New gear - A 13th century purse / money belt.

  A 13th century purse / money belt.

I need a new purse as part of my upgrade for my re-enactment kit and this post by Alex Barnes in the Medieval Makers group on Facebook gave me the inspiration to try something a little different from the usual pouch.

The source illustration below is from a good English 13th century source, Corpus Christi College, MS 016II - Matthew Paris OSB, Chronica maiora II (part 2). The purse / money belt I made is on the right.

 

Made out of a long piece of scrap linen, the money belt fits around my somewhat expansive waist and the cord ties through the button holes to secure it in place.

The two brass rings slide down the belt to seal the ends, which hold the money, from the gap in the middle, a slight twist in the middle helps close the gap up a bit too.

This design is very similar to the larger 18th century "market wallets" which were commonly used as the period equivalent to a shopping bag. The bag being twisted at the middle gap to shut it and carried folded over the shoulder. I have seen these larger bags mentioned by Scandinavian 12th/13th century re-enactors but have yet to find a reference source for England.