The images of music, dancing, and hybrid creatures found on the Cleveland belt are also commonly found on courtly romantic gifts. Lena Sassetti, mentioned earlier, additionally received a mirror, a comb, and a purse after her marriage. Items like these, as well as jewels and decorated boxes, were commonly given as romantic or marriage gifts. These gifts often featured sexually suggestive images that sometimes also warned of the dangers of sexuality and attempted to rein it in. Though women were often thought to be lascivious and enjoy or even physically require sex more than men, their desire needed to be provoked for the purpose of reproduction. Common themes on love gifts include courtly activities such as music, dancing, or couples interacting with a circlet, an allegory for sexual penetration. Many courtly activities were allegories for romance. Their materials could sometimes reinforce these themes. Ivory in particular was often used for romantic gifts and the material was seen as being similar to skin because of its color and the fact that it warms to the touch. Medieval husbands and families would have wanted to provoke desire in a bride whilst ensuring her faithfulness to make certain that any children she had were legitimate. The tension between a woman’s sexuality and the familial expectations to be virtuous and loyal meant that medieval society would have felt it was necessary to continually remind women of their duty. Therefore, the impulse behind the images on courtly marriage gifts was to concurrently inspire sexual desire whilst directing it towards the correct person.

 Like many of these objects, the Cleveland girdle contains images  of courtly activities such as music and dancing, yet also warns the viewer away from  inappropriate sexual activity with its depictions of hybrid creatures.  However the materials, physicality, and process of making the belt are often overlooked, and would have reinforced the message behind these images. 

MATERIALS

The behavior of the lady who wore the Cleveland belt may have been impacted by the significance of the material of the belt, as well as its weight and length. Belts from this period are often intricately woven with patterns in colored or gilt threads. In other examples of existing belts, such as Eric of Pomerania’s Belt, the Dune belt, and the two girdles Metropolitan Museum of Art, the metal or enamel pieces are attached directly to colorful textiles. Though not quite as explicit as other, more private items, when given as a gift, the girdle would make a meaningful vehicle for this iconography that was both enticing and warning. The braided silver fabric on the Cleveland belt would also have increased its value so that  it could have served two purposes as both a wardrobe accessory given on the occasion of a  marriage, and a romantic, beautifying object comparable to jewelry. This similarity to jewelry is  accentuated by the materials of the belt which would have been costly enough to help counter the  dowry as part of the bride’s new wardrobe. It seems likely that such an expensive item would have been given as a marriage gift as opposed to a romantic present. Silver was often used for  religious objects like reliquaries, and its whiteness was representative of purity and virginity. The material of the belt could have been indicative of what was expected from a new bride.  Furthermore, since both silver and gold were used for religious objects, the silver and gilt on the  girdle would have emphasized the religious reasoning behind the warnings given by the images,  the belt’s material implying that she needed to remain faithful to avoid sin. 

The textile which forms the inside of the belt is likely made of linen. Because the process of making linen was slow and involved, it was also a costly material. However, since the textile was originally entirely covered by silver mesh and can only be seen now as a result of damage, it is likely that the textile’s main purpose was to serve as a physical support for the silver mesh and enamels, and to help show off the brightness of the metal. Linen is naturally brown and must be bleached to make it white, so it seems likely that the color was intentionally chosen to enhance the silver mesh over top. White is also symbolic of virtue, which would have been expected of the lady. Yet the color is also often symbolic of skin as exemplified in many ivory objects. The white color of the textile could refer to the sensual skin of the woman who wore the belt as it was enveloped by pure and virtuous silver.

The colored glass of the enamels is also imbued with meaning even without their iconography. The plentiful, jewel-like array of plaques set in gold makes the belt appear extremely luxurious and the brightness of the colors draws the eye to the garment, showing off what would likely be one of the more expensive pieces of any ensemble the lady might wear. Enamel glass also evokes stained glass windows, reinforced by the quatrefoil shape of the small plaques. Gothic churches often use stained glass to emphasize the concept of “celestial light.” Similarly, light is reflected by the silver backing through the colored enamel to create the characteristic appearance of basse-taille enamel.

When the didactic, sexually charged images are engraved onto the “pure” silver material, they seem to imply a transition from virginal, to sexual. The washing  and subsequent manipulation and building of the ground glass to make the enamel could also have been symbolic of the purity expected of the lady before her marriage and the subsequent  guiding of her behavior afterward. Finally, rather than re-firing the enamel to smooth and level  the glass at the end of the process, most medieval enamelists would have ground the glass down  to the level of the metal and then polished it until it was transparent. This repetitive rubbing to  make the glass smooth may have added a layer of sexual meaning that was conveyed by the evenly smoothed enamel finish. 

The silver, gilt, white linen, and enamel glass of the belt can then be understood to echo the messages imparted by the images, as well as to underscore the virtuous qualities that the giver of the belt hopes to inspire in the woman whilst enticing her with its luxurious qualities. The emphasis on purity references the state in which the new bride would have been expected to come into the family and would have also referenced how the family expected her to behave, particularly in terms of her sexuality. Marital sex for the sole purpose of procreation retained some of the virtue ascribed to virginity.

USE AND WEAR

Such silver belts would have been heavy, though not entirely unmanageable to wear. The Cleveland girdle would not have been a convenient garment but could have been worn for an occasion like a wedding if the woman could hold the end in her hand or tuck the end into her belt. Holes in a portion of the quatrefoil plaques intended for the tongue of the buckle suggest that the belt was supposed to be functional as opposed to simply decorative and could have been adjusted if the woman gained or lost weight, or throughout pregnancies.

The dimensions of the belt would have also rendered it burdensome. Given the Cleveland  belt’s length of 93⅛ inches, it seems unlikely that the woman who wore this belt could have let it  hang to the ground since a significant portion of the end would drag on the floor in front of her  feet. Other belts of such extraordinary length, like the Erfurt girdle which measured at 157.48  inches, were wrapped multiple times around the waist with the end hanging down the front of the  lady’s skirt. However, the Cleveland girdle could not have been worn this way because of the  position of the holes, which only allow for the belt to be wrapped around the waist once. The  leftover portion would almost certainly drag on the ground in front of the lady’s feet. Instead, the  engravings of hybrids on the back of the largest and most ornate enamels which are found at the end of the belt hint to the end being held by the wearer. The lady could then contemplate the images, strengthening their message of warning. The three hinged sections, which could be made to wrap  over the waistband, suggest the ability to tuck the belt into itself. The end sections of the belt  would then be more visible along with the back of the belt. Examples show that this type of  hinge is not uncommon. The silver belt mentioned previously has a single hinge at the end of the  belt which could be for the same purpose, and other girdle fragments in the British Museum contain hinged joints also.

Another way the belt could be worn without the end reaching the ground was if the lady was heavily pregnant and the girdle was worn above the stomach with the end positioned to hang down in front. In this case, it seems likely that the heavy fabrics and folds of her dress would keep the length of the girdle in place and that the end would, at most, reach just to her feet. The fact that the belt is so long may also indicate that the bride’s family wanted her to be pregnant multiple times. A legitimate pregnancy would fulfill the hopes and expectations of faithful sexual behavior communicated by the girdle. The later months of pregnancy would be the only time during which the bride likely would not need to be careful of the end of the belt; a welcome relief for someone whose own body has become more cumbersome.

Representations of women wearing belts around the waist with the end hanging to the  hem of their dresses are numerous. However, if the woman was not pregnant, she would not have  been able to wear the belt this way due to its length. Slightly more recent representations may  show how the girdle could have been worn. Two tapestries from The Lady with the Unicorn depict a somewhat similar belt being tucked up into the waistband, along with the outer layer of  the woman’s dress. Though these tapestries are dated much later than the belt, a purse made in  Paris in 1340 depicts a lady having tucked the front of her garment up into the waistband of her  belt in a comparable way suggesting that ladies may have shown off their sumptuous garments this way. Displaying the silver on the back would emphasize the luxuriousness of the object, flaunting the lavish material that would normally be hidden against the body. Other belts such as the gilt girdle with half-length figures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art lack these hinged sections but are much shorter, allowing the end to hang free. The hinged sections are also smooth at the back, which would allow the wearer to avoid snagging her dress with the enamels. With the hinged end tucked into the waistband section of the belt, the length would still hang fairly low, allowing for the object to be thoroughly on display.