MEDIÆVAL BROOCHES—THE RING-BROOCH
THE brooches or fibulæ hitherto considered have been constructed either with a spring pin or acus, which was held in its place by a hook or catch, or with a hinged acus, which, having pierced the material, was fixed similarly by a catch, and prevented by the weight of the garment from becoming unloosened. The term fibula, generally employed by archæologists to denote all early brooches, has so far been applied only to the dress-fasteners of classical times; and though the word brooch (from the French broche, meaning a spit) was not introduced into England until after the Norman Conquest, it is for the sake of clearness used here to describe what are generally known among Anglo-Saxon ornaments as fibulæ.
In later Roman times, and among the Irish and Anglo-Saxons, the ring-brooch was sometimes formed with an opening on one side, and the pin or acus, which was not hinged, but moved freely to any part of the ring, having been passed through the tissue, was brought through this opening. The ring was then turned till the pin rested upon its rim.
At the time of the Norman Conquest the opening of the brooch is closed, the ring becomes flat and has a pin of the same length as its diameter. Instead of running loosely, the pin is hinged upon a constriction of the ring and it either traverses the tissue which has been brought through the latter, or a band is passed over it from beneath the sides of the ring. When the portions of the garment thus connected are drawn back, the pin falls across the front of the ring and is held securely in its place. This ring-brooch was known as the fermail (Latin firmaculum, signifying a clasp)—a term employed both in old French and old English inventories.
The ring-brooch was worn by both sexes. It appears on the monumental effigy of Richard Cœur de Lion at Rouen, on that of Berengaria his queen at Le Mans, and on several of the thirteenth-century sculptures on the west front of Wells Cathedral. It served to gather up the fulness of the surcoat on the breast of the knight, as shown by the effigy, known as that of William Mareschel the Elder, Earl of Pembroke, in the Temple Church; but was generally used to close the opening in the robes at the throat of either sex and is seen thus on many effigies of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.[71]
Among the few examples of mediæval jewellery that have survived, brooches and finger rings predominate. Brooches differ slightly according to the nationality to which they belong: those of English origin forming of themselves a class of considerable variety and extent. The earliest were circles of small diameter and narrow frame, either plain, or decorated with simple designs. Mystic words and letters were subsequently added; but as the brooch became larger, amatory mottoes took their place. Religious formulæ were also employed, particularly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the brooch reached its full development.
The various inscriptions and designs engraved on mediæval brooches are of great interest. The majority of inscriptions are mottoes in French, such as were frequently employed as posies upon rings and other love-gifts. An inscription which occurs more than once is io . svi . ici . en . liev . dami. Another chanson, reading thus in modern French—Je suis ici, à toi voici, is found on several brooches in the British Museum.
The dainty Prioress, Madame Eglentine, in the prologue of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales wore—
... a broche of gold ful shene,
On whiche was first y-written a crouned A,
And after, Amor vincit omnia.
The popularity of this last motto on the personal ornaments of the Middle Ages may be attributed to its supposed influence as a love-charm. A considerable number of legends are of a religious character, with allusions to the Virgin and Saviour while a few are talismanic, and contain inscriptions such as the names of the Kings of the East.