At first it was believed that the cathedral's holiest relic, the sancta camisia - the robe supposedly worn by Mary at the birth of Christ - had been destroyed.

In this it is called camisia, a name which it retained at Rome until the 14th century, and it seems to have been already at that time proper to particular members of the clergy.

When the Normans attacked Chartres in the 10th century, the bishop stood on top of the city gates and waved the tunic, the Sancta Camisia, until the Normans fled in panic.

At the beginning of the 12th century the rochet is mentioned, under the name of camisia, by Gilbert of Limerick and by Honorius, and, somewhat later, by Gerloh of Reichersperg as tunica talaris.

Chartres was already involved due to its being the holder of a sacred relic of Mary's, the "Sancta Camisia", (Holy Tunic), which has been variously described as being worn by Mary during the Annunciation or during the birth of Christ.

This is a cognate of the Italian word camicia, and the Spanish / Portuguese language word camisa (subsequently borrowed as kameez by Hindi / Urdu / Hindustani), all deriving ultimately from the Latin camisia, itself coming from Celtic.

A good example of the camisia of the 12th century is the rochet of Thomas Becket, preserved at Dammartin in the Pas de Calais, the only surviving medieval example remarkable for the pleating which, as was the case with albs also, gave greater breadth and more elaborate folds.