Medieval Archaeology 12

Three leather budgets surviving in spite of dilapidation and secondary use appear to date from the Early Christian period or a little later. The Breac Moedóic budget is distorted by long usage for a house-shaped reliquary, but displays outstanding skill in design and technique, particularly in the way it was seamed from the inside. Its affinities are with the fine one-piece Irish shoes of 7th-10th centuries. The decoration is tooled in a compass-work design with tendril borders. The Corpus Christi budget appears much older than the early 12th century Irish miniscule missal it now contains. Similar in technical skill to the first example, it may even belong to the same workshop. The third budget was apparently designed for a larger MS than the Book of Armagh now kept in it. Originally laced, as were the other two, it was fitted in medieval times with a clumsy hasped lock. Its intricate tooled decoration of Jellinge derivation suggests an 11th-12th century date. No parallels in European leatherwork of later periods could be found for these pieces.

Sampling of the widely dispersed documentary evidence allows a first, necessarily tentative analysis of the industry. Even in the pre-Conquest period there is some evidence for specialist potting; and early medieval potters were small-holders whose main occupation was pot-making, often in small communal groups. A 13th century increase in the number of potters and an improvement in the products represented a response to a more prosperous market, although there is little sign of improvement in the potters' own economic position. Following a general economic depression in the last quarter of the 14th century, many potters shifted their main interest to agriculture, potting standards declined and elaborate decoration disappeared. However, peasant potters continued to produce their own wares. Throughout the middle ages, direct copying and the exchange of ideas at central markets assisted the rapid movement of pottery styles between regions. Appended data include pre-1350 clay payments, land-holdings of potters before and after 1250, place name evidence, and distribution maps (Somerset, Sussex and W R Yorks) showing known sites of potteries.

Publication recently of the rich collection of undecorated wooden objects from Novgorod not only throws much light on the important part played in medieval life by wooden equipment, but provides valuable evidence for medieval looms. The horizontal loom was in general use at Novgorod in AD 1220, and in Britain a somewhat earlier date, mid-late 12th century, may be suggested. No recognisable parts of vertical looms survived at Novgorod, though they must have existed, and this renders less significant the similar lacuna in Britain. The suggested date for the introduction of the horizontal loom would fit Carus-Wilson's suggestion that the Stamford (Lincs) cloth known as haubergié (halbergetum, etc) was made on a vertical loom, and hence ceased to be made in mid-13th century, when the horizontal loom came into general use. The same publication indicates the enormous range of lathe-turned wooden vessels, the specialised tools, boats, sledges, wooden parts of horse-collars, and items of domestic equipment recovered from Novgorod.