ear-rings-msg - 7/12/02 Medieval ear rings. Men's and Women's. NOTE: See also the files: jewelry-msg, finger-rings-msg, gem-sources-msg, pearls-msg, metalworking-msg, metals-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: "E. L. Wimett" Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Did men where earrings in 16c England? Date: 18 Mar 1997 01:50:47 GMT Organization: Silver Dragon Company eric wrote... > I would like to know if men wore earrings in 16c England. > If so, was it in both ears? > > Archibald Yes. A number of portrait miniatures of nobles show pearl drops and, at a lower social level, the naval tradition of wearing earrings clearly goes back to at least the sixteenth century, based on contemporary descriptions and illustrations. Alisoun From: finnian at flash.net (Finnian) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Did men where earrings in 16c England? Date: 18 Mar 1997 19:02:16 GMT cire at mail.nwinfo.net says... >I would like to know if men wore earrings in 16c England. >If so, was it in both ears? > >Archibald Absolutely! But probably not as simple decoration. The wearing of a golden earring was purported to be a preventive measure against fevers and colds. Finn From: ghislaine1 at aol.com (Ghislaine1) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Did men where earrings in 16c England? Date: 18 Mar 1997 19:27:19 GMT The noble gentlemen as well as the upper middle class gentlemen wore earrings. There are several portraits from period that show them wearing simple pearl drops. They were normally worn in one ear (you decide which). There is supposedly some documentation of men wearing hoop earrings in both ears but they tended to be attributed to merchant sailors and pirates.... Lady Ghislaine d'Auxerre From: Ben Mandus Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Did men where earrings in 16c England? Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 14:33:20 -0500 Also, the fishermen in the Hebrides would wear a gold coin earring to pay for a proper Christian burial, should they die while at their work, the body be lost at sea, and later wash ashore. I'm aware the Hebrides are Scotland, not England, but are part of the British Isles. Cheryl Mandus From: lobel at is.nyu.edu (Sheldon Lobel) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Did men where earrings in 16c England? Date: 18 Mar 1997 17:01:13 GMT Organization: New York University There's at least one portrait of William Shakespeare which clearly shows at least one earring. Nahum Kuzari From: Eric & Lissa McCollum Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Did men where earrings in 16c England? Date: 19 Mar 1997 01:00:06 -0700 I was just reading on this subject this evening, from a book called "Tudor and Jacobean Jewellery" by Diana Scarisbrick. Here is the pertinent paragraph: "Philip Stubbes, in his Anatomie of Abuses (1583), attacked the 'dissolute minions...not ashamed to make holes in their ears whereat they hang ringes and other jewels of gold and precious stones.' James I, who disliked nothing so much as the sight of men with earrings, took the same view, but, in spite of his disapproval, portraits show them worn at his court. Sir Walter Raleigh hung two pear pearls in one ear only, and Sir Gilbert Houghton has a wounded heart hanging from the cipher s in one ear, too, in a portrait by Paul van Somer." An excellent book, by the way. Gwendolen Wold Newsgroups: rec.org.sca From: wp823 at freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Jo Beverley) Subject: Re: Did men where earrings in 16c England? Organization: Victoria Freenet Association Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 20:06:57 GMT Christina Mcmenemy (christymack at delphi.com) wrote: : "E. L. Wimett" writes: : : >> I would like to know if men wore earrings in 16c England. : >> If so, was it in both ears? : >> : >> Archibald : : Yep, just look at the famous portrait of Shapespeare or any of his : contemporaries. However, I've never seen any of these men with both : ears pierced - just one (there was no consensus about which ear). : An interesting note: just about 30 years before it became popular : for men to pierce their ears and wear earrings, having your ear : pierced was considered punishment for vagrancy(for men only). I guess : it was some sort of branding thing - people would know you had been : a vagrant by seeing your ear. Amazing how things change in such a short : time... I think you'll find that the punishment ear piercing was a large, mutilating hole. More of a punch. Jo, the lurking romance writer. Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 11:41:11 -0500 From: Gunnora Hallakarva To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu Subject: Period Earrings 500-900 A.D. To add to the theme of earrings in period, I have an outstanding book which has literally dozens of pairs of earrings pictured dating from 500-900 A.D. The earrings are all loops which tend to have a pendant at the bottom of the loop and granulated metal ornaments at 3 and 9 o'clock around the circle. The loop is open at the back of the loop just above the granulated ornament on that side. Several of these earrings have stones set up the front of the loop as well. While most are obviously for pierced ears, some look as though they were hung over the ear rather than attached to it (hard to say, though -- these might open somewhere and actually be for pirced ears, you can't tell from the photos) The book is: Dekan, Jan. Moravia Magna: The Great Moravian Empire, Its Art and Times. Minneapolis: Control Data Arts. 1981. ISBN 0-89893-084-7 The Moravians were living in an area bordered by the River Oder in the north, the Danube and Drava Rivers in the south, extending as far west as the Elbe and in the east past Cracow to the Ondava River. Their neighbors included the Sorbs, Wends, Saxony, Franconia, Bavaria, Ostmark, Carinthia, Slavonia, and the Magyars. Gunnora Hallakarva Herskerinde Edited by Mark S. Harris ear-rings-msg 4 of 4