Rosaries

Nakon kraćega prikaza stratigrafije lokaliteta, izdvaja se horizont novovjekovnih grobova. Opisuju se bogatiji grobovi, te se pojedini nalazi analiziraju i interpretiraju. Na temelju analize odabranih nalaza i njihove interpretacije, nalazi se, a time i grobovi, kronološki smještaju uglavnom u početak 18. st. Pritom se koriste i podaci iz pisanih izvora: kanonskih vizitacija, matične knjige umrlih te župne spomenice. Problematizira se tumačenje novovjekovnih nalaza i potreba multidisciplinarnoga pristupa. U radu se posebna pozornost obratila osobitoj krunici iz groba 60, na kojoj su među zrnima visjeli i privjesci - simboli arma Christi. /
Following a brief presentation of the site stratigraphy, a horizon of postmediaeval graves is singled out. Richer graves are described and specifi c fi nds are analyzed and interpreted. Based on the analysis of the chosen fi nds and their interpretation, the fi nds, and thus also the graves, are chronologically attributed mostly into the beginning of the 18th century. Data are used from written sources in the process: canonical visitations, register of the dead and parochial memorials. The interpretation of Modern Age fi nds and the need for a multidisciplinary approach are discussed. Particular attention was given in the paper to a singular rosary from grave 60, on which, among the beads also hung pendants – the arma Christi symbols.

Kralen spreken tot de verbeelding. Ze zijn aantrekkelijk en persoonlijk vanwege hun kleuren, materialen, patronen en associaties. Je draagt ze op je lichaam, waar je ze voelt en anderen ze zien. Kralen zijn waardevol en verplaatsbaar, tegelijkertijd reizigers en souvenirs. Van begin 2022 tot 7 mei 2023 toont het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden op de afdeling ‘Archeologie van Nederland’ een kleurrijke tentoonstelling over opgegraven kralen van de prehistorie tot de 17de eeuw, gecombineerd met afbeeldingen van mensen die kralen dragen of gebruiken. Uit het heden zijn persoonlijke kralenverhalen en spectaculaire kralenkunst toegevoegd.

The Catholic rosary - the material testimony of piety – has a wide spatial distribution beginning during the 15th century.  A materially composite and complex object often made of bone, metal and glass, wood held an important place in their manufacture, despite its fragility and relatively poor preservation within archaeological contexts. Wood may also be considered a less noble material, at least when compared to bone metal and glass; but as used in these highly charged religious objects, this still the case?  While it is possible to determine that the pearls and crucifixes are made of wood, determining the species of wood used for these elements is not yet practiced.  Our questions are, therefore, to determine if the same species of wood was used throughout a rosary (for the pearls and crucifixes)?  Was the material used to make the pearls and crucifixes dependent on the environment (opportunism), or was a market logic followed, whereby mass-produced accessories were mounted on demand?  In order to answer these questions, we take a pluri-disciplinary approach in studying these these objects, where the xylologist and small-finds specialist work together "dissecting" the history of object.  Our data comes from a series of modern and contemporary French cemeteries, and allows us to converge paleoenvironmental and material analysis into an understanding of a common object that remains relatively unknown in its archaeological form.

In het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden is in 2022 en 2023 een tentoonstelling te zien zijn over opgegraven kralen uit (vooral) Nederland, van de prehistorie tot en met de zeventiende eeuw. Waar de meeste van deze kralen als sieraad zijn gebruikt, zijn uit de vijftiende en zestiende eeuw juist veel gebedskralen opgegraven. In de marges van handschriften uit dezelfde periode zijn regelmatig rozenkransen en paternosters afgebeeld. In combinatie geven deze bronnen aan dat een rozenkrans veel méér is dan een snoer met kralen.

In the middle of the Nineteenth Century, the Surtees Society commissioned transcriptions of wills held
in or pertaining to the county of Yorkshire. These have since been used to good effect in the analysis
of books and reading. Focussing on the later medieval transcripts, I have been working on a similar
study looking at prayer beads.
This paper shows how the people of later medieval Yorkshire viewed their beads. I will discuss
possible reasons for the comparative paucity of wills containing bequests of beads, to the numbers
containing references to other religious paraphernalia or to books.

According to popular wisdom, beads were for illiterates as opposed to written works for the literate. Early authors on beads, such as Joseph Ehrler, have stated that beads were used by illiterate lay brothers to simulate the marking of the hours of their literate brethren. Thomas Esser later stated that Christian prayer beads were called Paternosters because the prayer was "the uneducated person's version of the 150 psalms". This view continues to be accepted by both historians (e.g. Winston-Allen ) and international museums.

Whilst there may have been some truth in this practice, the evidence does not agree with automatic correlation of beads with illiteracy. In this paper I propose to challenge this using evidence from Yorkshire wills to show how both literate and illiterate members of late medieval society possessed books and prayer beads.

Both written and visual evidence demonstrate clearly that beads and religious books were possessed by the same people. Artistic representations show that ownership of both was neither unusual nor surprising to a contemporary audience.

The wills which form the core resource for my thesis are all drawn from North Yorkshire, and date between 1351 and 1492. These testaments show a wide variety of persons possessing beads for their devotions. The testators range across social classes, from tradespersons to lesser nobility, and cover laity, clerics, and both genders.

I conclude by looking at the evidence of individual testator’s attitude towards general devotion as displayed within these testaments, and in comparison to their possession of devotional books or prayer beads.