DOI Artikel:
Bingener, Andreas: Medieval metal trade in and around the Harz Mountains - markets and routes of transport
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56859#0162
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stagnated in such a way that the long distance traders incurred substantial losses.
The settlement in this legal dispute would have eliminated troublesome
competition.
It has so far been assumed that overexploitation, increasing influx of surface
waters from higher rainfall in the course of changing climate, and a shortage of
workers following the pestilence epidemic of 1347-1349, were responsible for
the decline of mining at Rammelsberg22.
According to the latest findings23 it is most probable that prospecting since the
1280s yielded only ores of inferior quality. This in turn will have lead to financial
problems as the smelters found it harder to sell their products. An indication of
the declining quality of the copper ore mined at Rammelsberg comes from a
source which had until recently been dated to the middle of the 14th century24. The
document from the archives of the city of Goslar contains sections on mining law
as well as instructions to the owners of smelters on the assurance of the copper
quality, which are more likely to point to a period before 130025. It was decreed
that the ores produced from Rammelsberg had to be tested for quality and value.
The smelter operators (Kupfergarer) had to take an oath to produce copper to the
best of their ability and to use only the best ore in their process. Copper (ore) of
inferior quality had to be separated and not used with the other batches.
In the wake of these economic difficulties, it became uneconomical to operate
mines below the valley floor at Rammelsberg. Eventually they had to be closed
and flooded since it was only feasible to drain water from the tunnel base onto the
bottom of the valley. It was not possible to drain a flooded mine with the
technology available at that time. The activities at Rammelsberg slowly ground to
a halt, eventually one had to resort to the processing of lead ores which had
formerly been ignored and dumped on tailing heaps26. Some evidence for this is
22 Bornhardt 1931, 28. Comp, also Beddies 1996, 91-92.
23 The author wishes to thank Dr. Chr. Bartels of the German Mining Museum in
Bochum for his kind communications. A detailed publication on this subject is currently
being prepared by C. Bartels, L. Klappauf, F.-A. Linke und M. Fessner.
24 Bode 1893-1922, Vol. 4, 294 Nr. 408.
25 Fragments printed by Frölich, 1953, 24; according to which the source dates from the
year 1289. Frölich dates the „Aufzeichnungen über bergrechtliche Verhältnisse“ to the
middle of the 14th century because the miners were instructed to enter their claims in a
mining record. Cf. esp. Bartels 1998, ibid. esp. Ref. 66.
26 On the crisis of mining at the Rammelsberg in late medieval times comp. Bartels
1997, 28-51. Bornhardt 1931, 38-42.
stagnated in such a way that the long distance traders incurred substantial losses.
The settlement in this legal dispute would have eliminated troublesome
competition.
It has so far been assumed that overexploitation, increasing influx of surface
waters from higher rainfall in the course of changing climate, and a shortage of
workers following the pestilence epidemic of 1347-1349, were responsible for
the decline of mining at Rammelsberg22.
According to the latest findings23 it is most probable that prospecting since the
1280s yielded only ores of inferior quality. This in turn will have lead to financial
problems as the smelters found it harder to sell their products. An indication of
the declining quality of the copper ore mined at Rammelsberg comes from a
source which had until recently been dated to the middle of the 14th century24. The
document from the archives of the city of Goslar contains sections on mining law
as well as instructions to the owners of smelters on the assurance of the copper
quality, which are more likely to point to a period before 130025. It was decreed
that the ores produced from Rammelsberg had to be tested for quality and value.
The smelter operators (Kupfergarer) had to take an oath to produce copper to the
best of their ability and to use only the best ore in their process. Copper (ore) of
inferior quality had to be separated and not used with the other batches.
In the wake of these economic difficulties, it became uneconomical to operate
mines below the valley floor at Rammelsberg. Eventually they had to be closed
and flooded since it was only feasible to drain water from the tunnel base onto the
bottom of the valley. It was not possible to drain a flooded mine with the
technology available at that time. The activities at Rammelsberg slowly ground to
a halt, eventually one had to resort to the processing of lead ores which had
formerly been ignored and dumped on tailing heaps26. Some evidence for this is
22 Bornhardt 1931, 28. Comp, also Beddies 1996, 91-92.
23 The author wishes to thank Dr. Chr. Bartels of the German Mining Museum in
Bochum for his kind communications. A detailed publication on this subject is currently
being prepared by C. Bartels, L. Klappauf, F.-A. Linke und M. Fessner.
24 Bode 1893-1922, Vol. 4, 294 Nr. 408.
25 Fragments printed by Frölich, 1953, 24; according to which the source dates from the
year 1289. Frölich dates the „Aufzeichnungen über bergrechtliche Verhältnisse“ to the
middle of the 14th century because the miners were instructed to enter their claims in a
mining record. Cf. esp. Bartels 1998, ibid. esp. Ref. 66.
26 On the crisis of mining at the Rammelsberg in late medieval times comp. Bartels
1997, 28-51. Bornhardt 1931, 38-42.