's pretty obviously a reconstruction of Charles de Blois' pourpoint, which exists in the musée des Tissus et des Arts décoratifs de Lyon.

It's made from cloth of gold brocade- the only kind of fabric of the period that would shine in candlelight the way Hans' pourpoint does. The ground of the fabric on the extant pourpoint is ivory silk. Hans' changes colors depending on the lighting- sometimes in Trosky it looks scarlet, most of the time it looks gold. Either way the weave of the fabric is a combination of silk and threads wrapped with extremely finely beaten sheets of actual gold.

It's theorized that the fabric on the extant example was imported from the middle east. And I cannot emphasize how complex of a weave this is because this is before the invention of the jacquard loom, which functioned with punch cards like early computers. These ridiculously expensive threads had to all be dropped and adjusted by hand to get this pattern.

And the thing is- Hans' is even more complex. It's not a geometric repeat, it has scrolling vines and an intensely complicated pattern of birds and deer which makes it even more precious. You can see it a bit here:

The cost of this fabric would have been staggering. And fabric in the era was narrow, maybe 20" wide, and since Hans is a tall man he would need a good deal of fabric for this. Then you add on the fact that it's all pattern matched so that the design is unbroken by the button down chest, and his sleeves are well matched. And the grand assiette sleeves with their unusual tailoring would take even more fabric to keep everything nicely matched up.

Then there's the buttons all the way down the front and on the sleeves, with button holes bound by hand in what would have been silk thread. It can take a good fifteen minutes to cut and bind a buttonhole nicely, so the time spent on those alone is astounding. Each button would be handmade by stuffing a circle of fabric with wool wadding and binding off the end into a thread covered stump (which takes ages to do well, I've never achieved a nice stuffed button in less than ten minutes).

The chest would have also had extra wool padding in it (meaning extra effort to shape and sew it) in order to achieve the wasp-waist effect that gives him such powerful looking shoulders.

So his pourpoint alone is worth more money than most peasant farmers would see in a year. Even in a lifetime, maybe.

It's finer than anything we see on any other character in the game. Von Bergow's clothes are that of a rural lord in comparison. Even Sigismund's royal attire isn't so obviously valuable.

It's also, by nature of being a pourpoint, a military garment at its core. Charles de Blois' pourpoint has arming points in it even though its good condition suggests that it was worn for some ceremony and then probably never used again.

Then you add his hood. Red dye was common, though certain shades of scarlet could be far more expensive. To my eye the gold design on it isn't just simple embroidery but goldwork, aka more real gold threads tacked down to glitter in candlelight, aka even more money worn on his person.

(How he got all of this stuff takes some mental gymnastics- the pourpoint is too well fitted to not have been made for him. Maybe it did belong to him at the start of the game, was picked up by the bandits and sold along to Trosky where it was returned to him. Even a team of the best tailors couldn't put this together in the hours between him being released from the gallows and him going to meet Von Bergow in his chambers, and I highly doubt he would accept Von Bergow's cast offs no matter how fine they are.)

Which is all to say that by wearing this Hans is trying so hard to assert himself as a man of means, worthy of respect. He wants to be noticed. In a room full of well dressed men you still would not be able to take your eyes off the young man wearing more gold on his back than a country lord would ever dream of owning. He wants to be seen as a man who is ready for glorious battle, a true knight in his beautiful pourpoint.

Although sumptuary laws weren't as punishing as they would later be during the renaissance, it could also be read as him reaching above his station a bit because after all, how is the Lord of Pirkstein out dressing the usurper king? It's something of an insult that Lord Capon walks into a room looking like this when his betters don't even dress with such flash.

And that makes it hit all the harder when, at Suchdol during Von Bergow's interrogation, all the men in the room talk over him as though he's not there. He can wear his fine pourpoint but he's not respected as a lord or a military man. It doesn't matter what he does to project the image of a nobleman- he's still not treated as one. For someone who truly believes clothes make the man and everyone should follow social rules as prescribed this has to be a real kick in the gut.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance series developer Warhorse Studios is developing an open-world RPG set in Middle-earth as well as “a new Kingdom Come adventure,” the studio announced.

Details about the projects were not announced.