Hanging strap

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A hanging strap is a magical amulet strap that was worn by West Germanic women in the early Middle Ages . It was designed to ward off disaster and was placed openly over clothing along the thigh.

Carrying method

The hanging strap was part of the tunic- like four-brooched costume . It has two pairs one above the other mounted bow brooches fixed to a sash in the anterior pelvic region, which was worn on a belt (cingulum).

In the course of the 5th century, hanging straps were first detectable in the inventory of West Germanic women's graves. They come up with the introduction of the four-brooched costume. In the course of the 6th century the bow brooches became larger and the wearers carried them lower and lower towards the knees. At the transition from the 6th to the 7th century, the four-brooch costume gradually went out of fashion. The hanger is now worn on the left side above the hip. From now on it is attached directly to the belt without the bow brooches, which are gradually disappearing from the inventory of the graves and are no longer detectable in the later 7th century.

The band itself was made of leather or fabric that wealthier women might have been studded with bronze or silver sheet. At the lower end, the hanging strap was weighted down with a decorative object. This object could be a decorative disc made of metal or a large millefiori pearl , but animal teeth, keys or similar objects are also used. In some graves there are also small knives.

Sources

As with the four-fibula costume, no contemporary image documents or descriptions are known for the hanging strap. Archaeologists only gain knowledge of how the hanging straps are worn and how they work from systematic excavations of Germanic burial grounds. Since, according to Germanic tradition, the dead were buried in their traditional costume, meaningful findings can be expected here.

Since the hanging strap itself usually consisted of a very perishable organic material, it can only be reconstructed on the basis of its inorganic, metallic components. The graves of more affluent women are particularly expressive, in which the hanging strap was covered with a metal sheet.

In this context, the burial place in Cologne Cathedral of a presumed Franconian princess, the so-called Wisigarde grave, from the first half of the 6th century is a particularly well-preserved grave that has not been looted by grave robbers .

Another important source is the richly designed women's grave 91b from the early 6th century in the cemetery of Cologne -Müngersdorf. This grave shows clear evidence of a silver-studded amulet band.

literature

  • Carl Dietmar, Marcus Trier : COLONIA - City of Franconia: Cologne from the 5th to the 10th century. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 2011, p. 93.
  • Birgit Dübner-Manthey: The small devices on the belt hanger as part of a characteristic element of the female costume. Archaeological investigations into some areas of life and mentalities of women in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. In: Werner Affeldt, Anette Kuhn (Hrsg.): Women in history. 7. Interdisciplinary studies on the history of women in the early Middle Ages. Düsseldorf 1986. pp. 88-124.
  • Karin Krapp: The Alamanni: Warriors - Settlers - Early Christians . Theiss, Stuttgart 2007. ISBN 3-8062-2044-1 , pp. 118ff.
  • Rosemarie Müller, Heiko Steuer :  fibula and fibula costume. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 8, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1994, ISBN 3-11-013188-9 , pp. 549-556.
  • Ulrike Müssemeier: Women's costumes and jewelry. In: Gerhard Bauchhenß : The Franks in Wesseling. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1997, pp. 54-69.
  • Helga Schach-Dörges: On the four -brooched costume of the older Merovingian times. In: Claus Dobiat (ed.): Reliquiae gentium. Festschrift for Horst Wolfgang Böhme on his 65th birthday. Rahden 2005, pp. 349-357.
  • Frank Siegmund : Merovingian time on the Lower Rhine. Rheinland-Verlag GmbH Cologne, 1998, p. 55f.
  • Claudia Theune : Useful and useless on a long line. Comments on a female traditional costume of the Merovingian period. In: Helga Brandt, Julia K. Koch (eds.): Queen, nun, farmer's wife. Women in the early Middle Ages. Münster 1996. pp. 55-72.
  • Gudula Zeller: Women's costume. In: Alfried Wieczorek , Patrick Périn, Karin von Welck , Wilfried Menghin : The Franks - Les Francs. Volume 2. Zabern, Mainz 1996, p. 673ff.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Müssemeier 1997, p. 54.
  2. ↑ Otto Doppelfeld : The two Franconian graves under the Cologne Cathedral. In: Otto Doppelfeld, Renate Pirling : Franconian princes in the Rhineland. The graves from Cologne Cathedral, from Krefeld-Gellep and Morken. Rheinland-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1966. pp. 30-49.
  3. ^ Fritz Fremersdorf : The Franconian burial ground Cologne-Müngersdorf. de Gruyter Verlag, Berlin 1955. pp. 115, 133, 147f, plate 47.