by Bruce McDonald
SUMMARY
The use of Oak galls in the
production of Gall Ink is well documented. What is less clear, particularly as
far as Britain is concerned, is where the galls came from. A widespread
assumption that they were simply collected from the local countryside appears
untenable. Likely sources are suggested here but further research is needed to
fill in the gaps and address outstanding questions.
BACKGROUND
Galls have been used for
hundreds if not thousands of years in the production of gall ink and used on
documents such as The Lindisfarne Gospels, Magna Carta and the Declaration of
Independence. Gall Ink required tannin and galls were the source of that tannin
in most cases. It follows that the higher the tannin content, the better.
Numerous sources describe how gall ink was and can still be made.
OAK APPLE v. MARBLE GALL.
The first area of confusion is
between the Oak Apple (Biorhiza pallida)
and the Marble Gall (Andricus kollari). Photos
of both are shown below. The Oak apple is quite large (up to 5 cm), but
irregular, soft and spongy. The Marble Gall is smaller (up to 2 cm) and
harder. Possibly because the Oak apple is more commonly known as a name (e.g.
Oak apple Day) and the Marble Gall is common in the countryside, the two can
often get mixed up. For example John Wright's 'A Natural History of the
Hedgerow' (1) includes a photo (p.
208) of what is almost certainly a Marble Gall but is entitled the Oak apple
gall. Stewart Wild (Stephens Collection) (2)
gives a perfect description of a Marble gall - 'mainly dark tannin and
resembles a Malteser' but refers to it as an Oak apple.
The Oak apple gall has been
around for some time in the British countryside and was (and still is) included
in Oak apple Day celebrations which had its origins in festivities linked to
the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
Oak apple gall
Marble
Gall
MARBLE GALL
Articles on gall ink usually
show the Marble Gall as a constituent. The Tudor Merchants House in Tenby has a
small display on gall ink and includes some Marble galls. The Woodland Trust
ran a gall ink project in 2017 again featuring the Marble Gall. With the Marble
Gall very common and widespread in the countryside many jump to the conclusion
that they would have been easily collected in the surrounding area in earlier
times.
However, this assumption does
not take account of the fact that the Marble Gall would not have appeared in
Britain until the 19th century. This is
because the gall-causing insect has a two-part life cycle and one of these
requires the presence of the Turkey Oak which was only introduced in 1735. The
gall wasp was not introduced until the 1830s in Devon as a source of tannin so
the Marble gall would not have been widespread for some time.
TANNIN CONTENT
Even when they did arrive the
British marble galls would have had a relatively low tannin content, probably
around 17%. In contrast the Aleppo Gall from the Middle East had at least three
times this level (see Cecidology article
by Leach). Some estimates put it as high as 75%. Oak apples have less than 5%. John Hill (1751)
(3) contrasts the European and Aleppo
galls commenting that the former are 'of much less value ... both in
manufactures and in medicine'. He also states the 'Oriental' galls are 'brought
from Aleppo'. This suggests that a source, if not the principal one, is the
import of Aleppo galls. Support for this can be found in a variety of records.
Leach (4) notes that as late as 1861
some 800 tons of Aleppo Galls were still being imported annually into the UK.
Briggs (4) finds the volume as 50,000
cwt (2,500 ton) in 1880.
Could the monks on Lindisfarne
have been using imported Aleppo galls? Further research might confirm or refute
this but it does seem plausible. Redfern (5)
reports that Aleppo galls were a 'common article of trade' for the Egyptians in
the 5th and 4th centuries BC as well as the Greek in the 3rd and 2nd centuries
BC. Pliny (1st century AD) suggests that for black dyes there was no substitute
for the Aleppo Gall. Redfern again - 'Aleppo galls were exported all over
Europe' ... ' Large quantities from the Mediterranean arrived in London'. Some
of these were exported on to America which, although it had its own sources of
galls, did not appear to use them for dyeing or ink-making. By 1914 the US was
importing some $17,174 of Aleppo galls from Baghdad.
CONCLUSION
Before the 19th century there
were no local sources of galls that could have provided sufficient tannin to
make Gall ink effectively in Britain. Even when the Marble Gall began to appear
in the 19th century it was nothing like as productive as the Aleppo gall. With
evidence for the trade in Aleppo galls dating back some 2,500 years it seems
reasonable to assume that they were the source of the ink used in the
Lindisfarne Gospels, Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence. Hopefully
further research will provide additional data on the trade in Aleppo galls.
1. A Natural History of the
Hedgerow by John Wright, Profile Books, 2016
2. Online by Stewart Wild,
Trustee of the Stephens Collection.
3. A History of the Materia
Medica by John Hill, MD. 1751
4. Cecidology. The Journal of
the British Plant Gall Society. Vol. 1. No 1. Spring 1986. pp 6-7 - Historical
Uses of Plant Galls by Jonathan D Briggs. Pp 10-11 The Phenolic Contents of
Some British Cynipid Galls by Dr. C K Leach.
5. Plant Galls by Margaret
Redfern. Collins, 2011
Bruce McDonald
Wenvoe Wildlife Group
October 2017
Photos sourced online
