292 (37)

264

Dress Accessories

1365

171 Yiolet brooches (drawings 1:1, photograph 2:1)

(?)flower bud or lanceolate leaf to the left of the flower (eg Spencer 1980, 32 no. 157), and a detached flower retains the style in the centre -this is somewhat morę prominent than in naturę (private collection, fig 171).

The significance of the Violet in May . . .’ (PMayday or Maytime) legend is uncertain. There was almost certainly no legend on no. 1364. The flower and the leaves are accurately portrayed parts of the violet (viola odorata), a long-established favourite flower of the hedgerow and horticulture (Harvey 1981, 23, 29, 132, 164 & 179). Many pilgrim souvenirs and retainers’ badges include legends (eg Spencer 1980, 29 no. 134), and there are also a few apparently non-specific brooches of late-medieval datę which have them as well (eg a plough with ‘God speed the plough’ - private collection, and see on no. 1370). The violet brooches could have had a generał or a specific allusion. It is possible that they were associated with the celebration of May