![]() Until the middle of the twentieth century, the charitable organisation was responsible for the care of foundlings and children. Founded in 1316, the orphanage was connected to the parish of St Peter (more here). The building is still there and is situated less than 100 meters from the massive Church of Hoogland ( Hooglandse Kerk), which can be seen towering over the city from miles away. The fifteenth-century strips are written in Middle Dutch and kept in the archive of the medieval Holy Spirit Orphanage in the city of Leiden (Dutch: Heilige Geest- of Arme Wees- en Kinderhuis). ![]() Here is the powerful story of a collection of medieval name tags, which may be best consumed with a tissue handy by. I returned the next day to order up the slips from the vault and see for myself what they were all about. When visiting the restoration lab at the regional archives in Leiden ( Erfgoed Leiden en omstreken) my eyes were drawn to a photograph on the wall that showed a tiny strip of paper from the fifteenth century. More than in any other medieval document I have seen, such an intimate view of medieval life is provided by a type of written object I encountered for the first time this week (Fig. 1 – Erfgoed Leiden, HGW, Archiefnummer 519, Inv. Although such ephemeral material doesn’t normally survive, it forms an important historical source: it provides a rare glimpse on everyday life in medieval times. The snippets – from a soldier’s request for more beer to a duke’s shopping list – were made cheaply and with little care because the messages on them were not meant to be kept long. ![]() Last week I blogged about tiny pieces of parchment, paper birch bark, and wood that were filled with short messages from individuals in Antiquity and the Middle Ages (check out Texting in Medieval Times). A word of warning: this post may make you want to weep. ![]()
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