The so called “6 Board Chest” is a simple chest construction consisting of just 6 wooden boards. In contrast to the clamped chests, it is very easy to build yourself because of its simple construction.
The following figure shows the construction of this type of chests consisting of the following parts
- 2 side boards at the side including a cutout for the bottom board
- One front and back board
- One board for the lid
- One Board for the bottom
Exploded assembly drawing of a 6-board chesft(Stülpnagel 2000)
Left figure shows attaching the front/back board to the side board in cutouts, on the right one the front/back board are just nailed in front of the side board
For attaching the boards either wooden pegs or iron Nails have been used. The lid was fastened to the chest by using bands made of iron. All remaining chests have a lock at the fron of the chost with a latch attached to the lid.
Originals
In the following I want to show you some preserved originals from Germany which are dated to the 13th and 14th century.
Ebstorf (shortly after 1179)
For this chest the side planks have arch shaped cutouts at the botto of the side boards, and also a single cutout on each side where the bottom board slides in. The fron/back boards are nailed to the side boards with wrought iron nails. In addition, on each side there are 3 angled plates of wrought iron for strengthening the construction. The ends of these angled plates which are split into a C-shaped form. The lid is attached with 3 iron hinges/bands.
Picture of a 6-boarded chest from the Monastery in Ebstorf (Stülpnagel 2000), dated to 'shortly after 1179'
Picture of a 6-boarded chest from the Monastery in Ebstorf (Stülpnagel 2000), dated to 'shortly after 1179'
The chest uses oak wood and has the following dimensions
| Measurement | Dimension [in cm] |
|---|---|
| Height | 89.5 |
| Width | 200.0 |
| Depth | 75.0 |
Wienhausen (around or shortly after 1256)
On this chest, the bottom board is inserted into the side boards in quite wide cutouts. The bottom board looks out of the recesses and tapers towards the center. The front is nailed to the side boards with wooden nails, the back one with wrought iron nails. The side planks are not notched to accommodate the front/back board. In addition there are two iron bands attached to each side.
The lid is attached via 2 iron bands (which are not the original ones. The original ones have been replaced in the past).
Fotografie einer Standseitentruhe aus dem Kloster Wienhausen (Albrecht 1997), datiert um oder kurz nach 1256
Fotografie einer Standseitentruhe aus dem Kloster Wienhausen (Albrecht 1997), datiert um oder kurz nach 1256
The chest uses oak wood and has the following dimensions
| Measurement | Dimension [in cm] |
|---|---|
| Height | 61.0 |
| Width | 102.0 |
| Depth | 53.5 |
Two chests from Wienhausen (around 1400)
Two chests, dated around 1400 based on the locks, are similar and held together simply. The floor boards lie in recessed grooves within the side boards (Albrecht 1997) and are additionally secured by iron nails. The wall studs are blunt, with forged iron nails nailed to the side boards before them. The lid of both chests is made of spruce (the rest is oak).
Photographs of two similar standing chests from the Wienhausen Monastery (Albrecht 1997), dated around 1400
Photographs of two similar standing chests from the Wienhausen Monastery (Albrecht 1997), dated around 1400
The material used for the chest is oak, and the dimensions are
| Dimension | Measurement Chest 1 [in cm] | Measurement Chest 2 [in cm] |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 72,5 | 74,5 |
| Width | 121,0 | 103,0 |
| Depth | 64,0 | 64,0 |
Isenhagen (arround 1400)
On this chest, the floor sits in recessed grooves within the side boards, similar to the two upper chests from the Wienhausen Monastery. However, the floor is not secured by additional nails. The side boards are cut with a pointed arch shape at the bottom and are split apart to accommodate the wall boards. The wall boards are nailed with forged iron nails. The right side board is made of fir wood (like the rest), while the left side board is made of oak, but it is not original. It appears that approximately 13cm (Stülpnagel 2000) is missing from the right side, which causes the metal hardware and lock to sit asymmetrically on the chest.
The metal hardware for the hinges has lily-shaped ends (Albrecht 1997).
Photographs of a standing chest from the Isenhagen Monastery (Stülpnagel 2000)(Albrecht 1997), dated around 1400
Photographs of a standing chest from the Isenhagen Monastery (Stülpnagel 2000)(Albrecht 1997), dated around 1400
Photographs of a standing chest from the Isenhagen Monastery (Stülpnagel 2000)(Albrecht 1997), dated around 1400
The material used for the chest is oak and fir wood, and the dimensions are
| Dimension | Measurement [in cm] |
|---|---|
| Height | 74,5 |
| Width | 151,0 |
| Depth | 61,0 |
Iron parts
Hinge Bands for the Lid
To secure the lid, either ornate hinges like those found on many front chests or iron hinge bands could be used. In the finds from Schleswig (Saggau 2000), these hinge bands have one end flatter and wider, while the other end is C-shaped.
They where attached by flat-headed iron nails that have been preserved.
Finds of hardware from Schleswig (Stülpnagel 2000)
Finds of hinge bands from Schleswig with preserved nails for fastening (Stülpnagel 2000)
Hinge band No. 9 shows parallels to a chest from the Ebstorf Monastery and a westphalian sacristy chest dated around 1200 (Saggau 2000).
A preserved fragment from the Heiligenberg in Heidelberg, see image, shows an end shaped like a lily flower (Gross 2012).
Preserved fragment of a lily-shaped hardware from the Heiligenberg in Heidelberg (Gross 2012)
Hasps for Closing the Lid
Hasps served as an alternative to built-in locks to secure chests. In Schleswig, some finds have been preserved, see the following image, which are partly made of wrought iron.
Finds of hasps from Schleswig (Saggau 2000). Nos. 2, 3, 6, and 8 date back to the late 13th century.
Find of a hasp from the Heiligenberg in Heidelberg (Gross 2012)
One example from Schleswig still showed that one end was movable and fixed to a bracket, similar to the find from the Heiligenberg in Heidelberg.
Padlocks
To secure chests, padlocks with hasps or fixed locks could be used. For the 13th century, two types of padlocks can be distinguished:
- Type 1: The shroud is connected to the lock cylinder via a thin bridge, see Types (a), (b), and (c) in the following image. It is closed by a round bar between the shroud and lock cylinder.
- Type 2: These locks are pear-shaped from the side and instead of a bar, they have a fixed axle between two side arms, see Types (d) and (e).
One special form belongs to lock (f), which cannot be assigned to one of the two types. This lock likely had a now broken hole at the bottom of the locking cylinder where the bar was attached.
Preserved iron padlocks from Schleswig, dated to the 13th century
The closing bar was connected to the upper cover plate and internal blocking mechanism, so that when opening the lock, this part was completely pulled out and the lock then lay in two parts. The bar was not lifted like modern padlocks. As an ornament, copper or iron strips could be soldered onto the locks. In Schleswig, the iron cylinders (as far as can be seen) were coated with a copper alloy, so that the surface appeared galvanized-like, Types (b) and (f).
Keys
For the 13th century, two types of keys can be distinguished:
- Bar Keys: They were mainly used for chest or door locks. Less frequently for padlocks. Except for two completely flat keys, all shafts are round and hollow or massive. In the 13th century, however, the solid execution was dominant. In the 12th century, hollow and flat shafts still dominated (Saggau 2000).
- Stick Keys: From around 1200, stick keys appear that have a stamped end at a right angle to the shaft (unlike earlier findings). They were mainly used for padlocks with a keyhole at the bottom or in the floor.
Finds of bar and stick keys can be found, for example, in Schleswig (Saggau 2000) as well as in Ulm (Westphalen 2006)
Finds of iron bar keys from Schleswig, dated to the 13th century
Finds of iron stick keys from Schleswig, dated to the 13th century
Holzbretter
All preserved chest sides are made of oak, which was also the most common wood type found in boards and fragments at Lübeck (Hahn 1978) and Sindelfingen (Grohne 1978). In addition to oak, Sindelfingen also yielded boards from fir (about 1/3 of the number of oak boards), which are more commonly associated with roof trusses. Spruce was not found among the boards or in general among the deciduous woods.
Based on the fragments of branches from Sindelfingen, it can be concluded that the surrounding forest primarily consisted of oak, followed by conifers (mainly fir) (Grohne 1978). Cedar was only found in samples dating back to the 16th century. Even pollen analysis suggests that oak was the dominant tree species in the surrounding forests.
Unfortunately, no information on the wood type is provided for the finds of small boards from Constance/Freiburg (Müller 1996).
Sources
- Karl Heinrich von Stülpnagel. Die gotischen Truhen der Lüneburger Heideklöster. Entstehung - Konstruktion - Gestaltung. Museumsdorf Cloppenburg, Cloppenburg, 2000
- Thorsten Albrecht. Truhen - Kisten - Laden. Vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart am beispiel der lüneburger Heide. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg, 1997.
- Holke Elisabeth Saggau. Mittelalterliche Eisenfunde aus Schleswig. Ausgrabung Schild 1971 - 1975. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster, 2000.
- Uwe Gross. Die mittelalterlichen und neuzeitlichen Keramik-, Metall und Beinfunde. In Frieder Klein und Uwe Gross Peter Marzolff: Forschungen zum Heiligenberg bei Heidelberg : Forschungsgeschichte, Fundmaterial, Restaurierung, Seite 393–563. Forschungen und Berichte der Archäologie des Mittelalters in Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, 2012.
- Thomas Westphalen. Die Ausgrabung von Ulm-Rosengasse. Frühmittelalterliche bis neuzeitliche Befunde und Funde. Doktorarbeit, Fakultät für Kulturwissenschaften der Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, 2006.
- Klaus-Dieter Hahn. Grabung Königstraße 59-63 in Lübeck; Kommentierter Katalog der Kleinfunde aus Glas, Metall, Holz, usw. In Werner Neugebauer: Lübecker Schriften zur Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte, Seiten 119–132. Bonn Habelt, Lübeck, 1978.
- Udelgard Körber-Grohne. Pollen-, Samen- und Holzbestimmungen aus der mittelalterlichen Siedlung unter der oberen Vorstadt in Sindelfingen (Württemberg). In Landes- denkmalamt Baden-Württemberg: Forschungen und Berichte der Archäologie des Mittelalters in Baden-Württemberg. Müller & Gräff, 1978.
- Ulrich Müller. Holzfunde aus Freiburg/Augustinereremitenkloster und Konstanz. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 1996.