MEDIÆVAL BELTS AND GIRDLES
The girdle or _ceinture_ of elaborate workmanship formed no
inconsiderable part of the jewellery of the wealthy in the Middle Ages.
Though actual examples are extremely rare, there is scarcely an effigy
or picture from the thirteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth
which does not supply us with some varied form of this indispensable
article; while the wills and inventories of the period often contain
descriptions of girdles of extraordinary richness. By the poor, too, the
girdle was habitually worn, but with them it frequently dwindled down to
a few metal knobs sewn on to leather or on to coarse cloth.
In addition to the upper girdle for fastening round the waist, a lower
girdle was worn, both as an ornament and as a belt for the sword. It was
a broad and sometimes stiff band which loosely encircled the body about
the hips, and in the case of male attire was sometimes attached to the
lower border of the tunic, with which it converged.
Of the narrower and more pliable species of girdle, the portions
reserved for special enrichment were the ends, one of which terminated
in the buckle, and the other in the pendant or _mordant_. Some account
of the buckle and of its plate, to which the strap of the girdle is
attached, has already been given in the Introduction. Always a favourite
field in former times for the display of the jeweller's art, it was
likewise richly adorned by the goldsmiths of the later Middle Ages. At
the other end of the girdle was a metal attachment or chape which gave
it consistency where it was most required. This girdle end, which hung
down and was known as the tag or pendant, was decorated with various
designs frequently of an architectural character and sometimes set with
precious stones; but whenever such decorations projected beyond the
sides of the strap the buckle was made wider in like manner, and if
tassels and other ornaments were added they were always of such size
that they could pass easily through the buckle. The metal shape thus
covering the end of the belt was also called the _mordant_ (of the same
derivation as the word morse), especially if in the absence of a buckle
it was so constructed as to hook on to a clasp to facilitate securing
the belt round the person. The mordant often forms with the buckle-plate
a single design, its decorated front being either as large as the plate,
or of such a shape as to form with it a regular figure. From the twelfth
century, when from sepulchral monuments[106] we obtain our first
information respecting the girdle, until the seventeenth, we nearly
always find that the end, when passed through the buckle, was twisted
round the waist-strap and hung down in front, in the case of men about
twelve inches and with women almost to the ground. But when, instead of
a buckle, a clasp formed of a central stud or rosette was employed,
either the end of the girdle itself hung down, or an additional chain
was attached at the point of junction. To this was sometimes suspended a
pomander-box, tablets, or a pendent reliquary. This mode, however, of
suspending such objects did not come generally into vogue till the time
of the Renaissance, and when worn in the earlier period at the girdle
they were hung at the side from a hook, somewhat like a chatelaine.
[106] Many admirable representations of girdles are figured in
Stothard's _Monumental effigies of Great Britain_.
The girdle itself was usually about two yards in length, and consisted
of a strap of stamped leather, or a band of material with a firm
foundation, upon which were set button-shaped decorations at regular
intervals. This was known as the studded girdle (_ceinture ferrée_).
Among the wealthy the studs were composed of the precious metals,
against which the sumptuary laws both at home and abroad (of little
effect it would seem) contained special prohibitions. The studs upon
the girdles of the poor were generally of the alloy of brass and tin
called latten or laton, and the term "pearled with latoun" is mentioned
in the _Canterbury Tales_.
There is still in existence in the City of London the Girdlers' Company,
which is of great antiquity. By a charter granted them by Edward III in
1327 it was forbidden to the girdlers to "garnish any girdle of silk,
wool, leather or linen thread, with any inferior metal than latten,
copper, iron, and steel, and if any girdles were garnished with lead
pewter, or tin, the same should be burned, and the workmen punished for
their false work."[107] In spite of this prohibition girdles appear to
have been frequently mounted with the baser metals, and a considerable
number with mountings of pewter have been discovered. Their ordinance,
as did that of latoners or workers in latten, likewise forbade girdlers
from interfering with the trade of the goldsmiths by mounting girdles or
garters with gold or silver; and that if a girdler wished to _harness_
his goods with either of the precious metals he was obliged to employ
a goldsmith. In 1376 a girdler of the City of London was accused of
"having secretly made in his chamber a certain girdle that was harnessed
with silver." Upon being brought before the justices he pleaded that his
offence was a light one compared with the more serious fraud of plating
with silver objects of base metal. He was dismissed with a warning.
Subsequently he was convicted of the very fraud he himself had
mentioned, and punished with a heavy fine.[108] The work of the English
goldsmiths in the adornment of girdles appears to have been well known
and recognised upon the Continent, and an inventory of the jewels of the
Duke and Duchess of Orleans in 1408 mentions a girdle of rich goldwork
set with pearls and sapphires "_de la façon d'Angleterre_."
[107] Riley (H. T.), _Memorials of London and London life_, p. 154.
[108] Riley, _op. cit._, p. 399.
The mediæval girdle, seldom as in later times in the form of a chain,
but generally composed of leather, was sometimes ornamented in the most
costly manner. In the inventory of Edward II is "a girdle in the old
style [probably filigree-work] set with letters of pearls: the buckle
and mordant enamelled with escutcheons of the arms of England and
others."[109] In the expenses of the Great Wardrobe of Edward III[110]
there occurs an entry of 304 dozens of silver buckles, and a similar
number of pendants, while his jewels deposited in the Treasury included
many complete girdles enriched with enamels and precious stones.[111]
From the many fifteenth-century girdles of extraordinary richness
described in the inventories, the following, the property of Henry IV,
may be selected as an example: "Item, a girdle of black silk, of gold,
garnished with various stones. With 28 bars[112] of gold, 13 of which
are set with 13 balasses, and 4 pearls at the corners, and 14 bars, each
enamelled with various flowers, and on each 4 pearls. Set on the buckle
is one balas, 10 large and 6 small pearls. On the pendant one balas, 8
large and 5 small pearls."
[109] _Inventories of the Exchequer_, III, p. 142.
[110] _Archæologia_, XXXI, p. 55.
[111] _Inventories, etc._, III, pp. 174, 184.
[112] These bars of metal were attached vertically at intervals to the
belt or girdle to maintain the rigidity of the material. The word _bar_
(corresponding to the French _clou_) was subsequently applied to all
such attachments, which were sometimes perforated to allow the tongue
of the buckle to pass through them (Way, _Prompt. parv._, p. 24).
This entry probably refers to the broader and richer kind of girdle,
known as the military belt (_cingulum_);[113] a similar belt being also
worn by women. It was generally employed by men, as was sometimes the
narrow girdle, for the purpose of hanging the sword. This belt,
frequently composed of silk or gold tissue, seems to have come into
general use about the fourteenth century, and was worn round the hips.
It was often furnished with a buckle and mordant, but was more usually
united by a clasp, which at times was made very prominent, and assumed
excessive dimensions. Girdles and belts in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries were sometimes studded with medallions of Limoges enamel.
There is in the Victoria and Albert Museum a beautiful fifteenth-century
Italian belt of gold tissue (Pl. XXXVIII, 1). Its buckle, studs, and
other ornaments are of gilt metal, and the broad buckle-plate is
enriched with niello work, bearing the legend _Virtus vin_[_cit_]. Two
silver-gilt plates from a Gothic girdle of Flemish work of the fifteenth
century are in the possession of Herr James Simon, of Berlin. Each plate
is almost square, and measures 1¾ by 1½ inches. The centres are
sunk: within one is a figure of Samson and the Lion, and in the other a
figure on horseback, probably St. George or St. Michael. The figures, in
full relief and delicately modelled, are each surrounded by pearls and
blossoms, the groundwork being covered with bright green enamel, on
which are small dots of white enamel capped with red. The plates are
ornamented at each corner with chased Gothic foliage, and have hinges at
the sides to unite them to other similar sections, of which the complete
girdle was, perhaps, originally composed (Pl. XXV, 4).
[113] Hartshorne (A.), "Swordbelts of the Middle Ages" (_Arch.
Journ._, XLVIII, p. 320).
Of frequent occurrence in old English wills is the word _demysent_ (or
_demysens_), which refers to the little girdles worn by women: they were
known in France as _demi-ceints_ or _demi-ceintures_. Another species of
girdle was called the _baldrick_--derived from the French _baudrier_;
the _baudroier_ being the currier who prepared skins for the purpose.
The term baldric or baudric, sometimes applied to the military belt
worn round the waist, was generally employed for a belt worn over one
shoulder, across the breast, and under the opposite arm.[114] It was
often of a rich description and set with precious stones, and in early
times was occasionally hung with little bells.[115]
[114] Way, _Prompt. parv._, p. 27, n. 2.
[115] There is the possibility that bells were worn as amulets,
though not necessarily intended as such by their wearers. "Le son de
l'airain," like the tinkling ornaments of the daughters of Zion (Isa.
III. 18), was thought to have a prophylactic virtue. The double-tail
mermaids of silver still worn in Naples as charms against the evil eye
are always hung with little bells (Elworthy, _The evil eye_, p. 368).
Among the girdles in the possession of Henry IV[116] one is garnished
with heads of stags and small pearls, and another with ostrich plumes
and little golden bells. Others, mostly of stuff, are garnished with
various flowers, mostly roses, or with ivy leaves, and the majority are
hung with little bells. In addition to such enrichments, which included
also coats-of-arms, girdles bore inscriptions, engraved on the
buckle-plate, or formed of letters sewn upon the band. These latter were
often of an amatory or of a superstitious character; for, like other
articles of mediæval jewellery, the girdle, on account of the stones,
etc., set upon it, was frequently considered endowed with talismanic
properties. Chaucer in his adaptation of the older "Roman de la Rose"
describes the rich jewelled girdle, worn by one of the emblematical
characters in the Garden of Love. It was set with stones evidently
valued for their mystic properties.
[116] _Inventories of the Exchequer_, III, p. 337.
Richesse a girdle had upon,
The bokell of it was of a ston,
Of vertue grete, and mokell of might.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The mordaunt wrought in noble wyse,
Was of a stone full precious,
That was so fine and vertuous,
That whole a man it couth make
Of palasey and of totheake.
Attached directly to the girdle or suspended from it by a hook or chain
was a purse or pouch called either a _gipcière_, _aulmonière_, or
_escarcelle_, which was made of velvet, silk, or stamped leather. The
gipcière (also written _gypcyre_) is mentioned most frequently in
early documents, where it is often described as being enriched with
embroidery, and set with pearls and precious stones. Like the aulmonière
and escarcelle, it was worn from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century
hung from a loop at the right side of the girdle. The heads or clasps of
the finest purses were of beautiful workmanship, of silver, bronze, or
iron, damascened, or exquisitely chiselled. For ordinary use these
heads--known as gipcière _beams_--as well as the mounts or frames of the
purses, were made of brass or latten; and judging from the number that
has been found and preserved, in the Guildhall Museum, for instance,
their use must have been very general in mediæval times.
[Illustration: "Luckenbooth" brooch of silver
(Nat. Mus. of Antiquities, Edinburgh).]
RENAISSANCE JEWELLERY