The Plictho of Gioanventura Rosetti: Instructions in the Art of the Dyers which teaches the Dyeing of Woolen Cloths, Linens, Cottons, And Silk by the Great Art as well as by the Common, Translation of the First Edition of 1548, ed. Sidney M. Edelstein and Hector C. Borghetty (MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1969)
There are 21 recipes for dying black on wool, silk and leather.
Of these, 11 use iron with a tannin obtained from gallnuts or sumac. Seven use iron or copper sulphate with a tannin. No single formula is given for producing black with a number of primary colours, which was a common way to dye in the 17th century, and had been known in the ancient world.
For blacks produced by the 'Great Art', dye the cloth dark blue and deepen with other dyes. For blacks made by the 'Lesser Art' use iron acetate (made by dissolving iron filings in vinegar to 'sadden' the cloth and tannin from oak galls with a blue, red, or yellow to give a solid colour).
Usually a black dye is made with a tannin and a salt
Includes one recipe to dye black with litharge and quicklime:
20. Very beautiful black
20. Measure litharge well powdered on the marble, live lime not spent, and put it in common water in proportion and it makes very beautiful blacl. Also, golden litharge, very strong lye, and make boild what you want inside and it will be black. Also silvery litharge one third, and live lime 2 pounds and make the water boil and it will be a very fine black. p13 or p102 of the translation
4. 'To make black dyeing'
[...] wash in the running water of the canal as usual in our city, shaking it so that out will come the black water and it remains beautiful, and then put it to dry. When it is done, if it does not seem beautiful, and then put it to dry. When it is done, if it does not seem beautiful, do as you have understood above until it becomes beautiful.' p8-9 of Plictho, p97 in translation.
24. 'Very beautiful black'
Measure rain water, half pound. Golden litharge, silvery litharge, 2 pounds, ashes of oak and boil till it drops by half and gum arabic inside, and it makes black. p14 of MS, p103 of translation.
The Plictho was translated into French in 1716, and then reprinted several times in the eighteenth century. xxii of translation.
Until logwood was introduced in the 17th century, it was difficult to produce a jet black. Could be mordanted with blue from the woad vat, and when logwood was used to dye black, the law in England and France dictated it first be dyed with woad or indigo.
Says rain or river water can be used for dyeing - so minerals shouldn't be a problem. Water source should be consistent.
John Edmonds,
Medieval Textile Dyeing, pp31-33
Recipe for Hair Dye, Scientific American, 1858
uses quicklime, white lead and litharge
"Take one ounce of litharge, two ounces of carbonate or white lead, and three ounces of powdered quicklime. It is applied in the same manner as the former." (The former application is "They are mixed intimately together, and are ready to be applied by reducing tham to a cream-like consistency with soft water. When thus made into a paste, it is laid on the hair in a good coating, and then covered up with a silk handkerchief. The best time to apply it is before going to bed. In the morning it has to be rubbed off with a hard brush, for it sticks like mortar, and is a disagreeable, although an effectual dye."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hair-specifiesdyes/
Recipe for Hair Dye, Jean Ruelle, 1560
B.52 Pour faire les cheveux noirs
Prens litarge pilee et broyee et autant de chaux vive. Deslaye le tout en eaue chaude et mesle tres bien de ceste eaue. Lave t'en les cheveux et ilz deviendront noirs.
Geneviève Deblock, Le Bâtiment des Recettes: Preséntation et annotation de l'édition Jean Ruelle, 1560 (Presses Universitaires des Rennes, 2015), p 122