The strange story of the codpiece

You couldn't make this stuff up

Anyone who’s ever had to dress up as a Tudor courtier - something that happens quite often in the circles in which I move - will have found themselves at some point upstaged by their codpiece.

Just as soon as anyone notices that you’re wearing one, conversation stops, fingers point, and the helpless giggles begin.

What’s the history of this garment that to us seems so ridiculous, and which to Henry VIII seemed the ultimate symbol of masculinity?

The codpiece is buttoned, or tied with strings, to a man’s breeches. It takes its name from the word ‘cod’, middle English for both ‘bag’ and ‘scrotum’. It came about in the first place because medieval men wore hose – essentially, very long socks – beneath their doublets, and nothing else in the way of underwear.