Great Britain
Pottery
The earthenware vessels made in England previous to the 16th century were of a very coarse description, rudely fashioned and usually devoid of ornament, sometimes cast in a mould in grotesque forms, and occasionally covered with a yellow or green glaze. Numerous specimens of early English cups are found in excavations in London and other parts of England, and may be identified by comparison with the vessels in Norman and mediæval manuscripts.
Although inexpensive, they were badly burned, and not very durable; and the German stoneware with a salt glaze was eagerly sought after throughout the 16th century, and imported in large quantities. These stone pots were usually impressed with the arms of German towns; a rose or other device in front, and a ferocious bearded visage under the spout. They were derisively called bellarmines, after the celebrated Cardinal Bellarmin, who in the 16th century made himself so conspicuous by his zealous opposition to the Reformed religion.
These bellarmines were in general use throughout England in the 16th and beginning of the 17th century at inns and public-houses for serving ale to the customers. The importation of these stone pots was always monopolised by the potters of Cologne, near which city they were made. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth we find one William Simpson presenting a memorial that he may be allowed to bring “the drinking stone pottes made at Culloin” into this country, and requesting permission to make similar stone pots in England; but he was not successful in his suit.
In 1626, however, two other potters, named Rous and Cullyn, merchants of the city of London, obtained the exclusive privilege of making stone pots and jugs in this country, and a patent was granted them for fourteen years; the preamble states that “heretofore, and at this present, our kingdom of England has been served with stone pottes, stone jugges, and stone bottells, out of foreign parts, from beyond the seas.”