The curious origins of the glasses

Previously, in Supercurioso , we reviewed the origin of such an everyday item as footwear . On this occasion we look at: the glasses. Have you ever wondered who invented the glasses ? Who thought that putting glasses in front of the eyes could improve vision ? We tell you.

Who invented the glasses?
At the time (the Middle Ages), it meant an impressive advance, because many people who could not see or who had a defective view managed to remain productive, thanks to this very useful tool.

There is no certainty about the authorship of such a revolutionary artifact, but there are records indicating, at least, an approximate date (1286), thanks to a sermon by the Dominican monk Giordano Rivalto , who on February 23, 1306 said from the pulpit ( we quoted verbatim): "... it has not been 20 years since the art of making glasses, one of the most useful creations in the world, was discovered. I myself have seen and conversed with the man who made them first, " but he never said the name of the inventor.

Alessandro della Spina , another Dominican monk, claimed in his obituary the making of the glasses and in a fragment of his tombstone it reads: "... when another was the first to invent the glasses and did not want to communicate the invention to others, he He did them himself and shared them with everyone. " That was in 1313.

What there is no doubt is that who made them should belong to the clergy , because the monks were among the few who at that time knew how to read and write and, therefore, need extra visual help if necessary.

Primitive eyeglasses
The lenses in this era were very rudimentary , just took the idea of ​​placing a magnifying lens in front of the eyes and added a frame to hold it. Usually they held the glasses with one hand, or over the nose, precariously placed on the partition, but they were really very uncomfortable, because any movement made them to hit the ground. Even so, they were in great demand, especially, and as we mentioned, among the monks.

Portrait of man with glasses
The first painting of someone wearing glasses was painted in 1352 by the artist Tommaso of Modena , and portrayed Cardinal Hugo de Provence in a reading scene.

And guess what: Italy was a strategic place for the development of these objects, because the island of Murano , belonging to this country, had the most advanced glassware and medieval stained glass industry.

And what happened to the printing press?
More than a century passed without the lenses undergoing major transformations. But in 1452, with the invention of the printing press, there was a great availability of books and, consequently, more people learned to read.

That meant that the production of glasses began to become massive , reaching to sell very cheap lenses, made of leather, bone, wood and even steel in the streets of European cities. The lower and middle classes had access to these glasses. Those of high class sent them to do by hand and they were of gold and silver.

The owl, intelligent, always with lenses
Those who used the glasses at first were the monks or wealthy people who knew how to read and, therefore, were always associated with intelligence and nobility. It is no coincidence that to illustrate these attributes we have opted for the night owl, who with his immense eyes dressed in glasses, seem to read all the words in the books.

Like the Supercurioso mascot, "an intelligent owl."

Lenses = old age
The first glasses used convex lenses , very useful to correct eye diseases such as hyperopia and presbyopia , usually associated with aging .

In Florence , another great Italian city, in the sixties but of the fifteenth century , they were also manufactured with concave lenses , special for the myopic .

Then, over the years, they began to manufacture commonly in Spain, England, France, Holland and Germany , the latter country being a power in the production of glasses for the seventeenth century, as they made frames and lenses of higher quality.

And so that they do not fall ...
Interestingly, it took 440 years before someone thought of putting a pair of little sticks on their sides with which to keep the glasses pressed against their heads.

It was an Englishman, Edward Scarlett , who did it, around 1700, but it was not until 30 years later that they developed the idea of ​​lengthening the canes and bending them over their ears, as we know them today.