# Escoffion
**Escoffion** (also spelled **scoffion**) was a French women's headdress of the Middle Ages, a kind of cushion covered with a *résille* (a net) that was almost always enriched with real jewels, and later a padded, horn-shaped head-dress worn by elite women in the fifteenth century[1](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/escoffion). Over time the word shifted from the name of a fashionable head-dress to a popular, even burlesque, term for the untidy head-covering of common women[2](https://www.traces-h.net/dico/costumes-dico-escoffion.html).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original form | A cushion covered with a *résille* (net), almost always set with real jewels; later false stones were used and padded rolls of cloth replaced the too-heavy cushion, inspired by Turkish turbans seen during the Crusades[1](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/escoffion) |
| Shapes and dates | Heart-shaped, clover-shaped, and horned escoffions appeared around 1140 and lasted until 1654[1](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/escoffion) |
| Fifteenth-century form | Padding or rolled fabric stiffened with starch, resembling two horns, draped with veils of sheer silk or gauze; one of the two common elite styles of the century, with the hennin[3](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781350164123_A42231091/preview-9781350164123_A42231091.pdf) |
| Makers | Escoffions and hennins were *atours*, headdresses made by the *atourneresses*[1](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/escoffion) |
| Etymology | Borrowed from Italian *scuffione*, an augmentative of *scuffia* (coif); attested before 1549 as *scofion* (Marguerite de Navarre) and in 1555 as *escofion* (Ronsard)[4](https://le-capital-des-mots.fr/dictionnaire/E/escoffion) |
| Later meaning | By 1690 a popular term for the headdress of common or peasant women; the Académie française defined it as a low head-dress used almost only in burlesque or contempt[2](https://www.traces-h.net/dico/costumes-dico-escoffion.html) • [5](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A1E0204) |
## Form and construction
The earliest description treats the escoffion as a cushion covered with a net and set with jewels. As the fashion developed, the heavy cushion was replaced by padded rolls of cloth, and false stones took the place of real gems[1](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/escoffion). A modern survey of late medieval dress describes the fifteenth-century escoffion as a headdress made from padding or rolled fabric stiffened with starch, resembling two horns, over which veils of sheer silk or gauze were draped; together with the hennin, it was one of the two common headdress styles among elite women of that century[3](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781350164123_A42231091/preview-9781350164123_A42231091.pdf).
The costume historian J.R. Planché, in his *Cyclopedia of Costume*, identified the "hault atours" mentioned by the chronicler Monstrelet with the *escoffions à cornes* (horned coiffes) that he considered characteristic of the reign of [Henry V of England](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-v-of-england), seen in a variety of shapes in French and English monuments and miniatures of the first three decades of the fifteenth century[6](https://www.siamcostumes.com/cutters_guides/pdf/p1cyclopediaofco02planuoft.pdf). A fifteenth-century passage quoted from Juvenel des Ursins' *Histoire de Charles VI* describes ladies' and demoiselles' head-dresses with two great "ears" so wide that, to pass through a chamber door, they had to turn sideways and stoop[2](https://www.traces-h.net/dico/costumes-dico-escoffion.html).
Escoffions and hennins belonged to the *atours*, the headdresses made by the *atourneresses*, the women who prepared such attire[1](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/escoffion). The hennin, its companion style, was a tall conical cap, up to about 60 cm high for townswomen, topped by a long veil called the *flocart*[7](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/hennins).
## Chronology
According to the ATAD costume glossary, escoffions in heart, clover, and horned shapes appeared around 1140 and remained in use until 1654[1](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/escoffion). The word itself is first attested in written French shortly before 1549, as *scofion* in Marguerite de Navarre's *Heptaméron*, and in 1555 as *escofion* in Ronsard's *Amours de Marie*; the *Trésor de la Langue Française* derives it from the Italian *scuffione*, an augmentative of *scuffia*, itself from *cuffia* (coif)[4](https://le-capital-des-mots.fr/dictionnaire/E/escoffion).
## Semantic shift
The word's meaning narrowed and degraded over the early modern period. Antoine Furetière's dictionary of 1690 records *escoffion* as a popular term for the headdress of common women, peasant women, or women badly coiffed, with the example of quarreling fishwives tearing off each other's escoffion[2](https://www.traces-h.net/dico/costumes-dico-escoffion.html). The first edition of the *Dictionnaire de l'Académie française* (1694) defines it as a low head-dress for women, used almost only in burlesque style, with the example "Il la battit & luy arracha son escoffion"; later editions through 1798 keep the same definition and add that the word is popular[5](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A1E0204) • [8](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A5E1384).
The nineteenth-century *Dictionnaire français illustré* of B. Dupiney de Vorepierre (1867) gives two senses: a net-shaped woman's headdress much used in the Middle Ages, and a kind of headdress still worn by common women in the south of France, adding that the word was by then used almost only in burlesque style[2](https://www.traces-h.net/dico/costumes-dico-escoffion.html).
## References
1. [Escoffion, ATAD : Autres Temps – Autres Danses, costume glossary](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/escoffion)
2. [Escoffion (Scoffion), Petit dictionnaire de l'habillement, traces-h.net](https://www.traces-h.net/dico/costumes-dico-escoffion.html)
3. [Preview, *The Foundations of the Body* (Bloomsbury), fifteenth-century headdress passage](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781350164123_A42231091/preview-9781350164123_A42231091.pdf)
4. [Escoffion : définition, synonymes, citations (Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé, via le-capital-des-mots.fr)](https://le-capital-des-mots.fr/dictionnaire/E/escoffion)
5. [escoffion, Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 1re édition (1694)](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A1E0204)
6. [J.R. Planché, *A Cyclopedia of Costume, or, Dictionary of Dress*](https://www.siamcostumes.com/cutters_guides/pdf/p1cyclopediaofco02planuoft.pdf)
7. [Hennins, ATAD : Autres Temps – Autres Danses, costume glossary](https://www.atad.asso.fr/fiche/hennins)
8. [escoffion, Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 5e édition (1798)](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A5E1384)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Food, customs, and everyday culture › Clothing, textiles, and domestic crafts › Dress and clothing of the world › Historical dress › High and late medieval European dress*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license