A unique late medieval framed purse from New Market (Nowy Targ) square in Wrocław

Abstract

The paper concerns a ring-framed purse found during rescue excavations conducted on the Nowy Targ square in Wroclaw (2010-2012). Such purses have not been present in the Polish archaeological literature and most of the analogies are known from foreign museum collections. Contrary to those specimens, originating primarily from England and the lands of today’s Germany, the Wroclaw purse has a wooden frame and it is made of low quality leather. Its biography is interesting. The object was discovered in the layers dated to the 2nd half of the 13th c.-the beginning of the 14th c., while the other known ring-framed purses are much later (end of the 15th c., 16th c.). Olaf Goubitz states that items of such type appear after 1425. However, they are depicted in the so called Codex Manesse dated to 1300-1340, which corresponds with the chronology of the Wroclaw find. The indirect analogies as well as all the data suggest that the purse was a homemade product made for self use. Its early date (especially in comparison to other known specimens and most of depictions in iconography) pose a question if the wooden ring-framed purse was a rare cheap imitation of luxury products or if it is an example of common objects intended for everyday use, which only rarely are recorded in archaeological material and written sources. Solving the problem is impossible based on the one individual find. However, it is worth to remember that similar rare, forgotten or “unpreserved” objects can change our image and understanding of the medieval material culture.