#blacksmiths

CRAFTS — 191/262 — Blacksmiths

Blacksmithing has been one of the most important professions since ancient times, as iron was a very valuable raw material. At that time it was not mined, but rather collected in opencast mines - nothing was allowed to go to waste, and people even kept used nails. Blacksmiths were located in every large outpost or village and made almost everything needed for agriculture (knife, axe, grain sickle, but also ploughs, harrows, etc.). Some blacksmiths specialized in swords, helmets, spears, harness fittings, snaffle bits, locks or jewelry. The forge was most often a shelter with a wall. Their essential equipment included a large bellows, anvil, pliers, hammer, punches, files, etc. In a well-equipped forge, a blacksmith could develop a heat of up to 1400°C. It is worth mentioning that the Romani blacksmiths carried the whole forge with them during their nomadic journeys, and a fireplace and basic tools were enough for shoeing horses or making minor repairs to their tools.

TRIVIA

— From ancient Greek and Roman religious myths to Germanic and Nordic ones, blacksmiths have been a part of the Godly pantheon, and their trade was shrouded in tales of magic and mystery. With their ability to change the matter of things and create crucial tools out of liquid metal, learned in a closed and hidden art, they were often viewed similarly to alchemists or sorcerers. The significance of the sword as the symbol of everything that mattered in a noble man's life, from his reaching of adulthood, over his duties to his family and liege, to his virtue in battle and his last funeral rites, further added to this image. Medieval literature thus often depicted the blacksmith as a loyal helper of the main hero, a magical agent of fate, but also as a skilled and vital craftsman who should better not be crossed. But also outside of the nobility's needs, blacksmiths played a central role in the medieval society. They provided cooking utensils, hinges and nails, tools and the reparation thereof, ecclesiastical objects and locks. Blacksmiths – and later specialised farriers – would take care of the making and fitting of a horse's shoes, sometimes also of its bridles, would treat horse diseases, and in general fulfil many of the tasks of marshals, so much so that in late medieval Catalan texts, “marshal” and “farrier” are used interchangeably, occasionally even jointly as “farrier-marshals”. They were also crucial for human medicine: While the fastening of loose teeth was achieved through a soldering process using liquid gold, and thus exercised by goldsmiths since antiquity, blacksmiths with their knowledge in producing and handling forceps often functioned as tooth-pullers. As late as 1914, the “British Dental Journal” comments on the death of a local blacksmith who had also dabbled in extracting teeth, since, as the journal states, “many people who have failed in other directions feel they have a bent for dental surgery.”

The Lady Godiva Procession of 1829, Coventry

Artist: David Gee (English, 1793–1872)

Date: 1861

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, England

Description

The Godiva Procession is an annual procession in the city of Coventry, England, which re-enacts the story of Lady Godiva. Godiva Processions have been held in Coventry since the 17th century.