The term ‘political culture’ has been in vogue since it was coined by political scientists in the mid-1950s. It envelopes the activities, beliefs and actions of the political community, and their relation to the structures of power. A key aspect of fifteenth-century political culture was the attitudes of the political community, particularly the landed classes, towards the authority and sovereignty of the king. In the ‘profoundly visual culture’ of late medieval England, the particularly ubiquitous problem of the use and abuse of livery was a major focus of concern. Although the collar was the most prestigious form of livery, it is necessary to examine it within the greater context of complaints surrounding livery and the associated abuse of maintenance, in the form of robes and badges, which provided the focus of attention for a succession of ordinances and statutes from the middle of the fourteenth century, laws which permitted the crown to increase its monopoly over the livery system as the fifteenth century progressed. The result was hundreds of Lancastrian and Yorkist royal livery collars displayed on church monuments and in stained glass across the realm, and a striking visual display of crown presence in the localities.

It was Quentin Skinner and the ‘Cambridge School’ of intellectual historians who emphasised the importance of understanding political history through the ideas and principles of contemporaries. A series of accepted principles provided a boundary for political actions and discourse, and a forum in which political ideas were formulated. One accepted principle was loyalty to the king, and acceptance of his authority and sovereign power. Things were not, of course, as straightforward as this, and if there was a shared political language and a set of shared assumptions, their meanings and articulation differed in various political spheres.

Dogs in collars

If one of the purposes of the livery collar was to provide a striking visible sign with which to attract attention, then it was successful. Collars and other insignia such as badges were subject to scrutiny from contemporaries from the late fourteenth century. Writers and magnates alike would draw attention to the use, or indeed misuse, of livery. The wearing of ‘Signe, Lyverey or Token’, as such ensigns were increasingly referred to, would also come under criticism from the parliamentary Commons. Paradoxically, they themselves were often the wearers of the very signs they were attacking.