Practical Experience: Steel in the Middle Ages
Résumé
The present paper focuses on the interdisciplinary research carried out in recent years around a specific material: steel. The opening section is dedicated to the way steel is referred to in the written sources; it is argued that steel is clearly identified in the sources, but in ways which suggest that the definition of the material was considerably fluid. This complexity is also found in the material itself, as revealed by archaeometric analyses undertaken on archaeological artefacts. Ancient steel was a heterogeneous material, and medieval craftspeople played with this heterogeneity in order to manufacture different kinds of products and artefacts. In the second section, various medieval steel-handling processes are reviewed. The final section revolves around the crucial example posed by armour, of which different pieces were produced using different types of steel.