Overview
Limoges enamelling was a cultural phenomenon in medieval Europe. Limoges in Aquitaine was the most famous and successful centre of the craft from about 1150 onwards. Its craftsmen created enamels on copper, distinctive for their vivid blues and multi-coloured rosettes. This book investigates the presence of Limoges enamels in medieval England, which was an early market for them, following the marriage of King Henry II in 1152 to Eleanor of Aquitaine, a marriage which brought him Aquitaine, and with it Limoges. This pioneering survey of Limoges enamels in England focuses on what has been found - when and where. Some objects have been excavated by archaeologists, others found by chance or by metal detectorists. The Gazetteer is arranged by county of find-spot, and details the appearance, condition and provenance of surviving pieces. A new and quite separate story emerges from examining the particular damage sustained by numbers of enamels. Many pieces associated with the rituals of the Catholic church show deliberate mutilation. Corpus figures of Christ, once attached to crosses, show the most severe damage, missing hands and feet, or heads and limbs. Where find-spots are concerned, some pieces were found buried deep under church chancel floors or embedded inside church walls. Who might have placed them there and when? This strange pattern of concealment coupled with the troublingly consistent damage seems to provide evidence that these enamels were attacked by Protestant zealots in the 16th century Reformation, following the Tudor royal edicts of the 1530s, which classed many liturgical objects as ‘monuments of superstition and idolatry’.
Full Product Details
Author: Marian Campbell (Independent Researcher, Victoria & Albert Museum (retired))
Publisher: Archaeopress
Imprint: Archaeopress Archaeology
ISBN: 9781803278834
ISBN 10: 1803278838
Pages: 250
Publication Date: 30 October 2025
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available, will be POD
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon it's release. This is a print on demand item which is still yet to be released.
Author Information
Marian Campbell, M.A., was educated at University College London and is a specialist in the decorative arts and metalwork, especially medieval goldsmiths’ work, enamels and jewellery. After a career at the Victoria & Albert Museum, until 2014 as Senior Curator of Metalwork and Hon. Research fellow, she now writes and lectures. Her books and articles include ‘Metalwork in Durham Cathedral’, in Durham Cathedral, ed. David Brown (2015), Medieval European Jewellery (2009), Decorative Ironwork (1997), and Medieval Enamels (1983).
