Norman king in ceremonial robes.. "The mantles of the kings and the nobility were not always of the same length. Sometimes they were so long that they trailed on the ground (fig. 118).". "The mantles of the Normans and the Saxons were often fastened at the breast, and fell on both sides equally on the shoulders (fig. 118). ". "The Norman kings and nobility often wore two tunics of equal length, one over the other (fig. 118). The one beneath was probably of cotton.". "The custom of wearing the long tunic with a mantle that reached to the heels had begun in Germany, so it is not surprising that it was adopted by the Saxons. At the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th century, the men and even the women wore tunics with extremely long sleeves, often with embroidered borders (fig. 118)." . Handcolored copperplate engraving from Robert von Spalart's "Historical Picture of the Costumes of the Principal People of Antiquity and of the Middle Ages" (1796).