ITEMS OF CLOTHING


JEWELLERY

BROOCHES

RINGS

NECKLACES

PATERNOSTERS

RELIQUARIES

GEMSTONE MEANINGS

Necklaces
BEAD NECKLACES - PENDANTS - COLLARS - LIVERY COLLARS

Necklaces have adorned the necks of women with the means and the inclination to do so since time immemorial. The desire to own and wear beautiful things has often coupled neatly with the protective properties of the materials the item was made from. Necklaces were thus worn to protect and to give status to the wearer. At almost all periods in history, images of necklaces and artifacts can be found.

It is particularly interesting to note that the period from the late 13th century to the early 1400's necklaces, both artifacts and images in artwork, are conspicuous by their absence, especially in England. While images of collars and chains of office for men are regularly portrayed, neck jewellery for women is scarce. The image at right is from The Nine Worthies in 1480. It would appear that it is a representation of the pewter artifact necklaces which have been excavated from Meols.

An examination of paintings and illuminations show that European women appear to be more likely to have worn beaded necklaces and pendants. Brooches and rings continued to be worn everywhere.

That is not to say that necklaces were never worn, only that they seemed an exception, rather than the rule, to the current fashion trends. Even household accounts which list rings and expensive gold belt buckles seem to omit references to necklaces or pendants.

Why this might be can only be guessed at. We do know that Sumpturay Laws regularly sought to limit the excesses of dress during these times. We know that jewelled items with a practical function were worn- brooches as wedding gifts and for fastening mantles and cloaks, lavish belt buckles for clothing and jewelled headpieces for women in order that the hair be restrained in a pretense at modesty. It could be suggested that during and after the period encompassing the Black Plague, necklaces for women may have been seen as an excessive item of vanity and pride and therefore heavily discouraged by the church; although I have only come across one express written reference for this in Prague where a statue of Saint Dorothy dated at 1400 is criticised vehemently for wearing a necklace which draws attention to the slender, white neck.

Bead necklaces
Bead necklaces of precious and semi-precious stones have been worn by women world wide since the earliest times. The red, 13th century necklace shown above is from Stormbroek and is made from an undefined red stone. The beads are uneven shapes and not evenly sized making it unlikely to be for devotional use.

The image at right is one of the very rare tomb effigies of England to show a women wearing neck jewellery in the 1400s. The effigy is of Emma Pollard from St Michael's Church in Horwood. It shows what appears to be a combination of a bead and pendant necklace. It is not possible to tell from the image whether the pendant is devotional, protective or merely decorative.

The bead necklace at right is from the early Byzantine period and shows a gold clasp and precious stones set at regular intervals between other stones. It is a generic style of bead necklace- large beads set between smaller beads in a regular pattern.

Bead necklaces are regularly portrayed in medieval art from the 15th century onwards. Italian women often wore strings of beads woven into their hair as part of their hairdressing along with necklaces made of pearls and precious stones. It is interesting that in this country, the veil was abandoned much earlier than other countries leaving the head open to other forms of ornamentation.

The Italian painting at left from 1465-1466 by Francesca is the Portrait of Battista Sforza and it shows an elaborate bead collar with bead necklace. This type of jewellery was quite popular and wide spread throughout Italy during this period.

Another example of beads in a style which was very popular in Italy can be seen at right in the sculpture of Della Robbia Tondo's Portrait Of A Lady from 1465. It shows the very common Italian practice of wearing long strings of beads in the hair as well as around the neck in the more traditional way.

Pendants
Necklaces with pendants have also been worn for a great deal of history by both men and women alike. Often pendant necklaces are devotional, but just as often, they are purely decorative.

The pendant part of the necklace might be as elaborate as gold or silver linked chain or as simple as braid, leather thonging and ribbon with the pendant dangling below. The necklace part might be short or long.The gold chain and cross shown at right dates to the 7th century. We are unable to tell whether it was an ecclesiastic item or for a man or a woman.

The English pendant shown at left dates from 1540 -1560. The stones were carefully selected for their protective properties. Hessonite garnet, peridot and sapphire.

The setting has no back, allowing the stones to rest against the wearer's skin for maximum potency. The back also includes an inscription to protect the wearer against epilepsy and drunkenness.

Many items of jewellery which have been found are temptiong to categorise as pendants when it is unclear if that is what they actually were. Many pendant-type jewels were hat ornaments which were pinned through the loop at the top. Many examples of these can be seen in contemporary artworks. One example can be seen below on the painting in the collars section..

The selection of pendants below may be devotional, protective or purely decorative. The pendants from left to right are: a 10th century gold pendant with decorated stone, a gold round setting with a blue stone surrpounded by small white stones from the mid15th century from the Fishpool Hoarde, a large sapphire in a diamond-shaped gold setting known as the Middleham Jewel and another find from the 15th century Fishpoole Hoarde with precious stones set in a cross..

Collars
Collars are the neck ornamentation which are set high and at the very base of the wearer's neck. This particular style of necklace was extremely popular with the dress known as the Burgundian Gown and the Houppelande.

The wide "V" neckline of the first offers a large expense of white skin to display the wide jewellery collar on, and the high neckline of the houppelande also offers a perfect fabric backdrop for jewellery. The detail from the painting of Mary of Burgundy from 1490 by Pacher shows the wide, jewelled collar popular during the late 15th century. It also shows what appears to be a beaded necklace and a brooch on her hennin.

Livery Collars
Livery collars are not a common item of neck jewellery for women over the bulk of the medieval period. Men commonly wore these and are often depicted wearing them in the middle ages, but ladies are depicted only in the 15th century.

A few written references do mention that women of a certain household may wear a livery collar to denote their allegiance to a particular person or household. This is reflected in several 15th century tomb effigies and brass rubbings.

The effigy at the right is from St Mary's church at Broughton in England. The memorial brass at the left shows the wife of Sir William Bago, also from England, in 1407. Both women are wearing livery collars.

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