275 (34)

247

Brooches

158 Figurę representing the Synagogue, Bamberg Cathedral, Germany (from Sauerlandt nd)

159 Woman with brooch securing loops on a cloak. Percy tomb, Beverley Minster, c. 1340

These were pinned at the neck to fasten two parts of the clothing together (fig 158, cf Ward-Perkins 1940, 273-75), or used purely decora-tively, by both men and women. Suitably shaped brooches might extend the means of fastening garments in morę elaborate ways than the most obvious means of using the pin (fig 159).

Two basie types of brooch may be disting-uished: those with open frames and having a separate, swivelling pin, and those with an integ-ral, rigid pin, which often lack a definable frame. The latter form are all of lead/tin. In those with a frame, the pin could be passed through the textile on both sides of a collar, or through a single fold in the garment, to be held in place against the opposite side of the frame by the drape of the fabric. In the others the pin was pushed vertically or horizontally into the fabric of the garment and, in the case of those examples lacking a catch, the brooch was held in place by little morę than its weight. Brooches of the second main category are analogous in terms of manufacture to the morę common pilgrims’ and retainers’ badges (which are to be described in a different volume). The items in this category which are described below are designated brooches and included here