Summary: Rules about Shirts!
Key dates:
In 1537 Henry VIII passed an act which ordered that men’s shirts should be no more than 7 yards when they had been originally 25-35 yards. The Dublin parliament in 1541 allowed the greater length of 12 yards for noblemen, 11 for horsemen, 9 for kerns or Scots, servants 7, labourers 6.
Saffron dye had also been banned. The Irish believed that it helped protect the body from ill health and that it kept fabric cleaner for longer. The habit of using saffron to keep fabric clean only died out slowly and people began to wash shirts 4 or 5 times a year by 1571.
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