At first the mitre was of white linen, and low in height. As time went on it was made of silk and ornamented with embroidery and jewels, and it became higher in form. (From the time of the Reformation the mitre was not recognised as part of episcopal attire in the Established Church, but in 1885, after a lapse of 50 years, it was resumed by the Bishop of Lincoln, who wrote it then for the first time amid considerable protests.)
The Pastoral Staff, or so-called crozier, was borne alike by Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots, and was usually held in the left hand or against the left arm, leaving the right free to be uplifted in blessing. It terminated in a large shepherd’s crook or scroll, the curved volute being often richly ornamented with foliage. The staff was made of rarer wood, such as cedar or ebony, and was shod with a pointed ferrule. The top was detachable, and was usually made of metal or of ivory.
Before Archbishops was also carried a Cross, a staff bearing a cross at the top. They also wore the pall, or palium, a narrow loop or circle of white lambswool placed over the shoulders, with a weighted band hanging down before and behind. Looked at from the front, it appears like the letter Y. It was made only in Rome, and was especially bestowed on all Archbishops by the Pope.
In processions the clergy wore cassock and surplice as they do now, with the almuce, a large cap turned down over the shoulders, and lined with fur, which varied in colour according to the degree of the wearer; the hood and the cope. The cope was a kind of cloak, and became the most gorgeous of mediæval ecclesiastical garments. It was made in every conceivable colour, and heavily adorned with the richest gold work encrusted with jewels.
When spread out flat, it was in shape a perfect semi-circle, and was decorated at the front edges with bands of embroidery from collar to hem.
A famous cope is the Syon Cope now preserved in the South Kensington collection.
In the Middle Ages the clergy, when not engaged in their official duties, often dressed similarly to the laity, and though they were ordered to wear the tonsure and a sober dress, these instructions were very often neglected and ignored.
Many of them dressed in bright colours, often in the extreme of fashion, wearing knives at their girdles, brightly coloured shoes with long toes, and jewellery.
At the time of the Reformation, when the English clergy abandoned the mediæval robes, they also desisted from wearing the tonsure, which had for many centuries been the distinguishing mark of the clergy, and they seem generally to have adopted the academical dress for their official and ordinary attire.