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Robert
Bork, ed.
De
Re Metallica: The Uses of Metal in the Middle Ages.
Ashgate,
2005.
AVISTA
Studies in the History of Medieval Technology, Science and Art
series.
234 x
156 mm.
442pp, 122
b&w illustrations.
Publisher's
recommended price
Hardback
ISBN 0754650480, $99.95/£55.00
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, Michèle 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 Córdoba de la Llave;
Ulrich Rülein von Kalbe's Bergbüchlein in the context of
16th-century German mining/metallurgical literature, David E. Connolly;
Background, Summary, and Aftermath of the 1548 Mining Law for the
Schlackenwalden Tin Mines, Bohemia, Peter L. Siems;
A Research Bibliography of Early Modern German Mining and Metallurgy,
David E. Connolly;
Index.
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