Aumoniere's (Alms Purses)

Published on the Oak - a Arts and Science publication for the Kingdom of Atlantia on 6/30/2025:

https://oak.atlantia.sca.org/materials-of-construction-for-beaded-and-goldwork-aumoniere/

by Mistress Adair of Maykswell

Mistress Adair of Makyswell, OP, is an avid historical beader. She says she is “passionate about [Bead Embroidery and Bead Weaving as well as Gold Work Embroidery] and in the current world I am known as a competitive Bead Embroidery specialist and am one of 200 participants world-wide that compete annually by invitation only.” You can sample her current world items by visiting: 

https://sites.google.com/view/adairofmakyswell/home.

Mistress Adair was the 2025 Kingdom of Atlantia A&S Champion of the Winter Reign and Gulf Wars. She was generous enough to share her work with The Oak, and we have followed her suggestions for breaking her thorough documentation into multiple articles for readers to enjoy!

The first article is “The Pelican Cap of a Lady, Maria Woeltzerin“. This piece was originally presented for Twelfth Night as its first presentation and then subsequently at Gulf Wars.

The second article is “Aumônières – The Alms Purse”. This piece was also originally presented at Twelfth Night and then presented at Spring Crown Tournament for Tempore Atlantia and was awarded Best use of the York Rose.

The third article is “The Historic Evolution of Beaded Netting”.

Introduction of the Aumônières –  The Alms Purse 

Dietmar von Aist shows a variety of purses and belts to his love interest while disguised as a peddler in the Manesse Codex, circa 1300–1320, Zürich, Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. pal. Germ. 848, fol. 64 recto. Belts and purses were apparently often sold together at the same shops. See the Egerton Genesis picture below. (Camille p. 52)

The simplest and concise explanation for this style of purse was found in reference by La Cotte Simple at https://cottesimple.com/articles/aumonieres/. I have found in researching goldwork – while spending time in the Cloisters Medieval Exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art– that her use and examples were wonderfully presented, and I would have others view her research on this specific subject. Examples of the goldwork and style have been constructed for personal decorative use which befits my persona and style. 

Aumônières in specific 

An aumônière is a purse or pouch, by its simplest definition. Also called alms or almoner purses/pouches in English, they may have originally earned their name from the New Testament’s exhortation to provide alms for the poor as a part of one’s Christian duty. The concept of spontaneous charity was not unknown to a medieval Christian of means and giving money straight from one’s private purse to a mendicant or pilgrim was typical behavior. Most likely, though, the name simply stuck as a catch-all term for purses worn by people going about their daily business, regardless of alms-giving. Purses in Medieval Europe served a number of purposes: carrying personal effects, storing religious relics (as a form of reliquary), and storing seals used in stamping documents. 

For the most part, this discussion covers textile purses, usually embellished with embroidery, bead embroidery, pearl embroidery and goldwork, as a part of the 14th century person’s daily costume—what I will call aumônières. They seem to have been most popularly referred to as “aumônières” from about the mid-13th century to the mid-to-late-14th century, though textual references also use the term “purse”, or “bourse”. These sorts of embellished textile purses still exist in a number of collections: the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City), the Musée Historique des Tissus (Lyon, France), the Musée nationale du Moyen Age (“the Cluny”; Paris, France), the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Hamburg, Germany), and the Cathedral Treasuries at Sens and Troyes (France), and Xanten (Germany). (Carlano p. 113) 

 Two Aumônières displayed at the Coronation of Adelhait and Christoph Submitted for Tempore themed the York Rose – 1st place. 

For the Spring Coronation of Christoph and Adelhait, I elected to enter this depiction of the White Rose of York, a competition for the Coronation’s celebration for the theme of the War of the Roses. As I formally descend from, in the real world on my paternal side from the House of Plantangenet and Neville what could be a greater joy than to recreate the Rose of the house of York? 

The white rose of York painted in a manuscript tempore King Edward IV (1461–1483)

As this submission is both goldwork and bead/pearl embroidery, I would like to discuss the history of goldwork as well as the history of bead and pearl embroidery and why I elected to present this belt purse in both elements for this submission as my “Best Use”. 

Let us visit the beauty of goldwork in brief introduction: 

A Brief History of Goldwork 

Whilst the history of Goldwork goes way back, its origins are long since lost, with one of the earliest historical references being found in the Bible (Exodus 28 & 29). 

It is believed that goldwork embroidery originated in China, with the craft itself spreading across the continents with the silk caravans, to Asia, Persia, India, the Middle East, as well as the ancient civilizations of Assyria, Babylonia and Egypt. It also reached North Africa, Spain, Italy, Western Europe, Great Britain, Scandinavia and latterly North America. 

One of the oldest and finest surviving examples of goldwork, are the fragments of stole and naniple of Saint Cuthburt (Durnham Cathedral), which was discovered in his coffin. Stitched between 909 and 916, it shows surface couching of pure gold thread wrapped around a silk core. A technique still used to this day. 

Opus Anglicanum (or English work) stretched from 1050 to 1380 and was at its height between 1250 to 1350 (The Great Period). It was a time that English embroidery excelled and its reputation extended far beyond England. In Italy and Spain (especially) many fine vestments bear unmistakable evidence of an English origin. Many articles may have originally been offered to Rome and redistributed to churches elsewhere. In 1246, Pope Innocent IV reportedly had admired the gold embroidered vestments suggesting to the abbots of the Cistercian order (of England) his desire to have gold embroideries sent to him. This indicates that English work was becoming well known on the Continent. 

In 1295 the Vatican Inventory listed more examples of Opus Anglicanum than any other type of embroidery. Most embroideries were carried out in the London workshops by master embroiderers and were costly. Completed pieces had considerable value thanks to the gold, silver and silver gilt thread, seed pearls and semi-precious stones that adorned them. Its subsequent decline has been linked historically by the Black Death, where many professional embroiderers lost their lives to the disease. The disease, ironically, is said to have travelled from central Asia along the silk route, finally reaching England around 1348. The Syon (1300-1320) and Butler Bowden copes are some of the finest examples of this period. The Syon cope, (taking its name from the monastery of Syon) during the dissolution, was taken by nuns who had wandered through France, Spain and Portugal, before returning the cope to Great Britain in 1830, when the nuns returned from Lisbon. The cope shows a goldwork technique known as “underside couching” which creates a “hinge” that gave the work flexibility.1

Currently, the Syon Cope is housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum South, Kensington in the Medieval Renaissance – Room 9 #83-1864. The Syon Cope is a stunning example of opus anglicanum (‘English work’), a Latin term for the exquisite luxury embroideries hand-made in England in the 14th century. Hugely expensive, these embroideries were highly prized for their use of gold and silver thread, and a technique called underside couching, which allowed the metal threads to shimmer and glitter in movement.23

This cope (a type of ceremonial cloak worn in church services and processions) is unique among surviving examples of opus anglicanum. Its linen ground is entirely covered in embroidery, but the background is worked in red and green silk, instead of metal threads. The metal thread was made by wrapping fine strips cut from wafer-thin sheets of silver around a silk core; the silver was often gilded to look like gold. In the Syon Cope, gilded silver thread has been used to pick out details on the figures, while the body of the crucified Christ stands out in contrasting silver – a detail unique to this cope. 

It was not unusual for worn out articles to be burned to recover gold. An example was Archbishop Lanfranc’s worn out Chausables and copes that were reduced to ashes in 1371-73 “for the sake of the gold in the embroidery”. 

Medieval Goldwork (12th-15th Century):

A period of decline which some texts refer to as “Decline and Revival 1330-1530” followed. It was felt that designs and skills were of lesser quality, including ecclesiastical embroidery. Having developed a marked style, differing considerably from earlier periods, figures become shorter and clumsy looking. Twisted columns were being replaced with square pillars. Devices such as Fleur-de-Lys, Tudor Roses and others of floral character, were used, with arrangements of radiating lines, dotted with spangles, this added considerably to the lightness and contrast between the gold embroidery and the darker ground fabrics. 

During the 15th century the practice of embroidering motifs separately, to be then cut out and applied to silk or velvet ground, were then further enhanced by couching gold and silver threads to the ground material, around the motifs. 

Or Nue: 

Early in the 15th Century, Or Nue (also referred to as Italian shading or shaded gold) soon surpassed other goldwork techniques. This form of Goldwork embroidery, where pairs of gold thread are couched in place with different colored silk threads to form patterns or create pictures. The technique itself is one of the most time consuming of techniques, but it allowed embroidery designs. Often depicting figures or narrative scenes, these were deliberately stitched so that the metal shows through. The density and placement of silk over-stitching makes the design. The entire design, background and foreground, is stitched, using small upright stitches.

Tudor, Elizabethan and Stuart Goldwork (16th – 17th Century):

This period, famous for the reformation, witnessed a notable decline in the demand for ecclesiastical work but also sadly saw the destruction of many pieces. Many of the pieces were either destroyed to recover the gold or recycled for other uses, such as cushions (a must have accessory of the day) and interior decoration. Fortunately, some examples still exist for us to see today, thanks to those who risked their lives smuggling the same to the continent. 

Portrait of Margaret Layton 

(museum no: E214-1994) 

Victoria and Albert Museum, 

attributed to Marcus 

Gheeraerts the Younger 

(1561-1636)

With that said, however, the industry evolving around personal adornment, interior decorating and costume, saw Goldwork embroidery remain in favor, with the technique lavishly used as a means of displaying wealth. Much of the elaborate work was executed by professional houses with emphasis put on the skill of the professional male embroiderer, who would have had to have served upwards to an eight-year apprenticeship, before being allowed to work on such valuable pieces. Some of the larger private houses may also have had their own team of embroiderers. One historical article detailed over 400 ounces of gold having been removed from one of Henry VIII’s robes alone.4 

Bead And Pearl Embroidery 

I have several teaching syllabuses and I enclosed the one for Bead Embroidery 101 (Revision 5) for review when I displayed this project.5 I also displayed my Power Point of Historical Bead Embroidery.6

The Project 

There are only four embroidery stitches included in the making of this decorative belt pouch in gold work with bead and pearl embroidery. 

1. Goldwork couching. Bead Embroidery couching. 

2. Satin Stitch (I do not agree with plunging the purl-purl through fabric to knot it on the back side. I use satin stitch to secure the ends only). 

3. One bead/Pearl adherence 

4. Bead Embroidery two bead process as referenced in Bead Embroidery 101 

The pattern selected and then modified was a Tudor Rose pattern designed by Mary Corbett’s Needle-n-Thread. 

The pouch is in White Silk – White Linen 5.7 oz and then Green Silk for the interior. 

Pattern was traced in pencil for the Rose. Then the 2.0 purl-purl Gold was started with gold couching thread. 

All couching of purl-purl laid and bead and pearl embroidery begins.

Materials used: 

3mm-4mm and 6mm Glass Pearls 

Size 15 # Miyuki Clear glass Beads with Haloing 

Size 15 Toho White Luster beads 

Size 15 Toho Green beads 

Assorted gold spangles 

Gold on Silk Elizabethan Braid 

2mm Purl Purl 

Silk Gold wrapped thread for the Gold work of purl-purl and Braid 

The pouch is handsewn through all three layers. The top edging is completed with Elizabethan Braid (thank you Ann-Juliet). 

The final product is ready for display. All tassels were made in linen/cotton thread with pearls and decorative items. The drawstring cording is made with Kumihimo with silk thread and soldered rings in gold tone are used to guide the cording. Should I elect to add a shoulder strap at a later time it will be done in the silk and linen. 

References 

1. The History of Goldwork – http://www.thegoldworkguild.com/history 

2. The Victoria and Albert Museum – Kensington, England – Department of Medieval Embroideries – Curator correspondence. 

3. Browne, Clare; Davies, Glyn; Michael, M.A. English Medieval Embroidery: Opus Anglicanum, exhibition catalogue, London, Victoria and Albert Museum (London, 2016), cat no 33, p 165 

4. Luxury or Magnificense – Dress at the Court of Henry VIII, Maria Hayward, Pages 37 to 41, scans in possession, Maney Publishing @2007, ASIN#B01F9GDORA 

5. Bead Embroidery #101 (Revision 5) – Teaching Syllabus by Adair of Makyswell 

6. Historical Bead Embroidery in Power Point- active slide program during teaching 

Examples

Drawstring bag English, 1610–50 

DESCRIPTION: Red silk satin embroidered with gold metallic threads, seed pearls, metal purl, spangles, and bits of colored glass. Baroque design. Embroidery stitches include laid and couching, beading, bullion knots, braid stitch. Green and metallic braided cords and strap at top; two wood-core drawstring pull tassels covered in seed pearls, with silk, metallic thread and spangles. Green silk lining. 

PROVENANCE: Ex-Seligman Coll. (London); Elizabeth Day McCormick collection; Gift to the MFA, October 14, 1943 DIMENSIONS: Overall (without tassels and cord): 6 x 6 cm (2 3/8 x 2 3/8 in.) 

CREDIT LINE: The Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection

1600 Womens Bag (reticule) in gilt thread. Pleated silk with tassels. 

c- France 

Museum of Bags and Purses -Tassen Museum – Amsterdam, Netherlands

12th Century Bag Aumoneries (Alms Bag) – French purse 1170- 1190 

Presently in the Musee Alred-Bonno in Chelles, France

 Bag “ British” 

Early 17th Century  Metal thread on silk Metropolitan Museum of Art – LOC 29.23.20

In conclusion 

This concludes Part Two of three parts, which are linked at the beginning of this article.

One of the foundations of being a member of the Society of Creative Anachronism is for artisans to share and teach those that show interest in our chosen art.  We always do so with pride.  Therefore, I ask that the above documents are presented as personal teaching and research documents.  Please do not share or consider sharing with asking for permission as these are used for class reference materials and are my personal property.  

1.  The History of Goldwork – http://www.thegoldworkguild.com/history ↩︎

2. The Victoria and Albert Museum – Kensington, England – Department of
   Medieval Embroideries – Curator correspondence. ↩︎

3. Browne, Clare; Davies, Glyn; Michael, M.A. English Medieval Embroidery:
   Opus Anglicanum, exhibition catalogue, London, Victoria and Albert Museum
   (London, 2016), cat no 33, p 165 ↩︎

4. Luxury or Magnificense – Dress at the Court of Henry VIII -Maria Hayward
   Pages 37 to 41, scans in possession
   Maney Publishing @2007
   ASIN#B01F9GDORA
   ↩︎

5. Bead Embroidery #101 (Revision 5) – Teaching Syllabus by Adair of Makyswell ↩︎

6. Historical Bead Embroidery in Power Point- active slide program during teaching ↩︎

alms purse beadwork embroiderygoldwork pearls