Purses could be used for carrying personal goods, for giving money to the poor – as in an alms purse or aumônière-, they could be used for storing religious relics or to carry seals.
The purses which survive are often heavily embroidered. They may have been produced by professional embroiderers, nuns or by a woman with sufficient funds to be able to buy the silks to make the purse herself. The alms purse of Marie de Picquigny (France 1342) worked on linen in silk and gold thread is on view at the Musee de Moyen Age, Cluny Paris. It would seem that women’s purses were most likely to be of the drawstring variety.
They often depict a couple engaged in the pursuit of courtly love. In the first example the young man is offering his companion a ring while in the second the couple are playing a game with a hood. Stylised oak trees provide a garden setting – and a reminder of allegorical gardens of romance. The Lovers’ Purse dates from about 1340.
The Dominican Abbey at Poissy allowed its nuns to embroider purses for their visitors. Christine de Pizan’s daughter was nun at the convent and a companion to Princess Marie. The nuns were still producing embroidery when Mary Queen of Scots was a prisoner in England during the sixteenth century. She ordered coifs with gold and silver crowns on them (Owen, p.386).
In 1317 when Queen Jeanne of Burgundy was crowned her accounts show the purchase of 12 embroidered purses, 6 embroidered velvet purses, 6 embroidered samite purses and 16 other purses – most of which she must have given away as gifts (Farmer 87-88). Mahout of Artois gave away a purse embroidered with pearls in 1319. (Ibid, 88). Farmer returns to the topic in The Silk Industries of Medieval Paris (2016).
It should be noted that the production of highly decorated bags did not end in England with the Reformation. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were notable for highly decorated sweet bags.
https://threegoldbees.com/projects/embroidered-lovers-purse
Farmer, Sharon. ‘Small Mercery Goods,’ in Medieval Clothing and Textiles, volume 2. Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Robin Netherton (eds). (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006)pp. 87-89
Owen, Mrs Henry & Egerton, Mary Margaret. The Illuminated Book of Needlework. Comprising Knitting, Netting, Crochet, and Embroidery. By Mrs. Henry Owen. Preceded by a History of Needlework, Including an Account of the Ancient Historical Tapestries. Edited by the Countess of Wilton. (London, 1847)
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