The Pouch C. 1000 - 1533
From your belt you would hang your pouch or "Aumoniére," a very
important accessory for both the man and woman in Medieval Times.
There were no pockets, so money had to be carried in the pouch.
There were 124 craft persons called
"faiseuses d' aumoniéres sarrazinoises" listed in the Parisian
Guild ordinances. A guild, comprising of women, as embroidering was a
stitching art. Men, surprisingly, belonged to this Guild too. Some sources
describe Noble Ladies embroidering these pouches themselves, but more
likely, to be sewn by a professional embroideress.
A small group of embroidered purses exist in the Cathedral treasury at
Troyes and another at Hamburg. They are heavily embroidered in couched gold
and silver thread with drawstrings. In the Hamburg´s Museum Fur Kunst und
Gewerbe, a beautiful aumoniére is of "Game with hood" and was made in
Paris c.1340. It is couched in red and the background is of gold and silver
threads with silkwork in split, chain, stem and knot stitches. One
aumoniére in Musée du Moyen Age in Paris shows fantastic hybrid monsters
embroidered on to them.
Two others, one in Chelles, Musée Municipal Alfed - Bonno, is an
embroidered purse 1170 - 1190 of "Lady with a dog and a man with a
falcon..." It is sewn in silk on linen. The other is in Lyon, Musée de
Tissus and is of "The Falcons Return." It was made in France c.1320 and
has silks and silver - gilt thread on velvet with applied linen.
The "Manesse Codex" in Zürich c. 1300, shows a Peddler wooing his Lady.
In this you can see pouches hanging ready to be bought.
Sometimes these aumoniéres were given as a gift from a beloved one. Many
pouches were on sale at the market "on the right bank of the Seine" in
Paris during the 14th century. Aswell as pouches there were other goods on
sale, such as ivory combs, gloves, necklaces, belts and hats. All these
items were for personal everyday use, and of course for social status.
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