Editing Tabard (section)

==Middle Ages==
[[File:the waterseller walters.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Waterseller of Seville (Velázquez)|The Waterseller of Seville]]'' by [[Diego Velázquez]], {{Circa|1620}}, depicting a functional workman's tabard]]
A tabard (from the French ''tabarde'') was originally a humble outer garment of tunic form, generally without sleeves, worn by peasants, monks and foot-soldiers. In this sense, the earliest citation recorded in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' dates from {{circa|1300}}.<ref name=oed>{{OED|tabard}}</ref>

By the second half of the 15th century, tabards, now open at the sides and so usually belted, were also being worn by [[knight]]s in military contexts over their [[armour]], and were usually emblazoned with their arms (though sometimes worn plain). The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' first records this use of the word in English in 1450.<ref name=oed/> Tabards were apparently distinguished from [[surcoat]]s by being open-sided, and by being shorter.{{Citation needed|date=March 2017}}  In its later form, a tabard normally comprised four textile panels – two large panels hanging down the wearer's front and back, and two smaller panels hanging over his arms as shoulder-pieces or open "sleeves" – each emblazoned with the same coat of arms. Tabards became an important means of battlefield identification with the development of plate armour as the use of shields declined. They are frequently represented on [[Effigy|tomb effigies]] and [[monumental brass]]es of the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

A very expensive, but plain, garment described as a tabard is worn by [[Giovanni Arnolfini]] in the [[Arnolfini Portrait]] of 1434 ([[National Gallery, London]]). This may be made of [[silk]] and/or [[velvet]], and is trimmed and fully lined with fur, possibly [[sable]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools |first=Lorne |last=Campbell |place=London |publisher=National Gallery |series=National Gallery Catalogues |year=1998 |isbn=185709171X }}</ref>

At [[The Queen's College]], [[Oxford]], the scholars on the foundation were called tabarders, from the tabard (not in this case an emblazoned garment) which they wore.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n7JZAAAAMAAJ|title=Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative, of the Heterodox Speech of All Classes of Society for More Than Three Hundred Years : with Synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, Etc|last=Farmer|first=John Stephen|publisher=Unknown|year=1903|pages=54|language=en}}</ref>

A surviving garment similar to the medieval tabard is the monastic [[scapular]]. This is a wide strip of fabric worn both front and back of the body, with an opening for the head and no sleeves. It may have a hood, and may be worn under or over a belt.