Codpiece

Henry VIII wearing a codpiece

A codpiece (Middle English codpece: cod, bag, scrotum (from Old English codd, bag) + pece, piece) is a flap or pouch that attaches to the front of the crotch of men's trousers to provide a covering for the genitals. It would be held closed by string ties, buttons, or other methods.

It was an important item of European clothing in the 15th and 16th centuries.

History

At first, the codpiece was entirely a practical matter of modesty. Men's hose were typically very snug on the legs and open at the crotch, with the genitalia simply hanging loose under the doublet. As changing fashions led to shorter doublets, the codpiece was created to cover the crotch. Alternate versions of the origin of the codpiece exist.

As time passed, codpieces were shaped to emphasize the male genitalia and eventually often became padded and bizarrely shaped. They also often doubled as pockets, handy carrying places for a variety of items such as coins and snuff. In England in the latter half of Queen Elizabeth I's reign, the codpiece and doublet merged into the "peascod" doublet, and the codpiece faded from fashion.

Armour of the 16th century followed civilian fashion, and for a time armoured codpieces were a prominent addition to the best full harnesses. Few of these are in evidence today, though the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City does have one on display. [Source - this paragraph: Arms and Armor of Medieval Knights: An Illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages - David Edge]

Renaissance humorist Francois Rabelais wrote an essay named Of the importance of codpiece.

Codpieces in contemporary culture

Codpieces are rarely worn publicly today, except in the leather and latex fetish communitites. They are sometimes worn as a part of a costume in a performance. Some contemporary performers who have worn codpieces are:

• In Jim Henson's 80s classic movie Labyrinth, the Goblin King (played by David Bowie) sports a codpiece beneath his riding breeches.

• Ian Anderson, front man for Jethro Tull, wore an oversized codpiece during his performances in the mid-70s.

• Sir Tom Jones, the Welsh singer, is famous for wearing oversized codpieces (commonly called 'cucumbers') during performances.

• The album cover Up For The Down Stroke by Parliament depicts a man in an armoured codpiece.

• The lead singer of 80s music group Cameo, Larry Blackmon, famously wore a large, bright-red codpiece in all of his performances.

• Alex and his gang members from Anthony Burgess' book A Clockwork Orange (and later Stanley Kubrick's movie adaptation) wear codpieces.

• The films Batman Forever and Batman & Robin featured much publicity over the size of the moulded rubber codpieces of the Batman and Robin costumes.

• The January 7th 2001 Simpsons episode HOMЯ, Homer gave his friend Carl Carlson a codpiece, and eventually had it returned with the epithet "I can't feed my family with a codpiece!"

• In 1982's The Pirate Movie, an attempted rock music version of the Pirates of Penzance, the Pirate King, played by Ted Hamilton, wore an enormous jeweled codpiece for comedic effect.

• In the Wachowski brothers's second Matrix movie The Matrix Reloaded, two men can be seen wearing codpieces at the entrance to the Merovingian's nightclub.

• In Restart, the absurdist comedy horror musical by the UK's Komedy Kollective, the sailors selling the fishy snack Colin's Cod Pieces, wear outsized codpieces over their waterproof fishermen's clothing.

• In the 1980's comedy serial The Black Adder, several of the characters including the eponymous hero wear codpieces. These are sometimes used for comedy value, and the title song proclaims "black his codpiece made of metal".

• In the Philip Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, dust is radioactive, and male characters in the novel wear lead codpieces to avoid becoming sterile.

• In 1975, Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver tried to reintroduce the codpiece to 20th-century male fashion apparel. His purpose, he said, was to “solve the problem of the fig leaf mentality," arguing that "clothing is an extension of the fig leaf.” Variously called “Cleaver pants,” “the Cleavers,” and :”the Cleaver sleeve,” his designer jeans incorporated a combination codpiece-penis sheath that, according to one description of the accessory, could “accommodate a two-pound linguiça.” His attempt to reintroduce the codpiece did not catch on.

• Shock-rock performer Blackie Lawless, leader of the group WASP, has been known to wear a codpiece that features a saw blade and is capable of shooting out flames and sparks. The symbolism behind this costume remains uncertain, however.

• In Babylon 5, Andreas Katsulas' character G'Kar sports a codpiece as part of his Ambassadorial garb for most of the series.

• At renaissance festivals throughout the United States, tights with built-in codpieces - introduced as ready-to-wear in the late 1980's - are gaining popularity among male performers. A web search for "renaissance tights" provides links to pages with several examples.

• In the 1995 film Se7en, a lust-related murder involves a man being forced (at gunpoint) to don a codpiece with a long blade attached as a pseudo-phallus and have sex with a prostitute, killing the woman in the process.

External links

The following web sites provide information concerning Eldridge Cleaver’s foray into male fashion:

• Time Magazine article
• Contemporary latex codpiece suit
• Empty bottle (blog)
• Cool, cool world
• The Fashion Struggle
• Dandyism.net