16th century German Backpack Basket

Silverwolf A&S Competition Borealis (Edmonton)

June 2014

Kataryna Tkach (Susan Koziel)

Contents Table of Figures ...... 2 Extant Basket finds and indications of basketry in Germany ...... 3 Historical Backpack Baskets ...... 5 How the Back Pack Basket was Made ...... 9 Future Work ...... 12 Bibliography ...... 13

Table of Figures Figure 1: Close up of Basketry from human remains find from 3000BC ...... 3 Figure 2: Medieval fish basket preserved in soil from Hemington Leicestershire ...... 3 Figure 3: Replica by Alisdair Davidson of Scottish Willow Basket (~500AD) ...... 4 Table 1: Basket Examples (Larsdatter) ...... 5 Figure 4: German Backpack Basket. Ein Fränkisch Frauw von Würzburg from Im Frauwenzimmer Wirt vermeldt von allerly schnen Kleidungen, 1586 ...... 8 Figure 5: Willow Withies ...... 9 Figure 6: Basket Work 2010 ...... 9 Figure 7: Basket work 2011 (picture courtesy of Althea, mka Jean Allan) ...... 10 Figure 8: Adding floating ribs as the weaving continues ...... 10 Figure 9: Testing the basket at Coronet with Schmett (left and center) and me (right) ...... 11 Figure 10: Rib slipping out of place during weaving ...... 11 Figure 11: Basket without lid, straps attached ...... 12

Extant Basket finds and indications of basketry in Germany Wickerwork, or woven wooden baskets, have been found in digs throughout Europe from the Neolithic onward, but tend to degrade and collapse if not preserved correctly (Jones, February 2012). This means that while a number of finds exist, not all types of baskets exist as artifacts. However, those that have been found and preserved are made from almost anything that can be woven like willow, hazel, birch bark, grass, papyrus, pine needles, palm fibre, whole hemp or flax straw, and a host of other materials (Jones, February 2012).

The earliest extant basket is present in the British museum. It is made of reeds and holds the remains of a skeleton from 1st Egyptian dynasty (3000BC), (Trustees of the British Museum)(Figure 1).

Figure 1: Close up of Basketry from human remains find from 3000BC

For willow baskets there is a particularly nice extant find of a fish basket in England (Howard, 2014)(Figure 2)

Figure 2: Medieval fish basket preserved in soil from Hemington Leicestershire

There is also a willow basket in the National Museum of Scotland, dated around 500 AD (Gurr, 2013) along with a replica made by Alisdair Davidson for the museum in the 1990’s (Figure 3). This gives an example of a willow basket similar in weaving style to the one I’ve made though different in shape.

Figure 3: Replica by Alisdair Davidson of Scottish Willow Basket (~500AD)

In Germany there was a basket making guild, “Brüderschaft der Korbmacher” (translated the brotherhood of basket makers) that ran from 1595-1868 (van Eyll, Duda, & für Unternehmensgeschichte, 1991). I have had problems finding extant baskets in any German museums, however based on pictures in paintings and manuscripts we know they were used, and since willow (German: Weide, Latin: Salix) is native to Germany and is mentioned in a number of herbals both as a pain reliever (willow bark tea) and has flexible limbs whose young wands are used to make many things (Fuchs, 1551), (Schöffer, 1484) (Gerarde, 1597). The current schools of basketry in Germany, most of which were set up in the 1800’s, use willow specifically for baskets, and the assumption is made that the earlier dated guild mentioned would also have used willow for their baskets.

Historical Backpack Baskets

I have only been able to find pictures of back-pack baskets from a number of manuscripts, all of them having slightly different shapes, though in general they seem to cluster by the shape of the back (round or flat), the shape of the bottom (round or flat), and the attachment of the basket to the person (two arm straps, a single chest strap, or a forehead strap) Table 1: Basket Examples(Table 1).

Table 1: Basket Examples (Larsdatter)

Type Example description Picture Round Basket, 2 March, The Fécamp Armstraps, with a pole at Psalter (KB 76 F 13, fol. the bottom center 3v), c. 1180

Flat bottom, Round September, Basket, 2 Armstraps Martyrologium (BNF Lat. 12834, fol. 69v), c. 1266- 1279

Round baskets, square Fauvel's wedding bottoms, straps celebration, The Romance uncertain but likely two of Fauvel (BNF Fr. 146, fol. shoulder straps 36v), c. 1320

Round basket, flat A baker, Hofämterspiel, c. bottom with legs, two 1450 straps

Type Example description Picture Flat bottom round From late 14th Century basket, showing 2 arm northern Italian straps, and how they are manuscripts published in joined to the basket. The Medieval Health Handbook: tacuinum sanitatis (NY: George Braziller, 1976). Flat bottom, Round Polishing armor, New Basket, Head strap and 1 discoveries; the sciences, arm strap inventions, and discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as represented in 24 engravings issued in the early 1580's by Stradanus Flat bottom, Round Polishing armor, New Basket, Head strap and 1 discoveries; the sciences, arm strap inventions, and discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as represented in 24 engravings issued in the early 1580's by Stradanus Round Basket, 2 Gold mining, The book of Armstraps, with curved simple medicines (BNF Fr. bottom 12322, fol. 168), c. 1520- 1530

Square basket, flat back, September in a book of chest strap, tapered hours (MMW 10 F 14), c. bottom (an Egg basket) 1500-1525

Type Example description Picture Round basket, flat back, The Wayfarer, c. 1490; chest strap, square top, outer wings of the round bottom Haywain Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, 1500- 1502

Rounded basket, flat March, The Grimani back, 2 shoulder straps, Breviary, c. 1490-1510 semi-flat bottom

Round basket, flat back, Borders in Froissart's round bottom, straps Chronicles, second half of uncertain but looks like a the 15th century: BNF Fr. chest strap 2643, fol. 226v,

Round basket, flat back, Eine Fränkischen round bottom 2 arm gemeinen Burgers Weib straps from Im Frauwenzimmer Wirt vermeldt von allerly schnen Kleidungen, 1586

Text translation: “A Burgers Wife who gets ready like a man by putting on her boots, puts on a basket on her back, she is going out into the vineyard, for good luck.”

I modelled my back pack basket on the basket shown in Ein Fränkisch Frauw von Würzburg from Im Frauwenzimmer Wirt vermeldt von allerly schnen Kleidungen, 1586. It is round but with a flat back and a round bottom (Figure 4). The text was kindly translated for me by a German collegue, Annette Sheik, and says: “Frankonia (town of Wuertsburg) wealthy woman who is beautiful and dainty. She is not afraid to work she puts a basket on her back to go to the market to shop.”

Figure 4: German Backpack Basket. Ein Fränkisch Frauw von Würzburg from Im Frauwenzimmer Wirt vermeldt von allerly schnen Kleidungen, 1586

The people using back pack baskets seem to be more prevalent among merchants and working class. The translation of the German text indicates it’s possible that the wealthy also used them when there was a need (such as shopping, or presumably anything else that required transporting something that would do well in a pack). How the Back Pack Basket was Made In 2010: After looking at pictures, and declaring “How Hard Can It Be?” I decided I would make a backpack basket out of the local willow, so I went out in the spring and cut willows before they had leafed. I used heavier willow to make the frame, and the ribs, then wove thinner willow wands to fill the frame.

Figure 5: Willow Withies

When I ran out of weavers (aka wands) and had to stop. Below you can see the partially woven frame and the pieces of the unwoven lid on top.

Figure 6: Basket Work 2010

2011 I went out in the spring and cut willows before they had leafed, finished weaving the front of the basket, and filled in the holes left by the willow when it shrank. Wove the lid. Ran out of willow.

Figure 7: Basket work 2011 (picture courtesy of Althea, mka Jean Allan)

2012 -2013 Didn’t manage to catch the willow at the right time of year for weaving.

2014

I wove the back of the basket (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Adding floating ribs as the weaving continues I Sewed straps out of linen fabric in order for them to be more comfortable than leather straps. The above pictures seem to show either leather or cloth straps are a possibility. The 1580’s picture showing the men polishing armour, appears to me to be cloth rather than leather straps. I then tested where to attach the straps at June Coronet (Figure 9) and realized one of the floating ribs had slipped (Figure 10).

Figure 9: Testing the basket at Coronet with Schmett (left and center) and me (right)

Figure 10: Rib slipping out of place during weaving

I had to reweave a section and considered lacing the rib in question to the frame so it would be less likely to slip in the future

After the rib was fixed I sewed the tops of the straps on, but left the bottom sections of the straps tied rather than sewn together to allow them to be adjusted. I also realized that the lid had warped. So I soaked it for a week and attempted to press it while it dried using bricks, but didn’t attach it. It will be attached with strips of Linen once dry and a bone toggle will be put in place on the front to hold it closed. The basket, is however quite functional without the lid.

Figure 11: Basket without lid, straps attached

Future Work

Apart from attaching the lid, this basket had some issues because I hadn’t decided whether I was weaving the back or simply attaching a flat wooden board to it. That meant the weaving was done in two sections, which was good because my weaving wands weren’t as long as would be ideal to make the basket in one section, and bad because the floating ribs on the back of the basket aren’t as stable as they should be.

I would do a second basket that has a flat bottom with the four small feet, like the 14th century northern Italian basket in the above list of pictures. I’d also like to make a square egg backpack basket. I’d also like to try to make one from either stripped hemp bark or the stalks themselves using a slightly more decorative basket weaving technique.

Bibliography Fuchs, L. (1551). De historia stirpium commentarii insignes. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag. Gerarde, J. (1597). The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. London: John Norton. Gurr, J. (2013, December 16). The Oldest Basket In Scotland. Retrieved from Woven Communities: http://wovencommunities.org/histories/the-oldest-basket-in-scotland/ Howard, A. J. (2014, April 11). Shooting and Fishing the Trent - Results from Hemington Quarry. Retrieved from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS): http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/projects/hemington.html Jones, D. M. (Ed.). (February 2012). Waterlogged Organic Artefacts Guidelines on their Recovery, Analysis and Conservation. Swindon: English Heritage Publishing. Larsdatter, K. (n.d.). Baskets. Retrieved from Material culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance the Linkspage: http://larsdatter.com/baskets.htm Schöffer, P. (1484). Herbarius latinus. Mainz: Furst and Schöffer. Trustees of the British Museum (Ed.). (n.d.). coffin / human skeletal remains Museum number EA52887. Retrieved from The British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection _image_gallery.aspx?assetId=415462&objectId=116547&partId=1 van Eyll, K., Duda, U., & für Unternehmensgeschichte, G. (1991). Deutsche Wirtschaftsarchive: Bestände von Unternehmen, Unternehmern, Kammern und Verbänden der Wirtschaft in öffentlichen Archiven der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Volume 3. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.