Dear Sir

Bodleyan Libr. Apr. 20. 1782

I receiv'd your Note last night and agreeably to your Request I have sent you a few Extracts from Du fresne's 1^st Dissertation sur l'histoire de S. Louis. The Title of the Dissertation is. De [sic] Cottes D'Armes & par occasion de l origine des Couleurs & des Metaux dans les Armoiries. pag 127. The Title of the Book is Histoire de S. Louys IX du nom, roy de France. f^o 1668. Du fresne seems to be of Opinion that Ermrae [sic] & other [...] ^rich Furs. were first us'd by the French to adorn a Garment or mantle that was peculiar to the Gauls of which Martial makes mention lib. 1. Epigr. 97 & which they calld sagum.¹ In process of Time this Garment increasd in Dimensions till it reachd down to the heels. He quotes a passage from Albert chanoine d'Aix-la chapelle Lib. 2 cha 16. where he describes the habit of Godfrey of Bouillon & ^of other french Barons who came to present themselves before the Emperor Alexis Comnene,*ⁱ that they apppeard. "In splendore & ornatu pretiosarum Vestium tam ex Ostro quam aurifragio & in niveo Opere harmellino, & ex Mardrino Grisioque & vario, quibus principes Gallorum præcipuè utuntur.² And also where mentioning a Defeat of the French, he says that the Infidels acquired a great Booty & that they carried off "molles vestes, pelliceos varios, Grisios, harmellinos, Mardrinos, ostra in numerabilia auro texta, miri decoris operis & coloris.³ Eguinard in his History of Charlemagne says that that [sic] Monarch "vestitu patrio hoc est Francio utebatur, & during Winter, ex pellibus lutrinis thorace confecto houmeros & pectus tegebat.⁴ Du fresne concludes from this that the French se servoient de Fourrures dans leur vetemaens commes les autres Peuples septentrionaux.⁵ About 1190 he says the wearing of Ermine & other rich furrs as well as of Scarlet & such luxurious Articles of Dress were prohibited & quotes Gul. Neubr. lib 3. C 22. Quod nullux vario, vel grisio, vel Sabellinis, vel escarletis utatur.⁶ He quotes also a Passage from Geoffroy Prieur de Vigeois's Chronicle to shew that the Barons of old were contented with furs of [...]far less value & Esteem than Ermine. "Barones prisco tempore munifi^ci largitores vilibus utebantur Pannis, adea ut Eustorgius Episcopus, vicecomes Lemovicensis, & vicecomes Combornensis arieti[...]nis ac vulpinis Pellibus aliquoties uterentur, & adds quas post illos, mediocres deferre erubescunt.⁷

Du Fresne does not pretend to give an Account of toutes les riches Fourrures dont le grand [sic] Seign[...]neurs se revetoient,⁸ but confines himself to Ermine & vaire. He enters pretty minutely into both these Subjects. The Ermine he says was known to the Greeks & Romans. & quotes Plin. lib. 8 c. 37. Ælian lib. 6 c. 40. 41 de anim. lib 1 Cap. II. var hist.⁹ The name he says is deriv'd from Armenia, the People of that Country according to Julius Pollux (lib. 7 c. 13) having a Garment tout particulier calld by the Greeks μυωτος. Ἀρμενίων δε ὁ μυωτος, κ’ εκ μυῶν των πάρ’ ἀυτοις συνυφασμένος ¹⁰ The original name he says was mures Pontici but that the French anciently calld them Peaux des Hermins, or d.'Hermins whence the name, & adds that the spaniards call them Arminos.¹¹

I cannot find any Traces of the precise Time when this & other fur[...]s commenc'd Articles of luxurious Dress, as this in particular seems to have been known to the Ancients as such very early. Necessity no Doubt soon taught the northern Nations the use of them, & their more southern neighbours, struck with the Elegance of the Ermine might soon adopt it [...]s an article of their Dress.¹² Just. lib. 2. says that the [...]d them. Lanæ iis usus & vestium ignotus & quamqua[...] [?frigor]ibus continuis urantur, pellibus tamen ferinis & mur[?inis] vestiuntur.¹³ Amm. Marcellinus l. 31. spealing of the Huns says Indumentis operiuntur linteis, vel ex pellibus siluestrium murium consrcinatis.¹⁴ The Babylonians from their vicinity to Armenia might be the first who adopted the Ermine, & Ælian in l. 17. C. 17 de Anim says that the Babylonian Furrs were Peau [sic] de rats as Dufresne expresses it.¹⁵ The Modern Greeks according to him [...]call it Ermine, Ποντίκ[ιν] sans ajouter l'espece de l Animal & non seulement les Hermines, mais encore toutes sortes des rats indifferement.¹⁶

This is the substance of what I find in the Dissertation concerning the subject of your Enquiry, & I hope it will yield to you some Satisfaction. I have bu[...]t just Room to inclose M^r Pennant's duty to you and am

Dear Sir
your obligd humble Serv^t

J. Jones

---

---

Editorial notes

1. Histoire de S. Louys IX. du nom roy de France (Paris, 1668), p. 127.
2. 'in the splendour and ornateness of precious vestments as much out of purple as of gold and in snowy ermine work and from marten pelts ... grey [pelts] and various [others] which the leaders of the Gauls principally used'. See ibid., p. 128. Pennant uses a section from this quotation in Arctic zoology (1784), I, p. 81, where he writes of the impression made upon the emperor Alexis Comnene by 'the richness of [the] dresses' of Godfrey of Boulogne and his followers when they appeared before him on their way to the Holy Land.
3. 'soft garments, various items made from pelts, grey, ermine, marten, innumerable purple items, woven with gold, of wonderful decorative and coloured work'. See Histoire de S. Louys IX. du nom roy de France, p. 128.
4. 'this as the traditional vestment Francis would use, [and during Winter,] he would cover his shoulders and chest with a doublet made from otter skins. Ibid., p. 129.
5. 'Used furs as garments like other northern races.' Ibid.
6. 'that no-one should use a variety [of pelts], neither grey, nor sable nor scarlet'. Ibid., p. 128.
7. 'Barons of former times, benevolent patrons, would use common round shields, just as Eustorgius Viscount Bishop of Lemovicensis, and Viscount of Comborn would at different times have used the pelt of rams and foxes [and adds] to which after them not insignificant persons are ashamed to refer.' Ibid., p. 130.
8. 'all the rich furs with which the noblemen dressed themselves'. Ibid.
9. Jones's references are as given in the margin of Histoire de S. Louys IX. du nom roy de France, p. 130.
10. 'made of mouse skin. The Armenian skins were woven by them out of these mice.'
11. See ibid., pp. 131–2.
12. Pennant does not appear to have accepted the suggestion made here by John Jones that furs were used 'very early' by the ancient Classical civilizations. In Arctic zoology (1784), I, p. 81, Pennant states that 'I cannot find that the Greeks or old Romans ever made use of furs', but that sable skins were transmitted to Rome in the sixth century as a prelude to the use of furs as luxury items by medieval princes. This topic was also discussed with his relation and friend Thomas Falconer during 1782. Falconer concurred with Pennant that 'the luxury of furs was after the Roman Empire had ceased'. See WCRO, CR 2017/TP228/6.
13. The text is obscure here due to the placing of the seal. The second section of the quotation may be translated as 'yet they are dressed in wild animal [and mouse?] skins'. Histoire de S. Louys IX. du nom roy de France, p. 132.
14. 'they devoted themselves to making garments from linen, or from the pelts of various forest mice'. Ibid., p. 132.
15. 'rats' skins'. Ibid. The reference given is from the margin to this page.
16. 'from the area of Pontus (around the Black Sea)'; 'without adding which type of animal, and not only ermines but also all sorts of rats indifferently'. Ibid.