either from Altare or from Venice. The Spanish glass-makers were very successful in imitating the Venetian style, and many specimens supposed to have originated from Murano are really Spanish. In addition to the works at Barcelona, the works which chiefly affected Venetian methods were those of Cadalso in the province of Toledo, founded in the 16th century, and the works established in 1680 at San Martin de Valdeiglesias in Avila. There were also works at Valdemaqueda and at Villafranca. In 1680 the works in Barcelona, Valdemaqueda and Villafranca are named in a royal schedule giving the prices at which glass was to be sold in Madrid. In 1772 important glass works were established at Recuenco in the province of Cuenca, mainly to supply Madrid. The royal glass manufactory of La Granja de San Ildefonso was founded about 1725; in the first instance for the manufacture of mirror plates, but subsequently for the production of vases and table-ware in the French style. The objects produced are mostly of white clear glass, cut, engraved and gilded. Engraved flowers, views and devices are often combined with decorative cutting. Don Sigismundo Brun is credited with the invention of permanent gilding fixed by heat. Spanish glass is well represented in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
France.—Pliny states that glass was made in Gaul, and there is reason to believe that it was made in many parts of the country and on a considerable scale. There were glass-making districts both in Normandy and in Poitou.
Little information can be gathered concerning the glass industry between the Roman period and the 14th century. It is recorded that in the 7th century the abbot of Wearmouth in England obtained artificers in glass from France; and there is a tradition that in the 11th century glass-workers migrated from Normandy and Brittany and set up works at Altare near Genoa.
In 1302 window glass, probably crown-glass, was made at Beza le Forêt in the department of the Eure. In 1416 these works were in the hands of Robin and Leban Guichard, but passed subsequently to the Le Vaillants.
In 1338 Humbert, the dauphin, granted a part of the forest of Chamborant to a glass-worker named Guionet on the condition that Guionet should supply him with vessels of glass.
In 1466 the abbess of St Croix of Poitiers received a gross of glasses from the glass-works of La Ferrière, for the privilege of gathering fern for the manufacture of potash.
In France, as in other countries, efforts were made to introduce Italian methods of glass-working. Schuermans in his researches discovered that during the 15th and 16th centuries many glass-workers left Altare and settled in France,—the Saroldi migrated to Poitou, the Ferri to Provence, the Massari to Lorraine and the Bormioli to Normandy. In 1551 Henry II. of France established at St Germain en Laye an Italian named Mutio; he was a native of Bologna, but of Altare origin. In 1598 Henry IV. permitted two “gentil hommes verriers” from Mantua to settle at Rouen in order to make “verres de cristal, verres dorée emaul et autres ouvrages qui se font en Venise.”
France assimilated the craft of glass-making, and her craftsmen acquired a wide reputation. Lorraine and Normandy appear to have been the most important centres. To Lorraine belong the well-known names Hennezel, de Thietry, du Thisac, de Houx; and to Normandy the names de Bongar, de Cacqueray le Vaillant and de Brossard.
In the 17th century the manufacture of mirror glass became an important branch of the industry. In 1665 a manufactory was established in the Faubourg St Antoine in Paris, and another at Tour-la-Ville near Cherbourg.
Louis Lucas de Nehou, who succeeded de Cacqueray at the works at Tour-la-Ville, moved in 1675 to the works in Paris. Here, in 1688, in conjunction with A. Thevart, he succeeded in perfecting the process of casting plate-glass. Mirror plates previous to the invention had been made from blown “sheet” glass, and were consequently very limited in size. De Nehou’s process of rolling molten glass poured on an iron table rendered the manufacture of very large plates possible.
The Manufactoire Royale des Glaces was removed in 1693 to the Château de St Gobain.
In the 18th century the manufacture of vases de verre had become so neglected that the Academy of Sciences in 1759 offered a prize for an essay on the means by which the industry might be revived (Labarte, Histoire des arts industriels).
The famous Baccarat works, for making crystal glass, were founded in 1818 by d’Artigues.
English Glass.—The records of glass-making in England are exceedingly meagre. There is reason to believe that during the Roman occupation the craft was carried on in several parts of the country. Remains of a Roman glass manufactory of considerable extent were discovered near the Manchester Ship Canal at Warrington. Wherever the Romans settled glass vessels and fragments of glass have been found. There is no evidence to prove that the industry survived the withdrawal of the Roman garrison.
It is probable that the glass drinking-vessels, which have been found in pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon tombs, were introduced from Germany. Some are elaborate in design and bear witness to advanced technique of Roman character. In 675 Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wearmouth, was obliged to obtain glass-workers from France, and in 758 Cuthbert, abbot of Jarrow, appealed to the bishop of Mainz to send him artisans to manufacture “windows and vessels of glass, because the English were ignorant and helpless.” Except for the statement in Bede that the French artisans, sent by Benedict Biscop, taught their craft to the English, there is at present no evidence of glass having been made in England between the Roman period and the 13th century. In some deeds relating to the parish of Chiddingfold, in Surrey, of a date not later than 1230, a grant is recorded of twenty acres of land to Lawrence “vitrearius,” and in another deed, of about 1280, the “ovenhusveld” is mentioned as a boundary. This field has been identified, and pieces of crucible and fragments of glass have been dug up. There is another deed, dated 1300, which mentions one William “le verir” of Chiddingfold.
About 1350 considerable quantities of colourless flat glass were supplied by John Alemayn of Chiddingfold for glazing the windows in St George’s chapel, Windsor, and in the chapel of St Stephen, Westminster. The name Alemayn (Aleman) suggests a foreign origin. In 1380 John Glasewryth, a Staffordshire glass-worker, came to work at Shuerewode, Kirdford, and there made brode-glas and vessels for Joan, widow of John Shertere.
There were two kinds of flat glass, known respectively as “brode-glas” and “Normandy” glass. The former was made, as described by Theophilus, from cylinders, which were split, reheated and flattened into square sheets. It was known as Lorraine glass, and subsequently as “German sheet” or sheet-glass. Normandy glass was made from glass circles or disks. When, in after years, the process was perfected, the glass was known as “crown” glass. In 1447 English flat glass is mentioned in the contract for the windows of the Beauchamp chapel at Warwick, but disparagingly, as the contractor binds himself not to use it. In 1486, however, it is referred to in such a way as to suggest that it was superior to “Dutch, Venice or Normandy glass.” The industry does not seem to have prospered, for when in 1567 an inquiry was made as to its condition, it was ascertained that only small rough goods were being made.
In the 16th century the fashion for using glass vessels of ornamental character spread from Italy into France and England. Henry VIII. had a large collection of glass drinking-vessels chiefly of Venetian manufacture. The increasing demand for Venetian drinking-glasses suggested the possibility of making similar glass in England, and various attempts were made to introduce Venetian workmen and Venetian methods of manufacture. In 1550 eight Muranese glass-blowers were working in or near the Tower of London. They had left Murano owing to slackness of trade, but had been recalled, and appealed to the Council of Ten in Venice to be allowed to complete their contract in London. Seven of these glass-workers left London in the following year, but one, Josepho Casselari, remained and joined
