MEDIÆVAL HEAD-ORNAMENTS AND NECKLACES HEAD-ORNAMENTS from the tenth to the sixteenth century belong for the most part rather to the general history of costume than to that of jewellery proper; and it will be unnecessary to follow those extravagances of fashion which, especially during the fifteenth century, were presented by the head-dress of women. More germane to the subject are the fillets, bands, and chaplets worn throughout the Middle Ages by women when their heads were uncovered, and during a more limited period by men also. The original form of these was a ribbon, which encircled the brow, held back the hair from the face, and adjusted the veil; while wreaths, either of natural flowers or of plain gold, were a frequent decoration for young women. Hence the bands or chaplets, which took their motives from those more simple ornaments, were made either wholly of metal (cercles), or of gold flowers sewn upon an embroidered band (described in inventories as chapeletz), both forms being enriched with pearls and precious stones. The fillet later on became a heavy band composed of separate pieces of metal joined by hinges, and showed such close resemblance to the broad belts of the knights, that in the inventory of Edward II, quoted above, tressoures and ceintures are entered together under one heading. The wearing of such head-ornaments was not confined exclusively to the nobility, for From the diadem of this character originated the coronets worn by those of high or noble rank; the use of these, amid the ceremonies of later courts, crystallised into a system of class privilege. Such diadems or coronets approach the form of the regal crown, which in England, as early as the eleventh century, was enriched with rays and floriations. The regal crown, with which we are not immediately concerned, Round the helmets of knights in the fifteenth century ornamental wreaths called orles were worn; these, originally composed of two bands of silk twisted Of female ornaments of the same period it need only be stated that the elaborate head-dresses, such as the cornette, escoffion, and henin—it is sometimes difficult to imagine how women had sufficient strength to keep them balanced on their heads—were profusely adorned with pearls, gold spangles, and precious stones, and in some cases with crowns or crown-shaped combs of elaborate goldwork enriched with gems. The Italians, with more refined taste, seem, as will be observed (p. 171), to have escaped from such extravagances sooner than the rest of Europe, and to have been content for the most part with a simple bandeau encircling the forehead. Among the most interesting varieties of personal ornaments in the Middle Ages are certain jewels or brooches worn in the hat and known as enseignes. From the lead signs or ornaments worn by pilgrims there was gradually evolved a special class of jewels on which the great artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries exercised their utmost skill, and which at the present day are among the most highly prized of all early articles of personal jewellery. Rivers near large cities have supplied us with much of the knowledge we possess of the manners and habits of those who in former times dwelt upon their banks. Whenever dredging or digging disturbs the beds of such rivers, objects of antiquity, which seem to have gravitated there, are sure to be discovered. The municipal museum of many a city of ancient foundation preserves choice works of antiquity recovered from its river's bed. It will be outside the present purpose to enumerate all the varieties of form assumed by these interesting and historically most valuable objects. Important collections of them are preserved in the British Museum and Guildhall Museum in London, and in the MusÉe Cluny, Paris (Pl. XVII, 1-4). In England the most popular relics were those of Our Lady of Walsingham Priory, and particularly These signs or signacula were worn not only on a pilgrimage, but also formed a customary decoration for the hat. Some, even in early times, perhaps as early as the thirteenth century, though partaking of a religious character, do not seem to have had reference to any particular shrine, and referred simply to incidents in popular religious legends. Others were merely symbols or emblems; yet, like the majority of mediÆval trinkets, they nearly all displayed religious motives and were supposed to possess talismanic powers. Louis XI, the cruel and superstitious King of France, commonly wore such signs, particularly those of the celebrated Notre-Dame d'Embrun, stuck round his hat; and on a visit to Henry, King of Castile, he wore, so Philip de Comines informs us, a very old hat with leaden images upon it. It is very evident that we have here the origin of the hat-ornaments or enseignes of gold and silver, and enriched with precious stones and enamels, which, coming first into use in the fifteenth century, became A considerable number of small shield-shaped bronze and copper pendants, enamelled with coats of arms, and having a ring above for suspension, seem also to have served as badges. There is the possibility that some were worn by the servants of nobility as enseignes upon the hat, or perhaps on the left arm or breast. But the majority appear to have been employed for the decoration of horse-harness. PLATE XVII image MediÆval hat-badges of gold are of extreme rarity. The Franks Bequest in the British Museum contains These two jewels are clearly hat-ornaments; but it is often difficult to distinguish between a brooch or nouche intended to be worn upon the dress and a hat-brooch, though the latter can, as a rule, be distinguished by its form or by its subject. The enseigne was sometimes employed like a brooch for fastening a plume decoration, but as a rule served as an independent ornament, and appears on the paintings, sculpture, and tapestry of the fifteenth century attached to the side of the head-gear. It became a jewel of still greater importance in the sixteenth century, and will be further dealt with among the jewellery of the Renaissance. The talismanic properties associated with the signacula procured at the shrines were extended to many objects of base metal, as brooches and finger-rings, which had been placed in contact with relics of saints, or blessed at their shrines. Brooches and rings also of gold and silver bear talismanic inscriptions. A common inscription is the names of the Three Kings—as on the Glenlyon brooch—which originated in pilgrimages to the shrine of the Kings of the East in the church of Sant' Eustorgio at Milan, or more probably to that in Cologne Cathedral. The names of the "Three Kings of Collein" were considered to be a charm against epilepsy or the "falling sickness." Many personal ornaments of base metal, however, are quite unconnected with any religious practice or with pilgrims' signs; for objects of pewter are often merely replicas EARRINGS Though common in the Merovingian and Carlovingian epoch, earrings appear to have been worn only to a limited extent, and that at the commencement of the period at present under discussion. Pendants formed of quadrilateral prisms set on each side with cabochon garnets and hung with small strings of garnet beads are attached to the ears of the tenth-century figure of St. Foy in the treasury at Conques; though it is not impossible that these, like many of the gems that adorn the statue, may be of earlier workmanship. That the Byzantine style of earring, of crescent form, was worn during the eleventh and twelfth centuries is evident from a twelfth-century bronze ewer, in the shape of a head of a woman, of Flemish work, in the Museum of Budapest. NECKLACES AND COLLARS The custom of wearing necklaces and neck-chains was much more limited during the Middle Ages than it had been in antiquity and at the time of the great migrations. Women's necklaces can hardly be proved to have been in general use before the end of the fourteenth century, and during the Middle Ages seldom attained the exaggerated style they exhibited at the period of the Renaissance. They consisted mostly of plaited cords of gold wire, and probably of single or double chains of pearls. These originally encircled the throat, but at a later date were worn more upon the breast. Though many forms of personal ornament are mentioned in early wills and inventories, we rarely meet with a reference to the necklace until the fourteenth century; nor is it pictured on monumental effigies or brasses until the beginning of the century following. If worn at all prior to this date, it must simply have served the purpose of supporting pendants of various forms known as pentacols. These neck-chains, or collars as they were termed, soon began to receive additional enrichment, and the inventories of the fifteenth century contain frequent descriptions of necklets adorned with enamels and precious stones. Eleanor, Countess of Arundel (1455), The word carcanet seems to have come into use about this time for rich necklaces of precious stones, and to have been applied a little later to the bands of jewels commonly entwined in ladies' hair. Though never so generally worn as in the sixteenth century, a considerable number of these jewelled ornaments are represented in the exquisite paintings of the fifteenth century. One of the most elaborate of all is the superb gold necklet, brilliantly enamelled with small and many-coloured flowers, shown on the portrait of Maria, wife of Pierantonio Baroncelli, in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, by an unknown Flemish painter of the latter part of the fifteenth century. Close by, in the same gallery, is Van der Goes' celebrated triptych, presented to the Spedale di Santa Maria Nuova by Tommaso Portinari, agent of the Medici in Bruges. Upon the right wing is Maria, wife of the donor, with her daughter. The former wears a magnificent necklace of exquisite design, its interlacing goldwork shaped into the form of roses enamelled red, white, and blue, each set respectively with a sapphire, a ruby, and a large pearl. The latter is adorned with a necklace composed of a double row of pearls connected by oval jewelled ornaments; beneath is hung a trefoil-shaped pendant set with rubies, to which is attached a large drop-pearl (p. 117). A precisely similar ornament is seen in another work by Van der Goes, painted about 1473—the well-known portrait of Margaret, Jane Shore, the beautiful and unfortunate mistress of Edward IV, and wife of the rich jeweller of Lombard Street, is represented in her two portraits, one at King's College, Cambridge, and the other at Eton, wearing elaborate necklaces. Around her throat are two strings of pearls, with a necklet below of circular pieces of Gothic pattern, supporting a lozenge-shaped pendant of similar design adorned with pearls. Among sculptured representations of the necklet the most interesting is that on the monument of Sir John Crosby (d. 1475) and his wife in St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, where the latter wears a very handsome necklace of roses, to which is attached a cluster of three roses with three pendants below. Sir John's collar is somewhat similarly formed of rosette-shaped ornaments. An early instance of a heavy neck-chain of gold, worn upon the breast, is to be seen upon the famous tapestry, considered to represent Henry VI and his Queen, in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry. Collars of extraordinary richness seem to have been worn by Henry IV; for among the miscellaneous documents preserved at St. Paul's Cathedral In addition to the purely ornamental necklaces, collars or chains of "livery"—bearing the heraldic devices of the day—were assumed by various royal and noble families, and were bestowed as marks of favour or friendship on persons of various ranks, and both sexes, who wore them as badges of adherence to those families. An instance of the bestowal of a chain of this kind occurred in 1477 after the siege of Quesnoy by Louis XI, who, witnessing a great feat of gallantry on the part of Raoul de Lannoy, is reported to have placed on his neck a chain of great value, and to have thus wittily addressed him: "Mon ami, vous Êtes trop furieux en un combat; il faut vous enchaÎner, car je ne veux point vous perdre, dÉsirant me servir encore de vous plusieurs fois." Richard II, as shown by the Earl of Pembroke's remarkable picture of that monarch at Wilton, wore, in addition to his device the white hart, a collar of broom-pods. Henry IV employed the well-known collar of SS, derived from his father John of Gaunt. The collar of Edward IV was composed of two of his badges, the sun in its splendour, and the white rose; while a third, the white lion of March, was added as a pendant. Richard III retained the Yorkist collar, substituting for the lion pendant a boar. The SS collar is the best known of all. It is composed of the letter S in gold repeated indefinitely, either fixed on velvet or some material, or forming |