The Image of Anti-Irish Propaganda
The Image of Irelande, with a Discoverie of Woodkarne by John Derricke published in 1581 claims to be a description of "the wilde men in Ireland" accompanied by an account of Turlough Luineach Ó Neill "submitting himselfe to the right honorable Syr Henry Sydney." The book includes 12 woodcut illustrations that are sometimes used by historical costumers as references for 16th century Irish clothing. I strongly believe that using these illustrations as a source on Irish dress history should be avoided,* so I am making a post to explain why.
John Derricke was an Englishman who was trying to make the Irish look bad (ie creating anti-Irish propaganda). In The Image of Irelande, he maligned Irish culture and praised English military victory over the Irish. He described the Irish as "as honest as the devill," and "constant like the wavering winde." He specifically called Ruaidhrí Óg Ó Mórdha (spelled Rorie Oge) "that famous archtraitor to God." (text here) Someone who was trying to defame the Irish with his text was probably doing the same with his illustrations.
Irish antiquarian William Wilde did not consider Derricke's illustrations a reliable source for Irish dress history either. Writing for the Royal Irish Academy in 1863, he commented, "The caricatures attached to Derricke’s doggerel 'Image of Ireland,' written in 1578, apparently pander to the worst tastes of the times of Sydney, Morrison, and Spenser, are not of much value as specimens of the costume of the 'Irish Wood-Kearne;' they were drawn to ridicule." (source p. 322)
Many details of Irish dress in Derricke's illustrations don't match what is shown in other 16th c sources. This is the most obvious with the long linen tunic called the léine and the short jacket called the ionar. Derricke portrayed the léine as mid-thigh length with a flaring, pleated or gathered skirt and a deep center-front opening with a wide lapel.
Other period sources show the léine as a knee-length or ankle-length garment with a voluminous body that is belted in at the waist. Some show a deep center-front opening or a small collar, but none have a front that looks like a modern bathrobe.
Derricke's purpose in making these changes may have been to shock and appall his readers with how immodest (according to English sensibilities) Irish fashion was. The exaggerated collar/lapel helps emphasize the kerns' bare chests. (Typical English menswear of the time included a long-sleeved, high-collared doublet over a shirt, paired with hose or breeches and stockings, an outfit that hid most of the wearer's skin.)
Derricke portrays the ionar as having skirts that stand out from the wear's body like an Elizabethan neck ruff.
Images by other artists show the ionar with skirts made of knife pleats that lay relatively flat to the body, like those of the extant kilcommon ionar:
In making the ionar's skirts look like a ruff, Derricke might have been attempting to make the Irish look vain and foolish. Ruffs were made by cartridge-pleating long strips of linen to a neck band. To obtain their characteristic, gravity-defying figure 8 shape, they had to be heavily starched and shaped with a tool similar to a curling iron. Ruffs were time consuming, both to make and to maintain, making the idea of wearing one around your waist while raiding a farm or fighting a battle frivolous and impractical.
Finally, the illustrations aren't even consistent with each other in their details. Derricke apparently couldn't decide whether the crest on the chieftain's hat was supposed to be fur (plate 1) or a palm frond? (plates 3 and 4):
*There are some items for which we don't have a better visual source, so I can understand people using it as a reference for things like Irish horse saddles.
Arnold, Janet, Tiramani, J., & Levey, S. (2008). Patterns of Fashion 4. Macmillan, London.
Arnold, Janet (1985). Patterns of Fashion 3. Macmillan, London.
Dunlevy, Mairead (1989). Dress in Ireland. B. T. Batsford LTD, London.
McClintock, H. F. (1943). Old Irish and Highland Dress. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk.
McClintock, H. F. (1953). Some Hitherto Unpublished Pictures of Sixteenth Century Irish People, and the Costumes Appearing in Them. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 83(2), 150-155. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25510871
