New Publication: ‘The Social Lives of Medieval Rings’, edited by Jitske Jasperse

The essays in The Social Lives of Medieval Rings focus on rings as small objects that have touched upon people, places, and events; rings have also featured in scholastic debates and form our modern museum collections. Contributors collectively argue that a closer look at these diminutive artifacts—both precious and mundane—alongside an assessment of their place within the visual, archaeological, and written record, and in museum contexts tells us more nuanced stories about how and why these small and sensory items were crafted and created connections between people and institutions. Their focus on the social aspects of medieval finger rings unites the contributions of nine scholars with backgrounds in art history, history, archaeology, museum studies, and collecting. Together their essays cover material roughly ranging from 1100 to 1500 in Iberia, France, England, Germany, Rus, and Byzantium.

Find out more about this book on the Arc Humanities website.

Table of contents

Introduction. “Some Reflections on the Social Lives of Rings,” by Jitske Jasperse

Chapter 1. “Haptic Histories: The Social Life of Rings in French Late Medieval Inventories and Testaments,” by Mariah Proctor-Tiffany

Chapter 2. “Archaeological Evidence of Later Medieval and Early Modern Finger-Rings in Britain: Rings, Experiences, and Emotions,” by Eleanor R. Standley

Chapter 3. “Changing Hands: On the Uses, Meaning, and Circulation of Rings Amongst the Iberian Nobility from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Century,” by Inés Calderón Medina

Chapter 4. “A Sign of Women’s Power: Signet Rings in Medieval Rus,” by Christian Raffensperger

Chapter 5. “The Social Use of Rings Among the Muslims of al-Andalus,” by Ana Labarta

Chapter 6. “As a Seal or a Sign: Bishops’ Rings and their Metaphors,” by Juliette Calvarin

Chapter 7. “Authenticating the Rings of the ‘Nine Holy Bishops’: Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, from Modern to Medieval Contexts,” by Therese Martin

Chapter 8. “’Certainly a Very Fine Object’: Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, Collectors of Jewellery and Wealth in the Twentieth Century,” by Elizabeth McCord

Epilogue. “Inside the Vitrine: Rings in Museums Today,” by Sandra Hindman