On Coral Paternosters
Et pur un per de patrenostres de Coralie ove les gaudes dor par nous donez a la prioresse de Noneneton deisme le jour, cynquante soldz...
On March 6, 1381, John of Gaunt ordered a number of high status gifts, probably as New Year gifts (March 25). This gift, a set of coral and gold paternosters was given to the prioress of Nuneaton in Warwickshire.
(Medieval bear with a string of coral paternosters)
Nuneaton was a priory under Fontevraud Abbey, itself an abbey favored by Eleanor of Aquitaine and where she, her husband Henry II, and son Richard Coeur de Lion were buried. Nuneaton, then, was held in high esteem by English royalty. For the country's richest man, mere bone beads simply would not do and thus his New Year's gift to the prioress was a set of coral paternosters.
Paternosters were a string of beads separated by gauds which served to divide the beads numerically. The use of a string of beads to aid in prayer recitation was not new nor was it solely Christian, though it's name is taken from the Latin "Our Father" (Pater noster) for the first prayer to be recited; the gaud beads helped keep track of the number of prayers offered.
While the beads could and were made from bone, wood, amber and other stones, deep red coral beads were the gold standard. Below is a reproduction coral paternoster with clear crystal gaud beads from https://www.reliquaria.ca/
Why coral? Even in pre-Christian times the red coral was considered to protect the wearer of the coral and had amulet status. While England does have off-shore corals, they are located deep (30M' or more) below the ocean's surface and never achieved blood red color, thus the coral used in paternosters came from the Mediterranean. Medieval paternosters became popular from the 13th C on and England had two prominent guilds for makers of paternosters, namely, one in London (located, appropriately in Paternoster Row) and one in York. So, what was the problem?
It goes back to the numerous population decreases due to the Plague in the 14th C. In some cases, it took out entire towns out but overall resulted in the decrease of ~30% of all labors. From a maths point of view, England saw the decrease of something like 1/3 of skilled laborers and of those who remained, they were able to negotiate for far better wages than heretofore. Imagine yourself a skilled laborer: you can now obtain much much better wages. So what do you do?
Do you continue wearing the drab clothing with no real ability to adorn yourself with precious metals and gems? In today's world, (in the U.S.) you would have stopped buying clothes and personal adornments from Walmart. Only, now you can buy better and so, you do!
Nobles didn't take kindly to such 'upstarts' and the things of adornment that the nouveau riche could suddenly afford. Such upstarts! Such low societal individuals were suddenly shopping at Nordstrom! Horrors! What was the noble class to do so as to never being suspected as a mere laborer with good taste and even better money?
The answer was the series of sumptuary laws which regulated what cloths, furs, and colors as well as precious metal adornments with actual gemstones the formerly peons could now afford to wear. No more! When you add to that a religious tradition that emphasizes piety over wealth, people were suddenly persuaded to adorn themselves with religious accoutrements that would be considered beyond normal sumptuary laws. Thus we have the birth of pasternosters.
So, while a nouveau riche person might not be able to wear expensive furs, fine cloths and precious metals and stones, they could only be commended for confining that show of wealth in religious form. Thus was born the paternosters industry and guilds.
No wood rosary beads for them on rough cording but rather expensive stones and precious metals by which to keep track of one's daily prayers. Coral in particular were thus valued in that they were pre-Christian amulets and expensive little beads from the Mediterranean. Coral paternosters made the silent claim of being near social equals to the wealthy who, while they couldn't condemn it for its religious function were forced to recognize the religious significance.
Thus we find John of Gaunt and his son Henry of Derby giving as New Year Gifts handsomely apportioned paternosters with one known to have been given to that certain prioress of Noneaton, but also Katherine Swynford and others.
https://historicenterprises.com/reenactment-goods-c-102/paternosters-chaplets-rosaries-c-102_237/
https://historicenterprises.com/reenactment-goods-c-102/paternosters-chaplets-rosaries-c-102_237/
