. As early as the 5th century, the working of precious and nonprecious metals became a leading craft in Gaul. Through contact with peoples from central Asia during the period of migration, the Germanic tribes learned the art of working refined metals. However, the processes used were not always an improvement over earlier Gallo-Roman ones. The earlier trempe technique, for example, in which hot metal was dipped in cold water to give the object rigidity, gave way to the recuit process, which consisted of heating metal objects several times while letting them cool down between each heating. On the other hand, the development of soldered joints between different metals, metal plating, and inlaying allowed the forging of sturdy, reliable weapons that were largely responsible for Frankish military successes. In this period, iron was still a rare and precious commodity, reserved almost exclusively for military and court use. Most early metalwork therefore consists of the weapons and objects of personal adornment that have been found in large numbers accompanying aristocratic burials of the period.
In jewelry making, early Frankish craftsmen worked most frequently with the cloisonné process, which consisted of setting jewels in tiny compartments formed of gold bands or strips soldered to a metal baseplate. The objects thus executed are a combination of primitive and refined ornamentation, good examples of which can be seen in the treasure of the Christian queen Arnegund (d. ca. 565), discovered in a tomb in the church of Saint-Denis. Gold- and silversmiths had high social standing in early-medieval cultures; compensation in silver for the murder of a serf was thirty sous, forty for a carpenter, fifty for a blacksmith, but as much as a hundred for a gold- or silversmith.
A model early metalworker was St. Éloi (ca. 588–660), who was born in Limoges and apprenticed there to the master of the mint. After creating two royal thrones of gold and precious stones for Clotar II, he was made head gold-smith of the royal mint at Marseille. After Clotar’s death in 629, his son Dagobert I continued to patronize Éloi, naming him bishop of Tournai and Noyon as well as making him one of his chief ministers. Now wealthy, Éloi founded a monastery at Solignac and a convent for women in Paris. With his canonization, the bishop-goldsmith became the patron saint of silver-, gold-, and blacksmiths.
By the 11th and 12th centuries, iron was more generally available, thanks largely to imports from west Africa, and forges could now be found in most rural villages. Although iron was still used primarily for military purposes (weapons and armor for both men and horses), its greater abundance permitted the production of sturdier farming implements, and these led to a revolution in agrarian techniques and productivity during this period. Particularly significant was the development of the wheeled plow, with coulter, share, and moldboard, which allowed farmers to till the heavy soils of northern France efficiently for the first time. Steel, an iron-carbon alloy, is mentioned for the first time in a text from Anjou dated to 1177. By the end of the 12th century, the blacksmith and the miller were the backbone of the typical village hierarchy.
In jewelry making, the process of enameling was rediscovered in the early 12th century, with the champlevé technique now predominating, and became widely used for large jewels, brooches, rings, sword handles, and belt buckles. In spite of attempts by the church to limit ostentatious display, ornamental jewels became more and more refined. Noble men and women alike frequently placed a band of metal or a braided ribbon decorated with pearls and precious stones (couronne) on their head. The rising bourgeoisie of the northern cities, frequently as rich and powerful as the noble classes by the 13th century, sought to imitate the nobility in their finery.
Religious devotional practice introduced the rosary, whose beads were made of gold, bone, ivory, coral, mother of pearl, or amber. Enamel, having become too commonplace, fell out of fashion, while diamonds, pearls, and gold and silver decorations were preferred. Upper-class men and women had hands full of rings, and both sexes wore belts, necklaces, bracelets, and metal bands on their head.
The development in the 13th century of guilds led to high degrees of specialization among the metalworking crafts. Knife makers, for example, were divided into two guilds: the cutler and the gold, wood, or ivory handle maker. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, bills of Parlement in 1429 show that goldsmiths were forbidden to work with silver and that distinctions were made between those who worked with various percentages of precious metals.
