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The preceding citations prove beyond a doubt the high antiquity of glass, not only as aninvented article, but as applied to windows to some extent. That it was used in France and Nor mandy long before it was known in England is equally certain.
As (in many respects) at a later period we owe to our Norman ancestors the introduction ofthe arts into England, so were we long previous to the Conquest indebted to them or the French forthe derivation of this art, glass not being known in England until the seventh century, as it appears bythe Acts of the Bishops of York, that St. Wilfred , who died in A.D. 702, was the first to use it inEngland, by having over from France workmen for that purpose : “ Artifices lapidearum et vitrearumfenestrarum primus in Angliam ascivit.”
It is rather doubtful what “ lapidearum ’ can refer to, unless perhaps to the stone frames of thewindows, which must have been so contrived as to answer the purpose of leading in these times.Probably the pieces of glass were inserted in pierced stones, and, the glass itself being very coarse andopaque in the infancy of its manufacture, would naturally enough be mentioned as part and parcel ofthe frame in which it was set. That glass was from time to time improved in its manufacture isshown by a certain passage in the third Book of Leon d’ Ostie, who mentions the works of MontCassin by Abbot Didier; the expression compactis tabulis is employed by the same writer, to describethe thickness of the glass, which seems to prove that its manufacture had made considerable progresssince St. Jerome , and that glass was then cast or manufactured in comparatively thin sheets, althoughof small dimensions.
The manufacture of glass was commenced in this country in the early part of the eighth cen-tury, for we find that about the year A.D. 715, St. Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Weannouth, in thediocese of Durham, brought over French artists and artificers for the construction of his monastery,and especially glass-makers: “ Misit legatarios Galliam, qui vitri factores, (artifices videlicet Bri-tnrm ii s eatenus incognitos) ad cancellandas Ecclesi® porticumque et coenaculorum ejus fenestrasadducerent.” (Beda, lib. i. De Wiremuthensi Mon. % 5.) And from these, so far as we canascertain, glass manufacture was derived in England, and the knowledge and practice of it per-petuated and maintained ; and it is worthy of remark, that the manufacture of this article has beenmainly confined to that district down to the present time. So thoroughly did the Anglo-Saxons acquire this knowledge, that it is said they furnished artizans, in connexion with this article, toother nations, during the eighth century, by which means they also procured for themselves a newembellishment of art, and a new source of human industry.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive a correct idea of the form, merit, or dimensionsof the windows of the ecclesiastical edifices in these very early periods, and for some succeeding ages,they having been introduced as a matter of usefulness, mainly to inclose the edifice and stop out theweather so peculiar to this climate. It is, however, quite certain, that the manufacture of glass musthave made rapid strides in improvement in England, France , and Germany , during the eighth andninth centuries, though it is extremely doubtful if Painting on glass was then conceived, so as torepresent figures either on plain or coloured grounds. Perhaps a fanciful arrangement of patterns,possibly interspersed with colours, might have suggested itself, and this practice might have led tothe ornamental and mosaic arrangement of colours so prevalent and universal in the eailiest stagesof glass-painting which are known to ns.
St. Benigne, of Dijon , who wrote about A.D. 1052, assures us, that there did exist m his timein the church of that monastery a very ancient window , representing St. Paschasie, and that thispainting was taken from the old church restored by Charles the Bald ; it appears theiefore highlyprobable that an attempt at ornamental windows, if not glass-painting, is nearly if not quite coevalwith the use of glass for windows, and that it was as much used for scientific and artistic decorationas for comfort. The Romans also excelled in the art of manufacturing artificial gems, “ the trans-parent splendour and colours of which would present at the first view a resemblance to the gemsthemselveswhich record fully supports the previous conclusion, that coloured glasses were in someway or manner in as early use as simple white glass. With these testimonies before us, we may wellthink it likely that from its first introduction into this country it may have been applied ornamentallyin some mosaic manner, by a tasteful arrangement of such colours as were then available.
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