Stephanie Appleton is a doctoral researcher in the History Department, University of Birmingham.
Nightcaps are scarcely seen nowadays. To us the word most probably conjures up an image of an elderly gentleman from a bygone era, shuffling off to bed on a cold winter’s evening. But in Shakespeare’s time, more or less everyone would have worn a nightcap on a daily – or rather nightly - basis. The function of such an item was not solely for ensuring warmth in bed, as we might imagine. In fact, the nightcap was most commonly employed as an informal garment to be worn around the house in the evening, after the rigours of the day were over. The householder would change out of his formal or practical day clothes into something a little more comfortable, putting on his nightcap in the process, much as we today might change into tracksuit bottoms when we get home from work. He might even entertain friends while wearing his nightcap: it signified that the time for relaxation had come.
As such, the nightcap would have been universally recognisable as a symbol of relaxed domesticity in the Tudor and Stuart periods. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Casca reports the gathered crowd’s response to Caesar’s public rejection of the crown:
“... as he refused it, / the rabblement hooted, and clapped their chapped hands, and / threw up their sweaty nightcaps ...” (Julius Caesar, 1. 2. 42 - 44)
The use of the nightcap as a symbol of plebeian life in this scene would have conveyed to Shakespeare’s theatregoing audience the momentousness of this occasion, to have drawn these ordinary men from the peace and quiet of their houses.
The level of decoration of such headgear would have varied according to social status. For most people of middling wealth, for example, a nightcap would have been a plain affair, most probably made of wool or linen and simply decorated, if at all. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust holds a rather more exquisite example in their collection, illustrated here. This gentleman’s nightcap dates from around 1610, and while it is made of linen, it is also richly embroidered with coloured silks and silver gilt thread. Patterns of roses, strawberries and other plants cover the cap: these were popular decorations used by the elite in the early modern period, symbolising beauty and fertility respectively, and donning a nightcap this lavishly decorated would have proclaimed the wearer’s wealth, education and standing. Unfortunately, the original owner of this particular nightcap is unknown, and it is in such perfect condition that it may never have been worn. As a result, therefore, it is a stunning example of its type: thanks to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, we will be able to enjoy it for many more years to come.