Medieval France
. France possesses no preciousmetal resources and little copper. Iron ores are abundant, and there are regional deposits of lead, zinc, and coal. All of these were exploited during the Middle Ages.
Evidence for ironworking exists from Merovingian France onward. By the reign of Charlemagne, Frankish iron weapons and armor were so famous that exports had to be forbidden. Decorative ironwork was also widely praticed, as on the hinges and scrollwork of the western portals of Notre-Dame in Paris (13th c.). At Liège, we find from the late 14th century evidence of blast furnaces blown by water-powered bellows. Gunpowder weapons made of iron came to join traditional weapons as the major product of the iron industry.
Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, is a prehistoric alloy much used in medieval Europe for artistic purposes. Although dependent on imported raw materials, French artisans excelled in bronze castings, especially in bells, which remain one of the highest expressions of this art. From the 15th century, bronzework was dominated by the demand for cannons, which are cast by the same technique as bells.
Brass, a metal sometimes confused with bronze, is an alloy of copper and zinc; it is much more difficult to produce. France’s abundant supplies of calamine (zinc carbonate) made it a center for brass production. Noteworthy in the French-speaking world was the city of Dinant, across the imperial frontier in the Meuse Valley. Dinanderie products were highly famed until the industry was dispersed in the sack of 1466.
Lead was widely used in the Middle Ages. In sheets, it served for roofing and guttering, while it could be cast into decorative objects from baptismal fonts to small medallions. Common pewter, an alloy of lead and tin, was frequently used for tableware. Lead bullets and shot, along with cast iron, replaced stone pellets as the preferred missiles in firearms in the 15th century. France’s lead resources were among the best of any European region.
In the 12th century, the coalfields in the Low Countries near Liège began to be worked. Here, and in the val-leys reaching westward to Charleroi and Mons, the technical pinnacle of medieval coal exploitation was reached; workings extended beneath the local water table, giving rise to sophisticated pumps and drainage tunnels. Coal was shipped via river barge to distant markets, but by the late 15th century it was also consumed locally as a metallurgical fuel.
The absence of precious metals had an effect on French legal history relating to mining. Roman law had regarded mineral rights, especially to precious metals, as an imperial monopoly, to be consigned in return for royalties. England and the empire followed Roman precedent. Yet France’s minerals, especially coal and zinc (the latter unrecognized as a metal during this period), were unmentioned by the Roman legists. Astute feudal lords, such as the dukes of Burgundy and counts of Hainaut, asserted their claims in the absence of royal prerogatives, but by the 15th century the crown was asserting some measure of regalian right over minerals.
Bert S.Hall
[See also: BELLS]
Bromehead, Cyril N. “Mining and Quarrying to the Seventeenth Century,” and Robert J.Forbes, “Metallurgy.” In A History of Technology, ed. Charles Singer et al. 5 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1954–58, Vol. 2: The Mediterranean Civilizations and the Middle Ages, c. 700 B.C. to C.A.D. 1500, pp. 1–80.
Malherbe, R. “Historique de l’exploitation de la houille dans le pays de Liège jusqu’à nos jours.” Mémoires de la Société Libre d’Émulation de Liège 2(1862). [There is little recent research on this important topic.]
Salin, Edouard. La civilisation mérovingienne. Paris: Picard, 1957, Vol. 3: Les techniques.
Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène E. “Plomberie.” In Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle. Paris: 1864, Vol. 7.
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