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Brooches
MATERIALS
- MARRIAGE BROOCHES - RING
BROOCHES - CLOAK CLASPS
- PILGRIM BADGES
 One
of the most constantly depicted pieces of jewellery over the entire of
the Middle Ages is the brooch. Brooches
were used as wedding gifts, to close cloaks, at the shoulders of mantles,
to pin paternosters to clothing and as markers of visits to holy places
in the form of pilgrim badges. Artifacts have also been found over a wide
expanse of time periods and countries- from the Viking and Dark Ages to
the late Renaissance.
Many were simple in their design, although many of immense beauty and
excellent workmanship have been found. The brooch shown at right is dated
at the 14th century and is made of silver gilt. It has a simple heart
design with two birds at the top.
 The
ring brooch shown at left is dated to the 14th century from an excavation
at Oxwich Castle in Wales. There is a small gap at the left where a pin
may have once been.
Materializing Resistant Identities among the Medieval Peasanty
is an article from 2009 which looks at archaelogical finds from rural
villages throughout England, such as Wharram Percy and Bolton. The author,
Sally V. Smith, looks at the dress accessories found at these sites and
burial places. It includes brooches, buckles and pins.
Her research finds that few of these items
were made of poor quality metal. Surprisingly, most were copper or iron,
with one made from gold. She concludes that peasants were not choosing
items made using the cheapest metals available. Over half were decorated
or purely decorative providing an interesting contrast to the common perception
of peasants in ragged clothing labouring in the fields.
It is possible that these items were not worn daily and saved for best
or special occasions the same way that special jewellery is reserved for
special occasions today. One would hardly wear a diamond tiara to work
or shopping these days and it is prossible that the same attitude was
prelevant then also.  What
is interesting to note is that they possessed these items at all. It is
possible that these items were aquired for a life milestone such as a
marriage, but without documented evidence, it is difficult to say for
certain.
Pictured at left is a beautiful ring brooch with gemstones set into it.
It is from the middle Rhine region of Germany and dates bewteen 1340 and
1349.
Materials
 Brooches
could be gold or silver or gold-gilt or silver gilt over tin or pewter
for the lower classes. The gems set into them reflected the status and
wealth of the wearer, although it was not uncommon for brooches and other
jewellery to use fake gemstones instead of real ones.
The ornate brooch at the right is from the mid-15th century collection,
the Fishpool Hoarde. It is enamelled with blue and white enamel with tiny
gold flowers. It has three circles near the bottom of the base of the
heart which may have been for pendants.
Marriage
Brooches
Along with wedding rings, wedding brooches were a traditional gift
from a man to his bride-to-be. It was not only a token of his love but
a marriage brooch provided her with an icon befitting her new status as
a wife. It also idealised her 'cleanliness of heart' as a married woman.
The brooch shown at right is
made in Burgundy or Germany and is dated at 1430. It is constructed from
gold and is enamelled and set with precious stones- pearls, a diamond
above and a ruby below. It shows a man and a woman together both wearing
blue robes, the colour associated with consistancy, and a woven fence
around them. The clear white of the diamond represented the durability
of love while the ruby represented love's firey force. This brooch could
have been worn by either a man or a woman.
Johannes de Hauville wrote of a marriage brooch when he wrote:
My bride shall wear a brooch, a witness
to her modesty and proof that hers will be a chaste bed. It will shut
up her breast and thrust back and intruder, preventing its closed approach
from gaping open and the enterance to her bosom being cheapened by becoming
a beaten path for any traveller and an adulterous eye from tasting what
delights the honourable caresses of a husband.
Cloak
Clasps
Brooches worn as cloak clasps were of two distinctly differing kinds.
The first style was a largish ornate single brooch which held the cloak
closed at the centre of the throat. An example of the single-clasp style
can be seen here in the detail of the image at right Virgin and Child
from Prague in 1345 - 1350. It shows a very large and elaborate gold brooch
with gemstones set in a pattern radiating from the centre.
 The
second, which were also usually very ornate, were a jewelled pair of brooches
and were used by the wealthy to fasten their mantles. These were worn
roughly at collarbone height and fastened with a cord which was often
shown in artworks and sculptures as being tasselled.
The sculpture from the Namburg Cathedral in Germany at left is from the
pair Count Eckkhard II and Uta is dated from 1250 and shows a large,
jewel set brooch which is joined to a band which runs across the wearer's
chest and to another identical brooch on the other side.
Ring
Brooches 
Plain circular ring brooches were used for their simple design and practical
use throughout many stages of history by both men and women. They could
be plain, have inscriptions or be set with precious and semi-precious
jewels. Many were given as gifts and were designed to be worn at the breast.
The ring brooch shown at right is from the Museum of London's collection
and is dated at the 13th Century. It is defined as a "Lovers Brooch"
and is made from gold and set with alternating rubies and sapphires. It
is believed to be either English or French manufacture. The message on
the back translates to "I am here in place of the friend I love".
The double ring brooch shown
above is made from gold as has green stones and a large sapphire set into
it. It is from England from approximately 1300 and it would have been
worn across the front of a cloak- each ring brooch fastening one side
of the mantle and the rigid setting across the chest would be instead
of the usual cord fastening.
Pilgrim
Badges
Pilgrim badges were one of the most popular types of souvenir in the medieval
period. Badges were produced for two main reasons- to raise extra revenue
for the shrine or church and to avert pilfering from holy places. It seems
that pilgrims who were keen to take a souvenier back home were less likely
to steal from relics if they were able to buy a badge instead, especially
as it was thought that a badge bought at a particular shrine retained
the properties of the saint which was honoured there. Mostly, pilgrim
badges were worn prominantly attached to hoods, clothes and sewn onto
hats. 
 Most
pilgrim badges were made of an alloy of lead and tin or pewter. Badges
favoured by women usually featured St Katherine, patron saint of learning
for young women, or of the Virgin Mary.
The badge at right depicts the head of John the Baptist, patron saint
of Perth in Amiens, France. It is completely intact, with four rings which
enabled the badge to be sewn onto the pilgrim's hat or cloak. The back
is decorated with a crucifix design and the inscription on the front identifies
it as the sign of John the Baptist.
Copyright
© Rosalie Gilbert
All text & photographs within this site are the property of Rosalie
Gilbert unless stated.
Artifact images remain the property of the owner.
Images and text may not be copied and used without permission.
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