Medieval Furniture
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Medieval Furniture A class offered at Pennsic XXX by Master Sir Stanford of Sheffield August 2001ce ©2001 Stanley D. Hunter, all right reserved Medieval Furniture Part I - Furniture Use and Design.............................................................................................1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................1 The Medieval House and Furnishings..................................................................................2 Documentary Evidence of Furnishings ............................................................................2 Furniture Construction Techniques ..................................................................................3 Introduction.......................................................................................................................5 Armoires ...............................................................................................................................6 Buffets and Dressoirs............................................................................................................6 Beds ......................................................................................................................................7 Chests....................................................................................................................................7 Seating..................................................................................................................................9 Tables..................................................................................................................................10 Part III - Furniture Examples..................................................................................................11 Part IV - Construction of Medieval Furniture ........................................................................17 Introduction.........................................................................................................................17 Properties and Types of Wood ...........................................................................................18 Purchasing Lumber for Furniture ...................................................................................19 Medieval Woodworking Tools and Modern Equivalents...................................................20 Modern Equivalents of Medieval Tools.........................................................................21 Sources of good hand tools.............................................................................................21 A Modern List of Carpenter's Tools...............................................................................22 The Cost of a Minimal Set of Tools ...............................................................................23 Sharpening Wood Working Tools ..................................................................................24 How to sharpen tools ......................................................................................................24 The 'Scary-Sharp'™ Sharpening System........................................................................25 Angle of the Bevel..........................................................................................................25 Wood Working Joints.....................................................................................................26 Part V - Medieval Wood Finishes..........................................................................................28 Introduction.....................................................................................................................28 Shellac.............................................................................................................................28 Tung Oil..........................................................................................................................29 Linseed Oil (Boiled) .......................................................................................................29 ©2001 Stanley D. Hunter, all right reserved Turpentine.......................................................................................................................29 Varnish............................................................................................................................30 Wax.................................................................................................................................30 Paint................................................................................................................................30 Part VI - Furniture Hardware..................................................................................................32 Introduction.........................................................................................................................32 Nails................................................................................................................................32 Hinges.............................................................................................................................32 Locks...............................................................................................................................33 Installation of Medieval Hardware.....................................................................................33 Appendix - Six Board Chest...................................................................................................34 Bibliography...........................................................................................................................34 Furniture History................................................................................................................34 Houses and Life Styles .......................................................................................................35 General Woodworking and Furniture Making....................................................................35 History of Woodworking Tools..........................................................................................36 Web Resources ...................................................................................................................37 Catalogue Suppliers of Woodworking Tools .....................................................................37 ©2001 Stanley D. Hunter, all right reserved Medieval Furniture Part I - Furniture Use and Design Introduction This lecture will consider the design, construction, and decoration of furniture in Western th th a Europe from about the 11 through the 16 century. During this period there were four main groups of people: royalty, nobility, clergy, and peasants. Each group had different abilities to acquire furniture. The royalty had essentially unlimited wealth that allowed them to furnish their th palaces on a grand, unparalleled scale. The nobility, before the 14 century, while wealthy, led a peripatetic life and supported groups of soldiers that consumed most of their disposable income. What money was left was insufficient to furnish the several manor houses in which they rotated residence. In the 14th century the standing armies and the peripatetic lifestyle were no longer necessary. Consequently, holdings were consolidated, the nobility settled down, and, since money was available, they were able to furnish a preferred manor house very comfortably. The establishment of the monasteries had a similar effect for the clergy as consolidation of holdings did for the nobility although it happened about 100 years earlier. The simple existence and dawn to dusk labor of the peasants did not change much throughout this period; neither did their housing and furnishings which were of a very simple nature. Due mainly to the small number of remaining examples of medieval furniture, this rather long period of time can be considered as a whole since there is insufficient evidence to base a more detailed discussion of period variations in furniture styles.b Similarly, little can be said about regional or nationalistic variations. There is, however, one general temporal division that can be made between the furniture from the early period, before about 1300, and the later period, after about 1300. This division is one of quantity and only later, towards, the end of the 15th century, one of quality. By the 14th century, coincident with the consolidation of manorial holdings, the private room, or solar, was gaining popularity and with it there was an increase in the amount of furniture in a house. In particular, there was an increase in the number of tables, chairs, cupboards, etc. The scanty remains of early medieval furniture are partially demonstrated by the rarity of surviving examples. There are very few pieces which can be dated before 1200 with certainty and not many more which can be dated prior to 1300. This may be due to destruction of earlier pieces as old-fashioned or worn out. While partially true, implying that the surviving pieces are a minute fraction of the pieces that once existed, there are numerous surviving examples of woodwork in churches from these periods. The number of surviving examples suddenly increases as the end of the 14th century coincident with the consolidation of manorial holdings, reductions in feudal responsibilities, a less peripatetic life, and increase in the size