The medieval turned bench at Alpirsbach

Three turned benches (with footrest) are visible on this old photo of the Alpirsbach monastery, where there is now only one.

Turned wooden furniture was relatively common during the early medieval period (500-1300): quite some examples of beds, chairs and benches have been archaeologically excavated or have survived in situ (see e.g. Appuhn, 1978/1979; Doppelfeld, 1960; Karlson, 1928; Kortekaas and Blom, 2011; Proos, 2018; Theune-Groβkopf and Nedoma, 2008). One often mentioned example is (are) the choir-bench (es) of the Alpirsbach monastery in Alpirsbach, southern Germany. There is now only one bench left in the former cloister, the ones that moved to the Schlossmuseum in Stuttgart were lost during the second world war. Also the footrests have not survived, both in the cloister and the museum.

Alpirsbach monastery, now a small museum.

The large turned choir bench in Romanesque style of Alpirsbach, 6.7 metres long.

Lately, we visited Alpirsbach to have a look at the Romanescque bench. The surviving example can be found in the cloister church and is massive; 6.70 meters long, 1.26 cm high, with a depth of 67 cm. Seating height is about 46 cm. The turned vertical posts are made from oak and are around 13-14 cm thick. The top of each post has a turned knob. The posts themselves contain many decorative turned lines. The connecting slats and horizontal turned armrest (arond 7 cm thick) at the sides are also from oak. (I assume that the seating supports underneath the bench are also from oak.) The seating is made from a single fir wood board (on one side restored) of around 4 cm thickness; the long boards of the backrest and front are also made from fir. 

The seating consists of one board, the part on the left side of the bench is restored. 

The middle post of the bench. You can see the decorative lines on the vertical posts. The backrest is fixed with 2 large dark-coloured pins to the vertical post. More pins can be spotted: along the rail on top of the backrest board. The middle turned stile of the beackrest is fixed with pins to the top and bottom boards. The front oak post is fixed with a round pin to the bottom boards. One of the bottom front stiles (second right from the post) is fixed with square pins on top and below, and finally the seating board is fixed to the front board with a square pin (left of the post).

Depending on the angle you look at the bench, the turned decoration of  the backrest shows its X-pattern. Along the seating board, you see pins at intervals that nail the bottom front board to the seating board. Also visible in the front board are the 2 mortise and tenon joints of the supports for the seating board.

The square patterns of the backrest. The two outer stiles of each square fit into a hole in the boards. Sometimes an extra vertical stile is added between the squares which is fixed with pins on the boards. You can see the extra one between the first and second square; there is no extra one between the second and third square.

The turned patterns of this square are partly different. The turner made rows of hollows or rows of rounds, instead of rounds interspaced with thin lines (compare photo above).

Looking underneath is always interesting. There is a large block under the seating. This could be a support  that raises the bench from the floor (you can see the vertical posts are not on the stone floor) or as support for the restored seatingboard (On this side the support shows two boards, the left one is the board from the restoration).  

More supports for the seating can be seen underneath.

A closer look at the front boards and stiles, and a mortise and tenon joint for the support of the seating. On the right is an insert, showing a small restoration of the front board. 

The turned decoration of the backrest, armrest and on the front below the seating are made from a third wood type: ash. The turned stiles of the backrest are around 3.3 cm thick, in a square of  around 33 cm (i.e. 10 stiles per square). In total the Alpirsbach bench has 16 of these squares, sometimes separated by an extra vertical turned stile that is fixed by a pin in the boards above and below.  However, if you look at the old image of the destroyed bench, only 15 squares are counted, meaning the benches did not have an exactly same size. That there are some discrepancies is even visible within the surviving bench. Patterns of some stiles between the squares can be suddenly different. 

Top: Front of the bench in the Stuttgart museum with 15 'squares' (image scanned from Von Falke, 1924). Bottom: Front of the bench in Alpirsbach with 16 squares (image from wikimedia).

The turned stiles in the armrest are in two squares of around 20 x 20 cm. On top of the backrest is another turned stile, which is fixed to the board by pins. 

The side of the Alpirsbach bench. The decorative lines can clearly be seen on the posts. Only the top turned armrest and the bottom oak support are fixed by pins. Also visible is that the seating board consists of one plank. The turned decorative stiles have differnt patterns depending on their place in the 'square'. The height of the armrest is around 77 cm.

The side from the lost bench from the Stuttgart museum. It could be a 'badly' taken photo, but the turned side  looks more like a carved board here - no open spaces are visible. (image scanned from Von Falke, 1924).

The benches were thought to date from the 13th century (von Falke, 1924), however more recent dendrological dating proved the oak to be from 1344 (so the bench must have been made after this date). The size and weigth of the benches make it likely that they were locally contructed. The surviving bench is lifted slightly from the ground (some anchors in the wall?) - which I noticed when I looked more carefully at the photos - likely as a measure to prevent moisture damage to the posts.  

Sources

• Appuhn, H., 1978/1979. Beitrage zur geschichte des herrschersitzer im Mittelalter. I teil. Gedrechselte Sitze. Aachener Kunstblatter 48, pages 25-52. 
• Doppelfeld, Otto. 1960. Das fränkische Frauengrab unter dem Chor des Kölner Domes. Germania 38: pages 89-113.
• Karlson, W., 1928. Studier i Sveriges medeltida mobelkonst. N.M. Mandelgren, Atlas till Sveriges odlinghistorica. Tillagshafte V. A.H. Ph. Lindtstedts Universitetsbokhandel, Lund, Sweden. 
• Kortekaas, Gert and Blom, Marcella met medewerking van Rogier Kruisman. 2011. Over stoelen en banken. Een middeleeuwse meubelvondst uit Groningen. Archeobrief 2: 15-17. 
• Proos, Rene. 2018. De stoel van Overschie. Holland – historisch tijdschrift 50: 254-263.
• Theune-Groβkopf, Barbara and Nedoma, Robert. 2008. Stuhlbeigabe in völkerwanderungs- und merowingerzeitlichen Gräbern im Spiegel eines neuen Befundes mit Runeninschrift aus Trossingen, Lkr. Tuttlingen. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 38 (Nr. 3), pages 423-436.
• Von Falke, O. 1924. Deutsche möbel des Mittelalters und der renaissance. Verlag von Julius Hoffmann, Stuttgart, Germany.

A pre-medieval tool post: Dutch wooden runcina

Both Bram and I are members of the Dutch Tools and Crafts Society (Vereniging Ambacht en Gereedschap) which also publishes a well-illustrated high quality yearly magazine (the Gildebrief) with articles (in the Dutch language) on historic tools and crafts. We have written several papers for the magazine on medieval tools, such as the 14th century Dordrecht brace or the tools heraldically associated with Jean sans Peur.  The Gildebrief uses a moving wall for online access to the older years of the magazine (see website - publications for downloads).  

Both sides of plane DMN1-259 from Utrecht-De Meern, the Netherlands. Drawing by Raf Timmermans.

Plane DMN1-159 from Utrecht-De Meern, the Netherlands. Drawing by Raf Timmermans.

In 1922 we had written an article on the wooden  Roman planes (runcina) found in the Netherlands - there are six surviving wooden examples, some older than the Romen planes excavated in Herculaneum (There also exists a hybrid metal-wood Roman plane from Zwammerdam, the Netherlands). Unfortunately, a lot of mistakes were entered during typesetting of the paper, and the corrections have not been published in the Gildebrief of 1923.

Plane DMN1-160 from Utrecht-De Meern, the Netherlands. Drawing by Raf Timmermans.

Plane DMN1-225, the bottom version has been restored, Utrecht-De Meern, the Netherlands. Drawing by Raf Timmermans.

I therefore made a corrected version of the article (including the correct measurement table for plane DMN1-159, and the complete reference list), which is now made available through this post. It is still in Dutch language though. The planes of Utrecht-De Meern are on display - with the other spectacular woodworking tools from the Roman toolchest - at Museum Hoge Woerd (Utrecht, the Netherlands).

The Velsen 1 plane from the Roman fort at Velsen, the Netherlands. Photo S. Lange, Biax Consult. Drawing by Raf Timmermans.

The Velsen 2 plane from the Roman fort at Velsen, the Netherlands. Photo S. Lange, Biax Consult. Drawing by Raf Timmermans.

Tresoor of castle hernen (part 7): the hanging stiles.

Six-sided medieval dressoirs, like our Hernen Tresoor, often had some free hanging stiles with a decorated end. Also larger four-sided dressoirs could have such a free hanging style in the middle of the front. The decorated ends come in two versions: fifteenth century dressoirs tend to show an upside down pyramidal decoration, whereas later a shift to decorated bulbs (e.g. the Langeais dressoir) and (female) figurine busts occurs. 

A four-sided dressoir with an upended piramid end of the free hanging stile. Oak, late 15th century. Heigth 131 cm, width 126 cm, depth 48 cm. Image scanned from the book Le mobilier Francais du moyen age a la renaissance, by J. Boccador.  

A four-sided dressoir with an upended piramid end of the free hanging stile.  Oak, around 1480-1490. Heigth 145.5 cm, width 99 cm, depth 48.5 cm. Image scanned from the book Le mobilier Francais du moyen age a la renaissance, by J. Boccador.  

A six-sided dressoir with an upside down piramid end on the three free hanging stiles. Oak, around 1490-1500. From the collection Bresset. Image scanned from the book Le mobilier Francais du moyen age a la renaissance, by J. Boccador.  

The six-sided dressoir from Chateau Langeais, France with bulb-headed ends of the free stiles. 

Dressoir with floral decoration. France, first quarter of the 16th century (and parts 19th century). Oak, Height 161.5  cm, width 120 cm, depth 53.5 cm. Louvre Inventory nr. OA 6972. Image from the book by Agnès Bos, 2019.

As we wanted to create a more late medieval look, we chose the upside down pyramid style for the tresoor of Castle Hernen. 

A high six-sided dressoir at chateau Langeais, France, with female buste ends.

Two figures at the end of the stile. Left is one of the ends of the Louvre dressoir above.

Four upended pyramidal forms from the book of J. Boccador.

Creating the upended pyramid

Carving an upended pyramid is easy when you have a square stile to start with. The castle Hernen tresoor, however, has an unequal pentacle, making the planning of the carving a bit more difficult. The pyramid was planned to have two parts, divided by a rim. I started by removing the unnecessary part of the stile by saw at the small pyramidal part (The area X at the schematic drawing). Then the slope of the larger pyramid was carved, taking care of the fact that the rim/ring was to be larger than the top of this part of the pyramid. A groove was made at the bottom of the pyramid and on both sides of the ring/rim. Then the smaller pyramid was similarly carved using a chisel.

Schematic drawing of the decorated stile with an upended pyramid. Before carving the slopes, The area X was sawn out.

The area to be sawn off is marked with a marking gauge.

Then the slope of the large pyramidal part was cut with a chisel.

Grooves were carved at the bottom of the pyramid with chisel and a small gouge.

Fitting of the stile when the first part of the pyramid was carved to check the look and feel. 

The finished carving of the stile ends on the tresoor.

Unfortunately, we miscalculated the length needed for the carving, and there was no oak left on the stile for the final tip. We then decided to glue this tip separately to the end of the stile.

Making the tip

In order to make the tip, first a round stick was needed. I used a square piece of oak and shaved it to an octangular piece, then to a 16 sided piece, and finally rounding it of with a shave. The tip was then roughly formed on a belt sander. Both sides of the stick were used, thereby providing the two necessary tips. The rough tips were smoothed by hand using sandpaper with incrasingly smaller grit-size.

(Left) Creating the round stick. (Right) Rounding the tip using a belt sander.

(Left) The rough tip by the belt sander and (Right) the smooth polished tip using different sandpaper grits.

The tips were sawn off the stick, and then a 1 cm diametre hole was drilled in the middle of the tip using a Forstner bit. A corresponding hole was drilled in the middle of the stile. To connect both tip and stile a 1 cm rod was glued to the tip, and then to the stile. The 1 cm diametre oak rod was created using a dowel plate. Hide glue was used to secure the pieces.

The rod glued to the tip.

The drilled hole in the stile. The square is used as guide for the drill.

The finished stile ends.

The dressoir with the finished stile ends.

Sources:

• Agnès Bos, 2019. Mobilier du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance - La collection du musée du Louvre. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. ISBN 978-2-35031-639-0. 
• Jacqueline Boccador, 1988. Le mobilier francais du moyen age a la renaissance. Edition dÁrt Monelle Hayot, St-Just-en-Chaussee, France. ISBN 2-903824-13-4.