For many centuries, until around 1175, Anglo-Saxon and then
Anglo-Norman women, with the exception of young unmarried girls,
wore veils that entirely covered their hair, and often their
necks up to their chins (see wimple). Only in the Tudor period
(1485), when hoods became increasingly popular, did veils of
this type become less common. For centuries, women have worn
sheer veils, but only under certain circumstances. Sometimes a
veil of this type was draped over and pinned to the bonnet or
hat of a woman in mourning, especially at the funeral and during
the subsequent period of "high mourning". They would also have
been used, as an alternative to a mask, as a simple method of
hiding the identity of a woman who was traveling to meet a
lover, or doing anything she didn't want other people to find
out about. More pragmatically, veils were also sometimes worn to
protect the complexion from sun and wind damage (when un-tanned
skin was fashionable), or to keep dust out of a woman's face,
much as the keffiyeh is us