Forming Identities, Transcending Boundaries: The Trade and Consumption of Bearded Face Jugs in the North Sea Region, 1200-1350

This paper explores the role of bearded face jugs in constructing identities in later medieval England, specifically in relation to urbanism, commercialism and masculinity. The main focus is on the face jugs produced by the ceramic industry at Grimston, Norfolk. An examination of the regional distribution of these vessels provides insights into the role of face jugs in constructing identities across a wide geographical and social spectrum. Nodal points in the trade and consumption of these vessels are identified at commercially important waterside settlements at King’s Lynn and Norwich. It is argued that face jugs were active in constructing bonds of common interest and identity amongst the mercantile and artisan populations of these settlements. It is further suggested that the symbolic properties of these vessels, which drew upon the virile associations of beards, links these vessels to the construction of new forms of masculinity developing in 13th-century towns and ports.