'I pray...that I may have sommethyng for my nekke': Understanding Jewelry and Its Popularity in the Late Middle Ages and Today

After Queen Margaret of Anjou visited Norwich, England, in 1455, Margaret Paston begged her husband for “sommethyng for my nekke”; she complained that she had to borrow her cousin’s necklace, “for I durst not for shame go with my be[a]ds among so many fresch jauntylwomen.” This plea evidently fell on deaf ears, as nine months later, she again asked that he “purvey a thing for my nekke,” revealing not only her husband’s failure to procure her jewelry, but also her sustained longing for something splendid to help her fit in amongst England’s elite. Indeed, her request suggests such jewelry had become a social necessity rather than a luxury. This paper addresses the concept of jewelry and its popular appeal, both late medieval and modern. Although small-scale, wearable “things,” or artworks, have attracted increased interest in scholarship and exhibitions, there is little consensus as to the terminology used to refer to these objects; in academic scholarship, the word “jewelry” is avoided. Etymologically, “jewelry” is closest to the Middle French, “joyaux,” an ubiquitous term used in inventories and wills to refer to an array of sumptuous jewels and plate. Thus, in this paper, I advocate for the reevaluation and use of the term. Moreover, by examining select pendant jewels, I argue that fifteenth-century Northern Europe witnessed a major shift in the production and reception of jewelry. I reveal the transition from one-off, commissioned artworks by members of the upper courts, to fashionable types readily available in workshops and desired by the masses.