Medieval: work

The 11th century saw the emergence in Germany of new ways of making sheet glass by blowing spheres. The spheres were then formed into cylinders and then cut while still hot, after which the sheets were flattened. This technique was perfected in 13th century Venice around 1295. What made Venetian Murano glass significantly different was that the local quartz pebbles were almost pure silica, which made the clearest and purest glass. The Venetian ability to produce this superior form of glass resulted in a trade advantage over other glass producing lands.

https://www.thoughtco.com/middle-ages-timeline-1992478

Glass making eventually returned to Britain with the re-build of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, after a fire had destroyed the older Norman Cathedral, The glass was inspired by the building of Chartres Cathedral in France just prior to this, whose Glass makers were imported from the Middle East, as there were no persons with the required skills in Europe at that time. So the original glass makers of Chartres were Muslims and this is evident in some of the windows there.

The Glass maker who came to make the glass was called Lawrence Le Viteraux (The Glass), he set up in Kent. The glass being made was very rough and ready during the Middle Ages in Britain and a lot was still being imported from the Continent. There was a bit of a scorched earth policy for the glass makers as they made their wares in the ~Forest or in medieval time the Weald. Welding, the modern word means to join metal together using heat, the origination of the word comes from the medieval word for forest as all the work was done there. A lot of deforestation occurred during this period, which lasted right until James 1st was on the throne and he decreed that 'No Glass can be made using wood as fuel, save there being a single tree left standing upon this isle'. Therefore a new fuel had to be utilised and coal was the obvious choice.

Aside – Gaffer, is the medieval word for Glass maker – 'Glasser' the F & S were not defined at this time.

Coal was a difficult fuel to use as it does not burn clean like wood does so the furnaces had to be completely redesigned to allow for this new fuel. They came up with a Glass cone with covered pots to keep the glass clean. These edifices became landmarks in the the glass making centres around the country.

There is little known about the history of glassmaking in Britain during the next one thousand years, although we do know that glassmaking survived as a trade. In early 2004, a Saxon burial chamber was unearthed in Prittlewell in Essex and amongst the artefacts buried with the early Saxon was a beautifully preserved and intact blue glass bowl.

Glassmaking underwent a renaissance in the and 14th centuries. The revival began in Venice (a city which is still thought of as the glass capital of the world) and spread throughout Northern Europe. It would have been very likely that all towns of any size would have had their own glassmaker.

In Britain, during the reign of James I, a law was passed which forbade the use of wood as a fuel for trades. The effect of this was that glassmakers, along with potters and other craftsmen who needed substantial amounts of fuel, had to move to areas where there were alternative fuel sources. Bristol was one such place, having mined coal in the wooded areas to the north of the city since Tudor times. Other areas were the Midlands (even today, Stoke on Trent is renowned for its potteries and Stourbridge for its glass), the North East (again Sunderland was a major centre for glass and today has the National Glass Centre) and London where some of the most well-known firms operated including Whitefriars.

Bristol not only had a good supply of fuel but it had established trading links along the River Severn and out to the Atlantic and was second only to London in terms of economic importance. It also had easy access to other raw materials used in glassmaking such as sand from the Redcliffe Caves, kelp from Bridgwater, clay from further north along the Severn.

The city made very good use of its strategic importance and soon became one of the most important glassmaking centres in Europe. By the late eighteenth century there were some twenty glassmaking firms in Bristol. Most made crown (or window) glass or bottles but a good proportion made a beautiful range of flint glass tableware that was to become the city's legacy. Flint glass is known today as lead crystal.

http://www.bristol-glass.co.uk/history.html

A Brief History Of Glassmaking -

Gongfermors & Uses for Excreta

Medieval Toilets: The awful truth! - MoHi > .

Horrendous Life Of A Medieval Gong Farmer | History Of Britain - Absolute > .

History Of Britain - Absolute >> .

Medieval people - MoHi >> .

Leather tanning - Medieval to Edwardian ..

Urine - a medieval resource ..

Urine - medieval uses ..

Gong farmer (also gongfermor, gongfermour, gong-fayer, gong-fower or gong scourer) was a term that entered use in Tudor England to describe someone who dug out and removed human excrement from privies and cesspits. The word "gong" was used for both a privy and its contents. As the work was considered unclean and off-putting to the public, gong farmers were only allowed to work at night, hence they were sometimes known as nightmen. The waste they collected, known as night soil, had to be taken outside the city or town boundary or to official dumps for disposal.

Fewer and fewer cesspits needed to be dug out as more modern sewage disposal systems, such as pail closets and water closets, became increasingly widespread in 19th-century England. The job of emptying cesspits today is usually carried out mechanically using suction, by specialised tankers called vacuum trucks.

...

Human waste "was used to manure the land or enrich the soil. The townsfolk of Newcastle-on-Tyne piled their ashes and dung [humanure] on a heap in the middle of town – the local farmers transported the refuse away once a year to be spread as manure. Malt dust, soap ashes, brine, hair, decaying fish, offal, entrails, and blood were all used as manure."

Hayward - Hedge Warden

Medieval Officer in Charge of Hedges [Professions: Hayward] - KoHi > .

Medieval Professions - KoHi >> .

Laundry

The Lowly Washerwoman - Townsends > .

Who Did The Laundry In The 18th Century? > .

How To Laundry Circa 1780 > .

Doing Laundry in the Middle Ages > .

A Brief History of Soap > .

Evolution Of The Washing Machine > .
A Woman's Work ... ElQu >> .

Medieval Professions - KoHi >> .

Detailed descriptions of medieval laundering:

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-laundry.aspx .

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/washing-with-lye.aspx .

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/washing-days.aspx .

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/washing-beetles-possing.aspx .

Learning & Work in Medieval England

Medieval Peasant Women - Work, Food, Life - HiHi > .

Momentum Stick Potter's Wheel

Momentum Stick Wheel > .

Saxon Potter > .

"While I would agree that industrialization would be unnecessary in tiny communities, potters would still have needed to dry and fire their posts. Forget efficient economies of scale at the firing stage. I would have assumed that the impediment was more the mental leap from the concept of building pots from coils to the notion of shaping a rotating lump by pulling upward."

Response:

"If this was the case why, after the Roman abandonment of Britain, do potters give up the potters' wheel as a making method? Pottery production still continues although on a much smaller scale. The issue is more one of training and space, vs returns. Fast wheel pottery takes several years to master, it's a serious piece of kit to construct, maintain and store and generally demands much more finely prepared clay. Clay that does not lend itself so well to open or clamp firing, both of which are better achieved with a coarser clay. Fine wheel thrown clay is far easier to fire in a kiln, another piece of equipment that needs to be built and maintained. Again, open firing can be achieved with almost any fuel, kilns on the other hand demand carefully prepared wood, gorse or brash. All time consuming and simply not worth it for domestic scale production."

Needle from Bone

How To Make A Needle From Bone > .

Making Neolithic Bone Textile Tools - Sally Pointer > .
Virtual Vikings: Uses for Animal Bones > .

Archaeology of Animal Bones > .
Medieval Professions - KoHi >> .

Papermaking - Medieval to Early Modern

Prior to the invention of the paper machine (~ 1800), all paper was handmade. Teams of three skilled, European artisans (vatman, coucher, layer) were capable of producing ~1500 sheets in a day.

[L to R] Vatman, Coucher, Layer at work.

Gelatin (produced by boiling animal bones or skins) was first used as an external surface sizing for paper in 1337 and continued as a dominant sizing agent of all European papers through the mid-19th century. Sizing reduces the tendency of dry paper to absorb liquid, allowing inks and paints to dry remain on the surface of the paper, rather than be absorbed into the paper. Thus, sizing provides a more consistent painting and writing surface.

Papermaking, Parchment, Papyrus, Manuscripts
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXYFDuJaCJL3rWLyssXlZa-uUEmoUgJZr
Papermaking, Parchment, Manuscripts: includes demonstration of coordinated actions of vatman, coucher, and layer.

Papyrus ..

Papermaking > .

.Tradition of handmade paper in India - BusIn > .

Comprehensive online article on European papermaking techniques from 1300 to 1800.

Printing with early Gutenberg movable-type press
https://youtu.be/G1IUm3V546k?t=32m28s
Papermaking
https://youtu.be/G1IUm3V546k?t=22m43s
Bookbinding
https://youtu.be/G1IUm3V546k?t=37m36s5

Trades

Currier — leather processing specialist. After leather has been tanned process, the currier dresses, finishes and colours the tanned hide to make it strong, flexible and waterproof. The leather is stretched and burnished to produce a uniform thickness and suppleness. Dyeing and other chemical finishes give the leather its desired colour. After currying, the leather is then ready to pass to the fashioning trades such as saddlery, bridlery, shoe-making, and glove-making.

ironmonger
farrier
smith
brazier
locksmith
bladesmith
cutler
spoonmaker
pinner
wiredrawer
lorimer
spurrier
nailer
pewterer
latten maker
bellmaker
furbisher
goldsmith

dyer
walker
weaver
shearman
chaloner
cardmaker
woadman

tanner .
skinner

whittawer
cordwainer
saddler
sheather

tailor
hosiers
capper
glover
purser

draper
mercer
retailer
tranter
chapman

butcher
baker
fishmonger
brewer
maltmaker
salter
spicer
cook
innkeeper

trowman
carrier

masons
carpenter
turner
glazier
painter

wheelwright
hooper
roper
bowyer
fletcher
sieve maker
patten maker
?charcoal burner (askeberner)
barber
millward

Black, White, Brown, Red - Smiths ..

Worst Jobs in History

The Worst Jobs in History - Middle Ages .

(1) arming squire . archers . catching leeches (i) . (2) catching leeches (ii) . barber surgeon . wise woman (i) (3) wise woman . trial by ordeal . building cathedrals (i) . quarrying (ii) (4). building cathedrals (i) . quarrying (i) . lime burning . treadmill crane (1) (5) treadmill crane (ii) . fulling (i) (6) fulling (ii) .

The Worst Jobs in History - Dark Ages .

Timeline Technology

Medieval Technological Revolution .

Timeline of inventions 600-1500

Agricultural

Mouldboard Plough – 9th century?

Steam, Early Gasoline Engines

LIST agricultural collections, posts, playlists links

Ancient China

Animals
Horse collar – 12th century

Mouldboard Plough – 9th century?

Saddle - Medieval

Whippletrees - 11th century

WW2 parapigeons

Navigation, Direction
lodestone, magnetic compass

Neolithic
Flint Knapping

Papyrus ..

Saddle Quern

Neolithic, Bronze, Iron

Pottery, charcoal, metals

Blacksmithing

Bloomery to Blast Furnace

Metal -- smelting, furnaces, casting, smithing

Carpentry

Fabric
Fabric, Paper, Leather, Looms, Spinning, Weaving

Iron gall ink, vellum, printing

Paper – 13th century Europe

Spinning

Weaving - Ancient to Loom – horizontal loom 11th century

Weaving

Viking

Gunpowder

Explosive Facts About the Invention of Gunpowder - TopT > .

Charcoal

Saltpeter

Sulfur

Industrial Revolution

Islamic scholars

Al-Khwarizmi: The Father of Algebra

Glassmaking – 11th

Medieval Eyeglasses 13th Century

Greek and Roman Technology
Concrete - Roman

Construction Cranes – Leveraging Human Power—

Crane - Treadmill

Milling Grain

Muscle-powered water lifting

Roman spinning | Spindle & Distaff

Medieval Hand cranked 'walking' wheel, man carding wool c. 1340. England

Renaissance Construction Machines

Machine Tools

Materials - Mechanical Properties - stone, wood, clay, copper, bronze, and iron

Metal

Color clues in hardening metal

Metal – blast furnace 14th century

Medieval Technology

Microscopy

17th
1675 – Leeuwenhoek & Microscopy (1675) ↠

Tidal Mills - 7th century England

Pottery

Power
Renaissance machines

Steam, Early Gasoline Engines

Steam-Powered Portable Sawmill

Rail

Roman
Chorabates

Hadrian's Well

Londinium

Military Surveying

Villa

Rope

TIME
clepsammia, clepsydra, hourglass, sandglass, timewheel, water clock

Water
Greek and Roman
Archimedes' Screw

Hadrian's Well

Mud Dredge – Renaissance

Muscle-powered water lifting

Greek and Roman Watermills

Roman to Renaissance

Medieval Watermills – 12th century
12th century watermill

14th century watermill

1328 first sawmill for shipbuilding

Windmills

Weapons
Crossbow & bolt (quarrel)

Greek Fire

Hx

Gunpowder artillery in the Middle Ages

Siege Engines
Siege Tower ➧ (11thC BCE ancient Near East, 4thC BCE Europe )

War

Weaponry

WW1
WW1 folding gun, WW2 Link trainer, parapigeons

WW2
WW2 Link trainer, parapigeons

Machines

RADAR

Scotland

https://guidebookstgc.snagfilms.com/1132_GreekandRomanTech.pdf

Ancient Technology ..
Timeline of human evolution & prehistoric inventions .

Alchemy to Chemistry

Learning About Alchemy With Larry Principe - CENo > .

How Alchemy Led to Modern-Day Chemistry & Medicine - ScSh > .

Nicolas Flamel & Alchemy | Mysteries of Paris | Doc > .

? Alchemy ?

? Nicolas Flamel ?

Mysticism to Science - sh >> .

Alchemy to Chemistry - dk >> .
Alchemy - In Our Time > .
Medieval Islamicate World - CrashCourse > .
History of Science - CrashCourse >> .
Natural Philosophy >> Science .
The Mystery of Matter: Search for the Elements - dk >> .

The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry: Preface & Chapter 1 > .
6: Alchemy as an experimental art > .
7: The language of Alchemy > .
1913 Gutenberg ebook .
Story of Alchemy & Beginnings of Chemistry: Full Audio Book .

Anatomy > .
Apothecaries, barber surgeons, pharmacists, physicians - dk >> .

Apothecary, Barber, Pharmacist, Physician, Surgeon - sh >> .

De humani corporis fabrica - dk >> .
Galen > .
Medieval Arts & Sciences (Assorted) - mhd >> .
Urine - once useful, now "waste" - anth > .

Golden Age of Islamic Science - sh >> .
Crafts - Medieval - Quill, Wheel, Potting, Weaponry - arch >> .

Precise details about the transmission of knowledge from one place to another are rarely determinable. For alchemy, however, historians have an exact date: February 11, 1144, when Robert of Chester—a noted 12th-century translator from England—recorded in his diary that he had just finished translating into Latin an Arabic book with the English title "The Book of the Composition of Alchemy".

Robert of Chester notes in his introduction to the book on alchemy that this was a new science in the West. As such, he was also responsible for the introduction of numerous Arabic words into Latin—words without any earlier Latin equivalent—and, from there, into English and other European languages. Among the most obvious is the word “alchemy” itself.

Sir Isaac Newton, one of the most influential scientists in history, spent far more time working on and writing about alchemical experiments than he did on physics or optics, subjects for which he’s far better known.

After reading Newton’s 17th- and 18th-century writings on alchemy, 20th-century economist John Maynard Keynes offered the opinion that “Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians.”

During Newton’s lifetime, fraudsters and successful attempts to defraud wealthy investors led to the banning of certain alchemical practices. The British Parliament was sufficiently worried about the potential devaluation of gold that unsanctioned alchemy could be punished by public hanging.

After 1720, a more rigid distinction between alchemy and chemistry was drawn. Within a few decades, the word “alchemy” came to refer only to the attempt to make gold from base metals. From that point forward, alchemists were seen as charlatans or fools.

The Dawn of Chemical Warfare > .
How Dangerous Are Chemical Weapons? > .

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