Ermine and Sable furs

Accessories Myths

Myth: Only the monarch may wear ermine fur.

Not true, as two of the above three images show.

The first is a painting of Queen Elizabeth I, monarch of England. The second is Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex. A wealthy woman by the looks of her portrait, and of high standing as a countess, but not of royal blood as her father was a knight. Both are wearing ermine furs, as noted by the black spotted tails on a pure white fur. Only one is the monarch.

Ermine is allowed by those of baron, their children, and above, according to this historian, Lara Eakins, in her blog, which directly addresses the question of this page. While ermine is not limited by sumptuary law, the historian believes that the ermine's limited availabilty and high price may have been self-limiting to those of high rank in England. But considering that wealthy merchants of no rank might afford the high prices as well, I am not fully convinced of this argument. After all, that was the point of sumptuary clothing laws, to attempt to limit people to wearing clothes reflective of their station. But either way, more than the monarch alone could wear ermine furs.

The most restricted type of fur in Queen Elizabeth's time is not ermine, however, but sable fur, as noted in the following sumptuary law:

None shall wear in his apparel:
Any silk of the color of purple, cloth of gold tissued, nor fur of sables, but only the King, Queen, King's mother, children, brethren, and sisters, uncles and aunts; and except dukes, marquises, and earls, who may wear the same in doublets, jerkins, linings of cloaks, gowns, and hose... .

The third image shows the most favored of the marten furs during the 16th century, Russian sables (Martes zibellina). "Sable fur is unique among furbearers because it retains its smoothness no matter in which direction it is stroked." "Sable fur was a favourite of Henry VIII, who once received five sets of sable fur worth £400 from Emperor Charles V. Henry later decreed that sable fur was to be worn only by nobles exceeding the rank of viscount."

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I: The Clopton Portrait, c. 1560, unknown artist.
Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex, 1570 - 75, by unknown artist.
Information on sable furs taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sable. Please see the page for further citations.
Photo of sable furs from ecplaza.net.

Updated: Tuesday, February 16, 2010