Exchanging Medieval Material Culture Studies on archaeology and ...

‘Throw some more fuel on the fire’.
The stove tiles of medieval Scotland
George Haggarty & Derek Hall
with a contribution by Dr. Simon Chenery
1 Introduction
Frans Verhaeghe’s visits to Scotland in the 1980’s coincided
with the establishment of a number of new research programs
on Scottish medieval ceramics, mainly arising from the ground
breaking work of George Haggarty, Ian Cox and others1. Frans’
examination and identifi cation of Low Countries Wares from
excavations in Perth, Aberdeen, and Elgin2, prompted the few
active specialists to consider what might be gained by a comprehensive
study of the large assemblages of medieval ceramics
being recovered from the many urban rescue excavations that
were then underway3. With that in mind, this brief catalogue
and discussion of sherds from six stove tiles recovered in
Scotland, is submitted (fi g. 1).
2 Historical background
Although 12th-century Scotland was on the periphery of medieval
Europe, recent archaeological and historical analysis4, suggests
that in the 12th century Scotland was by no means the
cultural backwater as described by many commentators. Several
of these writers viewed Scotland as a land inhabited by savages,
and as a country of little consequence. For example, the 12thcentury
Arab geographer al-Idris, shared the common view
that Scotland was in fact an island adjoining England. He tells
us that Scotland “adjoins the island of England and is a long
peninsula to the north of the larger island: it’s uninhabited and
has neither town nor village. Its length is 150 miles”5. Th e Irish
regarded Scotland as provincial, while others considered it outlandish
or barbaric. Th e author of the De expugnatione
Lyxbonensi ‘On the Conquest of Lisbon’6 posed this rhetorical
question: “Who would deny that the Scots are barbarians?”. To
their English and French neighbours the Scots, in particular
the Galwegians, were the barbarians par excellence. Th is slur
ceased to apply aft er much of Scotland was reorganised on
1 Haggarty 1984, 395-397; Cox 1984, 386-395.
2 Verhaeghe 1983; Verhaeghe & Lindsay 1983.
3 Hall 1996.
4 Hall 2002; Haggarty 2006, word fi le 38.
5 Beeston 1949.
6 David 2001.
7 Greenway 2002.
8 Hall & Owen 1998.
9 Ditchburn 1996, 264-5.
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Anglo/Norman lines by David I (c. 1084-1153), and his introduction
of numerous religious houses. Despite this, throughout
the High Middle Ages the term barbarus was still used to
describe the Scots, as well as a large number of other European
peoples. Th is characterisation of the Scots was very oft en politically
motivated, with the most hostile writers based in areas
frequently subjected to Scottish raids. English and French
reports of the Battle of the Standard contain many accounts of
Scottish atrocities. For instance, Henry of Huntingdon tells us
that the Scots: “…cleft open pregnant women, and took out the
unborn babes; they tossed children upon the spear-points, and
beheaded priests on altars: they cut the heads of crucifi xes, and
placed them on the trunks of the slain; and placed the heads of
the dead upon the crucifi xes. Th us wherever the Scots arrived,
all was full of horror and full of savagery.”7. Archaeological evidence,
however, leads us to believe that for much of the medieval
period, Scotland’s ties with North West Europe were closer
than they were with England, and that such adverse concepts
of the country were grossly exaggerated. Proof lies in several
fi nds from Scotland which refl ect a comparable cultural renaissance
to that in France8. Much of this cultural infl ux can be
ascribed to both the Anglicisation of the country and the introduction
of major monastic orders from the mid-12th century
onwards, mainly instigated by King David I.
Th e burghs of Perth, St. Andrews, Edinburgh Canongate, and
Leith, were all cosmopolitan trading centres during the medieval
period. But it was mainly merchants from the Forth Burghs
who held shipping links to the Baltic, exporting skins, herring,
coal, and salt, to Königsburg and Danzig, bringing back timber,
tar, etc.9. More important, however, was trade with the
Low Countries from where, in the 15th and 16th centuries,
stove tiles were shipped downstream from the Rhineland, and
assembled for customers. Th ere is evidence that some of these