Glassware in use in Toulouse at the end of the Middle Ages (14th-15th century)
The symposium, which took place in Toulouse on November 9 and 10, 2017, gave rise to a publication containing the eighteen interventions. This symposium concerned the city of Toulouse in the 14th century, History, arts and archaeology,
"Toulouse, an exceptional flowering at the time of the plague and the Hundred Years' War".
The themes addressed by the participants concern the history of Toulouse in the 14th century, then architecture, art and colour, goldsmithing and sculpture, archeology (the Toulouse dresser and the glass objects in use in Toulouse at the end of the Middle Ages).
The study of these glass objects was carried out by Sophie Cornadeau (Inrap) and Catherine Hébrard-Salivas (Archéoverre)
The knowledge of medieval glass in the Midi-Pyrénées has been favored by the discovery of important lots from excavations located in the city center of Toulouse within the framework of preventive archeology. Several sites provided medieval glass material: Lycée Saint-Sernin, Square Charles De Gaulle "Capital Fountain", School of Economics, Îlot Valade, Old Larrey Hospital, Natural History Museum, Les Carmes metro station, Cité judicial.
Characteristics and shapes of the material
The state of preservation of the material is on the whole poor. Many shards could not be studied. Despite this constraint, some shapes could be identified as drinking glasses or cups and closed shapes.
Several categories of drinking glasses and cups
-Stemmed glasses (form XIV.A3)
These are drinking glasses characteristic of 14th century glassware. Stems can be solid or hollow and the container is ribbed. The foot is straight and often forms a sort of disc. This form is present throughout France. It is a glass that we find represented on many manuscripts of the 14th century such as those deposited at the BnF (BnF, Français 270, f°1).
-Glasses with a hollow stem and container without a rib (form XIV.A2.a)
Two glasses are characterized by a straight stem and a tulip-shaped cut for one and streamlined for the other. These objects were made with two parisons.
-Stemmed glasses
These objects are characterized by their straight and short foot while their body is flared and decorated with ribs or glass nets. These individuals are unpublished, within the limits of our current knowledge, in the Toulouse typology.es objets se caractérisent par Leur pied droit et court alors que leur panse est évasée et décorée de côtes ou de filets de verre. Ces individus sont inédits, dans la limite de nos connaissances actuelles, dans la typologie toulousaine.
-Cups (form XIV.A5)
Several fragments of goblets have been unearthed. They are frustoconical or cylindrical and present various decorations: application of drops and nets of glass (sometimes of blue color). Some are blown into a mold to apply a pattern to the belly. Others have a smooth or serrated ring foot.
- Cups and bowls (form XIV.B2.b) These are cuts which appear in the Mediterranean South from the end of the 13th century and which persist into the 14th century. They are decorated with nets of blue glass and the foot is formed of a net of glass drawn with pliers. The lip can also be underlined with a net of blue glass.
They are like the fragment of a cup with a concave rim decorated with threads of blue glass with an added serrated annular foot, discovered on rue des Trois Rexins in Toulouse (photo opposite). This object is currently deposited at the Saint-Raymond Museum (Toulouse).
Closed forms
They are composed of vials, flasks, bottles and large containers.
- Vials and flasks
Several forms are represented, ampoules (form XII.C2 type A2) which are characterized by a long neck pinched at its base, burettes (form XIV.C5). Bulbs appear in the Toulouse region around the 14th century, unlike Bordeaux where they are present from the 12th century. Other fragments belong to the category of urinals (form XIV.C6): the bottom is apodous. Its use continued until the end of the 16th century.
-Bottles and large containers
These forms are very incomplete. A neck presents a net of blue glass surrounded on two registers: upper and lower part. Other objects have a molded design on the bottom representing a pattern of petals radiating out to form a rosette.
Conclusion
The glass material discovered in Toulouse from the medieval period is of good quality and varied. The question that remains is to know where these objects were made. No indication of glass production from this period has yet been identified. It is possible to notice a Mediterranean or Italian influence of this glassware.
The publication dates from 2021 (this post will be more detailed shortly).
Publication references:
V. Czerniak, C Riou (dir.), Toulouse au XIVe siècle, histoire, art et archéologie : Une floraison d'exception au temps de la peste et de la guerre de Cent Ans, Presse universitaires du Midi, Toulouse 2021.
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