Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Belt Plaques, erroneously attributed to Queen Aregonde
  • Creator:
  • Description: These plaques and the other finery discovered with them have been attributed to Queen Aregonde, wife of Clothar I, King of the Franks. The archaeological evidence presented by Bonnie Effros, however, shows that the burial occurred after the year 600, but that Aregonde died ca.565-570. Furthermore, a signet ring accompanying the belt plaque is inscribed with the name "Arnegundis." It is likely that this tomb did not belong to Queen Aregonde, but to another woman of high status.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Belts Burials Grave Goods Jewelry
  • Geographic Area: France
  • Century: 7
  • Date: ca. 630
  • Related Work: Signet ring discovered in tomb: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Signet_ring_Louvre_MAN87432.jpg?uselang=it; Fibulae discovered in tomb: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Fibulae_Aregund_MAN87424.jpg?uselang=it View of all jewelry recovered from the tomb in Saint Denis: http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=obj_view_obj&objet=cartel_6306_7993_ov026331.001.jpg_obj.html&flag=false
  • Current Location: Paris, Louvre Museum, Department of Decorative Arts, MAN 87431
  • Original Location:
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Metalwork
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Silver; Glass paste; Garnets
  • Donor:
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): //
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: Discovered in a tomb in cemetery of abbey church of Saint Denis in 1959. For a discussion of the archaeological evidence, see Bonnie Effros, Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle Ages (London, 2003), 122-123.