An Age of Transition?: Economy and Society in England in the Later Middle Ages (Ford Lectures) by Christopher Dyer

Author:Christopher Dyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2008-09-03T16:50:00+00:00

Fig. 4.3. Cast metal buckles from excavations in London, and a pilgrim badge of the head of St Thomas of Canterbury from Salisbury (Wilts.). These lead/tin alloy objects were probably made in the fifteenth century.

Source: see nn. 44 and 45.

The ceramic pottery industry catered for a very wide market, and its wares were bought in varying quantities by every household. The potters worked mainly in the countryside, where fuel, clay, and labour were easily obtainable. Under a variety of pressures in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, including the need for economies of scale and efficient marketing networks, the industry became concentrated in a limited number of manufacturing centres.49 Ceramic pots faced competition from industries using more durable materials, notably brass cooking pots and pans, which led to the production of forms imitating cast-metal vessels. On the other hand, especially in the fifteenth century, ceramics could enter into direct competition with the cheap products of the wood-turners, especially with cups and mugs which could replace wooden cups and bowls. The pottery vessels were more expensive than `treen ware', but they lasted for a longer time, and had a much more attractive appearance, as they were often given coloured glazes. Some were decorated with comical face designs, to amuse the drinkers. The expansion of ale drinking, and the tendency for more ale to be consumed in specialist ale-houses rather than being sold for home consumption by parttime ale-wives, may be connected with the production of a range of vessels, from large cisterns with bungs to a variety of drinking vessels (Fig. 4.4). It has been suggested that the potters were catering for a `drinking culture'.50

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