A quick note on sources

I have been bandying various names around without giving much information about where they are from. So I shall provide some more information here, and ISBN numbers.

To start with, we have Theophilus, “On divers arts”
This was a manuscript, made up of 3 books, from the 12th century AD. The evidence available suggests they were written by Roger of Helmarshausen, a Benedictine monk working around 1100 onwards in Germany.
The edition I have is the Dover edition, ISBN – 0-486-23784-2, paperback, translated by John G Hawthorne and Cyril Stanley Smith in 1963.
The book is made up of thee books, on the subjects of painting, glass and metalwork. Each book is laid out clearly, starting with the materials necessary to get started, for example, the chapter on glass starts with building the furnace necessary, and near the end has instructions on making lead cames to hold the window together.
The instructions can be fairly readily understood, certainly they are not really inferior to some of the experimental instructions I came across in my chemistry degree.

Then there is “De Re Metallica” by Georgius Agricola. This is the first real treatise employing what we would nowadays think of as the sensible techniques of observation and personal experience, covering areas of mining work, metal working, and mineralogy. This is again a Dover edition, ISBN 0-486-60006-8, translated by Herbert Clark Hoover and Lou Henry Hoover. Yes, it was translated by a former president of the USA. Were that all current and former presidents were as useful and widely interested.
The importance of the book, first printed in 1556, was such that it remained the only authoritative work in the area of mining, according to the blurb on the back. That is some reccomendation.

Next is “De Pirotechnia” of Vannoccio Biringuccio. This was published in 1540, earlier than Agricola, but although it covers some of the same ground, it is less based upon observation, and also has less detail, thus its importance was less. On the other hand the blurb on the back describes it as the first clear, comprehensive work on metallurgy. But for some reason you hear less about Biringuccio, despite it being quite a handy wee book, and for what I am doing, is actually more useful.
My edition is another Dover one, ISBN 0-486-26134-4, translated by Cyril Stanley Smith and Matha Teach Gnudi, who translated it from Italian, Biringuccio being Siennese.

Finally, we have “Il libro dell’Arte” by Cennino d’Andrea Cennini, translated by Daniel V. Thompson, jr. Another Dover book, ISBN 0-486-20054-X. This book is about painting, as written by Cennini in 15th century Florence (According to the back cover. A more modern information source cites it as written in 1390). As such it is not much related to what I am doing, but will likely be useful as a short reference work and to give a better idea of what people were doing with materials in the later medieval period, not to mention it being another book which gives proper, useful instructions that a modern artist should be capable of understanding.

The first 3 are the main books I am relying on for first hand evidence of medieval technology. It is a shame that we do not have much from the 14th and 15th centuries.
The four books are also treasure troves of information in the form of footnotes on many pages, put in by the translators. These help clarify odd bits in the text, and will sometimes wander off at a historical tangent, and discuss all the techniques for manufacture of vitriol, for example. Without them my understanding would be much less.

There are various alchemical texts know from all through the medieval period, however they are by their nature not very informative, and translations are difficult to come by. I would need to find back copies of the journal “Ambix”, published by The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. Their url is:
There are various alchemical texts know from all through the medieval period, however they are by their nature not very informative, and translations are difficult to come by. I would need to find back copies of the journal “Ambix”, published byThe Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

They have been on the go for decades, and built up a good lot of knowledge.
My main source on Alchemy just now has been “The Alchemists” by F Sherwood Taylor. Published in 1952, ISBN 586 08224 7, its author was Director of the Science Museum and honorary editor of Ambix, the journal of the aforementioned Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. See how important the society is?
I also have a similar book by A J Holmyard, but can’t find it just now.

Another important (to me anyway) organization is The Historical Metallurgy Society, which can be found here:
http://hist-met.org/
I joined the society last year, and in its journal, volume 40 part one for 2006, found a translation of an 11th century text, written by a Greek, called “On the Noble and Illustrious Art of the Goldsmith”. Its an interesting article, since it also covers some ways of making metal objects look like gold, as well as alloying of gold with various metals.
Plus, an even bigger bonus is that the article comes with a list of texts that mention goldsmithing and things to do with metals. The list goes from the circa 1370BC Amarna tablets, via Theophrastus in 305BC, Zosimos, some Arabs, Theophilus, Geber, Biringuccio and up to some anonymous 18th century texts.
I have also purchased a number of back issues of their journals, which have been really informative on the subject of metal working through the ages.

Finally, on alchemy, there are many websites around. Most look really dodgy, full of strange pseudo religious philosophical mumbo-jumbo, or new age wishful thinkin. This one at least has a wider coverage and doesn’t seem to sit in judgement on it all:
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/physical.html
It contains many articles, some translations, much of the history of Alchemy etc. There is so much there that I do not know my way around it yet.

To sum up- there is a fair bit of information out there, it is just hard to find. Everyone on the internet has heard of X, and knows of Y, but for reasons of accuracy and knowledge I need to have the original sources. Internet sources are not always to be trusted. But getting hold of proper academic works and historical texts is hard, but nowadays a lot easier than in the early days of re-enacting. But now I have enough information to get on with things, and I will do so this very weekend.