The social significance of late medieval dress accessories

Abstract

This thesis uses belt fittings excavated from fifteen of the major towns and cities of late medieval England and is the first national survey of dress accessories from the urban centres of this period. This research moves beyond the identification and categorisation of these objects, which have been the traditional foci of studies of this type, to examine the wider social significance of dress accessories within contemporary late medieval society. The themes explored include the regional variation between the assemblages and the significance of this in terms of the expression of regional identities; the changes in production techniques and technology for the manufacture of dress accessories and the related changes in dress and its social perception from the mid-thirteenth century; the significance of dress accessories within a funerary context; the use of the acorn as a repeated decorative motif and the significance of this within the construction, maintenance and manipulation of personal identities; and the use of text on belts and belt fittings and importance of this in the construction of the symbolism of the belt within late medieval society. An interdisciplinary approach is used throughout which combines the material evidence with other forms of archaeological, literary, historical, and art historical evidence in order to place the dress accessories within their wider social context.

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