The drab tunic clothing worn by men and women of England during the mid-14th century is an example of the Christian influence. The only discernible differences in dress between the sexes were slight variations in neckline, length, and headdress (Newton, 1980, p. 3, 1980). Proper dress was an expression of piety and a reflection of attitudes toward the body derived from the religious concept of original sin, as may be seen from the following passage of English Christian prayer.
Most gracious and merciful Saviour, Jesus Christ, thou knowest how we be born, clothed and clogged with the grievous and heavy burden of the first man, who fell away unto fleshliness through disobedience. Vouchsafe, therefore I beseech thee, to strip me out of the old corrupt Adam, which being soaked in sin, transformeth himself into all incumbrances and diseases of the mind, that may lead away from Thee (Ashley, 1988, p. 203).
The English Christian realized that we come into the world nude and that the first man was nude, yet because of sin, humanity is to be clothed. The quote also implies that because of Adam's sin, we are not to deviate from our God-given appearance at all so that we do not further sin against God. Christian religion promoted conformity in appearance as well as in behavior. The strictness of Christian standards was in part a repressive reaction against surviving expressions of paganism in the popular culture. Pagan superstitions became distorted by religious-inspired fears that people who deviated from normal appeareance might be in league with the devil. For example, self-proclaimed European witches claimed that a "small blue or red puncture, sometimes a larger mark depicting the foot of a hare, or body of a toad, symbolized the connection of the wearer with devil worship" (Hambly, p. 45, 1925). The dominance of Christianity and fear of religious persecution largely extinguished the practice of tattooing and other forms of body ornamentation in Western Europe.
