Medieval Archaeology ISSN: 0076-6097 (Print) 1745-817X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ymed20 Interrogating the Diffusion of Metal Artefacts: A Case Study of a Type of Medieval Copper-Alloy Buckle Olivier Thuaudet & Robert Webley To cite this article: Olivier Thuaudet & Robert Webley (2019) Interrogating the Diffusion of Metal Artefacts: A Case Study of a Type of Medieval Copper-Alloy Buckle, Medieval Archaeology, 63:2, 375-402, DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2019.1670920 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2019.1670920 Published online: 21 Nov 2019. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 33 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ymed20 Medieval Archaeology, 63/2, 2019 Interrogating the Diffusion of Metal Artefacts: A Case Study of a Type of Medieval Copper-Alloy Buckle By OLIVIER THUAUDET1 with ROBERT WEBLEY2 THIS PAPER INTRODUCES and discusses a group of broadly 14th-century single-looped buckles. These oval buckles are characterised by an outer edge which widens gradually towards its centre, thus providing a sizeable field either side of the pin rest. Two-thirds of the corpus of over 100 examples are decorated with engraved and punched motifs. These motifs comprise abstract forms, schematic or realistic vegetal or animal motifs, representations of humans and architectural features, and religious inscriptions. Such buckles are typical of the South of France, but are documented here for the first time from the eastern and southern coasts of England. Their presence in England can be framed in a commercial context; once diffused, they might have been copied, and other decorative motifs introduced in order to meet local needs. Compositional analyses revealed the existence of alloy groups with high proportions of lead or tin, potentially testifying to production in separate workshops. Many and diverse buckles were used in the costume of the Late Middle Ages, the majority of which, including the type considered here, feature an oval frame. Though circular, D-shaped, rectangular and trapezoidal frames are known, these are all rarer. Stylistic variation within oval buckles is generally found in the configuration of the buckle’s outer edge, and in the junction of the sides with the bar (Fig 1). Among the different forms of oval frame, one can pick out groups of more or less homogeneous objects which provide us with useful units of analysis. Here, we focus on a distinct group of just over 100 copper-alloy buckles from France and England, which presents interesting peculiarities from the point of view of both typology and the distribution of chance and excavated finds.3 This article will first categorise this corpus of oval buckles with engraved and punched motifs, and then discuss the implications of their metallurgical composition.4 Taken together, the geospatial and compositional data amassed allows for an analysis of the production foci and distribution of this type of buckle, which illuminates trading patterns between England and France in the 14th century. 1 Aix Marseille Universit
e, CNRS, LA3M UMR 7298, 13100, Aix-en-Provence, France. olivier. thuaudet@laposte.net 2 Department of Archaeology, University of York, Kings Manor, Exhibition Square, York YO1 7EP, UK. rbw102@york.ac.uk 3 While the French finds have been amassed through a variety of means, the English finds have been almost exclusively found via metal-detecting, with most recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database <finds.org.uk/database> [accessed July 2018]. 4 Several of these buckles have been submitted, as part of a larger programme, to compositional analyses. 375 # Society for Medieval Archaeology 2019 DOI: 10.1080/00766097.2019.1670920 376 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY FIG 1 Terms used for the description of buckles. Drawing by O Thuaudet. FIG 2 Examples of other oval buckles with enlarged outer edges. (1) Second quarter of the 14th century, Rue Philonarde, Avignon (Vaucluse, France). (2) 14th–15th century, Hauture Castle, Fos-sur-Mer (Bouchesdu-Rh^one, France). (3) Cadrix, Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume (Var, France). (4) Second half of the 14th century, Impasse de l'Oratoire, Avignon (Vaucluse, France). Drawings by O Thuaudet. THE BUCKLES: DESCRIPTION AND CATEGORISATION Buckles with oval frames, whose outer edges widen gradually towards their centre, are common in Western Europe between the second third of the 13th century and the 15th century.5 The copper-alloy buckles considered here (Figs 4–8) form a distinct set, marked particularly by the form of their outer edge. They have a flat profile, and generally a thin outer edge, although there are some exceptions which thicken progressively towards their centre (eg Fig 4, no 12). The reverse of the outer edge is generally more curved than the front. The latter almost always includes a central notch for accommodating the tip of the pin. The bars are very narrow and have an oval cross section. Decorative motifs which are chiselled or punched, rather than moulded, adorn many of the pieces. The type categorised here can be distinguished from the larger corpus of oval buckles in a number of ways; it does not include buckles whose enlargement is much more abrupt (Fig 2, no 1), buckles featuring an outer edge with an ovoid crosssection (Fig 2, no 2), or those which have moulded outer edges (Fig 2, no 3). Some of the largest buckles in our corpus have very short offsets at the junction of the sides and the bar (Fig 4, nos 25–7), but, generally, the bars are virtually continuous with the sides. Small and large buckles with very clear offsets would therefore not fall into the group discussed (eg Fig 2, no 4). The pin is rarely preserved, but when it does survive it is also made of copper alloy, and is flat (Fig 4, nos 9, 19, 21). The use of a file after casting, during the normal process of deburring, can often be observed on both the front and on the reverse of these buckles (Fig 3, no 1). Generally, however, polishing has removed such file traces. This type of buckle has never been found with a plate, a decorative element, suggesting that they were not used with one. 5 Thuaudet 2015, 367. CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE 377 FIG 3 Stereomicroscopic images of buckles of Group 1 (Fig 4, no 9), Group 3 (Fig 5, no 12) and Group 9 (not illustrated) discovered at the Castrum Saint-Jean at Rougiers (Var, France): traces of filemarks (no 1), punching (no 2), superimposition of punching on chiselling (nos 3, 4). Magnification x8 (no 2) and x12 (nos 1, 3-4). Photographs by O Thuaudet. The 106 copper-alloy buckles comprising the discrete type documented here have been classified into nine groups, set out below (and in Table 1, see Appendix). The buckles are remarkably variable in size: the smallest do not exceed 18 mm long by 22 mm wide (Fig 4, nos 1, 19), but the largest reach 62 by 110 mm and 50 by 132 mm, respectively (Fig 8, nos 11, 12). Some examples are particularly wide (eg Fig 4, no 25), while others are much more compact (eg Fig 5, no 12); nevertheless, all are wider than they are long, with a width/length ratio greater than or equal to 0.65. A notched depression resulting from casting, engraving or filing (Fig 4, no 9; Fig 5, no 1) generally indicates the place on the outer edge which was reserved for the end of the pin. On two pieces, a filed notch on the bar marks the location of the base of the pin (Fig 4, nos 6, 9). Group 1 comprises the buckles of this type with no decoration (Fig 4). Only 33 buckles within the corpus are undecorated, but this number is probably artificially low; the attention of museum curators, researchers and metal detectorists has almost certainly been biased towards the collection and preservation of decorated examples. The largest buckles, discussed in more detail below, are often decorated by chiselling and punching; the size of their outer edge makes them particularly suitable for ornamentation, which is sometimes complex in detail. One small buckle is also decorated (Fig 5, no 12), but the adornment is comparatively basic. Patterns, though diverse across the corpus, are always arranged symmetrically relative to the pin rest. 378 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY FIG 4 Buckles, Group 1. Drawings by: 1–5, 9, 22–28, O Thuaudet; 6–8, 10–18, J Lenne; 19–21, D Carru. CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE 379 FIG 5 Buckles, Groups 2, 3 and 4. (1–5) Group 2; (6–9) Group 3; (10–16) Group 4. Drawings by: 1, 3, 6–11, 13–14, O Thuaudet; 2, J B
erato; 5, 12, J Lenne; 4, V Legros; 15, Petit. Group 2, comprised of six buckles, is exclusively decorated by use of a graver. Some remains of engraved lines can be observed on one object that has suffered heavily from corrosion (Fig 5, no 1). On three further specimens the surface is decorated with zig-zag lines (Fig 5, nos 2, 3, 5); part of the decoration has disappeared due to oxidation on two of these artefacts (Fig 5, nos 2, 5). The outer edge of a fifth object is decorated on each either side of the pin rest by engraved zig-zag lines. These zig-zags create subtriangular zones, and those set towards the external edge are themselves filled with further ‘wriggle work’ zig-zags (Fig 5, no 4). The sixth buckle is now lost and known only from reportage, and thus is not illustrated here.6 The outer edge of a third set of buckles (Group 3) has been decorated solely by the punching of small circles, or ‘annulets’ (Fig 5, nos 6–12). This pattern was achieved using a circular punch with a hollow centre (Fig 3, no 2). Six of the seven pieces listed have the same decorative scheme; the seventh is the smaller buckle referred to above whose smaller outer edge does not allow for as much detailing (Fig 5, no 12). The buckles of the remaining groups almost all have ornamentation combining straight or curvilinear engraved pictorial designs in addition to the annulets encountered in Group 3. Stereomicroscopic analysis reveals that in these buckles the annulets have been punched secondarily, overlaying the pictorial designs (Fig 3, nos 3, 4). This 6 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498, note 395. 380 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY FIG 6 Buckles, Group 5. Drawings by: 1, D Carru; 2, 8-9, 11–13, O Thuaudet; 3–5, J Lenne; 6–7, 10, 14, Petit. technique either resulted in abstract patterns (Fig 5, nos 13, 14) on some (Group 4, consisting of two buckles), or else figurative designs which could be more or less stylised (Groups 5–9). In the case of the latter, the interior of the pattern, delimited by engraved lines, is created by leaving blank spaces on an otherwise punched annulet ground. On one fragment, the motif is not preserved sufficiently to be discerned (Fig 5, no 15). There is a great disparity between the naturalistic patterns of some buckles and the high level of stylisation of many others, so much so that the original pattern can become hardly recognisable. Sometimes it may have been that the meaning of the design was lost, becoming abstracted over time. Twenty buckles (Group 5) are embellished with foliate decoration (Fig 6), apparently plant branches, whose stems sometimes continue along the frame’s sides. On a specimen from Narbonne (Aude, France), the stem divides each half of the outer edge into different zones, each containing a fragment of leaf on a background of annulets (Fig 6, no 14). Fifteen buckles (Group 6) have stylised plants, depicted as growing from the ground; generally these are flanked by foliate branches (Fig 7). On one specimen from Var (France), not illustrated here, the foliate branches were omitted, but the central plant is clearly of the same type. On a buckle found in London, the flanking branches are evoked by a curved line of annulets (Fig 7, no 5); punching alone delineates the CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE 381 FIG 7 Buckles, Group 6. Drawings by: 1, 3–4, 7–8, O Thuaudet; 2, P Read; 5, S Mitford; 6, M Barrere; 9, E James; 10, J-P Sarret; 11–12, Petit. plant and no engraving was used for detailing. On an object from Exeter, Devon, a central band without annulets represents the stem of the plant (Fig 7, no 4). On occasion, the plant is so stylised as to resemble a letter V (Fig 7, no 7), which is complicated further by the similar rendering of this letter on inscriptions on buckles of Group 9 (discussed below, Fig 8, no 18). Finally, for five Group 6 buckles (including two not reproduced here), the plants are much more naturalistic (Fig 7, nos 10–12). Highly stylised birds (Group 7) appear on 12 pieces (Fig 8, nos 1–9). On six buckles they are rendered naturalistically, and in one case the birds are figured full length, walking or running (Fig 8, no 4). On the others, the birds are depicted alongside plants (Fig 8, nos 11, 13 and 14) or with seashells (Fig 8, no 12). The ornamentation of this last specimen is particularly fine. The birds are represented flapping their wings, walking, or pecking, and stand on or beside foliate branches. They frame two areas each decorated by a scallop shell, which are separated from the birds by a decorative transverse strip featuring a row of three small incised stars. 382 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY FIG 8 Buckles, Groups 7, 8 and 9. (1–14) Group 7; (15–16) Group 8; (17–18) Group 9. Drawings by: 1, 3, 6–8, 15, 17, O Thuaudet; 2, J Lauriol; 4, 10, M Barrere; 5, 11–14, Petit; 9, unknown; 16, E James; 18, B Delorme. CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE 383 FIG 9 Buckles with comparable decoration. (1) Plain of Crau, Eyguieres (Bouches-du-Rh^one, France). (2) Unknown origin, old collection (H R d’Allemagne). Photograph by J Pelletier (Pelletier et Vallauri 1998). Drawing by I Fingerlin (Fingerlin 1971, no 386, fig 327). The penultimate group (Group 8, comprised of two examples) features buckles with architectural and human designs. A specimen collected in the vicinity of Toulouse, HauteGaronne (France), shows a tower with a roof, a possible crowned female figure, and a plant fragment of currently unique type (Fig 8, no 15). It is likely that the missing part of the outer edge included a symmetrical design of a second tower and a second figure, which was probably male, judging by comparisons with a separate type of buckle referred to below (Fig 9, no 2). A buckle from the Dordogne (France), is decorated with boxes filled with three, four or five annulets, branches, and lions’ heads. Both lions’ heads are depicted resting on a hand, although the second is biting the hand’s thumb (Fig 8, no 16). Letters of the alphabet, and even religious messages, can appear on these buckles (Group 9, three buckles). On one, an artefact preserved in a private collection, an ‘A’ incised on each side of the pin rest is separated from plant branches by a transverse bar (Fig 8, no 17). On a specimen from Ariege (France), the invocation þ AVE M G P (Ave Maria gratia plena), is inscribed (Fig 8, no 18). On the last, from Var (France), the letters A M E, probably for the Marian greeting, are flanked by foliate branches. ELEMENTS OF COMPARISON In general, the presence of engraved ornament or punched annulets on buckles of copper alloy or iron, though uncommon, is present on various types of the 13th and 14th centuries. Specific stylistic parallels for the buckles discussed here can be made with two other groups of copper-alloy buckles. The first group is formed of buckles with oval frames which have a significantly widened, and distinct, rectangular outer edge (Fig 9, no 1). These objects are found almost exclusively in southern France and north-eastern Spain, and date to the second quarter of the 13th century until end of the 14th century.7 Some examples are adorned with annulets arranged in a cross on either side of the pin rest;8 others have 7 Thuaudet 2015, 409–14. France, Ariege: Whole object with plate, Buckle: length (L) x width (W) ¼ 18 x 20 mm, Plate: reconstituted L x W ¼ 35 x 18 mm, Monts
egur Castle, 13th–14th century (Czeski 1981, 197, no 34/76; Anon 1990, 209, no 396); Aude: Incomplete object, L x W ¼ 155 x 215 mm, Peyrepertuse Castle, not datable, Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse (Barrere 2000, 218, fig 146, no 6); Var: Whole object, L x W ¼ 35 x 20 mm, c 1309/1315–c 1345, Castrum Saint-Jean, Rougiers (D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 494). 8 384 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY interlaced annulets either on a plain background,9 or on a background of annulets;10 and some have annulets either filling diamonds,11 or filling the ground around them, the diamonds defined by zones without punched annulets.12 An even closer parallel are the buckles, found mostly in southern France, whose expanded rectangular outer edges protrude seamlessly from their sides (Fig 9, no 2). Based on current data, these are attributable to the first half of the 14th century.13 Several examples feature an outer edge resembling a stylised version of a crenellated curtain wall with two corner towers. The outer edges are variously adorned: with plants with a stem — similar to the letter V — on a background of annulets, all within an incised border;14 inscribed with letters A and V (an abbreviation of Ave Maria);15 decorated with a pair of birds with raised wings facing each other on a background of annulets,16 or possibly on a plain ground;17 or with heads of a man and a woman facing each other in three quarters view (Fig 9, no 2).18 It is very likely that these plant, animal and human motifs were inspired by other media, perhaps statuary, easel painting, manuscript illumination, or, more plausibly and directly, by decoration on objects of precious metal, which served as an intermediary between the above potential models in other media and the base-metal buckles discussed here. For example, portraits of men and women can be observed on silver buckle plates and strap-ends, and on brooches made of precious metal or lead alloy, perhaps influenced by courtly love literature.19 The lion's head biting the hand that supports it on the Group 8 buckle documented above is reminiscent of the fantastic beasts of statuary, manuscript illumination and painted ceilings.20 The foliate decoration has parallels with, for example, the paintings on the 14th-century ceiling of the high loggia in the Palace of the Kings of Majorca at Perpignan, France.21 The inspiration behind the motifs, however, is a complex issue requiring further exploration which lies beyond the scope of the present study. 9 France, Bouches-du-Rh^ one: Incomplete object, L x W ¼ 35 x 63 mm, out of context, Route du Tholonet, Aix-en-Provence (Pelletier and Vallauri 1997); Spain, Province of Barcelona: Whole object, L x W ¼ 20 x 20.5 mm, Mas de Vilosiu, Cercs (Bolos et al 1981, 174, 107) 10 France, Haute-Garonne: Whole object with plate, Buckle: L x W ¼ 21.5 x 27 mm, Plate: L x W ¼ 38 x 21.5 mm, out of context, Gu
e de Bazacle, Toulouse (Anon 1981, no 425; Anon 1990, 211, no 404). 11 France, Var: Whole object with plate, Buckle: L x W ¼ 25 x 30.5 mm; Plate: L x W ¼ 37 x 22.5 mm, c 1370/1375–c 1415/1420, Castrum Saint-Jean, Rougiers (D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 496, 498). 12 France, Bouches-du-Rh^ one: Whole object with plate, Buckle: L x W ¼ 30 x 52 mm; Plate: L x W ¼ 59 x 50 mm, out of context, Plaine de la Crau, Eyguieres (Pelletier and Vallauri 1997). 13 Thuaudet 2015, 414–16. 14 France, Tarn: Whole object, L x W ¼ 54 x 48 mm, 14th century (dating derived in part from this object), Castrum de Durfort, Castlar (Anon 1990, no 448; Vidaillet and Pousthomis 1996, 177). 15 Whole object, L x W ¼ 35 x 32 mm, unknown origin, Bargello Museum in Florence (Fingerlin 1971, cat 78, figs 326, 384); Whole object, L x W ¼ 34 x 36 mm, unknown origin, old Enlart collection (Enlart 1916, 287, fig 305; Fingerlin 1971, cat 412, fig 328). 16 Whole object, L x W ¼ 33 x 36 mm, unknown origin, Toulouse-Lautrec Museum in Albi (Anon 1990, 220, no 451). 17 France, Tarn: Whole object, L x W ¼ 45 x 45 mm, out of context, Coustou-Rous, L’Isle-sur-Tarn (Gaillac 1883, 268; Anon 1990, 220, no 449). 18 Whole object, L x W ¼ 32 x 31 mm (Allemagne 1928, pl 34, no 8; Fingerlin 1971, cat 386, fig 327). 19 For example, strap-ends in gilded and nielloed copper alloy in the Louvre Museum (Fingerlin 1971, 431). See also Bruna 2006, 127–36, for a study about the transfer of the codes of courtly love as found in literature onto brooches. 20 For example, on the wooden ceiling of the cloister of Fr
ejus (Dumas 1989, 66–72). 21 Bourin 2014, 88–9. CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE 385 The above two groups of buckles, those with widened rectangular outer edges and those with expanded, sometimes ‘crenellated’, outer edges, are very common in southern France. The links are particularly close between the buckles of the latter type and those of the corpus discussed here: the same use of engraved lines and punched annulets; the same overlap between plants and the letter V; identical plant motifs; both avian and human representations; and the presence of the ‘Hail Mary’, which, while known in other areas, is rarely found decorating other dress accessories in this area of France. Although the nature of the patterns decorating the buckles of the first type is different from the corpus specimens, there is nevertheless a similarity of technique in the use of lines and annulets, and a general comparability of form between this and the other type of buckle, both having widened rectangular outer edges, which are otherwise rare. Such shared characteristics indicate that the approach to the decoration of these three types of buckles stemmed from a common cultural background, and probably resulted from manufacture in the same workshops. CONTEXTS OF DISCOVERY AND DATING Of the 106 documented buckles, a site-type context is only known for 51 objects. Of the remaining pieces in the corpus, at least 30 specimens were collected by metaldetectorists, 21 of these having been found in England. The remaining 25 pieces derive from collections, and their findspot is unknown or imprecise. The proportion of objects that can be used to propose either a context of use or typological dating is therefore particularly limited. Of the 51 examples attributable to a site type, 24 come from fortified sites (18 of these are from Castrum Saint-Jean at Rougiers, Var, France),22 11 are from rural sites, and 16 from urban sites, including cemeteries. All of those recovered by metal-detecting come from farmland, and the nature of occupation on each specific site is seldom known. As such, they have not been included in the above analysis of site type, as assuming that these were small rural sites would bias our analysis. There is no one dominant deposition context; rather, the range of findspots is mixed, and from this one can infer that their social status was too. The dating of these buckles has been heavily revised over time. In the late 19th century, Casimir Barriere-Flavy saw the influence of Byzantine Art in their ornamentation — arguing that the foliate designs recalled the gardens of paradise — but he refused to suggest a period of production. However, the fact that he included them in his study on the barbarian burials of the southern and western France clearly shows his preference for dating them to the early medieval period.23 In 1977, Edward James still regarded them as Merovingian objects, and interpreted the birds as peacocks and the plants as vine plants, thus making reference to the Ravenna mosaics.24 It took the excavation of the Castrum Saint-Jean at Rougiers, published in 1980, for the dating of these dress accessories to be brought forward to the end of the Middle Ages. 22 This large number of buckles needs to be seen in the context of this famous French medieval site which yielded 538 copper-alloy objects, including 134 buckle frames (buckles discussed here therefore forming 11% of the latter). 23 Barri ere-Flavy 1892, 85, 89. 24 James 1977, 401–3. 386 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY Overall, 41 buckles within this corpus were discovered during archaeological digs or investigations, but only 28 of these have stratigraphic dating — of variable accuracy and precision — including 18 from the Castrum Saint-Jean alone. The stratigraphic contexts of the excavation of the latter, perfectly reliable and precisely dated, indicate a use throughout the 14th century. Almost all buckles found there came from soils and landfill levels. The ‘wide’ dating of the last phase of occupation (c 1370–5 to 1415–20) does not allow us to dismiss the possibility of a continuation of use of these buckles at the beginning of the 15th century, but such late dating cannot be corroborated elsewhere. In fact, apart from one example discovered in a late bank (1491–6) during the excavation of the western garden of the Petit Palais in Avignon (Vaucluse, France), and a second from a bank at the Place Formig
e at Fr
ejus (Var, France) (late 12th century to 1748), the stratigraphic dating of the other pieces does not post-date the 15th century. Only three buckles were found in possibly 13th-century contexts: one from Pistoles in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rh^one, France), another from the Castrum of Marsens (Var, France), and the third from the Champ du Fr^ene at Asnieres-sur-Nouere (Charente, France), all of which date from the 13th to the beginning of the 14th centuries. Overall, these buckles were therefore in use since at least the beginning of the 14th century, but their appearance a few decades earlier cannot be totally ruled out. Future discoveries made in stratigraphic contexts will have to be carefully scrutinised. Within such parameters, the absence or presence of decoration, and the type of decoration, cannot, at the moment, be sequenced chronologically. COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS, PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS Compositional analyses were carried out on a total of 170 metal strap fittings found at the Castrum Saint-Jean at Rougiers, including 15 buckles of the type studied here (Fig 10). They revealed that most of these pieces were made of leaded bronze.25 According to the current definitions, two specimens are in bronze, one is in red brass, and one in leaded red brass. The tin content is high in all specimens (between 4.8 and 13.2%), while the lead content is less than 3% for the bronze and red brass buckles, between 1.9 and 2.6%. It ranges between 4 and 8.4% in one group of leaded bronze, and between 12.5 and 15.1% in a second group. The leaded red brass specimen is 9.5%. Lead, which was cheaper than tin, copper or calamine (zinc oxides), allowed for lower costs and, unlike sheet metal, in which it can cause problems with malleability and ductility, a high lead content was not counterproductive for melting. It may have even been beneficial, helping with the fluidity of the casting.26 The two pins, made by cold hammering, are of a different alloy to their frames. Their lead content is low, to avoid problems during hammering.27 Generally, other buckles analysed from Rougiers were found to be made of copper, leaded bronze or leaded red brass. 25 The compositional analyses were carried out in 2012 on the AGLAE platform with the help and collaboration of David Bourgarit, specialist in compositional analysis on copper materials at C2RMF (Palais du Louvre), and Nicolas Thomas, archaeologist at INRAP attached to LAMOP (UMR 8589 CNRSUniversit
e Paris I Panth
eon-Sorbonne) 26 There are contradictory studies on the fluidity that lead would give the alloy (Bourgarit and Thomas 2012, 3063–4). 27 Thomas et al 2008, 38. CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE 387 FIG 10 Results of compositional analyses, detailing percentages of main elements in illustrated buckles (copper, tin, zinc, lead) and trace elements, shown as a table and a ternary diagram. 388 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY The buckles of the type studied here have a relatively high proportion of impurities: iron and sulphur together often approach or exceed 1%; moreover, the totals for nitrate, silver, arsenic and antimony almost always exceed 1%. The presence of these elements is common and consistent in objects made by casting, while it is less for those made by hot hammering.28 Four buckles in leaded bronze stand out for having an antimony level greater than 1%, and, in one case, even attaining 2.13% (Fig 4, nos 13, 14 and 17; Fig 6, no 4). Levels as high or higher were measured for only three other buckles overall, in leaded bronze: all date to the 14th century, and two are circular and have a pin with a decorative pattern attested in Provence, Corsica and the north-west of Italy.29 The rectangular outer edge of the third object features the aforementioned schematic motif of a crenellated curtain wall with two corner towers. At the moment, this form is known only in southern France, with outliers from the eastern coast of England.30 This high antimony content is probably indicative of a particular type of ore. Antimony is most easily derived in the form of sulphides, often associated with other metals such as lead, leaded copper and copper. Antimony can also be found in some tin ore.31 Copper, often associated with lead and silver, was only rarely extracted from the mines of south-eastern France, and thus was usually brought in from several places across Central Europe.32 By contrast, many lead and argentiferous lead mines were exploited in the Alps, the Massif des Maures near Marseille, and between the Massif Central and the Pyrenees; as such, there was normally therefore no need to bring lead in from more distant regions.33 In Rougiers, in general, a significant proportion of silver is found in bronze objects. This can result from an argentiferous copper ore or an argentiferous lead ore. For the buckles studied here, no relationship was found between antimony content and copper, unlike that found for the output of a workshop in 14th-century Paris.34 However, the most highly leaded objects also have high antimony content. No other clear correlations are apparent in the data. This observation, as well as the variations highlighted in the tin, lead, antimony and silver content of the buckles, may be the result of the production of several contemporary or non-contemporary workshops, of ore treatment processes, of a great diversity in the nature of the alloys produced in a workshop, or the consequence of the recycling of old objects.35 Indeed, these causes may well have been intermingled. The number of buckles analysed is currently too small to draw firm conclusions on the source of the variations. PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION It is usually difficult to propose a production area for a given buckle type because most are attested over large geographical areas. This is potentially due both to long-distance trade and, given the analysis above, the copying of objects by other workshops. However, the location of the discoveries of the type set out here and the typological similarities with the buckles with expanded rectangular outer edges, especially the type for 28 Bourgarit and Thomas 2012, 3065. Thuaudet 2015, 311–12. 30 Thuaudet 2015, 415–16; AD, BAC-9043. 31 Malham 2010, 412. 32 Thuaudet 2019. 33 Ibid. 34 See Bourgarit and Thomas 2012, 3065–8 and Thomas 2009, 578–86. 35 On these last three points, see Bourgarit and Thomas 2012, 3065–8 and Thomas 2009, 578–86. 29 CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE 389 which the rectangular outer edge is continuous with the sides, indicates a likely initial diffusion from southern France. The four leaded-bronze buckles with an antimony level higher than 1% can be compared with three other Rougiers leaded-bronze buckles of types with a distribution largely restricted to southern France. However, as long as the origin of this antimony remains unidentified, this evidence should be treated with caution. Finds of the corpus are concentrated in southern France, but we can now also see a substantial distribution along the southern and eastern coasts of England (Fig 11). Previously, only one English find had been published with a French origin suggested, the aforementioned Group 5 buckle from London.36 It is worth noting that in the 14th century, when the duchy of Aquitaine was an English possession, the south-west of France was strongly marked by an English political and economic presence. An important trade link, especially in wine destined for England, existed between these two regions.37 The buckles may have been transported commercially by river, on the Garonne, or overland to the Guyenne, then subsequently by sea towards England. This pattern of transport might explain both those few discoveries along the Channel and Atlantic coasts of France, as well as their absence elsewhere in France. Potentially, the buckles could then be copied, some patterns reproduced and others invented. The distribution centred on England in the case of buckles of Group 3, or exclusively in England for examples of Group 4 (Fig 5, nos 6–14), suggests that these might be local copies or variants. CONCLUSION This short article has delineated for the first time a morphologically distinctive buckle type of the Late Middle Ages, one which often featured surface decoration covering the large fields on its outer edge. The execution of the decoration, as well as numerous motifs, tie this particular type to other forms produced in southern France, largely in the 14th century. The extensive presence of this buckle type in England has now been documented, giving it a new, international significance. Its distinctive distribution outside southern France, for the most part restricted to the southern and the eastern English coastlines, and excluding intermediate areas, appears to be a purely commercial distribution. Buckles of Group 1, as set out in this note, and Groups 3, and 5–7 inclusive, have been found in both countries, with only the most elaborate (Groups 8 and 9) and those with decorative abstraction (Group 2), being absent in England according to the current dataset. Group 4, seemingly absent in France, could be specific to the British Isles, potentially the result of an appropriation of a French model by English craftspeople. Although such buckles have been found at a variety of types of site in France, the restricted coastal distribution in England suggests that, there, such buckles were introduced by traders and may have been markers of the mercantile and foreign identities of their wearers. As written sources are unlikely to provide information on artisanal production and on consumption of these objects, we are reliant on future archaeological discoveries to bolster the results presented here. Special attention should be paid to south-western France, where there is a relative dearth of publications for medieval metal objects. This 36 37 Egan and Pritchard 2002, 68, no 263. Francisque 1867; Renouard 1956. 390 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY FIG 11 Distribution map of buckles. Map by O Thuaudet with map tiles by Stamen Design, reproduced under license CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, reproduced under license CC BY-SA. CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE 391 will undoubtedly require a thorough analysis of the archaeological excavation reports to complete the distribution maps. In this paper we have sought to use a broad approach beyond our fundamentally typological work, applying artistic comparison on the one hand, and scientific analysis on the other. These dress accessories are the bearers of distinctive ornamentation for which the search for sources of inspiration is currently almost non-existent.38 Their designs presuppose a good knowledge of the media of painting, architecture and goldsmithing, which could serve as sources. Future collaboration with specialists in these disciplines may therefore be necessary. Compositional analyses of dress accessories are still rare; the data collected here will hopefully contribute to future research, which, in turn, will enhance the (re)interpretation of our data. Going forwards, the origin of the antimony content of these buckles is to be sought. Furthermore, new analyses may confirm the typological groups delimited here. More generally, we hope at the very least for more typological studies to further our knowledge of metal artefacts of the Late Middle Ages, this study having demonstrated their worth. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Olivier Thuaudet would like to thank Michel Barrere for his help in tracing examples and for his comments on the text, and Nicolas Thomas and David Bourgarit for their help and collaboration in the realisation of the composition analyses, carried out by PIXE at the Centre de recherches et de restauration des mus
ees de France. Robert Webley thanks Laura Burnett for having read and commented on the article. The authors extend their thanks to our two anonymous reviewers, and the editor, whose comments have enabled a number of improvements and clarifications. 38 Though see Fingerlin 1971 and Thuaudet 2015. 392 APPENDIX TABLE 1 Corpus of buckles. County/ D
epartement Contextual dating Find location Settlement
Eglise Saint-Blaise Arles Fig 4, no 2 Hauture Castle Fos-sur-Mer Fig 4, no 3 Chapelle Saint-Martin Quartier Sainte-Barbe G
emenos Fig 4, no 5 Les Pistoles Marseille Bouchesdu-Rh^one Fig 4, no 6 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var Fig 4, no 7 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1360– c 1370/1375 Fig 4, no 8 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1345– c 1360 Fig 4, no 9 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1345– c 1360 Fig 4, no 4 Marseille Bouchesdu-Rh^one Bouchesdu-Rh^one Bouchesdu-Rh^one Bouchesdu-Rh^one Reference Out of context Unpublished 14th century Unpublished Out of context Serieys 1992, 13; Berthout 1989, map no 17, ph 115 Unpublished Second quarter–mid14th century First half 13th to beginning 14th century c 1309/1315– c 1345 Thuaudet and Chazottes 2014, 300–1, figs 238–3 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211-4, pl 426, no 11; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498-9, pl 466, no 27 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 30; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 41 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 29; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 40 Unpublished (Continued) OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY Figure reference GROUP 1 Fig 4, no 1 Figure reference Fig 4, no 10 Settlement Rougiers County/ D
epartement Var Contextual dating c 1360– c 1370/1375 Fig 4, no 11 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1360– c 1370/1375 Fig 4, no 12 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1370/1375– c 1415/1420 Fig 4, no 13 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1360– c 1370/1375 Fig 4, no 14 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1370/1375– c 1415/1420 Fig 4, no 15 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1360– c 1370/1375 Fig 4, no 16 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1345– c 1360 Fig 4, no 17 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1360– c 1370/1375 (Continued) 393 Reference D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 26; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 7 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 24; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 35 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 22; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9 (not illustrated) D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 23; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 37 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 21; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9 (not illustrated) D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 20; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 34 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 25; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 36 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–4, pl 426, no 28; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 39 CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE Find location Castrum Saint-Jean 394 Figure reference Fig 4, no 18 Settlement Rougiers County/ D
epartement Var Contextual dating c 1370/1375c 1415/1420 Avignon Avignon Avignon Avignon Vaucluse Vaucluse Vaucluse Vaucluse Unknown Unknown Unknown Out of context Avignon Vaucluse Unknown Unpublished Avignon Vaucluse 1491–6 Unpublished Fig 4, no 25 Rue Carreterie Rue Carreterie Rue Carreterie Impasse de l’Oratoire Impasse de l’Oratoire Petit Palais, jardin ouest Gu
e du Bazacle Reference D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 27; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 38 Unpublished Unpublished Unpublished Unpublished Toulouse Haute-Garonne Out of context Fig 4, no 26 Heche Caussade Out of context Fig 4, no 27 Fig 4, no 28 Trainecourt Unknown Grentheville Carisbrooke Tarnet-Garonne Calvados Isle of Wight Anon 1990, no 440, Private collection Anon 1990, no 439 Not illustrated Unknown Iwerne Minster Dorset Metal detecting Not illustrated Not illustrated Meols beach Ch^ateau de Villandraut Unknown Unknown Meols Villandraut Merseyside Gironde Not datable Not datable Unknown Unknown Gironde? Gironde? Not datable Not datable Mus
ee d’Aquitaine, n 60.17.540 Mus
ee d’Aquitaine, 70.19.3 DOUBLON Saint-Maximin Le Muy Var Var Unknown context 13th to beginning 14th century Unpublished B
erato and Vasseur 2000, 24 Fig Fig Fig Fig 4, 4, 4, 4, no no no no 19 20 21 22 Fig 4, no 23 Fig 4, no 24 Not illustrated Not illustrated GROUP 2 Fig 5, no 1 Fig 5, no 2 Baptistere Castrum de Marsens 13th–15th century Metal detecting Berthelot et al 2002, no 186 PAS, IOW-785866; AD, BAC-7001 PAS, DOR-EA4932; AD, BAC-7001 Egan 2007, 86–8, pl 13, no 460 AD, BAC-7034 (Continued) OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY Find location Castrum Saint-Jean Figure reference Fig 5, no 3 County/ D
epartement Var Contextual dating Out of context Neuilly-en-Thelle Rougiers Oise Var 14th century c 1345– c 1360 Estoublon Fontvieille Bouchesdu-Rh^one Out of context GROUP 3 Fig 5, no 6 Fig 5, no 7 Le Terrier Unknown Montagnac Monkton Farleigh H
erault Wiltshire Out of context Metal detecting Fig 5, no 8 Unknown Brighstone Isle of Wight Metal detecting Fig 5, no 9 Fig 5, no 10 Fig 5, no 11 Unknown Unknown Unknown Sutton Sutton Freshwater Suffolk Suffolk Isle of Wight Metal detecting Metal detecting Metal detecting Fig 5, no 12 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1370/1375– c 1415/1420 GROUP 4 Fig 5, no 13 Unknown Roxby Metal detecting Fig 5, no 14 Unknown Eastling North Lincolnshire Kent Metal detecting Rue Carreterie Avignon Vaucluse Unknown context Fig 5, no 4 Fig 5, no 5 Not illustrated GROUP 5 Fig 6, no 1 Reference Lagrand 1962, 264 Legros 2011, no 104 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 19; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 29 Quoted by D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498, note 395 (object not found) AD, BAC-7002 PAS, WILT-73AC53; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, IOW-F71B17; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, SF-D29061; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, SF-D02E61; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, IOW-3D5A05; AD, BAC-7002 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 12; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 28 PAS, NLM-CE3512; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, KENT-245C95; AD, BAC-7002 Unpublished (Continued) 395 Settlement Baudinard CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE Find location Grand Abri de la Place Bell
e Castrum Saint-Jean Settlement Fr
ejus County/ D
epartement Var Fig 6, no 3 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var Fig 6, no 4 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1370/1375– c 1415/1420 Fig 6, no 5 Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1370/1375– c 1415/1420 Fig 6, no 6 Unknown Near Toulouse Haute-Garonne Out of context Fig 6, no 7 Unknown Millau Aveyron Out of context Fig 6, no 8 Fig 6, no 9 Fig 6, no 10 Le Castelas Unknown Unknown Vailhan Unknown Near Toulouse H
erault H
erault Haute-Garonne Out of context Metal detecting? Out of context Fig 6, no 11 Fig 6, no 12 Unknown Unknown Covehithe South Cave Metal detecting Metal detecting Fig 6, no 13 Fig 6, no 14 Unknown Unknown Claydon Narbonne Suffolk East Riding of Yorkshire Suffolk Aude Metal detecting Out of context Not illustrated Hameau de Neujon Unknown Mons
egur Gironde Out of context Unknown H
erault Out of context Not illustrated Contextual dating Late 12th century– 1748 c 1370/1375– c 1415/1420 Reference Thuaudet 2012, 271, fig 152, no 1 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 118; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 33 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 16; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 31 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 17; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 32 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 30, no 6; James 1977, 401, no E16 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 30, no 4; James 1977, 401, no E5 AD, BAC-7002 AD, BAC-7002 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 30, no 5; James 1977, 401, no E18 PAS, SF-151C15; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, FAKL-C68BB5; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, SF-DFB856; AD, BAC-7002 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 30, no 3; James 1977, 401, no E6 Quoted by D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498 AD, BAC-7002 (Montagnac museum) (Continued) OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY Find location Place Formig
e 396 Figure reference Fig 6, no 2 Figure reference Not illustrated Asnieressur-Nouere Unknown Charente Var 13th to beginning 14th century Metal detecting Unknown Gravelines Nord Metal detecting GROUP 6 Fig 7, no 1 Unknown Lambourn West Berkshire Metal detecting Fig 7, no 2 Unknown Piddlehinton Dorset Metal detecting Fig 7, no 3 Unknown Shorwell Isle of Wight Metal detecting Fig 7, no 4 Unknown Exeter (St Loyes) Devon Metal detecting Fig 7, no 5 Billingsgate lorry park, watching brief Monts
egur castle London Greater London c 1350– c 1400 Monts
egur Ariege Not datable Teilhet Fontvieille Near Narbonne Unknown Ariege Bouchesdu-Rh^one Aude Var Out of context Not datable Fig 7, no 9 Not illustrated Tabariane? Castrum de Montpaon Unknown Unknown Fig 7, no 10 Fig 7, no 11 Unknown Unknown Unknown Vall
ee de Larboust Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne Out of context Out of context Fig 7, no 12 Unknown Massif des Corbieres Aude Out of context Not illustrated Le Champ du Fr^ene Unknown Not illustrated Not illustrated Fig 7, no 6 Fig 7, no 7 Fig 7, no 8 Out of context Metal detecting Reference AD, BAC-7002 (Marius Vazeilles museum) Martin 2017, p. 152, fig 12; AD, BAC-7001 Carlot and Chodorge 2014, 133, MA 12 Carlot and Chodorge 2014, 134, MA 15 PAS, BERK-2B50F7; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, PAS-156838; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, IOW-A75918; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, DEV-C0CAB3; AD, BAC-7002 Egan and Pritchard 2002, 68, no 263 Czeski 1981, 198; Anon 1990, no 446 James 1977, 401, no E4 Unpublished James 1977, 401, no E7 Carlot and Chodorge 2014, 134, MA 16 Sarret 1983, 117–18, no 7 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 30, no 1; James 1977, 401, no E19 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 30, no 2; James 1977, 401, no E2 (Continued) 397 Contextual dating Out of context Settlement Near Meymac CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE County/ D
epartement Correze Find location Unknown Find location Tabariane? Unknown Settlement Teilhet Unknown Contextual dating Out of context Metal detecting GROUP 7 Fig 8, no 1 Les Plaines Peyrolles Bouchesdu-Rh^one Prospecting Saint-Jeande-Minervois H
erault Out of context Fig 8, no 3 Fig 8, no 4 Fig 8, no 5 Grotte 3 du ruisseau de l’
eglise Le Castelas Unknown Unknown Vailhan B
elesta Near Toulouse H
erault Ariege Haute-Garonne Out of context Out of context Out of context Fig 8, no 6 Fig 8, no 7 Unknown Unknown
Near Egletons Shorwell Correze Isle of Wight Metal detecting? Metal detecting Fig 8, no 8 Unknown Mautby Norfolk Metal detecting Fig 8, no 9 Unknown Lincolnshire Metal detecting Fig 8, no 10 Unknown Mareham on the Hill M
erigon Ariege Out of context Not illustrated Unknown Unknown Var Metal detecting Not illustrated Unknown Unknown Provence Metal detecting Fig 8, no 11 Unknown Revel? Haute-Garonne Out of context Fig 8, no 12 Unknown Revel? Haute-Garonne Out of context Fig 8, no 2 Reference James 1977, 401, no E3 Carlot and Chodorge 2014, 133, MA 14 Quoted by D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498, note 394 Lauriol 1962, 30; James 1977, 403, no E14 AD, BAC-7002 Anon 1990, no 445 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 30, no 5; James 1977, 401, no E17 AD, BAC-7002 PAS, IOW-8F9A92; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, NMS-DCF477; AD, BAC-7002 PAS, PAS-152DEA; AD, BAC-7002 Monod and Rancoule 1969, 170, pl 6c; James 1977, no E9; Anon 1990, no 444 Carlot and Chodorge 2014, 133, MA 8 Carlot and Chodorge 2014, 134, MA 13 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 31, no 3; James 1977, 401, no E13 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 31, no 2; James 1977, 401, no E11 (Continued) OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY County/ D
epartement Ariege South of France 398 Figure reference Not illustrated Not illustrated Figure reference Fig 8, no 13 Settlement Revel? County/ D
epartement Haute-Garonne Contextual dating Out of context Fig 8, no 14 Unknown Carmaux Haute-Garonne Out of context Not illustrated Not illustrated Unknown Unknown Stokeinteignhead Stoke St Gregory Devon Somerset Metal detecting Metal detecting GROUP 8 Fig 8, no 15 Unknown Near Toulouse Haute-Garonne Metal detecting Fig 8, no 16 Unknown Unknown Dordogne Out of context GROUP 9 Fig 8, no 17 Unknown M
erigon Ariege Out of context Fig 8, no 18 Gu
e du Bazacle Toulouse Haute-Garonne Out of context Not illustrated Castrum Saint-Jean Rougiers Var c 1360– c 1370/1375 Unknown Near Toulouse Haute-Garonne Out of context Unclassified Fig 5, no 15 Reference Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 31, no 1; James 1977, 401, no E12 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 31, no 4; James 1977, 401, no E1 Read 1995, 59–60, no 256 PAS, SOM-69363C Carlot and Chodorge 2014, 133, MA 9 James 1977, 401, no E10 Monod and Rancoule 1969, 170, pl 6b; James 1977, no E8; Anon 1990, no 443 Anon 1981, no 445; Anon 1990, no 441 D
emians d’Archimbaud 1978, 1211–14, pl 426, no 15; D
emians d’Archimbaud 1980, 498–9, pl 466, no 30 Barriere-Flavy 1892, pl 31, no 5; James 1977, 401, no E15 CASE STUDY OF A TYPE OF MEDIEVAL COPPER-ALLOY BUCKLE Find location Unknown 399 400 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY BIBLIOGRAPHY Allemagne, H R D 1928, Les accessoires du costume et du mobilier depuis le treizieme jusqu’au milieu du dix-neuvieme siecle 3, Paris: Schemit. ^ arch
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eologiques’, in N Minvielle Larousse, M-C Bailly-Ma^ıtre and G Bianchi (eds), Les m
etaux pr
ecieux en M
editerran
ee m
edi
evale: exploitations, transformations, circulations, Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires de Provence, 301–18. Thuaudet, O and Chazottes, M A 2014, ‘Etude du mobilier manufactur
e non c
eramique’, in V Abel, M Bouiron, and F Parent, Fouilles a Marseille. Objets quotidiens m
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evaux et modernes, Etudes massalieres 13, 295–349. Vidaillet, F, Pousthomis, B et al 1996, ‘Une maison du castrum de Durfort (Tarn): le b^atiment 9’, in M-G Colin, I Darnas, N Pousthomis (eds), La maison du Castrum de la bordure m
eridionale du Massif Central, Carcassonne:
Editions du CAML, 177–208. Abbreviations AD Artefacts database, Online Encyclopedia of Archaeological Small Finds AGLAE Acc
el
erateur Grand Louvre d'Analyses El
ementaires C2RMF Centre de recherche et de restauration des mus
ees de France CAML Centre d’Arch
eologie M
edi
evale du Languedoc CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CTHS Comit
e des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques INRAP Institut National de Recherches Arch
eologiques Preventives LAMOP Laboratoire de m
edi
evistique occidentale de Paris PAS Portable Antiquities Scheme SRA Service R
egional de l'Arch
eologie 402 OLIVIER THUAUDET WITH ROBERT WEBLEY R
esum
e Interrogations sur la diffusion des artefacts en m
etal : e
tude de cas d’un type de boucle m
edi
evale en alliage de cuivre par Olivier Thuaudet avec Robert Webley Ce papier pr
esente et analyse un groupe de boucles a un seul anneau dat
ees environ du 14e siecle. Ces boucles ovales se caract
erisent par un rebord ext
erieur qui s’
elargit progressivement en son centre, pour former un champ de dimension suffisante de chaque c^ot
e du repose-ardillon. Les deux tiers du corpus regroupant plus d’une centaine d’exemples sont d
ecor
es de motifs grav
es et poinçonn
es. Parmi ces motifs, on a des formes abstraites, sch
ematiques ou r
ealistes de motifs v
eg
etaux ou animaliers, des repr
esentations humaines et des
el
ements architecturaux, ainsi que des inscriptions religieuses. Ces boucles typiques du sud de la France sont document
ees ici pour la premiere fois sur les c^otes est et sud de l’Angleterre. Leur pr
esence en Angleterre peut s’expliquer dans un contexte commercial; une fois diffus
ees, elles auraient pu ^etre copi
ees et d’autres motifs d
ecoratifs introduits pour r
epondre aux besoins des diverses localit
es. Des analyses de composition ont r
ev
el
e des groupes d’alliages renfermant des proportions
elev
ees de plomb ou d’
etain, t
emoignant potentiellement d’une production dans des ateliers distincts. Zussamenfassung Die Frage nach der Verbreitung von Metallartefakten: Fallstudie zu einem Typ mittelalterlicher G€ urtelschnallen aus Kupferlegierung von Olivier Thuaudet mit Robert Webley Dieser Artikel pr€asentiert und diskutiert eine Gruppe von G€ urtelschnallen mit einfachem Rahmen aus dem 14. Jahrhundert (in etwa). Die ovalen Schnallen sind durch einen €außeren Rand gekennzeichnet, der in Richtung Mitte allm€ahlich breiter wird, wodurch auf beiden Seiten des Dornrastes ein relativ großes Feld entsteht. Zwei Drittel des Bestands von u €ber 100 Exemplaren sind mit eingravierten oder eingestanzten Motiven verziert. Die Motive umfassen abstrakte Formen, schematische oder realistische pflanzliche oder tierische Motive, Darstellungen von Menschen und architektonischen Elementen, sowie religi€ose Inschriften. W€ahrend Schnallen dieser Art f€ ur S€ udfrankreich typisch sind, werden hier erstmals Exemplare von der Ost- und S€ udk€ uste Englands dokumentiert. Ihr Auftreten in England kann in einem kommerziellen Kontext betrachtet werden; nachdem sie Verbreitung gefunden hatten, wurden sie m€oglicherweise kopiert und mit anderen dekorativen Motiven versehen, um den €ortlichen Bedarf zu decken. Analysen der Bestandteile haben ergeben, dass sowohl Legierungsgruppen mit einem hohen Bleianteil als auch solche mit einem hohen Zinnanteil vertreten sind, was die Herstellung in getrennten Werkst€atten bezeugen k€onnte. Riassunto Indagando sulla diffusione dei manufatti in metallo: il caso specifico di un tipo di fibbia medievale in lega di rame di Olivier Thuaudet con Robert Webley In questo studio si presenta e si esamina un gruppo di fibbie ad anello singolo in generale del XIV secolo. Queste fibbie ovali sono caratterizzate da un margine esterno che si allarga man mano verso il centro fornendo cosı un campo di notevole ampiezza su entrambi i lati rispetto al punto centrale di appoggio dell’ardiglione. Due terzi del corpus di oltre 100 esemplari sono ornati con motivi incisi e punzonati. Questi motivi comprendono forme astratte, motivi vegetali o animali schematici o realistici, rappresentazioni di figure umane o architettoniche, e iscrizioni religiose. Tali fibbie sono tipiche del sud della Francia, ma sono documentate qui per la prima volta provenienti dalle coste orientali e meridionali dell’Inghilterra. La loro presenza in Inghilterra puo essere inquadrata in un contesto commerciale: una volta diffuse possono essere state copiate e possono essere stati introdotti altri elementi decorativi per venire incontro alle esigenze locali. Le analisi sulla composizione rivelano l’esistenza di gruppi di leghe di metallo con elevate percentuali di piombo o di stagno, portando potenzialmente a indicare una produzione in officine diverse.