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LOT 1303
Medieval Iron Rowel Spur Collection
CIRCA 13TH-16TH CENTURY A.D.
4 1/2 - 6 in. (249 grams total, 11.5-15 cm).
Comprising examples of various types, including some retaining the rowel, buckle and other fitting elements. [4]
ProvenanceAcquired 1990s-early 2000s.
East Anglian private collection.
Cf. similar specimen in the British Museum, inventory no.1856,0701.2540, dated 1250-1350 A.D.; also Clark, J., The Medieval Horse and its Equipment, London, 1995, pp.133-136, in particular no.322 and no.326.
FootnotesThe early rowel spurs had short necks and small four-six or seven point star rowels, while four rowels were uncommon. After c.1350 the multipoint rowel became voguish though the former shapes continued.
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Apart from badges as souvenirs of visits to various saints’ shrines, pilgrims might also bear away with them various noise-making items such as horns, whistles, rattles and bells. The miniature horn-shaped lead whistles known from London and Salisbury bear various inscriptions including bla me [blow me] and ave maria. In the contemporary ‘morality’ play Mankind (c.1465-70) of East Anglian provenance, the character Nought says I kan pype in a Walsyngham wystyll, which suggests that such souvenir whistles were available from the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham too, and that already such ‘tourist’ trinkets were regarded as a proverbial type of worthlessness, ‘not worth a whistle’, indeed. -
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