A short history of ... DDDrDrrriiiinnnnkkkkiiiinnnngggg BBBoBooowwwwllllssss aaanannndddd MMMaMaaazzzzeeeerrrrssss.... THE F RENCH very few show knife cuts inside. mazers you will find some It is my feeling that these bowls splendid examples surviving from CONNECTION were either purely drinking the medieval period. Without At the time of the Norman bowls or if they were also used exception these are small shallow Conquest in 1066 the practice of for eating they were used for wooden bowls embellished with drinking from wooden bowls was food which did not need to be large quantities of silver, always introduced to Britain and cut before eating. with a deep silver rim that overnight it seems the turned WHAT IS A M AZER ? doubles the capacity of the bowl wooden cups favoured by Saxons and often a and Vikings became obsolete. Now to raised silver foot Pottery throughout the medieval discuss too. The British period was mainly restricted to mazers, a Museum has jugs, storage and cooking pots. term which several of these seems to on display, it is The first images of drinking have easy to see how bowls in use are from the Bayeux become such a bowl tapestry where, as is common in rather would be —much pictorial evidence, the bowls are confused prized“ but very large. To me today drinking over the difficult to from a bowl seems a strange years. Owen imagine that A banquet scene from the Bayeux Tapestry. practice, especially if the bowl is Evan- they were ever large and I tend to miss and Thomas common. dribble the contents out of the writing in 1932 wrote, —Among WHAT ‘S YOURS side of the mouth! The practice wooden drinking vessels, the continues today in France where most important and the earliest CALLED ? particular drinks such as known of any consequence is cider or the breakfast the mazer.“ Mr A. St. John Certain favourite mazers in café au lait are often Hope in an earlier paper on the medieval houses were given their drunk from a bowl. subject (Archaeologia, Vol. 50) own names. At Canterbury in I have studied many says that of all drinking vessels 1328 certain mazers were known hundreds of turned in use from the 13 th to the 15 th as —Salomon,“ —Austin,“ —Broke,“ wooden bowls from the century, none were so common —Hare,“ —Pylgrim,“ and I think medieval period and most or so much prized as those my favourite would have been of them are small (less known as mazers. A strange —Bygge“. At Durham a great than 8“ diameter) and statement since common things mazer was called the grace cup tend not to be prized. which the monks drank from round the table after grace every Mazers sometimes appear in day and another great mazer wills and inventories. The called the Judas Cup was used by following list gives the number the same monks on Maundy of mazers in the inventories of Thursday night. Both the certain monastic houses, dating th th Durham cups and I suspect the from the 14 to 16 centuries. named mazers at Canterbury 1328 Canterbury 182 mazers, were edged with silver gilt and 1427 Battle 32 mazers, 1446 were probably of the type to be Durham 49 mazers, 1540 seen in the British Museum, but Waltham 15 mazers, 1540 what of the 182 mazers from Westminster 40 mazers. Canterbury? A Medieval monk enjoying a bowl-full! If you visit museums in search of more overleaf ... that most mazers were made which sank in 1545. These are all VISIT TO G ERMANY from burr maple which has a much larger bowls mostly between spotty grain, another theory has 8“ and 10“, again they have a 2arlier this the word derived thinned rim and no internal knife year I from the old Welsh cuts (other than intentional visited word —masarn“ for decorative ones). Many are several maple tree, these personalised with carved graffiti theories have been inside and out. They were found archaeological repeated ever since and scattered around the ship as if museums and now seem accepted as fact. they were personal property in storerooms in the My problem with both theories contrast to the larger number of Black Forest in Germany and I is that whilst some, but not all, flatter dishes which all have think I found the answer to the of the great mazers are burr innumerable knife cuts and were —common mazer“ problem at maple very few common mazers found mostly in the area of the Freiburg. In 1982 during are. I would say the commonest galley. building work on the site of a woods were ash, beech, alder, What replaced the common medieval monastery a large brick straight grained maple and mazer? I do not know. Aboard the lined latrine was uncovered. It fruitwoods, one of the nicest I Mary Rose there were also a th was several metres square and have seen from 13 century smaller number of stave built several metres deep and the Winchester was of burr box. In tankards and pewter was also waterlogged conditions had modern German there are two becoming available to the well off, preserved the organic contents by the eighteenth century turners including several hundred were making fine wooden goblets, beautiful pole lathe turned could these have been made wooden bowls. All of them were earlier too and not survived? small (less than 7“ diameter) with Clearly further research is called no evidence of knife cuts and the for. design of most had a finely words which I suspect could be turned rim which makes for linked to our mazer, one is easier drinking. I am convinced maserung which means wood Bibliography : that I was looking at a large grain but maser means only Domestic Utensils of Wood - Owen collection of mazers of the grain (as in wheat?) the other Evan-Thomas. common type mentioned in maserkopf is wooden cup. If any Treen & other Wooden Bygones - E. medieval inventories, though German scholars are reading H. Pinto. there are not such great numbers this I would be grateful for their in Britain the pattern of medieval comments. Treen for the Table - Jonathan Levi bowls is the same. In addition to WHEN DID THEY GO ? Holzfunde aus Freiburg und these basic drinking bowls there Konstanz - Ulrich Müller. were other forms not found in Finally, we no longer drink Britain. My favourite were from bowls in Britain so when —doppelkopfs“ (double cups) did the custom die out? Evan- which are a pair of cups, one Thomas suggests that the end small and one large, which fit was late in the seventeenth together when not in use. century when they were superseded by large lignum THE MEANING OF vitae wassail bowls. This is MAZER likely true for the ceremonial communal maser though I Now some thoughts on the word suspect the end of the ILLUSTRATIONS: Top, an original mazer maser itself. St John Hope quotes common individual maser was a from Freiburg; Middle, an archaeological a Professor Skeat as suggesting little earlier. The last significant drawing of a mazer; Above, a pear-wood mazer made by myself. that the word is derived from the collection of drinking bowls I old German word —masa“ know of are from the Mary Rose meaning a spot. The theory goes ROBIN W OOD 1999 .