{"id":6624,"date":"2020-03-10T14:59:56","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T14:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/?page_id=6624"},"modified":"2020-03-10T14:59:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T14:59:56","slug":"the-material-culture-of-english-medieval-rural-households","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/the-material-culture-of-english-medieval-rural-households\/","title":{"rendered":"The material culture of English medieval rural households"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>A talk by Dr Ben Jervis,\u00a0Cardiff University, on 15th February 2020<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben has been studying living standards and material culture in English rural households in the period 1300\u20131600<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What goods did ordinary medieval households own?<\/li><li>What factors influenced medieval consumption?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In later periods wills are a good source of information, but they are not recorded this early so other sources are needed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Escheators\u2019 records (<em>c.<\/em>1350\u20131450)<\/li><li>Coroners\u2019 records (<em>c.<\/em>1500\u20131600)<\/li><li>Archaeological excavations<\/li><li>PAS data<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The first two are lists of items confiscated from outlawed or executed felons. They include bedding, personal furniture, clothing, cooking and dining equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Archaeological excavations of rural settlements typically uncover:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Cooking equipment<\/li><li>Tableware<\/li><li>Furniture<\/li><li>Clothing and jewelry<\/li><li>Tools and craft materials<\/li><li>Stock<\/li><li>Animals and crops<\/li><li>Religious items<\/li><li>Personal possessions<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Analysis of all of these can reveal patterns of usage across time and geography. Ben described the distribution of a number of items:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Quern stones<\/strong> as evidence of grain processing<\/li><li><strong>Cooking equipment<\/strong>, including evidence for complex cooking and handwashing items.<\/li><li><strong>Pewter<\/strong> \u2013 rare in finds but features in lists<\/li><li><strong>Drinking<\/strong> is an important part of medieval culture, but vessels are rarely recorded.<\/li><li><strong>Tables<\/strong> are listed as trestles or boards. Tablecloths are considered more important.<\/li><li><strong>Beds<\/strong> are probably not seized hence a lack in the records. Bedding, however, was second only to cookware as an investment by medieval households.<\/li><li><strong>Storage and security<\/strong>. Chests are the most common item of furniture listed and are especially listed in Kent and Norfolk.<\/li><li><strong>Clothing and dress accessories<\/strong> become more common in later coroners records, especially coats and gowns. Changes in fashion can be followed. Belt fittings are common archaeological finds.<\/li><li><strong>Devotional objects<\/strong> are also rare, apart from some archaeological evidence for prayer beads.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Archaeological and historical evidence combined reveal complexity and material richness of medieval households<\/li><li>Combined approach essential to understanding the material conditions of medieval life<\/li><li>Project has highlighted the diversity of possessions \u2013 and begun to tease out some of the systems of value which motivated consumption behaviour<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben is currently working on project book which will hopefully be out next year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A talk by Dr Ben Jervis,\u00a0Cardiff University, on 15th February 2020 Ben has been studying living standards and material culture in English rural households in the period 1300\u20131600 What goods did ordinary medieval households own? What factors influenced medieval consumption? In later periods wills are a good source of information, but they are not recorded &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/the-material-culture-of-english-medieval-rural-households\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The material culture of English medieval rural households<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6488,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6624","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6624"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6628,"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6624\/revisions\/6628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.berksarch.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}