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A blacksmith monk, from a medieval French manuscript A Roma smith and his forge in Wallachia, by Dieudonné Lancelot , 1860. In the medieval period, blacksmithing was considered part of the set of seven mechanical arts. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, a "village smithy" was a staple of every town. Factories and mass-production reduced the ...
Signum manus (transl. sign of the hand, sometimes also known as Chrismon) refers to the medieval European practice of signing a document or charter with a special type of monogram or royal cypher. The practice is documented from at least the Merovingian period (ca. 5th century) until the 14th century in the Frankish Empire and its successors.
Gorō Nyūdō Masamune (五郎入道正宗, Priest Gorō Masamune, c. 1264 –1343) [2] was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as tachi and tantō, in the Sōshū school.
According to George Monbiot, the blacksmith is a motif of folklore throughout (and beyond) Europe associated with malevolence (the medieval vision of Hell may draw upon the image of the smith at his forge), and several variant tales tell of smiths entering into a pact with the devil to obtain fire and the means of smelting metal. [8]
By the Middle Ages, skilled metalworkers were highly prized for their ability to create a wide range of things, from weaponry, tools and implements to more humble domestic items, and the local blacksmith remained the principal source of ironmongery until the Industrial Revolution saw the introduction of mass production from the late 18th century.
The anvil serves as a workbench to the blacksmith, where the metal to be forged is worked. Anvils may seem clunky and heavy, but they are a highly refined tool carefully shaped to suit a blacksmith's needs. Anvils are made of cast or wrought iron with a tool steel face welded on or of a single piece of cast or forged tool steel. Some anvils are ...
A blacksmith works with iron and steel (this is what is usually meant when referring just to "smith"). A farrier is a type of blacksmith who specializes in making and fitting horseshoes. A bladesmith forges knives, swords, and other blades. A brownsmith works with brass and copper. [3] [citation needed] A coinsmith works strictly with coins and ...
Medieval French sources of the years 1116 and 1249 both record the use of mechanised trip hammers used in the forging of wrought iron. [31] Medieval European trip hammers by the 15th century were most often in the shape of the vertical pestle stamp-mill, although they employed more frequent use of the vertical waterwheel than earlier Chinese ...