17th Century English Spangles Found at Jamestown, Virginia

In Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck has a line that says "And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen..." In Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio uses this term again saying, "What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty..." In a similar description again from Midsummer, Lysander says "Fair Helena, who more engilds the night Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light."

If you're not familiar with Engilding the night, that's a word that means "to make bright…often referring to a golden light." It's been around since the 15th century, but what all of these references have in common is they are talking about making something shiny, and in Shakespeare's England the best way to make something look like it glittered was to attach what's called a "spangle" or an "Oe" spelled "oe." Essentially, these were early modern sequins.

Some surviving examples of 17th century spangles were discovered in Jamestown, Virginia, and are housed inside the collections at Jamestown Rediscovery, which jointly manages Historic Jamestowne alongside the National Park Service. One of the curators involved in that project, Janene Johnston, is here with us today to explain how spangles worked, the history of the ones they found in Virginia, and what the surviving artifacts reveal about how spangles were used in Shakespeare's lifetime.