Codpiece

Portrait of Antonio Navagero (1565), oil on canvas, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, by Giovanni Battista Moroni

A codpiece (from Template:Lang-enm, meaning "scrotum") is a covering flap or pouch that attaches to the front of the crotch of men's trousers and usually accentuates the genital area. It was held closed by string ties, buttons, or other methods. It was an important item of European clothing in the 15th and 16th centuries, and is still worn in the modern era in performance costumes, for rock music and metal musicians, and in the leather subculture, while an athletic cup protects male athletes in a similar fashion.

History

Metal codpieces, 16th century

Armor of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor with codpiece, 1549, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

From the ancient world there are extant depictions of the codpiece; for example, archaeological recovery at Minoan Knossos on Crete has yielded figurines, some of which wear a codpiece. Most of what is objectively known about the cut, fit, and materials of Renaissance clothing is learned from realistic portraits, clothing inventories, descriptive receipts for payments of artifacts, or tailors' cutting guides. In the 14th century, men's hose were two separate legs worn over linen drawers, leaving a man's genitals covered only by a layer of linen. As the century wore on and men's hemlines rose, the hose became longer and joined at the centre back but remained open at the centre front. The shortening of the cote or doublet resulted in under-disguised genitals, so the codpiece began life as a triangular piece of fabric covering the gap.

As time passed, codpieces became shaped and padded to emphasize rather than to conceal, reaching their peak of size and decoration in the 1540s before falling out of use by the 1590s.

Armor of the 16th century followed civilian fashion, and for a time armored codpieces were a prominent addition to the best full harnesses. A few of these are on display in museums today: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has one, as did the Higgins Armory in Worcester, Massachusetts until its close; the armor of Henry VIII in the Tower of London has a codpiece. In later periods, the codpiece became an object of the derision showered on outlandish fashions. Renaissance humorist François Rabelais jokingly refers to a book titled On the Dignity of Codpieces in the foreword to his book The Histories of Gargantua and Pantagruel.

Through the same linguistic route, cods became a modern slang term for the male genitalia.

Medicinal Application

Codpieces also protected men suffering from syphilis, and the codpiece can be linked with the syphilis epidemic of the 16th century. This sexually transmitted disease (STD) also known as “The Great Pox” spread through out Europe as an epidemic in the 16th century. Supposedly it first appeared in 1495 on the continent.

Syphilis spread quickly much in the same way colds & flu spread today. The symptoms were sores on the penis, putrid pus discharges, and painful swelling in the groin. Walking and urination were difficult.

The treatment consisted of an ointment made from mercury, animal grease, crushed Garlic, Chives, Basil and refined herbs. The patients wrapped fabric coated in the ointment and wore it at all times. The codpiece came into use as an excellent way to look fashionable, yet protect the wrapped penis.

Some scholars believe the widespread wearing of codpieces can be traced to the syphilis epidemic that tore through Europe at a terrifying rate after the first outbreak in Naples in 1494. It is thought they provided cushioned shelters, stuffed with medicinal herbs, for sufferers.

From 1495 on-wards a pandemic of a new disease swept across Europe and was a great plague. The disease caused foul and large volumes of mixed pus and blood to be discharged from the genital organs and the swellings in the adjacent groin tissue. The mess would require bulky woolen wads and woven cloth bandages to be applied, distorting the whole of the genital area and the lower abdomen. The new disease was syphilis, and in all probability was not a new disease; there are descriptions of illnesses involving the fundamental findings for the diagnosis of syphilis from ancient times. C. S. REED

Henry VIII, like many men of his time, was afflicted with syphilis, and according to a Cambridge, Massachusetts anthropologist, Grace W. Vicary, the exaggerated codpeices contained medication for the relief from the symptoms. They enclosed a specialized bandage and protected outer clothing from being stained by the medicine. Considering the widespread occurrence of venereal diseases during the Renaissance, the greatly enlarged codpiece as a huge protective device is not too far-fetched.University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The Codpiece, from a simple flap to a prominent, padded attachment as being spurred by concurrent outbreaks of syphilis that plagued Europe.Professor Owen-Crocker manchester University.

In contemporary culture

Subcultural attire

Resembling codpieces, jock straps made of leather can be worn in leather subcultural attire to cover and confine the genitals of a man, sometimes while wearing leather chaps. Rather than accentuating the male genitalia through exaggeration of the size of the wearer's endowment, attention can be drawn through decorative adornment such as metallic studs.

Heavy metal fashion

Oderus Urungus of metal band GWAR wearing a codpiece in a 2004 concert

The codpiece crossed over from the leather subculture to become an established part of heavy metal fashion performance costume when Rob Halford, of the band Judas Priest, began wearing clothing adopted from the gay biker and leather subculture while promoting the Killing Machine (AKA Hell Bent for Leather) album in 1978. Heavy metal singer King Diamond has been known to wear a codpiece as part of his performance outfits. Metal singer Till Lindemann of Rammstein occasionally wears codpieces on stage.

Black metal musician and Satanist Infernus wore a codpiece as part of his attire during the Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam era of Gorgoroth. William Murderface from the cartoon series Metalocalypse also wears a codpiece on several occasions. GWAR frontman Oderus Urungus wore a codpiece called The Cuttlefish of Cthulhu.

Pop music

Cameo front man Larry Blackmon sports a codpiece, which became his trademark, in his videos "Word Up" and "Candy." Guns N' Roses front man Axl Rose wore a codpiece for most of the Appetite for Destruction Tour. Jethro Tull front man Ian Anderson performed in a codpiece during the mid-1970s.

See also

• Koteka
• Kynodesme
• Willy warmer
• 1500–1550 in fashion
• 1550–1600 in fashion

References

Notes

Further reading

• Ashelford, Jane: The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500–1914, Abrams, 1996. ISBN 0-8109-6317-5.
• Ashelford, Jane. The Visual History of Costume: The Sixteenth Century. 1983 edition (ISBN 0-89676-076-6), 1994 reprint (ISBN 0-7134-6828-9).
• Edge, David: Arms and Armor of Medieval Knights: An Illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages.
• Hearn, Karen, ed. Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530–1630. New York: Rizzoli, 1995. ISBN 0-8478-1940-X.
• Bodemer, Brett: "Pantagruel's Seventh Chapter:The Title as Suspect Codpiece."

External links

• Media related to Codpieces at Wikimedia Commons

'Codpieces & Spyhillus Treatment'