ABSTRACT

This chapter examines continuity and change in brooch fashions in the 11th century. As a previously untapped source of evidence for the period of the Norman Conquest, the corpus of lead-alloy brooches from England, including the largely unpublished assemblage from London, is reassessed within the socio-cultural contexts of the 11th century. It explores the impact of conquest, urban expansion, and changing networks of contacts on brooch fashions and shifting social identities. It concludes that developing urban identities – especially in London – were articulated through brooch fashions, which were available to a wide cross-section of urban society.