Robert Odell Bork, HB, 420pp, AQshgate 2005

De Re Metallica brings together a wide variety of perspectives on metal use in the Middle Ages, a topic that has received less systematic scholarly attention than it deserves, given its central importance for medieval culture. Because of its strength, beauty, and prestige, metal figured prominently in many medieval contexts, from the military and utilitarian to the architectural and liturgical. Metal was a crucial ingredient in weapons and waterpipes, rose windows and reliquaries, coinage and jewelry. The 23 essays presented here, from an international team of scholars, explore the production and use of such objects, from the early Middle Ages to the sixteenth century, and from the British Isles, Iceland, and Scandinavia, to France, Germany, Spain and Italy. This thematic, chronological, and geographical scope will make this volume into a valuable resource for historians of art, technology, and culture.
Contents
Introduction: The Middle Ages as metal ages, Robert Bork; Indices of Identity: Metal for Secular Display: Gold in the ground or just rust in the dust: measuring wealth by metalwork in Anglo-Saxon graves, Gale R. Owen-Crocker; 'Brightness in a time of dark': The Production of Ornamental Metalwork in 9th Century Northumbria, Gabor Thomas; Display of Scandinavian Migration Period Bracteates and Other Pendant Jewelry as a Reflection of Prestige and Identity, Nancy L. Wicker; A Viking Age Brooch Fragment From Recent Excavations at Temple Bar West, Dublin, Niamh Whitfield; Breaking the Mould: A Re-evaluation of Viking Age Mould-Making Techniques for Oval Brooches, Mich謥 Hayeur Smith; A 13th-Century Signet Ring and its Inscriptions: Between Identity and Power, Magic and Prophylaxis, Elisabeth Antoine; The Savernake Horn: An Oliphant Adorned with Metal, John Cherry. Handling the Holy: Metal Reliquaries and Liturgical Objects: Eucharistic Vessels, Architecture and Liturgical Celebration in Early Medieval Ireland, Michael Ryan; The princess-abbesses of Essen and the golden virgin, Karen Blough; Lorenzo Ghiberti and the Renaissance reliquary: The Shrine of the Three Martyrs from Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence, Sally J. Cornelison. Mundane Metals: Metals for Everyday Use in War and Peace: Ore, Fire, Hammer, Sickle: Iron Production in Viking Age and Early Medieval Iceland, Kevin P. Smith; What's the point? A metallurgical insight into Medieval arrowheads, David Starley; The History and Development of a 13th-Century Lead Water Conduit: The Carmelites' friary pipe, Bristol, England, Julian Lea-Jones. Strengthening Structures: Metal in Medieval Architecture: A note on Villard de Honnecourt and metal, Carl F. Barnes, Jr.; Solid as a Rock: Poured Lead Joints in Medieval masonry, Jennifer S. Alexander; Metal use at the Cistercian church of Altenberg, Sabine Lepsky and Norbert Nussbaum; Ironwork at the top: a Medieval Jigsaw Puzzle in Salisbury cathedral's spire, A. Richard Jones; Stone Skeleton or Iron Skeleton? The Provision and Use of Metal in the Construction of the Papal Palace at Avignon in the 14th century, Philippe Bernardi and Philippe Dillmann; 'Piu' ferro che marmo': Iron and Lead in the Construction of Milan cathedral, Charles R. Morscheck, Jr.. Technical Texts: Writings on Metal Production from the Late Middle Ages: A 14th-century Spanish Treatise on the Alloying and Assaying of Silver Coinage, Ricardo C