Amor Brooch

Mid-Fifteenth Century
The letters hanging from the brooch spell ‘amor.’
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Connection to Website Themes

Spousal Power Dyanmics: The museum object record cites an example of a brooch similar to this one used as a betrothal gift.¹ As part of courtship rituals, grooms would give brides valuable material tokens of love and affection. This speaks to the potential of a different power dynamic ahead of the wedding, one which might have at times provided women with the upper hand.

Community Social Norms: This object reinforces the community social norm of connecting representations of love to expensive material objects. The most affluent in a community could engage in these types of symbolic representations of the high value accorded to feelings of love. The traditions of courtly love reinforced the connection between high-value material objects and high levels of love. This adds weight to the view that medieval marriages frequently emphasized love matches more than economic or political calculation.

Church and State: This object lacks any direct representation of the major institutions of medieval society, the church and state. An object like this proves that these institutions lacked the ubiquitity that might be assumed if one read only the documents produced by the authorities of those institutions.

What is Love: The cultural status of love, and likely some version of the concept of courtly love, surfaces in this object. It highly valuable materials of emerald paste, diamond, gold, and pearls indicates the status accorded to the emotional state of intense affection.