Tabard facts for kids
A tabard is a type of short coat that was commonly worn by men during the late Middle Ages and early modern period in Europe. Generally worn outdoors, the coat was either sleeveless or had short sleeves or shoulder pieces. In its more developed form it was open at the sides, and it could be worn with or without a belt. Though most were ordinary garments, often workclothes, tabards might be emblazoned on the front and back with a coat of arms (livery), and in this form they survive as the distinctive garment of officers of arms.
In modern British usage, the term has been revived for what is known in American English as a cobbler apron: a lightweight open-sided upper overgarment, of similar design to its medieval and heraldic counterpart, worn in particular by workers in the catering, cleaning and healthcare industries as protective clothing, or outdoors by those requiring high-visibility clothing. Tabards may also be worn by percussionists in marching bands in order to protect their uniforms from the straps and rigging used to support the instruments.
Images for kids
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Thomas Hawley, Clarenceux King of Arms, depicted in his tabard on a grant of arms of 1556
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Gelre Herald to the Duke of Guelders, c.1380
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James I, King of Scotland 1406–1437, and his wife Joan Beaufort
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Tabards displaying quartered coats of arms on front and sleeves: the Denys brass of 1505, Olveston, Gloucestershire
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Heraldic tabards worn at the funeral of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, in Brussels in 1622
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A pursuivant wearing his tabard "athwart". A drawing by Peter Lely from the 1660s.
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St John the Baptist Wearing the Red Tabard of the Order of St John (1671) by Mattia Preti
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Peter O'Donoghue, Bluemantle Pursuivant, photographed in 2006
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A modern protective tabard worn by a bakery worker
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Orange high-visibility tabards worn by competitive motorcyclists
See also
In Spanish: Tabardo para niños
