What did men wear at night in the Middle Ages in Europe?

Question

###The question: I'd like to know how did people, especially males, used to dress while sleeping in the Middle Ages in Europe. I suppose the nightwear changes both according to the exact time period and to where in Europe (mostly because of the different climate, but culture might be another factor). --- ### Why I'm wondering about this: I know something about day dresses because of medieval fairs but at night I can only imagine tunics and maybe some form of underwear? I got told underwear did not exist at the time but I'm not sure Christianity would have allowed people to sleep together with nothing under the tunic. Were night trousers, such as in modern pajamas, a thing? --- ### A note if too broad: If differences are really great, the tendencies for the middle-upper class (not poor, not noble) around the end of the Middle Ages period in Christian central and northwestern Europe (Germany, France, England) interest me more.

Answer 1

You are correct that underwear as we know it didn't exist, however, people in the middle ages did have undergarments for daily wear. Both men and women in most European countries throughout the medieval period wore shifts as the first layer of clothing next to their skin, which served to protect the more expensive fabrics they wore in subsequent layers from sweat and skin oils. Bed linens and especially mattresses were also quite expensive, so most people slept in their shifts as well, for warmth, to protect their bedding from sweat and skin oils, and to serve as an extra layer of defense from fleas, bed bugs, and other biting insects. Weather permitting, many people also did sleep naked. For more information about topics like this I highly recommend the YouTube channel The Ultimate History of Fashion, and the podcast Dressed: the History of Fashion, both of which have extensive archives about both men's and women's fashion.