Calling for water as a poetic experience in medieval culture

Abstract

The meaningfulness given to the gesture of washing one’s hands in the Middle Ages was such that, in order to fully appreciate it, both historical and anthropological approaches should be undertaken. It is deeply involved and becomes the consequence of the transferral of the symbolic use of water from the liturgical and biblical traditions into the chivalric society and values. In particular, the action of «calling for water and washing one’s hands», one that preceded banquet ceremonies, also called for the development of representative quality objects related to such gesture. Such artistic pieces, important both in their layout as well as in their social significance were pitchers, of which chronicles present enough evidence, thus attesting to the cultural phenomenon and the social meaning conveyed by this common practice in lay society.