Acknowledgements
The World Wide Web was the tool that made this research possible, and I acknowledge Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, its inventor, as one of my personal patron saints. Taking advantage of this invention, libraries and museums in Europe and North America have been digitizing their manuscripts, making them available for general viewing. Several major libraries now have Open Access with Creative Commons Zero whereby the public can use, with no fee, high-resolution images of their artwork for scholarly, commercial, and noncommercial purposes. To quote the Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Open Access initiative brings CMA’s mission ‘For the Benefit of All the People, Forever’ into the digital age.” The J. Paul Getty Museum has an Open Content Program along the same lines. All images produced by the National Library of Sweden are in the public domain (CCO). Academic publications are exempted from authorization and use fees at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. These institutions and others with the same philosophy are to be highly commended.
Berners-Lee’s invention also made it possible to access the academics and specialists I needed to consult. This access came via electronic lists such as mediev-l and medieval-religion or through websites such as academia.edu or just generally through online searches. To the many medievalists and university librarians – retired or still on active duty, institutionalized, or independent – who always so graciously jumped in to try to solve any question I put to them, much appreciation and gratitude are owed. I dare not try to list every person who stepped up to answer a question or two for fear of leaving someone out, but I’m sure they already know how grateful I have been for their help. However, special note must be gratefully made of the following individuals. Johnna Holloway could always access strange bits of library data for me. I would especially like to thank Thomas Izbicki (Librarian Emeritus, Rutgers University, NJ), Paul Chandler (Doctor, Holy Spirit Seminary, Brisbane, Australia), and Kurt Sherry (Adjunct lecturer, Wichita State University, KS) for their unwavering and cheerful willingness to puzzle out answers. Special acknowledgment is reserved for my long-time, go-to Latinist and all-time research ace, John Dillon (Librarian Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI).
Librarians and other staff members at libraries, museums, and other institutions have proven to be wonderfully happy to extend a helpful hand in response to my hunt for information. A special note of gratitude goes to Michelle Brown, former curator of medieval manuscripts at the British Library, and to Charlotte Denoël, current curator of medieval manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Eleanor Jackson, current curator of medieval manuscripts at the British Library, also kindly offered her help. Evelin Wetter of the Abegg Stiftung in Switzerland very kindly responded to my inquiries. Karen Welsh, who deals with interlibrary loans at my local library, is truly one of my heroes.
Joseph Braun, though no longer with us, needs to be applauded for the extensive research he did at the turn of the twentieth century, which formed the starting point for this study. And I happily blame Elizabeth Coatsworth (Senior Lecturer, retired, Manchester Metropolitan University) for providing that unquenchable research spark by asking just the right question at just the right time.
As someone who couldn’t sew a straight line if her life depended on it, I turned to Lea Sears and Karen Whitlock for their nimble-fingered and constructive help in creating the real-life models of the pertinent headwear, thereby making the experimental archaeology aspect of this research both achievable and extremely enlightening.
I am deeply grateful to Lee Bachrach, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Anne Decker, and Steve Spies for reading through the initial draft as “first defenders” against obvious errors.
Gale R. Owen-Crocker (Professor Emerita, The University of Manchester) and Elizabeth Coatsworth (formerly Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University) receive my deepest appreciation for their generosity of time and application of their professional acumen in their reading of the original manuscript and subsequent suggestions and ideas for improvement. Maureen Miller (Professor, University of California, Berkeley) and Penelope Walton Rogers (owner of The Anglo-Saxon Laboratory in York and visiting fellow at the University of York) offered useful insights. I thank the unnamed reviewer assigned by the publisher who provided much constructive criticism. To Graham Loud (Professor Emeritus, Medieval History, University of Leeds), I offer deep gratitude for his generosity in offering to read the final text; his notes and suggestions proved to be of great value. Gale, in particular, holds a special place in my heart for her friendship, support, and encouragement, and the fact that she read the manuscript three times. The resulting work benefited greatly from the astute suggestions of these scholars and everyone who was even tangentially involved in this research. However, I take sole responsibility for the final results.
I would also like to thank Marcella Mulder and Gera van Bedaf at Brill for their endless patience and understanding. Sara Elin Roberts, my wonderful copy editor, skillfully succeeded in transitioning this book from a desktop Word document into an academic publication. My husband is the person who makes it possible for me to work on my research full-time for which I remain, as always, deeply grateful.