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In his Medieval Drama on p. 258, David Bevington quotes the Norwich
Grocers' Guild inventory of props and costumes for their mystery
pageant, and one item is "an angell's cote and over hoses of apis
skinns."  I couldn't find anything in the OED about “apes' skins,” and I
don't know offhand where else to look.  Does anyone know what specific
kind of costuming this would refer to?  Could it be slang to refer to
the tanned leather costumes sometimes used to convey the nakedness of
Adam and Eve (which might resemble the skin of an ape)?  Or would they
be costumes intended to look like an ape’s hairy pelt, and if so, would
they be intended for Adam and Eve (indicating nakedness or beastliness
or even the first clothes they would wear after the Expulsion) or for
devils?  Any of these three options would make perfect sense
dramatically and symbolically, it seems to me, but I wonder if there are
any clearer records of such costumes and their use and meaning.

Alan Baragona