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Some medieval people did get punished for wearing the wrong clothes. It is hard to know how common this was.

There were laws, called sumptuary laws, that dealt with clothing, food, and other things, intended to maintain separation of the social classes. A peasant, for example, was not allowed to wear clothing that would be properly worn by a person of higher station. A wealthy tradesman was not allowed to dress like a nobleman either. Certain things were reserved for the royalty; ermine being an example, as only members of the royal family could legally wear it.

Some people were required by law to wear certain things. For example, a prostitute was required in some places and times to wear such a thing as a yellow knot on her shoulder to show what she was.

We should remember that the Middle Ages were about a thousand years, and all of Europe went through them. Things varied a lot from place to place and from time to time. Charlemagne, for example, dressed in a manner very similar to the way his common subjects did, so there was clearly no punishment for dressing like the emperor.

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11y ago

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