A Lovelock was popular amongst European "men of fashion" from the end of the 16th century until well into the 17th century. The lovelock was a long
lock of hair
A lock of hair is a piece or pieces of hair that has been cut from, or remains singly on, a human head, most commonly bunched or tied together in some way. A standard dictionary definition defines a lock as a tress, curl, or ringlet of hair.
Sy ...
, often plaited (
braid
A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strande ...
ed) and made to rest over the left shoulder (the heart side) to show devotion to a loved one.
Origin
Most sources contemporary with the rise of the fashion (mid-1500s) thought the lovelock was an imitation of an American Indian hairstyle. People such as
Francis Higginson
Francis Higginson (1588–1630) was an early Puritan minister in Colonial New England, and the first minister of Salem, Massachusetts.
Biography England
The son of a minister, Francis Higginson received his B.A. degree from Jesus College, Ca ...
—
Salem
Salem may refer to: Places
Canada
Ontario
* Bruce County
** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie
** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce
* Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...
, Massachusetts's first minister—"reported
n his 1630 book ''New-Englands Plantation''speculation that the style of wearing one long lock of hair among fashionable young men in England was conscious imitation of the asymmetrical
Powhatan male cut."
Sir Thomas Dale
Sir Thomas Dale ( 1570 − 19 August 1619) was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in ...
, governor of
Jamestown and
John Rolfe, the husband of
Pocahontas, also believed that the trend was a conscious imitation of Indian hairstyling. They further specified that lovelocks had arrived in England with the
group of Roanoke colonists rescued by
Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...
in June 1586.
The supposed Indian origin of the lovelock was of great concern to Puritan ministers on both sides of the Atlantic. In England, William Prynne and in New England, Roger Williams both denounced lovelocks from their pulpits, calling them demonic copyings of Native American behavior. Each took strongly moralistic tacks, with Prynne decrying lovelocks as "Effeminate, Proud, Lascivious, Exorbitant, and Fantastique."
At least one contemporary Indian also believed European lovelocks were worn in imitation of Native Americans. In 1616
Samuel Purchas
Samuel Purchas ( – 1626) was an England, English Anglican cleric who published several volumes of reports by travellers to foreign countries.
Career
Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex, England, Essex son of an English yeoman. He graduated fr ...
was introduced to
Tomocomo
Uttamatomakkin (known as Tomocomo for short) was a Powhatan holy man who accompanied Pocahontas when she was taken to London in 1616.Dale, Thomas. Letter to Sir Ralph Winwood. 3 June 1616. Repr. in Jamestown Narratives, ed. Edward Wright Haile. Cha ...
shortly after the Powhatan holy man arrived in London with his ward, Pocahontas. Tomocomo told Purchas that lovelocks were worn by Indians in imitation of their god. After learning this Purchas, like Prynn and Williams, became morally inflamed by the American theory of origin, calling it "a faire unlovely generation of the Love-locke, Christians imitating Salvages, and they the Divell)."
Others favor European origins: Robin Bryer, author of ''The History of Hair: Fashion and Fantasy Down the Ages'' (2003), speculated that the lovelock instead originated as an alternative to the
love token
Exonumia are numismatic items (such as tokens, medals, or scrip) other than coins and paper money. This includes "Good For" tokens, badges, counterstamped coins, elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, wooden nickels and oth ...
worn by knights during the medieval period.
Examples
Christian IV of Denmark
Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...
(1577–1648) wore a lovelock, possibly because of a medical condition
plica polonica, and others in his court copied it, making it a Danish court fashion. His brother-in-law
James I of England
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the Union of the Crowns, union of the Scottish and Eng ...
(1566–1625) wore a lovelock, and at the court of his son,
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
(1600–1649) many courtiers (including women) wore them in the French fashion (where they were called ''cadenette''). Charles I can be seen wearing one in the ''
Triple portrait'' by
Antony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh c ...
, where a large pearl can be seen suspended from the end of the lock.
Criticism
![Sir Thomas Meautys white background](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Sir_Thomas_Meautys_white_background.jpg)
As seen above, criticism of the lovelock often assumed an extreme moralistic tone. Although European preachers took exception to white men wearing lovelocks in imitation of Native Americans, their criticisms were based on religious rather than racial objections. This was partly due to the supposed devil-worship of Indians but mainly because the set of assumptions about human nature and its heritability that attend objections on what are now recognized as racist grounds had not yet fully developed by the early 17th century.
William Prynne
William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669), an English lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and political figure, was a prominent Puritan opponent of church policy under William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). His views were presbyter ...
, a
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
pamphleteer, wrote ''Health's Sickness. The Unloveliness of Lovelocks'' (1628), in which he states that for men to wear their hair long was "unseemly and unlawful unto Christians", while it was "mannish, unnatural, impudent, and unchristian" for women to cut it short. He related the story of a nobleman who was dangerously ill, and who, on his recovery, "declared publicly his detestation of his effeminate, fantastic lovelock, which he then sensibly perceived to be but a cord of vanity, by which he had given the Devil holdfast to lead him at his pleasure, and who would never resign his prey as long as he nourished this unlovely bush", and so he ordered the barber to cut it off.
Thomas Hall Thomas Hall may refer to:
Politicians
*Thomas Hall (North Dakota politician) (1869–1958), American U.S. congressman for North Dakota
* Thomas Hall (Ohio politician), Ohio state Representative
*Thomas Hall (MP for Lincolnshire) (1619–1667), MP ...
wrote a pamphlet ''The Loathsomnesse of Long Haire. ...'' (1654) in which he also attacked the fashion. These different views on fashion are in part reflected in the uncomplimentary nicknames the two sides gave each other during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
: the Royalists called their enemies
Roundhead
Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...
s while the Parliamentarians called the Royalists
Cavalier
The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...
s.
[; ; ]
See also
*
Dreadlocks
*
List of hairstyles
This is a non-exhaustive list of hairstyles, excluding List of facial hairstyles, facial hairstyles.
Short hairstyles
Buzz cuts
A buzz cut is any of a variety of short hairstyles usually designed with electric clippers.
Haircuts are a type o ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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{{Human hair
Human hair
Superstitions
Symbolism