Anglo-Saxon glass
Encyclopedia
Anglo-Saxon glass has been found across England during archaeological excavations of both settlement and cemetery sites. Glass in the Anglo-Saxon period
was used in the manufacture of a range of objects including vessels, beads, windows and was even used in jewellery. In the 5th century AD with the Roman departure from Britain, there were also considerable changes in the usage of glass. Excavation of Romano-British
sites have revealed plentiful amounts of glass but, in contrast, the amount recovered from 5th century and later Anglo-Saxon sites is minuscule.
The majority of complete vessels and assemblages of beads come from the excavations of early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, but a change in burial rites in the late 7th century affected the recovery of glass, as Christian Anglo-Saxons were buried with fewer grave goods, and glass is rarely found. From the late 7th century onwards, window glass is found more frequently. This is directly related to the introduction of Christianity
and the construction of churches and monasteries. There are a few Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical literary sources that mention the production and use of glass, although these relate to window glass used in ecclesiastical buildings. Glass was also used by the Anglo-Saxons in their jewellery, both as enamel or as cut glass insets.
The main type of glass found in the Anglo-Saxon period is a soda-lime-silica glass, continuing the Roman tradition of producing glass. There is very little evidence for glass making from the raw materials in Roman Britain and even less evidence in Anglo-Saxon Britain. It would have been nearly impossible to transport the natron from the Middle East to Britain. It is therefore far more likely, that as in the Roman period, glass was being produced near the raw materials and then lumps of raw glass transported. Another source of glass was cullet, recycled broken or crushed glass. Recycling was carried out throughout the Roman period, and large deposits of broken glass at Winchester
and Hamwic suggest glass was also being recycled in the Anglo-Saxon period. It is possible that by recycling glass in this way it was possible to keep up to the demand for glass products without new raw glass having to be introduced into the system. Additional cullet may also have been collected from the ruins of abandoned Romano-British sites. In the late 7-8th century with the construction of many ecclesiastical establishments and large windows, the demand for glass grew. At this time political problems in the Delta-Wadi Natrun region caused a shortage of natron in the Middle East where the raw glass was produced. This possibly led to glass makers experimenting with new fluxes, which finally led to the introduction of wood ash glasses using potash as the main alkali flux, which was more readily available.
Table above: Compositions of glass from the 1st Millennium AD. Adapted from data published in Sanderson, Hunter and Warren’s analysis of 1st Millennium AD glass (top) and data published by Freestone’s study of the provenance of ancient glass through compositional analysis (bottom). HIMT stands for high iron, manganese and titanium glass, nm for not measured and where there were only traces or the value was below the analytical equipment's detection limits <0.1 is used.
s or glass working debris, or vice versa. All the glass working furnaces that have been found are associated with ecclesiastical sites such as monasteries. This gives the impression that these centres sponsored the majority of glass working in Anglo-Saxon Britain, presumably to primarily work on making glass windows for the church buildings. Documentary sources suggest glass workers were itinerant
travelling around the country, producing glass on demand, possibly re-using broken glass, rather than there being a single centre producing worked glass objects which would then need to be transported. Although we can identify the production processes it is still not known how much glass working took place in the Anglo-Saxon period and how widespread it was. The absence of evidence has often been used to argue that the majority of glass was imported from the continent. But this seems unlikely as there are limited numbers of glass vessel manufacturing sites found elsewhere in Europe and some of the Anglo-Saxon glass vessels are unique to England, suggesting the presence of some manufacture centres, possibly in Kent. Instead the number of glass working sites reflects not only the nature of the fragmented Anglo-Saxon archaeological record but also the nature of glass, which could be melted down and re-used.
. More recent excavations of contemporary settlements have revealed fragments of similar vessels types, indicating there are few, if any, differences between domestic glass and those ritually deposited in graves. There is a significant difference between Roman and Anglo-Saxon vessel forms, and glass working techniques became more limited. Few of the Anglo-Saxon forms can be classified as tableware, as this term implies to some extent that vessels can be set on a flat surface. The forms used had primarily rounded or pointed bases, or when bases were present would have been too top heavy and unstable. This implies that vessels were held in the hand until the drink was completed. The evidence for glass vessels is patchier in the 8th century, as the number of complete vessels found decreases. This is directly related to the introduction of Christianity and the change in burial rite.
The first typology for Anglo-Saxon glass vessels was devised by Dr. Donald B. Harden in 1956, which was later revised in 1978. The names established by Harden have now become familiar with usage, and Professor Vera Evison’s typology retained many categories while adding some new types, some from newly excavated vessels that could not be placed into Harden’s typology.
The chemical composition of Anglo-Saxon glass vessels is very similar to late Roman glass, which has high amounts of iron, manganese and titanium. The slightly higher amounts of iron in the Early Anglo-Saxon glass results in a colourless glass, with a green-yellow tinge. By the end of the 7th century some innovations can be observed. With generally better quality glass, a greater range of colours found and the beginning of the tendency to use a second colour for decoration. Most Anglo-Saxon vessels were free blown, although occasionally some mould blown examples are found, mostly with vertical ribbing. The rims were fire rounded, sometimes slightly thickened and cupped, rolled or folded either inwards or outwards. Decoration was accomplished almost entirely by the application of trails which could be in the same colour as the vessel or contrasting, or in the form of a reticella like trail.
The vast majority of early Anglo-Saxon female graves contain beads, which are often found in large numbers in the area of the neck and chest. Beads are also sometimes found in male burials, with large beads often associated with prestigious weapons. A variety of materials other than glass were available for Anglo-Saxon beads including; amber, rock crystal, amethyst, bone, shells, coral and even metal. These beads are usually considered to have been decorative but may also have a social or ritual function. Anglo-Saxon glass beads show a wide variety of bead manufacturing techniques, sizes, shapes, colours and decorations. Various studies have been carried out investigating the distribution and chronological change of bead types.
Several bead manufacturing sites have been identified on the continent, by the presence of waste glass, beads and glass rods. Two late Roman to 5th century sites have been discovered at Trier and Tibiscum
in Romania, while closer to England and dating to the 6th-7th century two more sites have been found at Jordenstraat and Rothulfuashem (Netherlands). There is also extensive evidence for bead making workshops in Scandinavia which have been dated to the 8th century or later. The best known examples are Eketorp on Öland (Sweden) and Ribe in Jutland (Denmark). There is a tendency for British archaeologists to assume that the majority of glass beads recovered were imported. Although to date there is a lack of direct evidence for bead manufacture in early Anglo-Saxon England, there is evidence for it in early Christian Ireland, northern Britain and the post-Roman west. It is also present on Saxon monastic and settlement sites between the 7th and 9th century. Even so indirect evidence from the distribution of early Saxon beads has been used to suggest that there is at least three bead groups which were being manufactured in England.
To date only two extensive chemical analysis studies of Anglo-Saxon bead assemblages have been carried out, from the cemeteries of Sewerby in Yorkshire and Apple Down in Sussex. These studies showed that, like glass vessels, the beads had a modified soda-lime-silica composition with high manganese and iron oxide contents. Variations in the composition directly related to the glass colour. Lead rich opaque glass was also prominent in Anglo-Saxon Britain, most likely due to its lower softening temperature and longer working period, which would not melt or distort the bead body. The bead body could be constructed in a number of different ways; winding, drawing, piercing, folding or even a combination of these. Decoration was applied by adding twisting rods of colour, coloured mosaic patterns, enclosing metal between layers of clear glass or simply adding a different colour in either drops or trails.
, Wearmouth
, Brandon
, Whithorn
and Winchester. This evidence supports the historical records, such as Bede
’s account of Benedict Biscop
’s importation of glaziers from Gaul to glaze the windows in the monastery at Wearmouth in AD 675.
Most Anglo-Saxon window glass is thin, durable, bubbly and when colourless has a pale bluish-green tint. Many of the ecclesiastical sites have also produced strongly coloured glass from the 7th century onwards. Analysis of window glass from Beverley
, Uley
, Winchester, Whithorn, Wearmouth and Jarrow, has revealed that the majority was again a soda-lime-silica glass but it has also revealed that the composition is different from that of vessel glass, with lower quantities of iron, manganese and titanium suggesting a different source of raw material, possibly from The Levant. The analysis also revealed more about the transition from using soda as a flux, to potash.
Window glass in antiquity could be produced in three ways; cylinder blown
, crown manufacture
or cast. In Anglo-Saxon England there is evidence for all three types of methods being used. The vast majority of glass windows were produced by the cylinder blown method, although possibly on a smaller scale than the classic methods mentioned by Theophilus
. Some Anglo-Saxon window glass was produced by the crown method and at Repton
thick pieces of window glass with swirling layered surfaces were possibly made using the cast method.
The majority of jewellery in the 6th-7th century made intensive use of flat, cut almandine garnets in gold and garnet cloisonné
(or cellwork") but occasionally glass was also cut and inset as gems. The colours used were almost entirely limited to blue and green. Occasionally red glass has been used as a substitute for garnet, for example in some of the Sutton Hoo
objects, such as the purse lid
and blue glass in the shoulder clasps. Anglo-Saxon enamel was also used in the production of jewellery, with coloured glass melted in separate cells.
Chemical analysis of this glass has revealed that they are a soda-lime-silica glass but with a lower iron and manganese oxide content than the high iron, manganese and titanium glass used to make vessels. The similarity between the composition of the glass inlays and Roman coloured glass is remarkable, so much so that it is likely that the Anglo-Saxon craftworkers were re-using Roman opaque glass, possibly Roman glass tessera
e.
History of Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...
was used in the manufacture of a range of objects including vessels, beads, windows and was even used in jewellery. In the 5th century AD with the Roman departure from Britain, there were also considerable changes in the usage of glass. Excavation of Romano-British
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
sites have revealed plentiful amounts of glass but, in contrast, the amount recovered from 5th century and later Anglo-Saxon sites is minuscule.
The majority of complete vessels and assemblages of beads come from the excavations of early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, but a change in burial rites in the late 7th century affected the recovery of glass, as Christian Anglo-Saxons were buried with fewer grave goods, and glass is rarely found. From the late 7th century onwards, window glass is found more frequently. This is directly related to the introduction of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and the construction of churches and monasteries. There are a few Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical literary sources that mention the production and use of glass, although these relate to window glass used in ecclesiastical buildings. Glass was also used by the Anglo-Saxons in their jewellery, both as enamel or as cut glass insets.
Glass Manufacture
A clear distinction between glass making and glass working must be made. Glass making is the production of raw glass from the raw materials. Glass working on the other hand refers to the processing of raw glass or recycled glass to create new glass objects, although this may take place in the same location as glass making, it can also take place elsewhere.Glass making
Glass consists of four principal components; a former, alkali flux, stabiliser and colourants/opacifiers.- Former: Silica, which in the Roman and Anglo-Saxon period was added in the form of sand.
- Alkali flux: Soda or potash. The Roman sources, in addition to chemical analysis of glass dating to the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods, suggest that mineral natronNatronNatron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate and about 17% sodium bicarbonate along with small quantities of household salt and sodium sulfate. Natron is white to colourless when pure, varying to gray or yellow with impurities...
was used as the flux. PlinyPliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
also states that the preferred source of natron for glass making was from Egypt. At the end of the 1st millennium AD a new source of flux was being used, wood ash, which is a source of potash.
- Stabiliser: Lime or magnesia. In Anglo-Saxon glass the main stabiliser was lime. This may have been deliberately added to the glass batch, but may simply have been a component of the sand that was used. Roman writer Pliny stated that sand from the River Belus was particularly suitable for glass-making, this is a calcareous sand, rich in marine shells, and therefore lime.
- Colourants/Opacifiers: These can be naturally present in the glass due to impurities in the raw materials, e.g. in the case of green/blue-green glass which results from the presence of iron in the sand. Other colourants are likely to be deliberate additions to the glass melt of small quantities of mineral-rich material or in some cases slagSlagSlag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form...
s from metalworking processes. The elements in ancient glass that affect its appearance are mainly iron, manganese, cobalt, copper, tin and antimony. The presence or absence of lead is also important, while it doesn’t produce a colour itself (except in the form lead-tin oxide or lead-antimony oxide) it can change the hue of other colourants. In addition when added to opaque glasses it ensures that the colourants form in a controlled way and are uniformly distributed. OpacityOpacity (optics)Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shielding material, glass, etc...
in glass can be due to a number of factors; intensity of colour, bubbles in the glass or the inclusion of opacifying agents, such as tin (SnO2 & PbSnO3) and antimony (Ca2Sb2O7 & CaSb2O6 & Pb2Sb2O7).
The main type of glass found in the Anglo-Saxon period is a soda-lime-silica glass, continuing the Roman tradition of producing glass. There is very little evidence for glass making from the raw materials in Roman Britain and even less evidence in Anglo-Saxon Britain. It would have been nearly impossible to transport the natron from the Middle East to Britain. It is therefore far more likely, that as in the Roman period, glass was being produced near the raw materials and then lumps of raw glass transported. Another source of glass was cullet, recycled broken or crushed glass. Recycling was carried out throughout the Roman period, and large deposits of broken glass at Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
and Hamwic suggest glass was also being recycled in the Anglo-Saxon period. It is possible that by recycling glass in this way it was possible to keep up to the demand for glass products without new raw glass having to be introduced into the system. Additional cullet may also have been collected from the ruins of abandoned Romano-British sites. In the late 7-8th century with the construction of many ecclesiastical establishments and large windows, the demand for glass grew. At this time political problems in the Delta-Wadi Natrun region caused a shortage of natron in the Middle East where the raw glass was produced. This possibly led to glass makers experimenting with new fluxes, which finally led to the introduction of wood ash glasses using potash as the main alkali flux, which was more readily available.
| Site | Date | Na2O | MgO | Al2O3 | SiO2 | K2O | CaO | TiO2 | MnO | Fe2O3 |
| Binchester | 1st | 21.2 | 0.6 | 3.5 | 64.5 | 0.7 | 8 | <0.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Castleford | 1st | 16.8 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 69.3 | 0.6 | 6.6 | <0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| Wroxeter | 1st | 20.3 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 65.4 | 1.1 | 8 | <0.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Cadbury Congresbury | 5-6th | 20.1 | 0.6 | 3.5 | 62.8 | 0.7 | 9.3 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 1.0 |
| Spong Hill | 5-6th | 18.5 | 0.7 | 3.8 | 65.9 | 1.1 | 7.1 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.2 |
| Winchester | 5-9th | 16.3 | 0.9 | 4.6 | 67.6 | 1.0 | 7.2 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 |
| Repton | 7-8th | 19.6 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 64.6 | 0.9 | 7.7 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 1.3 |
| Dorestadt (Holland) | 8-9th | 14.9 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 64.7 | 1.1 | 10.2 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Helgö (Sweden) | 8-9th | 17.3 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 65.6 | 0.9 | 8.1 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
| Hamwic | 8-9th | 13.2 | 0.7 | 4.3 | 70.4 | 1.1 | 7.9 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.1 |
| Lincoln | 9-11th | 13.8 | 0.8 | 4.0 | 69.5 | 0.9 | 9.1 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Roman, Leicester | 1st-3rd | 18.4 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 70.7 | 0.7 | 6.4 | nm | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| HIMT, Carthage | 4-6th | 18.7 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 64.8 | 0.4 | 5.2 | nm | 2.7 | 2.1 |
| Levantine I, Appollonia | 6-7th | 15.2 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 70.6 | 0.7 | 8.1 | nm | <0.1 | 0.4 |
| Levantine II, Bet Eli'ezer | 6-8th | 12.1 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 74.9 | 0.5 | 7.2 | nm | <0.1 | 0.5 |
| Egypt II, Ashmenein | 8-9th | 15.0 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 68.2 | 0.2 | 10.8 | nm | 0.2 | 0.7 |
Table above: Compositions of glass from the 1st Millennium AD. Adapted from data published in Sanderson, Hunter and Warren’s analysis of 1st Millennium AD glass (top) and data published by Freestone’s study of the provenance of ancient glass through compositional analysis (bottom). HIMT stands for high iron, manganese and titanium glass, nm for not measured and where there were only traces or the value was below the analytical equipment's detection limits <0.1 is used.
Glass working
Excavation of Anglo-Saxon sites has produced some evidence for limited glass working in the form of crucibles for melting glass, glass debris and furnaces, although, to date, no furnaces have been found associated with crucibleCrucible
A crucible is a container used for metal, glass, and pigment production as well as a number of modern laboratory processes, which can withstand temperatures high enough to melt or otherwise alter its contents...
s or glass working debris, or vice versa. All the glass working furnaces that have been found are associated with ecclesiastical sites such as monasteries. This gives the impression that these centres sponsored the majority of glass working in Anglo-Saxon Britain, presumably to primarily work on making glass windows for the church buildings. Documentary sources suggest glass workers were itinerant
Itinerant
An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home. The term comes from the late 16th century: from late Latin itinerant , from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner ....
travelling around the country, producing glass on demand, possibly re-using broken glass, rather than there being a single centre producing worked glass objects which would then need to be transported. Although we can identify the production processes it is still not known how much glass working took place in the Anglo-Saxon period and how widespread it was. The absence of evidence has often been used to argue that the majority of glass was imported from the continent. But this seems unlikely as there are limited numbers of glass vessel manufacturing sites found elsewhere in Europe and some of the Anglo-Saxon glass vessels are unique to England, suggesting the presence of some manufacture centres, possibly in Kent. Instead the number of glass working sites reflects not only the nature of the fragmented Anglo-Saxon archaeological record but also the nature of glass, which could be melted down and re-used.
Glass vessels
The vast majority of complete vessels come from early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, allowing similar glass vessel to be grouped together creating typologiesTypology (archaeology)
In archaeology a typology is the result of the classification of things according to their characteristics. The products of the classification, i.e. the classes are also called types. Most archaeological typologies organize artifacts into types, but typologies of houses or roads belonging to a...
. More recent excavations of contemporary settlements have revealed fragments of similar vessels types, indicating there are few, if any, differences between domestic glass and those ritually deposited in graves. There is a significant difference between Roman and Anglo-Saxon vessel forms, and glass working techniques became more limited. Few of the Anglo-Saxon forms can be classified as tableware, as this term implies to some extent that vessels can be set on a flat surface. The forms used had primarily rounded or pointed bases, or when bases were present would have been too top heavy and unstable. This implies that vessels were held in the hand until the drink was completed. The evidence for glass vessels is patchier in the 8th century, as the number of complete vessels found decreases. This is directly related to the introduction of Christianity and the change in burial rite.
The first typology for Anglo-Saxon glass vessels was devised by Dr. Donald B. Harden in 1956, which was later revised in 1978. The names established by Harden have now become familiar with usage, and Professor Vera Evison’s typology retained many categories while adding some new types, some from newly excavated vessels that could not be placed into Harden’s typology.
| Bowls: Wide vessel often with a flat base. Variety of decoration used including mould blown examples. | Cone Beaker: Tall, tapering vessel with a pointed or curved base. | ||
| Stemmed and Bell Beakers: Bell beakers have a distinctive concave curve to a central pointed base. The stemmed beakers are similar but have a flat foot attached to the central point. | Claw Beaker Claw beaker A claw beaker is a name given by archaeologists to a type of drinking vessel often found as a grave good in 6th and 7th century AD Frankish and Anglo-Saxon burials.... : Developed from a delicate cup with applied dolphins, in the Anglo-Saxon period these were thicker vessels with plainer, more claw like appliqués. | ||
| Bottles: Rare in Anglo-Saxon England compared to on the continent, in the Rhineland and Northern France. | Palm Cups and Funnel Beakers: Palm cups are bowl shaped but have a curved base. Funnel beakers are funnel shaped with a pointed base. | ||
| Globular Beaker: These were the most common vessels found in the 6th-7th century. Previously known as squat jugs by Harden they are narrow-necked vessels with everted rims, globular bodies and pushed in base. Often occur in pairs. | Pouch Bottles: Unstable, rounded based vessel, form and decoration like the globular beaker although often taller. | ||
| Bag Beaker: More cylindrical form of the globular beaker, with a rounded or pointed base. | Horn: Drinking horn shaped vessel. | ||
| Inkwell: Fragments of inkwells have been discovered in 8th century contexts and indicate a small cylindrical vessel with narrow central opening at the top. | Cylindrical Jar: A few fragments from cylindrical jars have been discovered. |
The chemical composition of Anglo-Saxon glass vessels is very similar to late Roman glass, which has high amounts of iron, manganese and titanium. The slightly higher amounts of iron in the Early Anglo-Saxon glass results in a colourless glass, with a green-yellow tinge. By the end of the 7th century some innovations can be observed. With generally better quality glass, a greater range of colours found and the beginning of the tendency to use a second colour for decoration. Most Anglo-Saxon vessels were free blown, although occasionally some mould blown examples are found, mostly with vertical ribbing. The rims were fire rounded, sometimes slightly thickened and cupped, rolled or folded either inwards or outwards. Decoration was accomplished almost entirely by the application of trails which could be in the same colour as the vessel or contrasting, or in the form of a reticella like trail.
Glass Beads
- See also: Glass Beads and BeadBeadA bead is a small, decorative object that is usually pierced for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under to over in diameter. A pair of beads made from Nassarius sea snail shells, approximately 100,000 years old, are thought to be the earliest known examples of jewellery. Beadwork...
.
Several bead manufacturing sites have been identified on the continent, by the presence of waste glass, beads and glass rods. Two late Roman to 5th century sites have been discovered at Trier and Tibiscum
Tibiscum
Tibiscum was a Dacian town mentioned by Ptolemy, later a Roman castra and municipium. The ruins of the ancient settlement are located in Jupa, Caraş-Severin County, Romania.- See also :* Dacian davae...
in Romania, while closer to England and dating to the 6th-7th century two more sites have been found at Jordenstraat and Rothulfuashem (Netherlands). There is also extensive evidence for bead making workshops in Scandinavia which have been dated to the 8th century or later. The best known examples are Eketorp on Öland (Sweden) and Ribe in Jutland (Denmark). There is a tendency for British archaeologists to assume that the majority of glass beads recovered were imported. Although to date there is a lack of direct evidence for bead manufacture in early Anglo-Saxon England, there is evidence for it in early Christian Ireland, northern Britain and the post-Roman west. It is also present on Saxon monastic and settlement sites between the 7th and 9th century. Even so indirect evidence from the distribution of early Saxon beads has been used to suggest that there is at least three bead groups which were being manufactured in England.
To date only two extensive chemical analysis studies of Anglo-Saxon bead assemblages have been carried out, from the cemeteries of Sewerby in Yorkshire and Apple Down in Sussex. These studies showed that, like glass vessels, the beads had a modified soda-lime-silica composition with high manganese and iron oxide contents. Variations in the composition directly related to the glass colour. Lead rich opaque glass was also prominent in Anglo-Saxon Britain, most likely due to its lower softening temperature and longer working period, which would not melt or distort the bead body. The bead body could be constructed in a number of different ways; winding, drawing, piercing, folding or even a combination of these. Decoration was applied by adding twisting rods of colour, coloured mosaic patterns, enclosing metal between layers of clear glass or simply adding a different colour in either drops or trails.
Window glass
With the introduction of Christianity in the early 7th century and the building of ecclesiastical structures the amount of window glass also increased. Window glass, some of which was also coloured, has been identified at more than 17 sites, of which 12 are ecclesiastical. Hundreds of window glass fragments have been found at JarrowJarrow
Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...
, Wearmouth
Monkwearmouth
Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bishopwearmouth and Sunderland, the area now known as the East End. It includes the area around St. Peter's Church...
, Brandon
Brandon, Suffolk
Brandon is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is in the Forest Heath local government district.Brandon is located in the Breckland area on the border of Suffolk with the adjoining county of Norfolk...
, Whithorn
Whithorn
Whithorn is a former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about ten miles south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, Candida Casa : the 'White [or 'Shining'] House', built by Saint Ninian about 397.-Eighth and twelfth centuries:A...
and Winchester. This evidence supports the historical records, such as Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
’s account of Benedict Biscop
Benedict Biscop
Benedict Biscop , also known as Biscop Baducing, was an Anglo-Saxon abbot and founder of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory and was considered a saint after his death.-Early career:...
’s importation of glaziers from Gaul to glaze the windows in the monastery at Wearmouth in AD 675.
Most Anglo-Saxon window glass is thin, durable, bubbly and when colourless has a pale bluish-green tint. Many of the ecclesiastical sites have also produced strongly coloured glass from the 7th century onwards. Analysis of window glass from Beverley
Beverley
Beverley is a market town, civil parish and the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, located between the River Hull and the Westwood. The town is noted for Beverley Minster and architecturally-significant religious buildings along New Walk and other areas, as well as the Beverley...
, Uley
Uley
Uley is a village in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated in a wooded valley in the Cotswold escarpment, on the road between Dursley and Stroud. The population is around 1,100, but was much greater during the early years of the industrial revolution, when the village was...
, Winchester, Whithorn, Wearmouth and Jarrow, has revealed that the majority was again a soda-lime-silica glass but it has also revealed that the composition is different from that of vessel glass, with lower quantities of iron, manganese and titanium suggesting a different source of raw material, possibly from The Levant. The analysis also revealed more about the transition from using soda as a flux, to potash.
Window glass in antiquity could be produced in three ways; cylinder blown
Cylinder blown sheet
Cylinder blown sheet is a type of hand-blown window glass. It is created with a similar process to broad sheet, but larger cylinders are produced by swinging the cylinder in a trench. The glass is then allowed to cool before the cylinder is cut. The glass is then re-heated and flattened...
, crown manufacture
Crown glass (window)
Crown glass was an early type of window glass. In this process, glass was blown into a "crown" or hollow globe. This was then transferred from the blowpipe to a pontil and then flattened by reheating and spinning out the bowl-shaped piece of glass into a flat disk by centrifugal force, up to 5 or...
or cast. In Anglo-Saxon England there is evidence for all three types of methods being used. The vast majority of glass windows were produced by the cylinder blown method, although possibly on a smaller scale than the classic methods mentioned by Theophilus
Theophilus Presbyter
Theophilus Presbyter is the pseudonymous author or compiler ofa Latin text containing detailed descriptions of various medieval arts, a text commonly known as the Schedula diversarum artium or De diversis artibus , probably first compiled between 1100 and 1120...
. Some Anglo-Saxon window glass was produced by the crown method and at Repton
Repton
Repton is a village and civil parish on the edge of the River Trent floodplain in South Derbyshire, about north of Swadlincote. Repton is close to the county boundary with neighbouring Staffordshire and about northeast of Burton upon Trent.-History:...
thick pieces of window glass with swirling layered surfaces were possibly made using the cast method.
Jewellery glass
Cloisonné
Cloisonné is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects, in recent centuries using vitreous enamel, and in older periods also inlays of cut gemstones, glass, and other materials. The resulting objects can also be called cloisonné...
(or cellwork") but occasionally glass was also cut and inset as gems. The colours used were almost entirely limited to blue and green. Occasionally red glass has been used as a substitute for garnet, for example in some of the Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo, near to Woodbridge, in the English county of Suffolk, is the site of two 6th and early 7th century cemeteries. One contained an undisturbed ship burial including a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological significance, now held in the British...
objects, such as the purse lid
Purse Cover from Sutton Hoo Burial
Archaeologists at the Sutton Hoo site in Suffolk, England, found many exquisite artifacts in the remains of a royal ship burial. The excavation site contains a collection of burial mounds, and over the years the excavators discovered items that provided them with information about the Medieval...
and blue glass in the shoulder clasps. Anglo-Saxon enamel was also used in the production of jewellery, with coloured glass melted in separate cells.
Chemical analysis of this glass has revealed that they are a soda-lime-silica glass but with a lower iron and manganese oxide content than the high iron, manganese and titanium glass used to make vessels. The similarity between the composition of the glass inlays and Roman coloured glass is remarkable, so much so that it is likely that the Anglo-Saxon craftworkers were re-using Roman opaque glass, possibly Roman glass tessera
Tessera
A tessera is an individual tile in a mosaic, usually formed in the shape of a cube. It is also known as an abaciscus, abaculus, or, in Persian کاشي معرق. In antiquity, mosaics were formed from naturally colored pebbles, but by 200 BC purpose-made tesserae were being used...
e.
See also
- Anglo-SaxonsAnglo-SaxonsAnglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
, Anglo-Saxon culture and people. - Anglo-Saxon artAnglo-Saxon artAnglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of a large Anglo-Saxon nation-state whose...
- Forest glassForest glassThe term Forest glass or the German name Waldglas is given to late Medieval glass produced in North-Western Europe from about 1000-1700 AD using wood ash and sand as the main raw materials and made in factories known as glass-houses in forest areas...
External links
- Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norman and British Living History 950-1066AD. Glass and Amber
- Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Glass in the British Museum, Vera I. Evison et al., 2008, text online
- Museum of London, Anglo-Saxon glass finds