Related Papers
Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture
Weaving Sanctity: The Textile Relics of St Cuthbert
2018 •
Elisabeth CreMeens
Elisabeth Cremeens explores how and why textile relics and their visual depictions were used to convey changing attitudes towards the ecclesiastical authorities in Durham.
Fiona Robertson and Peter N. Lindfield (eds), The Display of Heraldry: The Heraldic Imagination in Arts and Culture (2019)
2019 •
Peter N Lindfield
Medieval Feminist Forum
Review of: E. Jane Burns, ed., Medieval Fabrications: Dress, Textiles, Cloth Work, and other Cultural Imaginings. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
2007 •
Kathy Krause
The material culture of recusancy at Fetternear: kin and religion in post-Reformation Scotland
Penny Dransart
The interdisciplinary project reported here combines art history, archaeology and the historical anthropology of religion. It consists of a study based on the material culture of recusancy from the mansion and medieval bishop’s palace at Fetternear, Aberdeenshire. After the Reformation, the property became the main seat of the Leslies of Balquhain, a recusant family. A stone plaque bearing the inscription IHS MRA, probably dating from 1691, placed on the façade of the mansion indicates the religious allegiance of the family. This study of the contents of the mansion is based on surviving material culture associated with Fetternear and documentary sources and shows that the Leslies of Balquhain were building up the necessary intellectual and material resources for sustaining Roman Catholic worship and that their property served as the headquarters of the Jesuit mission in Scotland in the late 17th century.
Splendour: Staging Splendid Bodies in Early Modern Scotland and England
2019 •
Thea Stevens
This essay was an invited contribution to the catalogue for an exhibition in the Reid Gallery (The Glasgow School of Art) for the project Splendour: Staging Splendid Bodies in Early Modern Scotland and England. The project was a collaboration between The Glasgow School of Art and The Queen’s House, Royal Museums Greenwich, with the core team including Matilda Pye (National Outreach Curator, Royal Museums Greenwich), Silvia Weidenbach (Lecturer, Silversmithing & Jewellery, The Glasgow School of Art) and Anthony Brotheridge (Subject Leader, Fashion, The Glasgow School of Art). Involving more than 150 GSA students and staff from Textiles, Silversmithing & Jewellery and Fashion, the Splendour creative brief was an exploration of adornment, textiles and fashion as tools for the expression of love, power and politics. As well as the exhibition, the project involved a photo-shoot on location in Stirling Castle, and a symposium and performative event at The Queen’s House, Greenwich on 28 Ju...
The Double Tressure, vol. 48 (2023), pp. 54-68
Scots' Heraldic Entries in Alba amicorum in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Part Two
Thomas Brochard
With the official register of Scottish coats of arms established in 1672, one can in theory search for any blazons created after that date. Heraldic professionals, academics and enthusiasts have therefore turned their attention to source material prior to that date with a view to gather as many of these early arms as possible. One important source has been overlooked in this respect, namely alba amicorum, or friendship albums. This paper examines some of these heraldic entries contributed by Scots from the emergence of the tradition of alba in the 1540s until the late seventeenth century. These have been arranged thematically under socio-professional categories to demonstrate not only the broad range of Scots who displayed their blazons that way but also the specific context for doing so.
The Double Tressure, vol. 47 (2022), pp. 36-52
Scots' Heraldic Entries in Alba amicorum in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Part One
Thomas Brochard
With the official register of Scottish coats of arms established in 1672, one can in theory search for any blazons created after that date. Heraldic professionals, academics and enthusiasts have therefore turned their attention to source material prior to that date with a view to gather as many of these early arms as possible. One important source has been overlooked in this respect, namely alba amicorum, or friendship albums. This paper examines some of these heraldic entries contributed by Scots from the emergence of the tradition of alba in the 1540s until the late seventeenth century. These have been arranged thematically under socio-professional categories to demonstrate not only the broad range of Scots who displayed their blazons that way but also the specific context for doing so.
Conversion and Identity in the Viking Age
Crossbreeding beasts : Christian and Non-Christian Imagery in Oval Brooches
2014 •
Søren Sindbæk
This paper considers a set of visual statements from Scandinavia during the period of early Christian influence. Oval brooches, a customary female dress item, were richly decorated personal ornaments and were clearly objects of great symbolic significance. The images used to decorate these brooches are some of the best examples of early Viking-Age art and are among the earliest dated examples of characteristic Viking-Age styles and images. The character of the images and designs, and the pervasiveness of particular elements, suggests that these ornaments conveyed meaningful symbolic statements. By following the development and distribution of this imagery, it is possible to trace a cultural argument. During the late eighth and early ninth centuries, artwork on brooches was particularly open to cultural inspirations from Western Europe, including elements related to Christian religion; but after the mid-ninth century, it converged instead upon the adoption of an emblematic, non-Christian iconography. These observations support other lines of enquiry in pointing towards the conclusion that elements of Christianity formed an aspect of certain religious identities in Scandinavia at the beginning of the Viking Age. However, in the context of the Carolingian missions and military expansion in the ninth century, it seems that Christian imagery increasingly became a new cultural boundary marker for the northern neighbours of the Frankish empire.
The meaning of the Ragged Staff motif in late medieval secular badges and graffiti: resurrecting an old association. (Draft Dec 2019
2019 •
Matthew J Champion
The symbol of the Ragged Staff is common amongst late medieval and Tudor iconography, appearing in wall paintings, graffiti and amongst object of material culture. In almost all cases, and most particularly amongst the small lead alloy badges to be found in several major museum collections, the symbol has been identified as relating to the livery of the once powerful Earls of Warwick. However, a multidisciplinary analysis of the surviving examples strongly suggests that the symbol has been misidentified, and that the majority of examples were religious in nature, being specifically linked to concepts of resurrection, rebirth, the cult of St Christopher and by extension, the act of medieval pilgrimage. This paper examines the evidence for these conclusions via an analysis of the visual and material culture of the period, and proposes a more nuanced and multi-stranded view of the interpretation of religious iconography of the period.
Dressing the Part: Textiles as Propaganda in the Middle Ages
2020 •
Margaret Goehring
The collection of essays edited for Brepols by Kate Dimitrova and Margaret Goehring, Dressing the Part: Textiles as Propaganda in the Middle Ages, addresses the significance of cloth and clothing in visual culture during the Middle Ages. While the use of textiles in England and France is featured in several chapters, perhaps the book’s greatest contribution is the inclusion of scholarship concerning textiles with origins and contexts elsewhere during the Middle Ages. The excellent Brepols production standards have provided a fine volume with very good (at times stunning!) color illustrations integrated into each chapter.
