| Abstract [eng] |
In the Middle Ages, people typically adorned themselves with rings, brooches, necklaces, earrings, and, less frequently, headbands, temple ornaments, neck rings, and bracelets. Buttons, pins, and other decorative details for clothing and accessories were also common. Jewellery was made from gold, silver, copper, tin-lead, or tin alloys, and was often embellished with glass eyelets or precious and semi-precious stones such as amber, carnelian, rock crystal, chalcedony, garnet, pearl, jasper, citrine, turquoise, and serpentinite, as well as beads made from these materials. Some types of jewellery continued earlier traditions—for example, penannular brooches, spiral rings, rings with thickened or widened fronts—while others represented new forms introduced to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Middle Ages. These innovations included earrings, new types of headbands and temple ornaments, buttons, novel necklaces and pendants, new brooch types (star-shaped, fade-style, etc.), and rings that were banded, ornate, massive with settings, or featuring a widened front decorated with symbols or ornaments. At the same time, the traditions of wearing neck-rings and bracelets gradually declined. Jewellery reflected a diverse social spectrum, spanning from the elite to ordinary members of the community. Items varied in materials (precious or base metals), technical craftsmanship, originality, and, conversely, mass distribution among a broad circle of consumers across wide areas. Some pieces echoed European jewellery trends—for instance, brooches, certain types of rings, and mountings from hoards found in Vilnius, Kernavė, and Trakai—and may have been produced locally by native or itinerant goldsmiths or imported. Cultural and trade connections with both Western and Eastern regions facilitated the introduction of new forms, types, and luxurious or rare items, encompassing jewellery and other objects alike. Evidence of local production includes crucibles, matrices, and casting moulds used from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, as well as rings cast in them, tools, unfinished or defective items, and the presence of workshops not only for goldsmiths (jewellers) but also for amber and bone processing in fourteenth-century Vilnius. Historical sources also mention the first recorded goldsmith, Jacob, listed in the Riga Debt Book on February 13, 1292. More detailed information about goldsmiths appears only from the late fifteenth century in the account books of the estate of ruler Alexander Jagiellon. Masters producing jewellery in the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries are identified as goldsmiths and were responsible not only for personal adornments but also for tableware, tools, candlesticks, and other items. The designation “jeweller” emerges in sources only from the mid-seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. During the Middle Ages, the first guild for goldsmiths was established in 1495, regulating the silver standard, setting requirements for attaining the title of master—which included producing a goblet, a seal, and a ring with a precious stone—and overseeing quality control on silver alloys. |
