Category Archives: Containers

In Northern Europe, wood was the basis for most containers, at first. Wood could be carved into bowls, which served as cups. Sometimes they really did use hollowed-out horns as cups, but these may have always been ceremonial. Horns can’t … Continue reading →

In the medieval Europe of popular comic portrayal, everything is dirty and nothing is accurate. But real medieval Europe was obsessed with the regulation of weights and measurements. Almost everything was regulated, partly so that somebody could extract a fee … Continue reading →

Barrels intended for wine and beer needed to be strong enough to hold an expanding volume and higher pressure. The way to make wood strong enough is to put it under pressure of its own. (Is there a moral here?) … Continue reading →

In the Mediterranean regions of Europe, large kiln-fired pottery jars had always been, and continued to be, the standard for storing just about anything. But when the northern regions were settled during the Middle Ages, kiln technology was almost non-existent. … Continue reading →

Even more than tournaments, taxes, tolls, fees and fines characterized daily life in medieval Europe. One method of levying taxes and fees was by regulating the size of containers. Containers that didn’t define the amount of something purchased didn’t have … Continue reading →