Editing Codpiece (section)

==In European fashion==

From the ancient world there are extant depictions of articles of clothing designed to cover just the male genitalia; for example, archaeological recovery at [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Knossos]] on [[Crete]] has yielded [[figurine]]s, some of whom wear only a garment covering the male genitalia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html|title=Knossos Fieldnotes|last=Hogan|first=C. Michael|date=22 December 2007|website=The Modern Antiquatarian|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409225800/http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes|archive-date=9 April 2016|access-date=14 October 2018}}</ref> However, the codpiece, ''per se'', appeared in everyday European fashion for men only many centuries later, associated with hose and trousers.
[[File:Tizian 025 detail.jpg|thumb|1511 codpiece with buttons<ref>The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. {{ISBN|3936122202}}.</ref>]]
In 14th century European fashions, men's [[Hose (clothing)|hose]] were two separate legs worn over linen [[Undergarment|drawers]], leaving a man's genitals covered only by a layer of the linen drawers. As the century wore on and men's [[hemline]] fashion rose, the hose became longer and joined at the centre back, there rising to the waist, but remaining open at the centre front. Further shortening of the cote or [[doublet (clothing)|doublet]] fashion resulted in more prominence of the genitals; this area would then be covered with a triangular material called a codpiece.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ridley |first=Jasper Godwin |url=http://archive.org/details/tudorage00jasp |title=Tudor age |date=1996 |publisher=Woodstock: Overlook |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87951-684-0 |pages=163}}</ref> Most of what is known about the cut, fit, and materials used for Renaissance codpieces is through portraits, clothing inventories, receipts for payments and tailor cutting guides.

As time passed, codpieces became shaped and padded to emphasize rather than to conceal the [[penis]].

Such excessive codpieces became an object of derision showered on outlandish fashions. The [[Renaissance]] author [[François Rabelais]] refers satirically to a book entitled ''On the Dignity of Codpieces'' in the foreword to his 1532 book ''The Histories of [[Gargantua and Pantagruel]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.albertrabil.com/projects2000/mcardle/PROLOGUE.html |title=Worlds of the Renaissance 2000 - Dina McArdle Project |publisher=Albertrabil.com |access-date=2012-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040121071315/http://www.albertrabil.com/projects2000/mcardle/PROLOGUE.html|archive-date=2004-01-21}}</ref>

This fashion reached its peak of size and decoration in the 1540s before falling out of use by the 1590s.[[Image:Cod-Piece by Wendelin Boeheim.jpg|thumb|upright|Metal codpieces, 16th century<ref name="auto">Boeheim, Wendelin, ''Handbuch der Waffenkunde. Das Waffenwesen in seiner historischen Entwickelung vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts''. Seemanns kunstgewerbliche Handbücher. Vol. 7, ZDB-ID 53757-3. Seemann, Leipzig 1890.</ref>|left]]Suits of [[Armour|armor]] of the 16th century followed civilian fashion, and for a time, codpieces were a prominent addition to the full suits of armor.

A few examples of full suits of armor with codpieces are on display in museums today. The [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in [[New York City]] has one. The Higgins Armory<ref>John Grabenstein, {{cite web |url=http://www.higgins.org |title=Archived copy |access-date=2005-09-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012145403/http://www.higgins.org/ |archive-date=2016-10-12 }}.</ref> in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], also had an example on display until its close. The armor of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] displayed in the [[Tower of London]] has a codpiece as well.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Paddock|first2=David |last2=Edge |first1=John Miles|title=Arms & armor of the medieval knight: an illustrated history of weaponry in the Middle Ages|date=1995|publisher=Crescent Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0517103197|edition=reprinted}}</ref>

Examples of metal parts of such armor are depicted by [[Wendelin Boeheim]] in his 1890 publication on the history of weapons, {{Lang|de|Handbuch der Waffenkunde}}, which was published in Leipzig, Germany.<ref name="auto"/>