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Information about roof tiles sometimes can be found in Livonian written sources. As mentioned
above, the building regulations of Riga, issued after the fire of 1293, contain a requirement to roof
dwelling houses with fireproof material. When brick masonry buildings started dominating over wooden
houses in towns, roof tiles became the most widespread roof covering material. These were valuable
indeed, so an inhabitant of Tallinn/Reval in his year 1465 testament bequeathed 2000 roof tiles for repair
works of the town’s Dom Church (
twe dusen dacktegels
– LUB 12, Nr. 303, S. 170). The most ancient
documentary evidences about the roofs of Latvian medieval castles are known from the 1580s–1590s
when defensive buildings inventories were described by the Poles, and from the second half of the
17
th
century when castles were inventoried by Swedes, in connection with inspection of estates. These
documents contain mentions of roofs made of red tiles concerning the most important buildings of
castles, but household buildings could be roofed with wooden shingles or even straw. In the year 1590
audit report of Turaida Castle there is only a brief mention of some buildings and towers roofed by
tiles (Turaida 1999, 158). From the 17
th
century inventory reports of Bauska Castle one can find out
that the tile roofing had to be changed after each 40–50 years: in 1650, there is a mention of just
roofed towers, but in the inventory report of 1698 it is highlighted that the castle is covered with old
roofs which threaten to collapse and so it is necessary to make new roofs. There is also an indication
that part of the old roof tiles can be used for the new roofing. In the year 1650 report it was stated
for several times that the roof tiles were bonded together using lime mortar (Bauska 2010, 150,
159–161). But in Rauna/Ronneburg audit report of 1688 it is stated that the tile roof of the castle has
been fastened according to old traditions using lime mortar, but that it has not been used in all places
(Rauna 2014, 373).
Much more extensive evidences of medieval roof tiles than those found in written sources can be
obtained from archaeological finds. According to their shape, ceramic roofing materials are divided into
hollow or Monk and Nun roof tiles, flat or tongue-shaped roof tiles, and S-type or Dutch type roof tiles.
Hollow or Monk and Nun, or over-and-under roof tiles
In the Middle Ages, roof tiles, like bricks, were first used in the construction of monasteries, therefore
the most ancient type of roofing material was called Monk and Nun tiles. Their shape is of a hollow,
semicircular trough, with one end narrower than the other one, since in the roofing the narrow end of
one tile was covered with the wider end of another one. According to the outer appearance and way of use
these tiles are divided into two large groups – over-and-under tiles or the so-called “nuns” and “monks”.
The third group includes the ridge roof tiles that are similar to “monks” by shape and size.
Nuns
are laid in the lower layer of tile roofing, and they are wider than monks. Nuns are laid in the
roofing with the inward bend upward. On the back side of the upper end of a nun there is a small peg and
each side edge has a triangular cut.
Monks
are the upper roof tiles which are a bit narrower than nuns. In
the roofing they are placed with the outward bend upward and the hollow inward bend downward. On the
upper side of the narrower upper end monks have a small triangular peg for support of the monks of the
next layer.
Ridge tiles
covered the upper joint of both the slopes of the roof – the slanting or horizontal
ridge. These roof tiles resemble monks, only they lack the peg, but instead they have a hole made in the