In 2008, we witnessed a scandalous costume sensation – archaeologists found a medieval bikini set consisting of a bra and small panties in Austrian Lengberg Castle. This led to many speculations about medieval ladies wearing bras and panties (when before this find, it was considered that women didn’t use any drawers at all in the Middle Ages). But fashion historians and people who study medieval clothes have a totally different explanation of the Lengberg Castle bikini. It appears that this story is a fake – the find is real but the meaning behind it is something different altogether.
The article is based on the video by Natalya Skornyakova: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN8Fx2nRtjs
First of all, the “Lengberg Castle bikini” wasn’t the only find in that castle. There were a number of textile pieces, probably old clothes and rags, stuffed under the flooring for warmth and to fill the gaps between boards. Basically, those items were just the tatter, not full-fledged garments hidden there or found on buried bodies, as it often happens with clothing. So, we can make a conclusion that these bra and panties are not necessarily a set. They were just found together, among other leftovers, like remnants of several dresses.
Second, this item that looks very much like a modern bra isn’t it. That’s a part of a very typical 15th-century women’s underwear – a chemise of a specific design. This shift was extremely popular among late-medieval ladies. This is how it looks on medieval miniatures and a modern reconstruction of this lingerie item.
And in other medieval illustrations, you’ll find multiple images of men’s panties called “braies” that look identical to the bikini found in Lengberg Castle.
Normally, women are never depicted wearing this kind of underwear. With just a few exceptions. For example, when the artist was trying to show that a man and a woman switched their roles in society, when she was ruling the family. In this case, the man is depicted with a spinner and the woman is wearing braies or just holding them in her hand. This was a typically male undergarment and a symbol of manhood.
Another situation when a woman in old illustrations is wearing panties is when she is a woman of ill repute. Like in this woodcut illustration of Semiramis and her son Ninias. She and her court ladies are all wearing braies.
Decent ladies in drawings are depicted naked under their skirts. No panties there.
By the way, this design of male braies was in use for a not very long time. It appeared in the 2nd half of the 15th century when men wore really tight-fitting hose and short jackets, so sizable underwear was inconvenient. And such small panties were forgotten as soon as the breeches became wider (16th-century pumpkin breeches).
So, our conclusion is the Lengberg Castle bikini set is not a set at all. It is the upper part of the 15th-century women’s chemise that used to cover the breasts and the typical 15th-century male panties. Sadly or not, no bikinis for medieval ladies yet.
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