The Livery Collar in Late Medieval England and Wales: Politics, Identity and Affinity, by Matthew Ward

Abstract

The livery collar, one of the most distinctive features of late medieval English material culture, has long been considered an important political symbol. It was both a sign of status, a gift from a ruling monarch or important magnate that denoted a degree of favour bestowed upon the wearer, and an indicator of political allegiance, particularly so during the dynastic conflicts of the fifteenth century. Matthew Ward’s carefully researched and well-written monograph studies the importance of two of the most familiar late medieval livery collars: the Lancastrian collar of ‘SS’ and the Yorkist collar of the sun and roses. The former, first distributed by John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, became, after Henry IV’s usurpation in 1399, the royal livery collar. It was then supplanted by the latter in 1461 when Gaunt’s great-grandson, Henry VI, was deposed by the Yorkist Edward IV. In 1485 the usurper Henry of Richmond began again to distribute the old Lancastrian collar of ‘SS’, perhaps to demonstrate his legitimacy by emphasising his links to the House of Lancaster.