Woman's Woven Girdle
The subject of this paper is a girdle suitable for a woman lower noble status in the second half of the 14th century. The belt is of a dyed woven textile adorned with metal scallop and bar mounts and an elaborate buckle and strap end.
Textile belts of this type were worn in the 13th through 15th centuries changing in style depending on current fashion trends. Belt fragments dating from this time period have been found in the excavations of London. These fragments are of tablet woven silk, linen, or worsted threads
1 and ranging in width from 6 to 25mm wide. Since I do not know how to tablet weave, I have chosen to use commercially available 25mm wide cotton belting material for the strap. It is of sufficient length to encircle the hips of its owner and the free end to hang approximately 8 inches from the floor. This length is in agreement with belts of this type as depicted on effigies, statues, and illuminations dating from the mid-14th century.The bar mounts and scallops are of cast bronze secured with brass rivets. These are recreations of belt mounts found in the London excavations
2. The originals being of a copper alloy. The mounts used on this belt were cast by Gaukler Medieval Wares using period methods. I chose not to cast them myself because my casting skills are inferior to this artist's. In period the mounts would have been secured with a rivet of copper, iron, or lead/tin alloy peened over a rove on the back of the strap. I used brass nails for the rivets because I was unable to find suitable rivets. The brass proved too difficult to peen on such small rivets, so I decided to solder them to copper washers, which serve as roves.The buckle is also cast a bronze piece patterned after one found in London
3. The buckle is attached to a brass plate of composite construction. This plate consists of two thin outer plates soldered to a thicker forked spacer. The plate is constructed so as to be hollow and the strap end is inserted into this cavity and secured with two brass rivets. The inside edge of the buckle plate has a decorative curvilinear edge adorned with a round aperture and groove. The aperture shows that the plate is hollow and the groove emphasizes the thickness of the outer plates. These embellishments were used to provide clear indication of the plate?s construction and quality. Again due to my limited casting skills I chose to cut the spacer from brass sheet of an appropriate thickness. In order to restrain the buckle I made the outer plate from one continuous piece, which wraps around the spacer and buckle. However, in period the spacer and buckle would have been cast as one piece and then the two separate outer plates soldered to it. One of the buckles from the London excavations is of this construction and still contains fragments of its tablet woven strap.The tongue end of the belt has a mordant plate of the same composite construction to the buckle plate. It to has the decorative edge and aperture and groove. The forked spacer is decorated with an acorn knop on its outside edge and the outer plate has an appliquéd oak leaf. This mordant is also patterned after pieces found in London dating to the 14th century
4. This spacer is also cut from sheet brass incorporating the acorn into it. The acorn was then shaped using hand files. The oak leaf on the front plate was made in the same way.Before being attached to the belt strap the buckle and mordant were buffed using power tools for convenience sake and then given a final polishing by hand. Although it is not period I gave these pieces a light coat of clear lacquer in order to preserve the finish and keep them from tarnishing.
Footnotes
1 Dress Accessories c.1150- c.1450., page 35
2 ibid, page 201 item no. 1083 and page 214 item no.1157.
3 ibid, page 75 item no. 307.
4 ibid, page 144 plate no. 94 Illustrations of the mounts found in London which the pieces used used on this belt were styled after.
Bibliography
| Geoff Egan, and Frances Pritchard. Dress Accessories c.1150- c.1450. HMSO Books, London. 1991. |
| Braun & Schneider. The History of Costume. Dover Publications |
| Norris, Herbert. Costume & Fashion, Volume Two - Senlac to Bosworth, 1066-1485, J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., London, First published 1927, reprinted 1940. |
| C. Willet Cunnington and Phyllis Cunnington. Handbook of English Costume in the Middle Ages. Faber and Faber. 1968. |
