| Paper 323-b | Inheritance, Conspicuous Consumption, and Named Drinking Vessels in Late Medieval England
(Language: English)
Chris Woolgar, Department of History / Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Culture, University of Southampton
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Daily Life, Mentalities, Social History |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
The paper considers the circumstances and possible motivations of very poor but free litigants of both sexes as revealed in the early records of suits of novel disseisin, or recent dispossession. Neither poverty nor gender prevented involvement in the action, which was tried by judge and jury in royal central courts. Both assize and court were instituted by Henry II and barred to the unfree. The research complements recent work by Morris and Reynolds inter alia on medieval attitudes towards the individual and authority, particularly the monarchy. The records date from 1194.
Paper -b:
In the later Middle Ages, among goods that passed from generation to generation in upper-class families we can identify a distinctive group of items, usually metalwork and often drinking vessels, which had individual names. From cups for wassail, belcheer, and blessing, to those with family names or links (e.g. ‘Hill', ‘Edward'), these items constituted important elements in inheritance and connected conspicuous displays of wealth at meals and drinkings with family. This paper surveys these items, their function, the names and their meanings, and the ways in which items like this might reinforce family connections, ceremonial and magnificence.
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