 |
| Detail of braid included in 'Nun's book' Below: Page from Nun's book 2008.67.1 |
Loop braiding or fingerloop
braiding is the name given to a number of techniques where loops of thread,
attached to a central point, are hooked around fingers and interlaced in
different ways to create braids. This technique was common in Europe through
the Medieval and the beginning of the Early Modern period, but the craft
appears to have fallen into obscurity from the 17th century onwards.
Historical examples of such braids are rare due to the degrading of the
textiles through the centuries but a number of manuscripts survive with ‘patterns’
for such braids. The Nun’s Book is one such pattern-book, notable for having
surviving examples of braids (figs. 1 & 2) but the book becomes truly unique when you consider the type of
braids it contains, letter-braids. These are braids with letters and messages
woven into them of which very few examples remain. The technique of creating
such braids was all but lost until the pioneering research and analysis of
Naomi Speiser and Joy Boutrup.
While the Nun’s Book is a pattern book the instructions contained within are
incredibly opaque to a modern reader, a series of baffling tables seemingly
impenetrable even by experts.
However, through in depth analysis of the surviving braids and experimentation,
the technique has been cracked, resurrected after more than 200 years and along
with it an intriguing glimpse into their original creators and the braids’
potential purposes.
In Appendix I of Speiser &
Boutrup (2009) is a list, straightforwardly titled ‘Texts for Letter Braids’,
suggestions found within The Nun’s Book and other manuscripts of messages
people could weave into their braids. What I found within this list was
strange, surprising, and touching. The majority of the texts were deeply
affectionate messages directed towards the wearer-
Deare friend I’le do my best Indeaver- To
knit your affection unto me forever
No greater portion would I crave- Then
whilst I live your Love to have
Take it and wear and think withal- My Love
is great though gift be small
Though far a parte- Yet neare in hearte
Moreover, we find similar
messages suggested in other letter braid manuscripts suggesting that this is
not simply a peculiarity of The Nun’s Book but an intended characteristic in
the creation of these braids-
My Love in this: Presented is[iv]
These suggest the braids were
intended as gifts between close friends or lovers, a memento while the other
was absent. A touching piece of history, but the story becomes more intriguing
when we realise these were most likely primarily exchanged between women, an
interpretation Speiser suggests in her work which is also apparent in some of
the suggested messages-
Heare May you see in Letters few- The Love
of her that honoreth you
Another aspect worth noting is
the emphasis some place on concealment of affection, a notion that the two
cannot freely express themselves-
I love you well but dare not show it-
Doe you the like but let me know it
The Love I owe I cannot showe
The question then becomes- what
was the nature of these relationships? Can we see these as expressing romantic
love between two women? Or do these instead show different standards of expressing
affection than modern normative conceptions? Are they both? While the lives of
the women who created and exchanged these braids are lost and we cannot speak
in certainties these grant us a tantalising glimpse into expressions of
intimacy between ordinary women of the 17th century. Even without
these certainties, it certainly serves as a potential challenge to our
preconceptions of this historical period, while also providing us examples of
how and where we might locate ‘queer’ lives in history.
Alex Grindley
Collections Intern
