Category Archives: Containers

There’s one last important category of medieval containers. Whereas other containers were defined by being watertight, stout, flexible or portable, containers for relics didn’t need any of these ordinary attributes. Instead, they were designed to contain, share and spread holiness. … Continue reading →

So far, I’ve been talking about containers for food. But we do need containers for some other things, things that aren’t wet, things we won’t eat or cook. What did they use in medieval Europe to store “stuff” in general? … Continue reading →

Baskets, of course, were the cheapest universal carrying container. We still use the standard English basket size that emerged from medieval measuring: the bushel. Bushels started as the typical size that a merchant could load onto a pack mule. During … Continue reading →

In shops, merchants used the pan balance to weigh out goods for customers. It had two pans hung from a centrally-balanced arm; the merchant owned a set of iron or brass weights to set on the empty pan until the … Continue reading →

Today’s marketplace is all about packaging. Modern packages assure us that the product is clean, sterile if that’s an issue, properly measured and not going to spill on the way home. We buy produce without packaging, but what’s the first … Continue reading →

During the Dark Ages, the Franks had some rudimentary glass-making skills. Of course, the Mediterranean regions continued to make glass as the Romans had done, and during the Islamic era new glass techniques came from the East. Eastern glass was … Continue reading →