Medieval technical texts and experimental approaches. A theoretical perspective on the value of technical recipes as sources to reconstruct the history of medieval glassmaking practices

Abstract

This paper aims to present a theoretical perspective on the use of experimental approaches to enhance the value of medieval ’technical’ recipes as sources for the study of broader craft practices in the past. After presenting the nature of some of these texts and reviewing previous experimental studies related to medieval glassmaking, we explain several experiments based on the Epistola Abbreviatoria, a glassmaking-focused late medieval text from the Iberian Peninsula, to illustrate the potential of combining the study of these recipes and the experimental approach for a better understanding of wider glassmaking practices in the Middle Ages.