Spanish Pottery Imported into Medieval Britain

MEDIEVAL POTTERY imported from Spain is divided into fine tin-glazed and coarse unglazed. or lead-glazed wares, and is found in contexts from the late 13th. to 15th century. It is difficult to distinguish late 14th and early 15th-century lustrewares made at the two main production centres in Andalucia and Valencia by visual examination of the fabric or of the type of decoration. The late 13th and early 14th-century Andalusian and the 15th-century Valencian wares are more characteristic. Eighty-three finds from thirty-five sites are described and twenty-eight other sites listed. There are about equal numbers of sherds from early and late contexts; but Valencian imports have a wider distribution, found at some forty sites as opposed to about twenty Andalusian sites. This was a limited luxury trade, largely in decorative bowls and dishes. Tin-glazed albarelli presumably came as containers, but jugs could have been either containers or imported for their appearance—unlike Saintonge jugs which came in much larger quantities as part of the SW. French wine trade. Thirty-six examples of unglazed or lead-glazed costrels, amphorae, storage vessels and bowls are described and dated to the 13th and 14th. centuries. These coarse wares were containers, but the small numbers imported again confirm their context in a limited luxury trade.     

The Medieval Manor of Penhallam,Jacobstow, Cornwall

THE remains of the medieval manor of Penhallam lie in a sheltered valley in the parish of Jacobstow, some 3 miles from the sea. It was one of the principal houses of the Cardinham family who held, under the king, the largest seignory in the county of Cornwall. Extensive excavation between the years 1968 and 1973 revealed substantial remains of a sophisticated manor house, standing within an earlier ring-work. The stone-built house was constructed in four periods during the late 12th and early 13th centuries. It was deserted in the middle of the 14th century and was gradually demolished. Mo remains of the buildings were visible above ground at the time of the commencement of the excavation. The site, now known as Berry Court, takes the name of a small homestead of probable 16th-century origin, standing on the outer edge of the moat.

There was no visible trace of the hall associated with the early Norman ring-work, but its existence is attested by the subsequent development of the site. Excavation revealed that there were stone buildings standing on the four sides of a courtyard. They comprised a hall, camera, chapel, service rooms, lodgings and a gatehouse. From these remains it was possible to obtain much information about the construction and development of a medieval manor house in the 12th and 13th centuries. Excavation of the 13th-century gatehouse and drawbridge well revealed the construction, assembly and operation of a counter-balanced bridge.

The excavation finds, attributed to the 13th and early 14th centuries, have been presented to the Royal Institution of Cornwall at Truro.     

Excavations in the Outer Precinct of Tintern Abbey

EXCAVATION REVEALED an aisled guest-hall, possibly of 13th-century date, which parallels structures at Kirkstall and Waverley abbeys. This was replaced in the 15th or early 16th century by a new guest range with indications of differing provision for high-status guests. A smithy and non-ferrous industrial activity, notably cupellation and bell founding, are also described.     

The Historic Landscape of the Saga of the People of Vatnsdalur: Exploring the Saga Writer's Use of the Landscape and Archaeological Remains to Serve Political Interests

Abstract

The saga of the People of Vatnsdalur (Vatnsdaelasaga) provides a case study for a new approach to the Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur). This treats the saga as a cultural product of the 13th century that can give insights into its creator's ideas and worldviews. Fieldwork at five sites in the Vatnsdalur valley in NW Iceland seeks to establish what these places were like in the 13th century. This knowledge, alongside the saga and place-name evidence, illustrates how the saga writer, presumed to come from a powerful 13th-century family, systematically used the landscape and archaeological remains in the valley to serve his political interests when describing 10th-century events.     

Excavations of the 16th-century Protestant church and graveyard in Govče,north-east Slovenia

Summary

Archaeological excavations carried out in Gov?e ??near ?alec, Slovenia, have confirmed the location of the 16th-century Protestant church, destroyed by the Counter-Reformation Commission in 1600. These excavations have revealed the foundations of a polygonal nave, remains of the enclosure and part of a graveyard. This article focuses on the results of analysis of the burials, providing new information on 16th-century material culture. It provides historical background of the area and of the construction of the church, and presents the results of the excavation with emphasis on the graveyard, providing new information on Protestant burial customs employed in the late 16th century.     

Excavations at I Westgate Street,Gloucester, 1975

LIMITED excavation in Gloucester showed timber structures replacing stone in the late 4th century. The town centre was re-planned in the early 5th century, creating the line of medieval Westgate Street. Preserved organic levels of the 9th century indicate an agricultural economy with animal stabling in the town centre. 10th- to 12th-century levels were also excavated. Specialist reports are offered on Saxon and medieval pottery, seeds, textiles, wood and other materials.     

Eighteenth-century glass and pottery manufacture at Morison’s Haven,Prestongrange, East Lothian

Abstract

This paper presents the results of archaeological investigations of the remains of an 18th-century glassworks at Prestongrange Museum, near Prestonpans, East Lothian. The site is part of an industrial complex previously known as Morison’s Haven, named after its associated tidal harbour. It has a long history of coal extraction that was established as early as the 13th century, and includes industries such as glassmaking, salt, pottery and brick and tile manufacture, and a colliery. The archaeological remains of the glassworks came to light during investigative works designed to locate Gordon’s Pottery, which was known to have manufactured fine tablewares in the 18th century.     

On Carvings in Morse Ivory

Abstract

Recent excavations at Beverley Minster contribute significant new information relating to the development of the minster from the later pre-conquest period until the 12th century, as well as some technical detail relating to the 14th-century nave. This paper provides a brief overview of later 19th- to 20th-century considerations of the minster’s origins and development. Thereafter, the results of recent excavations are presented and the impact of these in re-shaping the history of the minster’s development is then considered within the wider context of the minster as a whole. More specifically, evidence is presented for the existence of an early pre-conquest cemetery, perhaps focused on a church of an alignment slightly different from that of the present. The implication of further burials pre-dating a 12th-century nave is also examined. Evidence relating to a large 12th-century aisled nave is also presented and discussion given to the impact this nave had on the rebuilding of the eastern parts of the church after 1188 as well as to the origin of the eastern elements that preceded these.     

On Crystals of Augury

Abstract

Salisbury cathedral is usually seen as a ‘one period’ building, a ‘complete’ 13th-century cathedral. As a result, the later medieval work at Salisbury has rarely been considered in its own right. This neglect has been compounded by the subsequent loss of many of its most important elements: the two eastern chantry chapels, St Osmund’s shrine and half the library. The aim of this paper is to redress this imbalance. Salisbury’s original appearance was transformed dramatically in the early 14th century by the construction of the high tower and spire, and in the later 15th century, following the canonisation of St Osmund, when the east end was substantially remodelled. As at other great churches, the interior was continuously adapted to enable the cathedral to meet the spiritual needs of late medieval society. These were principally the performance of the liturgy, the commemoration of the dead, the augmentation of devotional cults and the promotion of learning. These themes are explored in the discussion of the new library, major monuments, the shrine of St Osmund and the construction of four new chantry chapels. Thus the cathedral evolved significantly in the two and a half centuries after Bishop Ghent’s consecration in 1297.     

The Kitchen Area of Northolt Manor,Middlesex

Abstract

The Winchester Moot Horn was found in a chest in the late 19th century when the Westgate was cleared out in advance of its conversion to a museum. Although generally believed to be of late-12th- or early-13th-century date on stylistic grounds, and a civic horn appears in local documentary sources, its excellent state of preservation has always raised some doubt as to its antiquity. Recent study and scientific analyses have now confirmed its early date. A survey of other moot horns from England suggests that at least one other, from Canterbury, dates to much the same time.     

Bishops and Professionalization in Sweden,c. 1780–1880

This article investigates the concept of professionalization in terms of the bishops' role in the 19th-century Church of Sweden. Previous research has generally claimed that from the late 18th century until the mid-19th century, before the abolition of the Diet of Estates, the Swedish bishops amounted to secularized, conservative state officials who lacked the ability to effect religious reform. In this article, however, it will be argued that in the early 19th century, several decades earlier than previously assumed, the Swedish episcopate had begun to undergo a slow transformation that is best described as professionalization. It is posited that the bishops, inspired by Evangelical revival and Romanticism, became increasingly specialized in religion and theology in their education, thinking and practice. The episcopal profile also changed as the middle classes gained more influence from the early 19th century onwards, and this, in turn, prompted a higher standard of role performance.     

A Structural Analysis of The Chantry,Bridport, Dorset

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS of the Chantry, Bridport before and during its restoration has revealed that it was constructed in the late 13th or early 14th century as a municipal building, probably associated with a harbour. In the later 14th century it was converted into a house for a chantry priest. The building was enlarged at this date by the addition of an attic storey which contains a columbarium.     

18th- and 19th-century shipyards at the south-east entrance to the West India Docks, London

Archaeological fieldwork in 1997 on the Isle of Dogs, at the south-east entrance to the West India Docks, recovered evidence of 17th- to 19th-century shipyards, associated activities and foreign trade. Reused timbers may be the remains of the 17th-century Rolt's yard. Reclamation along the natural inlet was accompanied by the construction of a timber dry dock probably in the late 18th century. This soon fell out of use and was filled in with the construction of new dry docks to the south in 1806 by Thomas Pitcher. Much of the debris dating to the first half of the 19th century from ship repairing and building and from a range of ancillary crafts, together with ceramics from Iberia and the Far East, probably came from Pitcher's yard.     

Medieval Britain in 1967

Abstract

Almost 180 years of scholarship on the Lewis chessmen have given us a solid foundation of understanding, primarily based upon their art-historical analysis. Taking a more interdisciplinary approach (combining elements of art history with archaeology and history), this paper focuses on some over-looked themes — primarily the archaeological, gaming and political contexts of the 12th- and 13th-century North Sea world — and some more familiar themes but in a new light. We suggest a more fluid composition and function of the gaming hoard, with at least four sets of chessmen from the same workshop conceivably made for use in Lewis, possibly in the early 13th century.     

Fregatten Mynden: a 17th-century Danish Frigate Found in Northern Germany

The remains of a small 17th-century Danish frigate were investigated off the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. Through research in the Danish National Archives in Copenhagen it was possible to identify the ship. Using documentary and archaeological sources, the layout, equipment and appearance of one of the small and less prestigious warships of the 17th and early 18th century could be reconstructed. In addition, aspects of shipboard life will be illustrated.
© 2004 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Urbanism and Residential Patterning in Angkor

The Khmer Empire (9th–15th centuries a.d.), centered on the Greater Angkor region, was the most extensive political entity in the history of mainland Southeast Asia. Stone temples constructed by Angkorian kings and elites were widely assumed to have been loci of ritual as well as habitation, though the latter has been poorly documented archaeologically. In this paper, we present the results of two field seasons of excavation at the temple site of Ta Prohm. Using LiDAR data to focus our excavations, we offer evidence for residential occupation within the temple enclosure from before the 11th century a.d. until the 14th century. A comparison with previous work exploring habitation areas within the Angkor Wat temple enclosure highlights similarities and differences between the two temples. We argue that temple habitation was a key component of the Angkorian urban system and that investigating this unique form of urbanism expands current comparative research on the diversity of ancient cities.     

The 18th-century traditions of representation in a new age of revolution

What happened to shared historical experiences in the discursive processes of constitutional reform in Sweden and Finland? This article examines the use of 18th-century history in early 20th-century politics. Building on a long-term survey of Swedish and Finnish estate and parliamentary debates, it analyses the political implications of differing national historiographies in the two successor states of the 18th-century Swedish realm, focusing on how the ancient past and collective (and often selective) memories of the Age of Absolutism, the Age of Liberty and the Gustavian Age were used by parliamentarians in constitutional debates. The analysis demonstrates how the Finnish polity continued to be profoundly influenced by these 18th-century constitutions even after the Russian Revolution, while Sweden took the post-French Revolution constitution of 1809 as its point of departure. In both countries, interpretations of the long 18th century were ideologically motivated in an age of the parliamentarization of government and the democratization of the representative system. This leads us to a discussion of the history-political significance of the common and differing understandings of representative government in the two interconnected countries.     

Composition of the Lustre Pigment Used in the Production Of 13th Century AD Raqqa Lustreware from Syria

The very rare find of the relic of the original lustre pigment attached to the glazed surface of a sherd of 13th century ad Raqqa type lustreware from Syria has been analysed using a combination of analytical scanning electron microscopy (SEM), micro‐X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS). The composition of the pigment relic inferred from these analyses is shown to match those of recipes for lustre production given in the early treatises by Jazbir Ibn Hayyan (c. ad 721–c. ad 815) and Abū'l Qasim (ad 1301). Similarities and differences between this 13th century ad Syrian pigment and pigments used in the ninth century ad in Iraq, in the 14th century ad in Islamic and Hispano‐Moresque Spain, and in the 16th century ad in Renaissance Italy are discussed.