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.

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."

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."

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). 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]

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.

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.