A unique late medieval framed purse from New Market (Nowy Targ) square in Wrocław

Jakub Sawicki

doi:10.23858/KHKM67.2019.4.007

Published: 2019-12-30

Vol. 67 No. 4 (2019)

A unique late medieval framed purse from New Market (Nowy Targ) square in Wrocław

Jakub Sawicki

Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej

Section: Communiques

https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM67.2019.4.007

Abstract

The paper concerns a ring-framed purse found during rescue excavations conducted on the Nowy Targ square in Wrocław (2010-2012). Such purses have not been present in the Polish archaeological literature and most of the analogies are known from foreign museum collections. Contrary to those specimens, originating primarily from England and the lands of today’s Germany, the Wrocław purse has a wooden frame and it is made of low quality leather. Its biography is interesting. The object was discovered in the layers dated to the 2^nd half of the 13^th c.-the beginning of the 14^th c., while the other known ring-framed purses are much later (end of the 15^th c., 16^th c.). Olaf Goubitz states that items of such type appear after 1425. However, they are depicted in the so called Codex Manesse dated to 1300-1340, which corresponds with the chronology of the Wrocław find. The indirect analogies as well as all the data suggest that the purse was a homemade product made for self use. Its early date (especially in comparison to other known specimens and most of depictions in iconography) pose a question if the wooden ring-framed purse was a rare cheap imitation of luxury products or if it is an example of common objects intended for everyday use, which only rarely are recorded in archaeological material and written sources. Solving the problem is impossible based on the one individual find. However, it is worth to remember that similar rare, forgotten or “unpreserved” objects can change our image and understanding of the medieval material culture.

Keywords:

medieval purse, small finds, dress accessories, object biography

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Paweł Cembrzyński, Jakub Sawicki, “Migrations in the towns of the Kingdom of Poland, Pomerania and Silesia in the pre-industrial period in a comparative perspective”, a conference in Wrocław, 2nd-3rd June 2017 , Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej: Vol. 65 No. 4 (2017)

Download files

pdf

Citation rules

Sawicki, J. (2019). A unique late medieval framed purse from New Market (Nowy Targ) square in Wrocław. Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 67(4), 521–530. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM67.2019.4.007

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Atlas historyczny miast polskich. 2001. Atlas historyczny miast polskich, vol. 4. Śląsk, issue 1: Wrocław. Wrocław.
Google Scholar

Blusiewicz Karolina. 2017. Wyroby ze skóry i wytwórczość skórnicza w późnośredniowiecznym Pucku, [in:] Puck. Kultura materialna małego miasta w późnym średniowieczu, ed. M. Starski, Warszawa, p. 305–360.
Google Scholar

Ceynowa Beata. 2015. Średniowieczna tradycja darów miłosnych na przykładzie bogato dekoro wanych toreb skórzanych z Gdańska, [in:] In gremio — in praxi. Przedmioty skórzane na co dzień i od święta, ed. A.B. Kowalska, B. Wywrot-Wyszkowska, Szczecin, p. 75–96.
Google Scholar

Ceynowa Beata. 2018. Zabytki skórzane, [in:] Jatki mięsne w Gdańsku od XIV do XX wieku, ed. A. Pudło, W. Ossowski, E. Trawicka, Gdańsk, p. 466–98.
Google Scholar

Cowgill Jane, De Neergaard Margrethe, Griffiths Nick (eds.). 2008. Knives and scabbards, Wood-bridge.
Google Scholar

Douglas Mary, Isherwood Baron. 2002. World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption, London.
Google Scholar

Drążkowska Anna. 2009. Próba identyfikacji form średniowiecznych skórzanych toreb wydobytych w Toruniu na podstawie źródeł ikonograficznych, [in:] In gremio — in praxi. Studia nad średniowiecznym skórnictwem, eds. A.B. Kowalska, B. Wywrot-Wyszkowska, Szczecin, p. 113–122.
Google Scholar

Egan Geoff, Pritchard Frances. 2002. Dress accessories, c. 1150 – c. 1450, Woodbridge.
Google Scholar

Goubitz Olaf. 2009. Purses in Pieces. Archaeological finds of late medieval and 16th-century leather purses, pouches, bags and cases in the Netherlands, Zwolle.
Google Scholar

Grew Francis, de Neergaard Margrethe. 2006. Shoes and pattens, Woodbridge.
Google Scholar

Howell Martha C. 2010. Commerce before capitalism in Europe, 1300–1600, Cambridge.
Google Scholar

Jervis Ben. 2017. Consumption and the ‘Social Self ’ in Medieval Southern England, „Norwegian Archaeological Review”, vol. 50/1, p. 1–29.
Google Scholar

Kaźmierczyk Józef. 1966-70. Wrocław lewobrzeżny we wczesnym średniowieczu, cz. 1–2, Wrocław–Warszawa–Kraków.
Google Scholar

Konczewska Magdalena. 2010. Sakiewki i torby, [in:] Ulice średniowiecznego Wrocławia, eds. J. Piekalski, K. Wachowski, Wratislavia Antiqua, vol. 11, Wrocław, p. 244–245.
Google Scholar

Konczewska Magdalena. 2018a. Odzież skórzana — obuwie, patynki, rękawice i inne elementy ubioru, [in:] Rytm rozwoju miasta na kulturowym pograniczu. Studium strefy placu Nowy Targ we Wrocławiu, ed. J. Piekalski, K. Wachowski, Wratislavia Antiqua, vol. 23, Wrocław, p. 794–850.
Google Scholar

Konczewska Magdalena. 2018b. Rzemiosła skórnicze, [in:] Rytm rozwoju miasta na kulturowym pograniczu. Studium strefy placu Nowy Targ we Wrocławiu, ed. J. Piekalski, K. Wachowski, Wratislavia Antiqua, vol. 23, Wrocław, p. 747–793.
Google Scholar

Kopytoff Igor. 2013. The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process, [in:] The social life of things: commodities in cultural perspective, ed. A. Appadurai, Cambridge, p. 64–92.
Google Scholar

Kowalska Anna B. 2015. Średniowieczne rzemiosło obuwnicze na Pomorzu. Zarys problematyki, [in:] In gremio — in praxi. Przedmioty skórzane na co dzień i od święta, eds. A.B. Kowalska, B. Wywrot-Wyszkowska, Szczecin, p. 13–27.
Google Scholar

Mackiewicz Maksym, Marcinkiewicz Kamila, Piekalski Jerzy. 2014. Plac Nowy Targ we Wrocławiu w świetle badań wykopaliskowych w latach 2010–2012, „Archaeologia Historica Polona”, vol. 22, p. 167–184.
Google Scholar

Marcinkiewicz Kamila, Piekalski Jerzy. 2018. Przemiany placu w późnym średniowieczu i w czasach wczesnonowożytnych w świetle stratygrafii nawarstwień, [in:] Rytm rozwoju miasta na kulturowym pograniczu. Studium strefy placu Nowy Targ we Wrocławiu, eds. J. Piekalski, K. Wachowski, Wratislavia Antiqua, vol. 23, Wrocław, p. 152–194.
Google Scholar

Marcinkowski Mirosław. 2009. Stan badań nad średniowiecznymi przedmiotami ze skóry odkrytymi w Elblągu, [in:] Studia nad średniowiecznym skórnictwem, eds. A.B. Kowalska, B. Wywrot-Wyszkowska, Szczecin, p. 167–192.
Google Scholar

Rytm rozwoju miasta. 2018. Rytm rozwoju miasta na kulturowym pograniczu. Studium strefy placu Nowy Targ we Wrocławiu, eds. J. Piekalski, K. Wachowski, Wratislavia Antiqua, vol. 23, Wrocław.
Google Scholar

Sawicki Jakub. 2014. Ramki torebek i portmonetek z fosy na placu dominikańskim we Wrocławiu, „Śląskie Sprawozdania Archeologiczne”, vol. 56, p. 301–312.
Google Scholar

Sawicki Jakub. 2018. Organization of production and trade of minor metal items at Nowy Targ (New Market) Square in medieval Wrocław in the light of the production waste, “Archeologické rozhledy”, vol. 70/1, p. 110–134.Social life. 2013. The social life of things: commodities in cultural perspective, ed. A. Appadurai, Cambridge.
Google Scholar

Wachowski Krzysztof. 2013. Emblemata mediaevalia profana: przykład Polski, Wrocław.
Google Scholar

Wywrot-Wyszkowska Beata. 2008. Skórnictwo w lokacyjnym Kołobrzegu. XIII–XV wiek, Szczecin.
Google Scholar

Internet pages:
Google Scholar

Herman (Hermann) Brother. 2019. Pewtler (Beutler), [in:] Die Hausbüchern der Mendelschen und Landauerschen Zwölfbrüderhausstiftungen, Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg, Amb. 317.2° Folio 21 verso, http://www.nuernberger-hausbuecher.de/75-Amb-2-317-22-r/data (access 15.10.2019).
Google Scholar

Jagdtasche. 2019. Jagdtasche, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Inventory No Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer, D 7, www.khm.at/de/object/722ea9ceb2/ (access 15.10.2019).
Google Scholar

Lochner Stefan. 2019. Adoration of the Magi, Collection of Cologne Cathedral, Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stefan_Lochner_-_Adoration_of_the_Magi_-_WGA13342.jpg (access 15.10.2019).
Google Scholar

Schwedler Abraham. 2019. Jagdtasche, Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Historisches Museum, Inventory No. X163, Bildindex, https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj32005248?part=0&medium=mi10065a12 (access 15.10.2019).
Google Scholar

Rosenheim Kunz von. 2019. Kuntz von Rosenheim, [in:] Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Codex Manesse), Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Inventory No Cod. Pal. germ. 848, Bl. 394r, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cpg848/0783 (access 15.10.2019).
Google Scholar

Tacuinum Sanitatis. 2019. Tacuinum Sanitatis, Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Nouvelles acquisitions latines, manuscrit 1673, fol. 47, http://expositions.bnf.fr/gastro/grands/033.htm (acces 15.10.2019).
Google Scholar