Press Releases

June 18, 2004, Contact: Sara Murphy, (508) 853-6015 ext. 26, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Axes, Arthur, and Apes Offered ‘a la carte’

(WORCESTER, Mass., June 18, 2004) - From Sumerian war chariots to Sir Thomas Malory’s tale of the “Knight in the Cart,” Higgins Armory Museum showcases the history of the cart in the upcoming exhibition, The Middle Ages – A La Carte! On view July 8 through September 19, this exhibition examines the cart through the ages, looking at reproductions from beautiful illuminated manuscripts and embroidered tapestries, as well as examining carts from literary references. The primary focus of the exhibition is a working replica of a medieval cart found in a 14th century illuminated manuscript.

The Luttrell Psalter, created under the patronage of Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, features a folio showing a 14th century English cart (driven by a monkey), the basis for the life-sized replica cart built by seniors at Minersville Area High School under the guidance of their teachers Edward G. “Ned” Eisenhuth and Frederick G. “Fred” Lutkus. This cart required more than 900 hours of research, design, and implementation. The final product measures twelve feet long, five feet wide, and six feet high, with the bed of the cart roughly five by seven feet. It was constructed from elm, oak and ash, and has wooden wheels reinforced with steel treads. The cart weighs over six hundred pounds, with the wheels accounting for nearly half of the weight of the entire cart. The Minersville Area High School cart is the second senior project to be successfully installed in a museum. Their first endeavor, a replica of a Viking boat built in Norway about 894 AD, presently resides in the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle, WA.

“The cart was the Mack truck of the Middle Ages, the U-Haul of the Crusades,” explained Director of Education and Public Programs Heather N. Feland, head curator of the exhibition. “Looking at images of the cart in illuminated manuscripts and having a life-sized reproduction of one such cart, we suddenly see that the medieval need to transport objects is not so different from today’s. We also see that the medieval cart was one of the most versatile and ubiquitous means of transport.”

The invention of the wheel evolved from the technique of rolling objects on multiple logs; the invention of the cart shortly followed. Invented in Mesopotamia, the first carts date from around five to six thousand years ago, with the oldest artifacts and drawings of carts dating from 3000 BCE. Four thousand years later, carts were still an important resource in transportation, with numerous documents illustrating the importance of the cart in all its uses.

Carts were used for transporting objects on the farm and for transporting commodities on the eve of great battles. The Bayuex Tapestry, the great account of events surrounding the Norman Conquest of 1066, depicts soldiers loading a cart with axes, helmets and a large cask of wine on the eve of the Battle of Hastings. Even popular literary figures, including Friar Tuck, Lancelot, and King Arthur, are described as traveling on carts.

Carts were also used as a means of transporting the malevolent and the unfortunate. A late 15th century French miniature depicts two prisoners being carted off to execution. Similarly, The Book of Hours features a colorful and dramatic scene in the gothic style of damned souls being carted off to Hell. Beginning in the fourteenth century, carts were used to transport heaping piles of deceased plague victims.

A La Carte! highlights the process of cart making, complete with detailed drawings found in medieval manuscripts. The Higgins Armory Museum illustrates how the replica cart was made, and how its construction remains true to the materials and the tools used in the Middle Ages; no doubt a stunning feat of accomplishment by high school seniors.

An educational and stimulating experience, visitors to The Middle Ages – A La Carte will not only leave the museum with a new perspective on the medieval cart, but a new appreciation for today’s car.