In this Culture on Call article, we explore the fascinating history of medieval strap ends and the craft of girdling, once vital to both fashion and function. From humble copper alloy fittings to elaborately decorated silver examples, strap ends reveal stories of everyday life and high status alike. We also delve into the prestigious Guild of Girdlers, whose influence shaped belt-making for centuries and whose legacy endures in ceremonial tradition.
Strap ends
Strap ends were used to capture the ends of belts and straps. Their split ends were designed to hold a strap securely in place and help keep it free from fraying; many are recovered with bits of textile remaining in the split attachment. Most examples found are made of copper alloy, lack any decoration and are broadly dated to the mid-14th to mid-15th centuries. Such examples appear to be from the everyday life of the local inhabitants, both male and female.
Examples made from silver have occasionally been recorded, mainly undecorated and the much rarer decorated examples often depicting beasts.
The Girdlers craft
The Guild of Girdlers, formed 1327, was involved in making girdles, or belts and their associated metalwork. Girdles were often ornate and worn outside the tunic or gown. They might be simply to gather in the garment, but were also used to suspend the wallet, or purse or side-arms. Girdles were popular for both men and women and were frequently adorned with elaborate decorations and fittings. The craft of girdling was an important one from medieval times to the end of the 16th century, when it rapidly declined. The Girdlers became an incorporated body in 1449 and received a grant of Arms in 1454, embodying three gridirons, or girdle-irons. The Company no longer practises its craft - though it still has the honour of presenting the girdle and stole worn by the sovereign at his or her coronation.
In the 14th century, a girdle was a long, decorative fabric belt. It was often used to cinch the waist and enhance the silhouette, with the excess fabric hanging down in front.
The elaborately-worked buckles and strap ends were often decorated with enamels or niello, often with a family coat-of-arms and/or inscriptions.
But ours is silver, not copper alloy, and decorated which would suggest it was probably not lost by one of the basic labourers, but by a higher standing individual. However, that is something it is impossible to know now!
The terminal is rounded with a small, pointed projection at the centre and the rear end retains two in-situ domed silver rivets. The interior of the object is hollow and retains preserved fibres from a cloth belt. Around the sides are faint seams demonstrating that the strap end is of composite construction, with front and rear panels being separately made and soldered to a spacer plate. Traces of gilding remain on the surface of the object, however this has mostly now worn away.
It was once fairly common in England for a man to be named according to the trade he practised. The name "Girdler" was therefore given to the maker of girdles and this is how the name originated. The first recorded "Girdler" was one Gerard the Girdler who was Master of the Company of Girdlers in London in 1209, whose Hall is still to be found at Moorgate in London. The making of girdles was not confined to London, however, so there were also Girdlers in other parts of the country.
A girdle was an article of clothing which for long periods of history was a prominent and important item worn by king and peasant alike. It was a band or belt worn round the waist, or later as fashion varied, round the hips. The belts had a variety of uses and therefore varied greatly in character. The simplest kind consisted of a piece of rope wound round the waist to secure the tunic, but more often they were made of leather, fastened in front with a metal buckle and with smaller straps on each side from which hung the sword or dagger. Others were much more elaborate, made of silk or velvet, heavily embroidered with jewels, gold and silver, and usually fastened in front with a large clasp or ornamental fastening and were looped in such a way that the long free end hung down in front. They could be from less than an inch to three inches wide and on them could be suspended a purse, keys, rosary, pen and ink-horn and sometimes even books. Great skill was employed in the workmanship so that it was often a very beautiful and expensive article, so much so that a person's status could be judged by the kind of girdle he or she was wearing.
Many restrictions were placed upon the quality of materials which could be used in order to uphold the standard, and accordingly only the best were considered suitable and any girdles that were found to be sub-standard and made of inferior materials were destroyed. The following patent was issued in the reign of Edward 111 in 1326-7:-
"The Girdlers of our City of London have shown that it was the custom that no man of the said trade should cause any Girdle of silk, of wool, of leather, or of linen thread to be garnished with any inferior metal than with intone (an alloy of copper, zinc, lead and tin), copper, iron, and steel, and that if any work should be found garnished with inferior metal, the same should be burnt. And if any work of the Girdlers shall be garnished with lead, pewter or tin, or other false thing the same shall be burnt and the workmen punished for their false work."
Laws were imposed which indicated what kind of girdles were allowed to be worn by people of different ranks. No one under the rank of Earl was allowed to use a golden girdle, and in Queen Mary's time, in 1553, a penalty of £10 per day was imposed for any man under a certain rank who wore silk on his girdle. In the 14th century the punishment for the theft of a girdle was hanging.
Many girdlers during this time were exceedingly wealthy, as shown by the fact that a girdler, though not a Girdler by name, was Lord Mayor of London in 1333. Most girdlers lived within a few hundred yards of the Girdlers Hall. Some idea of the number of people engaged in the trade of girdling may be gauged from the fact that in 1666 the number of artisan girdlers in London who belonged to the Company of Girdlers was 690 and the number of officers of the Guild was 81. Each member was entitled to have two apprentices bound to him and "to set on werke his wedded wife and daughters", so that the total number of people employed as girdlers was quite large considering that the total population of London was about 200,000 at that time, and indicates what an extensive trade Girdling was in the City of London.
The girdle gradually went out of fashion and had dropped out of general use altogether by the middle of the 18th century, but it is still used at grand ceremonial occasions and Coronations, in which a girdle of cloth of gold is placed upon the monarch.
Portable Antiquities Scheme entry detailing the intricacies of the strap end:
A finely made silver gilt strap end of late Medieval (c14th century) date, 27.6mm in length. Both sides of the object are elaborately decorated with pictorial panels of fabulous beasts. The front has a long-necked hybrid beast or gryllus standing left, with two hind legs and a feathery downward-hanging tail visible at the rear and a long neck, with a human face and hair at the front, curving up and back to the right over the creature's back. The front of the body and base of the neck are shrouded in drapery and there is a fine hatched background behind the head. The top of the panel has a trefoil pointed arch in gothic style. The panel on the reverse is rectangular, with a dog or hound displayed with rear end, legs and tail in the lower left corner and the head at the top in the middle. These elements are connected and partially concealed by drapery. The background of the design comprises a mosaic of diamond elements with small punched dots to their centres. The style of decoration is comparable to mythological beasts featured in the margin illustrations of illuminated manuscripts of the 14th century. Length: 27.6mm; Width: 12.3mm; Thickness: 3.8mm; Weight: 4.08g
This silver strap end is now on display at Curtis Museum, Alton - visit for free! Discover more:
