Hi everyone,

I looked this up and have always wondered about it but still don't have a clear sense of how it was. . .

I read that glass windows (I gather clear house windows in houses) were invented in the 18th. C. I know that stained glass in churches pre-dated this type of glass by at least three centuries.

So what were the windows of manors and significant buildings like in the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th C? Did these buildings just not have windows or did they use shutters or what?

I guess my question has to do with the development of the window/opening to the exterior in western Europe.

Thanks to anyone that takes time to address this unconventional question.

Merry Christmas and happy Holidays everyone,
Jeremy

I'm not entirely positive, but I'm pretty certain that at least by the high/late middle ages, there was some limited use of 'plain' glass in secular buildings. Glass was definitely in use by the Renaissance and Baroque periods, as can be seen in Durer's, Vermeer's, and others' art work.

Otherwise, I've read that those who could afford it used window panes made of very very thin slices of horn in the Middle Ages. This still would have been somewhat opaque, but would have allowed a good amount of light in without risking the elements. Most homes however, just had shutters.

Yes Bruno,

That extremely famous depiction of the Holy Spirit behind the High Alter in St. Peter's Basilica is made of alabaster and I was fortunate enough to see in person.

Words cannot convey the magnificence of the whole High Altar, Bernini's Canopy, and the steps and lights leading down to the bones of good old St. Peter!

Does anyone know if parchment was used in any form as window covering?

Jeremy

Here is a picture of the home of Bess of Hardwicke, built in the late 1500's.
[ Linked Image ]
Note all of the glass windows. While I believe that use of glass for windows was fairly common at this point, Hardwicke House was an extreme use of glazing for the time, and was intended to show off Bess' wealth.

Interesting everyone,

When I referred earlier to the 18th c. development of window glass I read this on some article I found through Google. Now I see that this was most likely referring to a specific type of window glass manufacture. I can see that there must have been a multitude of ways to produce window glass and now that I think about it I remember reading that old glass tended to be more wavy and less smooth than today.

I would think that earlier windows had this character. I do believe that glass windows of the 11th, 12th, and 13th, c. were on the rare side.

Does anyone know if some windows had a bowed or less than flat surface?

I bet they got REALLY got pissed when some kid threw a stone through those new high-tech home improvements!

Jeremy

I think i read somewhere about using parchment or very thin animals skins ( parchment is based on animal skins I think and not paper or wood pulp based ).

The parchment/skins would be rubbed with some form of grease which would make it very translucent: So one might not be able to see much through such a window but it would let a fair amount of light into a room, at least a lot more than wooden shutters.

If you can blow a glass cylinder you can make a glass panel.

At least a small one.

Notoriously leaky Wiki says that glass making was know in Mesopotamia and that the Phoenicians really mastered glass blowing enough to spread it across the Mediterranean basin by 50 BC. It goes on to say that glass blowing was widely known to the Romans so the required knowledge and process was in play long before the Medieval.

Whether or not the technology was widely available on a commercial scale though...?

Glass was certainly a common product in Roman times, and cheap enough for every-day use by anyone who wasn't "poor". Glass *windows* are another matter--they were certainly known to the Romans though I don't know how widespread they may have been. In a bathhouse in Pompeii the eruption blew in a glass window and threw a large stone basin up against the wall, trapping pieces of broken glass behind it.

I saw an experiment by historical glass makers on a BBC show not long ago, which concluded that Roman windowpanes were probably made by blowing a cylinder and cutting and flattening it. The resulting experimental piece was very similar to Roman fragments, and much thinner and lighter than a rolled-out blob or spun disc of glass.

My guess is that glass windows were primarily an upper-class thing, but common enough in that social stratum. I'd also guess that glass windows stayed in use to at least some degree among the wealthy right through from the Roman era to the middle ages. Architecture isn't my strongest area, but there has to be more evidence either way. I also wouldn't be surprised if the whole theory of "greased parchment" isn't at least a little over-blown by Victorian and modern historians who just couldn't accept that medieval people did indeed have a few basic luxuries! Sounds too much like the whole "leather armor" issue...

Valete,

Matthew