The Male Body and Adornment in Early Modern England
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Bejewelled: the male body and adornment in early modern England Natasha Awais-Dean Submitted for the degree of PhD Queen Mary, University of London October 2012 1 Queen Mary, University of London The British Museum Bejewelled: the male body and adornment in early modern England This thesis investigates the significance of the jewellery that was worn, owned, and circulated by men within sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England, to provide a social and historical context for objects that are often viewed in terms of their materiality. Within the period 1509-1625 male consumption of jewellery was just as great as female consumption, yet jewellery has traditionally been considered a feminine preoccupation. This thesis readdresses this imbalance and in doing so aligns itself with the growing studies on masculinity, community, and sociability. Traditionally, studies on jewellery have adopted a more chronological or stylistic approach but there is now evidence of movement towards providing a social context for these objects and this thesis is a part of this development. In the early modern period jewellery was not valued purely for its intrinsic monetary worth; it had the ability to reflect meanings of magnificence and lineage, as well as sustain social bonds and networks of reciprocity. The myriad meanings of a man’s jewelled possessions demonstrate that jewellery was important and therefore constituted a valid part of a society’s material culture. This thesis centres on the collections of early modern European jewellery within the department of Prehistory and Europe at the British Museum. It is interdisciplinary in nature and combines strong object analysis with evidence from documentary, literary, archival, and visual sources, to provide a new context for these holdings. Finds continually reported through the 1996 Treasure Act have also been integrated into this research, to demonstrate the importance of jewellery for men across all social levels. Consequently, this thesis bridges the gap between traditional art history scholarship and archaeological work to provide a strong social and historical context for jewellery and men in Tudor and Jacobean England. 2 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has not been submitted, either in the same or different form, to this or any other University for a degree. Signature:.................................................... 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... p.7 List of Illustrations ................................................................................................................ p.8 Photographic Credits ........................................................................................................... p.14 List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... p.15 Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... p.16 Transcription Conventions .................................................................................................. p.17 Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... p.18 1.1 Spanish shipwrecks and men’s gold .................................................................. p.18 1.2 Theories of Renaissance and early modern masculinity ................................... p.22 1.3 ‘Sweet England’s jewels’ .................................................................................. p.25 1.4 The gender of jewellery ..................................................................................... p.27 1.5 Historiography and approaches ......................................................................... p.33 1.6 Methodology and sources .................................................................................. p.38 1.7 Thesis structure ................................................................................................. p.42 1.8 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... p.44 Section 1: Gendered jewels: acquisition and ownership ............................. p.45 Chapter 2: Acquiring jewellery ........................................................................................... p.46 2.1 Accessing precious materials ............................................................................ p.46 2.2 Guild regulations ............................................................................................... p.61 2.3 Sites of purchase ................................................................................................ p.63 Chapter 3: Owning jewellery .............................................................................................. p.73 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... p.73 3.2 The inventory of Henry VIII ............................................................................. p.77 4 3.3 The inventory of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales ......................................... p.81 3.4 The inventory of Henry Howard ....................................................................... p.83 3.5 The inventory of William Herbert ..................................................................... p.88 3.6 The inventory of Thomas Ramsey .................................................................... p.92 3.7 The Ipswich inventories and London wills ....................................................... p.94 3.8 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... p.104 Section 2: Male dress and ornamentation ............................................. p.107 Chapter 4: Embellishing male dress .................................................................................. p.114 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... p.114 4.2 Jewelled dress accessories ............................................................................... p.117 4.3 Documentary evidence for dress embellishments ........................................... p.128 4.4 Cap-hooks and hat ornaments ......................................................................... p.132 Chapter 5: Emblematic hat ornaments: a distinctly male jewel ........................................ p.140 Section 3: Jewels and social networks ................................................... p.179 Chapter 6: ‘That tool of matrimony’: the ring in early modern betrothals and weddings p.182 6.1 The form of marriage ...................................................................................... p.194 6.2 Marriage and rings .......................................................................................... p.196 6.3 Gimmel rings and posy rings .......................................................................... p.200 6.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... p.209 Chapter 7: Homosociability: rings of the serjeants-at-law ................................................ p.212 Chapter 8: Signet rings: heritage and memory .................................................................. p.225 8.1 Heraldic devices .............................................................................................. p.229 8.2 Non-armorial signet rings ................................................................................ p.239 8.3 Avoiding fraud ................................................................................................ p.243 8.4 Sir Thomas Smith and his signet rings ............................................................ p.245 5 8.5 The Gresham grasshopper rings ...................................................................... p.248 Chapter 9: Rings and mourning: the making of memory through material culture .......... p.259 Chapter 10: Conclusion: male memory and family heritage ............................................. p.275 10.1 The will of Sir Thomas Sackville .................................................................. p.279 10.2 The Lyte Jewel .............................................................................................. p.287 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... p.291 Appendix A: Jewellery from the Girona ........................................................................... p.312 Appendix B: British Museum objects ............................................................................... p.339 Appendix C: Extracts from the inventory of William Herbert .......................................... p.356 Appendix D: Extracts from the will of Thomas Sackville ................................................ p.367 Appendix E: ‘Inspired: contemporary views of Renaissance jewellery’ .......................... p.382 6 Acknowledgements My thesis has resulted from an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded Collaborative Doctoral Award between Queen Mary, University of London and the British Museum in London. I am particularly indebted to my supervisors at both institutions, Evelyn Welch and Dora Thornton