The 16th Century Pomander Chaplet
Introduction
A chaplet was a strand of 10 beads with a metal ring (to put over a finger) on one end and a tassel or cross (or both) on the other, as illustrated in the picture of the Paidren Chaplet shown below. A Chaplet was also known as a ‘tenner’ because it was a strand of 10 beads. This string of beads was used to pray. The Catholic prayer ‘Our Father’ was usually said on the large bead and ‘Hail Mary’ was said on each of the rest. When you got to the last bead you would start all over again.
Paidren Beag – French orign, 16th Century
Prayer Chaplet of Ivory.
(Picture unavailable)
Pomander Beads were hollow glass beads filled with a highly aromatic substance like cloves, lavender, or musk. Hollow glass beads were used during the 16th Century in rosary beads and necklaces. A wardrobe account of King Charles the V of France in 1390 was said to have 19 rosaries made of ‘rose-tinted amber which were filled with musk. In 1514, Mary Queen of Scotts was beheaded while wearing a necklace of pomander beads (Dubin, 90). Surviving examples of rosaries consisting of hollow beads are displayed from Jargstorf’s ‘Glass Beads from Europe’ (Attachment A).
I make hollow glass beads using lampwork techniques and I decided to use pomander beads to make a chaplet/tenner. I made a Pomander Chaplet/Tenner, seen below, of amber colored glass and filled with crushed cloves.
Background Information on Pomander Chaplets/Rosaries
Buddhists pray on 108 beads, Muslims (as early as the ninth century) pray on 99 beads and it’s reputed that praying on beads goes back farther to an even older Hindu religion that worshipped the god Shiva. Some believe that Europeans brought back the custom of praying on beads from the Middle East during the Crusades while others believe that Lady Godiva in 1041 used a string of beads to pray (Winston-Allen, 14) . However, the custom started it is an established fact that the Rosary/Chaplet/Tenner existed during the early part of the middle ages and extended into the renaissance and the 16th Century. Picture to the left displays two surviving rosary sketches from Archiduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, 16th Century. They are composed of blown and gilded beads.They are strands of 50 beads.
It was during the 13th Century that the Catholic Church created the need for glass beads when the use of of Rosary Beads became popular. Other types of beads were used for rosaries but the glass bead and gemstones were more popular because of the aesthetic properties. The custom of using the rosary as a praying tool was welcomed since it was the only form of ornamentation the Church allowed (Dubin, 90). Glass beads were being made in Venice and other highly populated areas of Europe and were soon the most popular beads used for the Rosary (Jargstorf, 27). To help the popularity, organizations like ‘Italian Confraternities in the Sixteenth Century’ were created with the focused activities based upon the use of the Rosary. An example is the confraternity of Parabiago that boasted a membership of 2,952 women in the year 1596. It’s no wonder the Rosary was so popular and the need for more glass beads was required.
Hollow Glass Beads
Glass bead production was driven by the popular use of Rosaries. Glass bead centers cropped up all over Europe by the 14th Century. By the time the glass makers emerged into the 16th century some fantastic items were being created. The pomander beads became popular because besides being very pretty, it held musk, cloves or myrrh. These spices were believed to ward off the plague and are the very reason they were used in this way (Dubin, 90-91).
The 16th Century lamp worker created hollow beads in either of two ways. They either blew the glass into a hollow orb by using a hollow tube with a glob of glass at the end or they wound the molten glass on the mandrel little by little until two flat disks were parallel to each other. The ends were slowly built inward until they were sealed. Working this orb in the fire caused the air trapped inside to expand, thus creating the hollow bead (Jargstorf, 35).
It’s no surprise that Venice was the leader of glass bead manufacture. Murano Island is one of the most famous Islands created exclusively for glass making. As the story goes, the glass makers of Venice were asked to leave the boundaries of the city for fear of the furnaces burning down the city. They were sent to Murano Island, just off the coast, and due to this isolation, Murano Island became the Glass making center of Europe and is still considered such today.
Construction of a Pomander Chaplet
The glass hollow beads were created using the same technique as was used in the 16th Century (Dunham, 202); I held a metal mandrel covered with a clay substance called bead release in one hand over a fire, I melted a glass rod with the other hand over that same fire, then applied the molten glass little by little to the metal mandrel on the portion that was coated with bead release allowing the molten glass to wrap itself around the rod creating two disks, side by side. I slowly applied the glass until these two disks were able to be joined creating a very distorted hollow bead. I then rotated the bead in the fire until the air trapped on the inside being heated by the fire, expanded, to create the finished bead. All the beads spent time in an annealing oven which allows the atoms to settle and take stress from the glass within the bead - meaning, the glass will not crack afterwards. Each bead is made one at a time. The clay substance called bead release allows the bead to come free from the metal mandrel after the annealing process and must be removed from the inside of the hollow bead by using a small round file. One at a time, the beads need to be reamed until the bead release clay is gone. Each bead must then be washed by poking a little piece of cotton inside the hollow bead and using the same round file, the little piece of cotton is pushed around cleaning the inside of the bead. The bead is then run through water to clean away all residue. In the end you have a shiny polished bead. This process is done to each individual bead, one at a time.
Use a mortar and pestle to crush whole cloves to an almost power stage, then fill the hollow beads. Take each bead one at a time, push the crushed clove mix into the hole of the bead until it has enough to achieve an aroma but also show that it moves around illustrating they are hollow beads. Cloves were one of the many fragrant herbs used inside hollow beads to create pomander beads.
Leather cording is used to string the beads. It has a stiffness to it that allows you to push it through the crushed cloves inside the bead. You can tie a knot between each hollow bead and the knot helps seal the hole, keeping the cloves inside. Leather cord is strong enough to resist the sharp edges of the bead hole. It gives the chaplet flexibility in order to allow holding the chaplet while praying. A metal ring at the end of a chaplet/Tenner allows the user to put the ring over a finger while holding the strand of beads. The tassel is made of 100% black silk, a material used for many accessory items during the 16th Century (Winston-Allen, 116).
Pomander Chaplet Bibliography
Dubin, Louis Sherr, “The History of Beads” Harry N. Abrams, Thames and Hudson, LTD. , London, 1987
Dunham, Bandhu Scott, ‘Contemporary Lampworking’ Salusa Glassworks, P.O. Box 2354, Prescott, AZ 86302
1997
Hoyt, Homer L., “Glassblowing” Crafts & Arts, Golden, CO 80401 1989
Jargstorf, Sibylle, “Glass Beads from Europe” Schiffer Publishing, 77 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310 1995
Jenkins, Cindy, “Making Glass Beads” Lark Books, 50 College Street, Ashville, NC 1997
Liu, Robert K., “Collectible Beads” Ornament Inc., Keystone Way, Vista, CA 92083 1995
Winston-Allen, Anne, “Stories of the Rose”, The Pennsylvania State University, 1942
Wolf, Ernesto, “Early Glass of the Ancient World” Verlag Gerd Hatze, 636 Broadway, 12th Floor New York, NY 10012 1994
A chaplet was a strand of 10 beads with a metal ring (to put over a finger) on one end and a tassel or cross (or both) on the other, as illustrated in the picture of the Paidren Chaplet shown below. A Chaplet was also known as a ‘tenner’ because it was a strand of 10 beads. This string of beads was used to pray. The Catholic prayer ‘Our Father’ was usually said on the large bead and ‘Hail Mary’ was said on each of the rest. When you got to the last bead you would start all over again.
Paidren Beag – French orign, 16th Century
Prayer Chaplet of Ivory.
(Picture unavailable)
Pomander Beads were hollow glass beads filled with a highly aromatic substance like cloves, lavender, or musk. Hollow glass beads were used during the 16th Century in rosary beads and necklaces. A wardrobe account of King Charles the V of France in 1390 was said to have 19 rosaries made of ‘rose-tinted amber which were filled with musk. In 1514, Mary Queen of Scotts was beheaded while wearing a necklace of pomander beads (Dubin, 90). Surviving examples of rosaries consisting of hollow beads are displayed from Jargstorf’s ‘Glass Beads from Europe’ (Attachment A).
I make hollow glass beads using lampwork techniques and I decided to use pomander beads to make a chaplet/tenner. I made a Pomander Chaplet/Tenner, seen below, of amber colored glass and filled with crushed cloves.
Background Information on Pomander Chaplets/Rosaries
Buddhists pray on 108 beads, Muslims (as early as the ninth century) pray on 99 beads and it’s reputed that praying on beads goes back farther to an even older Hindu religion that worshipped the god Shiva. Some believe that Europeans brought back the custom of praying on beads from the Middle East during the Crusades while others believe that Lady Godiva in 1041 used a string of beads to pray (Winston-Allen, 14) . However, the custom started it is an established fact that the Rosary/Chaplet/Tenner existed during the early part of the middle ages and extended into the renaissance and the 16th Century. Picture to the left displays two surviving rosary sketches from Archiduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, 16th Century. They are composed of blown and gilded beads.They are strands of 50 beads.
It was during the 13th Century that the Catholic Church created the need for glass beads when the use of of Rosary Beads became popular. Other types of beads were used for rosaries but the glass bead and gemstones were more popular because of the aesthetic properties. The custom of using the rosary as a praying tool was welcomed since it was the only form of ornamentation the Church allowed (Dubin, 90). Glass beads were being made in Venice and other highly populated areas of Europe and were soon the most popular beads used for the Rosary (Jargstorf, 27). To help the popularity, organizations like ‘Italian Confraternities in the Sixteenth Century’ were created with the focused activities based upon the use of the Rosary. An example is the confraternity of Parabiago that boasted a membership of 2,952 women in the year 1596. It’s no wonder the Rosary was so popular and the need for more glass beads was required.
Hollow Glass Beads
Glass bead production was driven by the popular use of Rosaries. Glass bead centers cropped up all over Europe by the 14th Century. By the time the glass makers emerged into the 16th century some fantastic items were being created. The pomander beads became popular because besides being very pretty, it held musk, cloves or myrrh. These spices were believed to ward off the plague and are the very reason they were used in this way (Dubin, 90-91).
The 16th Century lamp worker created hollow beads in either of two ways. They either blew the glass into a hollow orb by using a hollow tube with a glob of glass at the end or they wound the molten glass on the mandrel little by little until two flat disks were parallel to each other. The ends were slowly built inward until they were sealed. Working this orb in the fire caused the air trapped inside to expand, thus creating the hollow bead (Jargstorf, 35).
It’s no surprise that Venice was the leader of glass bead manufacture. Murano Island is one of the most famous Islands created exclusively for glass making. As the story goes, the glass makers of Venice were asked to leave the boundaries of the city for fear of the furnaces burning down the city. They were sent to Murano Island, just off the coast, and due to this isolation, Murano Island became the Glass making center of Europe and is still considered such today.
Construction of a Pomander Chaplet
The glass hollow beads were created using the same technique as was used in the 16th Century (Dunham, 202); I held a metal mandrel covered with a clay substance called bead release in one hand over a fire, I melted a glass rod with the other hand over that same fire, then applied the molten glass little by little to the metal mandrel on the portion that was coated with bead release allowing the molten glass to wrap itself around the rod creating two disks, side by side. I slowly applied the glass until these two disks were able to be joined creating a very distorted hollow bead. I then rotated the bead in the fire until the air trapped on the inside being heated by the fire, expanded, to create the finished bead. All the beads spent time in an annealing oven which allows the atoms to settle and take stress from the glass within the bead - meaning, the glass will not crack afterwards. Each bead is made one at a time. The clay substance called bead release allows the bead to come free from the metal mandrel after the annealing process and must be removed from the inside of the hollow bead by using a small round file. One at a time, the beads need to be reamed until the bead release clay is gone. Each bead must then be washed by poking a little piece of cotton inside the hollow bead and using the same round file, the little piece of cotton is pushed around cleaning the inside of the bead. The bead is then run through water to clean away all residue. In the end you have a shiny polished bead. This process is done to each individual bead, one at a time.
Use a mortar and pestle to crush whole cloves to an almost power stage, then fill the hollow beads. Take each bead one at a time, push the crushed clove mix into the hole of the bead until it has enough to achieve an aroma but also show that it moves around illustrating they are hollow beads. Cloves were one of the many fragrant herbs used inside hollow beads to create pomander beads.
Leather cording is used to string the beads. It has a stiffness to it that allows you to push it through the crushed cloves inside the bead. You can tie a knot between each hollow bead and the knot helps seal the hole, keeping the cloves inside. Leather cord is strong enough to resist the sharp edges of the bead hole. It gives the chaplet flexibility in order to allow holding the chaplet while praying. A metal ring at the end of a chaplet/Tenner allows the user to put the ring over a finger while holding the strand of beads. The tassel is made of 100% black silk, a material used for many accessory items during the 16th Century (Winston-Allen, 116).
Pomander Chaplet Bibliography
Dubin, Louis Sherr, “The History of Beads” Harry N. Abrams, Thames and Hudson, LTD. , London, 1987
Dunham, Bandhu Scott, ‘Contemporary Lampworking’ Salusa Glassworks, P.O. Box 2354, Prescott, AZ 86302
1997
Hoyt, Homer L., “Glassblowing” Crafts & Arts, Golden, CO 80401 1989
Jargstorf, Sibylle, “Glass Beads from Europe” Schiffer Publishing, 77 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310 1995
Jenkins, Cindy, “Making Glass Beads” Lark Books, 50 College Street, Ashville, NC 1997
Liu, Robert K., “Collectible Beads” Ornament Inc., Keystone Way, Vista, CA 92083 1995
Winston-Allen, Anne, “Stories of the Rose”, The Pennsylvania State University, 1942
Wolf, Ernesto, “Early Glass of the Ancient World” Verlag Gerd Hatze, 636 Broadway, 12th Floor New York, NY 10012 1994