Les ateliers de potiers médiévaux de Fontenay, à Chartres-de-Bretagne (Ille-et-Vilaine) du XIe au XIVe siècle

Abstract

The Fontenay pottery workshops at Chartres-de-Bretagne (Ille-et-Vilaine), llth -14th Centuries. By comparing documentary sources with results of archaeological research, we have been able to outline the circumstances that brought about the origins of the Fontenay castrai village, and the development of the ceramics craftwork carried out therefrom the llth through to the 14th century. The study accounts for the organisation and the evolution in 3 phases, of a pottery centre covering approximately 3000 m2, where 7 workshops, 11 kilns and as many buildings have been brought to light. The seven productions encompass about twenty domestic pottery types, the characteristics and evolution of which belong to the North Western Europe pottery trend. Chemical analysis has revealed the existance of several groups of fabric, but the use of a single clay type. The study also highlights seignorial influence - heightened by ducal power - on the vitality of this production, as well as on its diffusion, the limits of which correspond with those of the ancient Rennes bailiwick.