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Textiles (Medieval Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. Textile was a ubiquitous presence in the Middle Ages, because clothing, soft furnishings, and containers were made from it; and it was undoubtedly valued because of its labor-intensive production as well as for its beauty and the precious materials (silk and gold) sometimes used in it. However, its survival into modern times is relatively unusual, because the fibers from which it was made are organic and subject to decay; because it was subject to recycling to the point of being worn out and was thrown away or destroyed; and because outmoded items decorated with metallic thread were sometimes deliberately burned in order to recover the metal. Surviving items are usually archaeological textiles, or items that have survived in tombs or church treasuries as holy relics. Archaeological textiles are usually fragments, either grave finds that are extremely small, and often mineralized, but that have some context by virtue of associated human remains and grave-goods, or finds from urban excavations, which may be larger but lack context other than stratification and general place. Surviving textiles are mostly garments, usually ecclesiastical vestments, in various states of completeness, alteration, and repair. Many of these were made and decorated with expensive materials: silk, gold or silver thread, embroidery, metal, and gemstones. There are also furnishings and banners. The most famous, and largest, surviving medieval textile is the Bayeux Tapestry. Surviving textiles have been studied as artifacts, in which case their fiber, spin, weave, and decoration may be identified. Individual textiles have also been studied as historical witnesses, and as artworks, especially the gold embroideries known as opus anglicanum. Textile production is attested both from archaeology, with finds of tools and tool parts, and of potential workshops, augmented by artworks, and from the documentary sources familiar to the economic historian such as accounts. Town and guild records attest the importance of the textile industry and trade to the economy and developing society of the later Middle Ages. Recent research identifies some uses of textile previously unacknowledged or dismissed as unimportant. Increasingly, the social and symbolic, as well as the economic and practical, roles of textile are being recognized, as they variously reveal, obscure, and conceal both the human body and sacred objects/images.
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  5. General Overviews
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  7. World coverage of textiles and textile techniques from ancient times to the 20th century may be found in Harris 1993, which while necessarily covering each section only briefly, has the advantage of contextualizing the medieval period and its products. Other relevant surveys are confined geographically to western Europe (Jenkins 2003, Wilckens 1991) or to parts of western Europe (Cardon 1999, Dodwell 1982).
  8.  
  9. Cardon, Dominique. La draperie au moyen âge: Essor d’une grande industrie européenne. Paris: CNRS Editions, 1999.
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  11. Pioneering examination of the textile industry in the northwest Mediterranean area, using texts including little-known manuscript sources, art, and archaeology. In sections assigned to wool, thread, and cloth, it explores biological differences in sheep and their migration, moving on to techniques of production, technological change, regulation, economics, and marketing. A table of measurements in different places and their metric equivalents is appended. Well illustrated with medieval and earlier art, diagrams, and maps.
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  13. Dodwell, C. R. Anglo-Saxon Art: A New Perspective. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1982.
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  15. Survey of Anglo-Saxon art mainly from documentary sources, which at publication raised awareness of the importance of textiles in the early medieval world. It has been a starting point for much subsequent study. Because it concentrates on documentary sources, its concern is mostly rich textiles, including embroideries and imported silks: chapter 5, “Textiles”; chapter 6, “Costume and Vestments.”
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  17. Harris, Jennifer, ed. 5000 Years of Textiles. London: British Museum Press in Association with The Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, and Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1993.
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  19. A volume of essays by twenty-four contributors, lavishly illustrated in color. Beginning with a survey of techniques, the volume continues with geographically arranged sections covering textiles from ancient times to the 20th century. There is a brief glossary and a section of further reading/sources cited for each chapter.
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  21. Jenkins, David. The Cambridge History of Western Textiles. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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  23. The medieval parts of this encyclopedia have contributions on the evidence of textiles in northern Europe and England by experts: Lise Bender Jørgensen and Penelope Walton Rogers, mainly from archaeological sources for up to 1000; John Munro and Anna Muthesius on the wool trade and silk in the later medieval period; Frances Pritchard on the uses of textiles from 1000 to 1500.
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  25. Wilckens, Leonie von. Die textilen Künste: Von der Spätantike bis um 1500. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1991.
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  27. Survey of western European textiles from the late Roman period to the end of the 15th century, including imports. Chapters divided according to materials and/or techniques, with chronological development analyzed in each. Well illustrated: has a useful glossary and brief accounts of many individual textiles from all parts of Europe including the British Isles. More comprehensive in chronological and geographical coverage than any other survey to date.
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  29. Reference Works
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  31. Jørgensen 1992 attempted a comprehensive study of early medieval textiles from northern Europe, the Anglo-Saxon material derived from the notes of Elisabeth Crowfoot. Other reference works are concerned with terminology, with Burnham 1981 covering several European languages and Owen-Crocker, et al. 2012 (cited under Terminology) all the medieval languages of the British Isles. Technical terms for structural sewing and embroidery stitches are discussed in Morrell 1999 and Morrell 2007, respectively.
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  33. Burnham, Dorothy K. A Textile Terminology: Warp and Weft. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981.
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  35. A still-useful reference work on textile terminology (not limited to the medieval period); particularly valuable in that it gives equivalent terms in six European languages.
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  37. Jørgensen, Lise Bender. North European Textiles until AD 1000. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 1992.
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  39. A study of textiles from northern Europe (Great Britain and Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Finland, with some comparative material from elsewhere in Europe), from the Stone Age to the Viking Age. Its importance lies in its geographical scope, within which it aimed to be comprehensive, but the conclusions based on it have been much debated.
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  41. Morrell, Anne. The ATN (Archaeological Textiles Newsletter) Guide to Structural Sewing: Terms and Techniques. ATN Occasional Paper Series 3. Ahmedabad, India: Sarabhai Foundation, 1999.
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  43. Written to enable the accurate description of structural sewing techniques on archaeological and historical textiles. It has a glossary of technical terms other than stitches, followed by a corpus of drawings showing the variety of treatments applied to hems, edges, seams, joining fabrics, tucks and darts, tucks and pleats, gathers, fastenings, patching, darning, attaching tapes and ribbons, and finally stitches per se, separate from specific structures. Book may still be purchased online.
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  45. Morrell, Anne. The Migration of Stitches & the Practice of Stitch as Movement. Ahmedabad, India: D. S. Mehta, 2007.
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  47. An enlightening look at the naming of embroidery stitches, showing inter alia that the same stitch can have many different names according to its specific use or even the fabric it is worked on. Although intended for embroiderers, it will help students of archaeological and historic textiles concerned with the dating and spread of stitches.
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  49. Textbooks
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  51. Jenkins 2003 and Wilckens 1991 (both cited under General Overviews) are useful resources for textiles in western Europe, giving technical details of manufacture. Walton 1991 gives a valuable survey of textiles and the development of the textile industry in medieval England. Dress for the earliest English period is the main concern in Owen-Crocker 2004, but there is also a useful chapter on textiles and textile production.
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  53. Owen-Crocker, Gale R. Dress in Anglo-Saxon England: Revised and Enlarged Edition. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2004.
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  55. Mainly a chronological guide to English dress c. 450–1080s, giving a broad regional/chronological picture with details of exceptional examples. Concerned to explain the usefulness and limitations of different sources for different periods, whether text, art, or archaeology, and the importance of the study of textiles and textile production to the study of dress.
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  57. Walton, Penelope. “Textiles.” In English Medieval Industries. Edited by John Blair and Nigel Ramsay, 319–354. London and Rio Grande, OH: Hambledon, 1991.
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  59. In a groundbreaking assembly of evidence for the development and organization of industries in medieval England, Walton’s seminal chapter considers the main fibers, their preparation, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and the probable appearance and names of wool textiles. Shorter sections discuss linens, felt, knitted goods, embroidery, and other silk work, and the siting and organization of the woolen industry between the 11th and 16th centuries.
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  61. Bibliographies
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  63. There are subject specialist bibliographies including, among printed works, Brown 1988 and Brown 2004 on the Bayeux Tapestry (cited under Printed) and Coatsworth and Owen-Crocker 2007 on textiles of the British Isles up to 1100 (cited under Printed); electronic resources include the personal bibliographies of an economic historian (Publications of John Munro, cited under Electronic).
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  65. Printed
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  67. The Bayeux Tapestry has a dedicated bibliography (Brown 1988, Brown 2004) and textiles of the British Isles, mostly Anglo-Saxon, have an annotated bibliography (Coatsworth and Owen-Crocker 2007).
  68.  
  69. Brown, Shirley Ann. The Bayeux Tapestry: History and Bibliography. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1988.
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  71. Includes all published material on the Bayeux Tapestry from its first appearance in a 15th-century cathedral inventory.
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  73. Brown, Shirley Ann. “Bibliography of Bayeux Tapestry Studies 1985–1999.” In The Bayeux Tapestry: Embroidering the Facts of History. Edited by Pierre Bouet, Brian Levy, and François Neveux, 411–418. Caen, France: Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2004.
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  75. An update of Brown 1988.
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  77. Coatsworth, Elizabeth, and Gale R. Owen-Crocker. Medieval Textiles of the British Isles AD 450–1100: An Annotated Bibliography. British Archaeological Reports British Series 225. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2007.
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  79. Lists and annotates all known publications on textiles and some on tools, with a comprehensive introduction, glossary, and indexes of find-sites and present locations, garments, nongarment textiles, and historical persons associated with textiles.
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  81. Electronic
  82.  
  83. Scholar John Munro (A Bibliography of European Textiles and Publications of John Munro) has useful bibliographies online.
  84.  
  85. Munro, John H. A Bibliography of European Textiles, 1100–1750.
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  87. Organized by topic: technology; the wool trades; products and market; textile industries in Italy and the Mediterranean world; France and Spain; the Low Countries; woolen textiles in England, to the early 16th century; the textile industries in England, the old and new draperies, 1500–1750; the knitting, linen, early cotton industry, and other textile industries in Early Modern Europe and Great Britain, 1500–1750; and documents and statistics on medieval textiles.
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  89. Publications of John Munro. Department of Economics, University of Toronto.
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  91. Lists the publications of an economic historian specializing in textile history, 1966–.
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  93. Collections of Essays
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  95. Some anthologies, such as Battiscombe 1956 and Carus-Wilson 1954, are tightly themed, the former by the fact that all the essays, including those on excavated textiles, relate to the cult of St. Cuthbert at Durham; and the latter the collected papers of a single author. Others are wide-ranging: Pedersen and Nosch 2009, despite its unifying theme of the medieval broadcloth, is interdisciplinary and covers a wide geographical spread, as do Flury-Lemberg and Stolleis 1981, Harte and Ponting 1983, and the North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles volumes.
  96.  
  97. Battiscombe, C. F., ed. The Relics of Saint Cuthbert. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956.
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  99. Enduring compilation of essays including the history of the shrine tomb and contents from St. Cuthbert’s death (687), through additions over several centuries, to excavation (1827) and subsequently. Discussion of textiles includes Elizabeth Plenderleith and Grace Crowfoot on Anglo-Saxon embroideries and braids; Christopher Hohler and R. Freyhan on the embroideries as art; and R. Brett and J. F. Flanagan on dating and iconography of silks and a soumak braid.
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  101. Carus-Wilson, Eleanora M. Medieval Merchant Venturers: Collected Studies. London: Methuen, 1954.
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  103. Collected essays of pioneering economic historian specializing in the late medieval textile industry.
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  105. Flury-Lemberg, Mechthild, and Karen Stolleis, eds. Documenta textilia: Festschrift für Sigrid Müller-Christensen. Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1981.
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  107. Papers on medieval to 19th-century textiles, mostly in German, from many distinguished authors, on techniques, woven fabrics, embroidery, and dress. Papers in English include Stella Mary Newton’s “Queen Philippa’s Squirrel Suit” (pp. 342–348), on luxurious royal dress for the churching of Edward III’s queen, after the birth of her son, the future Black Prince.
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  109. Harte, Negley B., and Kenneth G. Ponting, eds. Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe: Essays in Memory of Professor E. M. Carus-Wilson. Pasold Studies in Textile History 2. London: Heinemann, 1983.
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  111. An enduring collection of essays on topics including the medieval scarlet, red dyestuffs, weaving productivity, a possible Scandinavian haberget, textiles from Birka, and samples of English broadcloth.
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  113. North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles.
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  115. The publications of the North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles, established in 1981, reflect the contents of each symposium and are accordingly given individual titles and have different editors, but all are subtitled NESAT 1, and so forth. The conferences are every three years and publications follow conferences. See, for example, Techniques and Tools.
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  117. Pedersen, Kathrine Vestergård, and Marie-Louise B. Nosch, eds. The Medieval Broadcloth: Changing Trends in Fashions, Manufacturing and Consumption. Ancient Textile Series, Vol. 6. Oxford: Oxbow, 2009.
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  119. An assemblage of essays on history, archaeology, and art, with emphasis on Scandinavia but including Finland, the Baltic area, and Poland; with a long economic analysis of the luxury trade in England and the Low Countries over three centuries. Topics include imports versus local manufacture; trade; naming of cloths and terminology for multicolored cloth and particolored clothing; and an attempt to reconstruct medieval broadcloth to the fulling stage.
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  121. Exhibition Catalogues
  122.  
  123. The vast majority of surviving medieval textiles are brown, brittle fragments that do not make attractive exhibits. Hence those textile items that appear in exhibitions and their catalogues are predominantly embroideries, especially the gold work named opus anglicanum; and also braids, which originally at least, were colorful and patterned: that is, items that can be classified as “art.” King 1963 is the catalogue of a dedicated opus anglicanum exhibition. The other items here are catalogues of English exhibitions in which textiles played only a small role, but that served to contextualize them: Webster and Backhouse 1991 for the 7th and 8th centuries, Alexander and Binski 1987 for the 13th and 14th centuries. Evans and Wixom 1997 and Lafontaine-Dosogne 1982 (both cited under Byzantine Silks) similarly discuss textile in cultural context.
  124.  
  125. Alexander, Jonathan, and Paul Binski. Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England, 1200–1400. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1987.
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  127. Catalogue of exhibition of Gothic art in England, important for its wealth of material in all media, providing a broad context for the study of textiles. Examples of textiles are scattered throughout and an informative introduction to embroidery and textiles is contributed by Donald King (pp. 157–161). Textiles are mentioned in Nigel Ramsay’s introduction to artists, craftsmen, and design (pp. 49–54), and Ann Pyne’s introduction to heraldry (pp. 55–59).
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  129. King, Donald. Opus Anglicanum: English Medieval Embroidery. London: Arts Council, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1963.
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  131. The catalogue of the only major exhibition of this topic, bringing together 166 examples, many lent from other museums, some from outside England. Although the title indicates that the focus is opus anglicanum, the catalogue begins with one probably pre-Conquest example. The introduction is a brief survey of English medieval embroidery from the pre-Conquest period forward.
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  133. Webster, Leslie, and Janet Backhouse. The Making of England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600–900. London: British Museum Publications, 1991.
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  135. Catalogue of British Museum exhibition of Anglo-Saxon art. It includes three textiles (by Hero Granger-Taylor): fragments of a possible dalmatic c. 800 referencing a contemporary Insular inscribed silk braid from Sant’ Apollinare in Classe (pp. 135–136); a braid fragment (pp. 183–184) possibly Insular, first half of 9th century, recycled on later miter; panels of late-8th-/early-9th-century embroidery from Maaseik, Belgium (pp. 184–185).
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  137. Zarnecki, George, Janet Holt, and Tristram Holland. English Romanesque Art 1066–1200: Hayward Gallery, London, 5 April–8 July 1984. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson in Association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1984.
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  139. Catalogue of exhibition of Norman art divided by medium. Textiles (pp. 356–359, by Donald King) consists of a brief introduction, plus seven embroideries: the apparel of an amice and two miters with Thomas Becket associations; buskins and an apparel of an amice from the tomb of Hubert Walter at Canterbury; a fragment from St. John’s Seminary, Wonersh; and fragments of a stole and maniple from Worcester Cathedral (possibly pre-Conquest).
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  141. Museum and Other Catalogues
  142.  
  143. Included here are dedicated catalogues from some ecclesiastical and other museums with outstanding textile collections: Brussels (Brel-Bordaz 1982), Durham Cathedral (Ivy 1997), London (King and Levey 1993), Munich (Durian-Ress 1986), York Minster (Ingram 2007); and catalogues of specific types of textile from various international sources included in authoritative publications: brocaded tablet-woven bands (Spies 2000) and Byzantine silks (Muthesius 1997). See also Christie 1938, King and Levey 1993, and Battiscombe 1956 (all cited under Embroidery). Selections from the extensive Cluny collection in Paris are described in Desrosiers 2004 (Silk)
  144.  
  145. Brel-Bordaz, Odile. Broderies d’ornements liturgiques: XIIIe–XIVe siècles. Paris: Nouvelles Editiones Latines, 1982.
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  147. Catalogue of The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Parc du Cinquantenaire, Brussels, which has an outstanding collection of medieval embroidery. The catalogue has a lengthy introduction that looks in detail at embroidery techniques, iconographic programmes, and style, and is handsomely illustrated, including many comparative examples.
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  149. Durian-Ress, Saskia. Meisterwerke mittelalterlicher Textilkunst aus dem Bayerischen Nationalmuseum: Auswahlkatalog. Munich: Schnell & Steiner. 1986.
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  151. Includes an outstanding collection of complete vestments, the earliest 11th century; altar frontals; embroideries of gold and silk, wool and linen; tapestries; and fragments of silk cloths.
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  153. Ingram, Elizabeth, ed. Thread of Gold: The Embroideries and Textiles in York Minster. 2d ed. York, UK: Friends of York Minster, 2007.
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  155. Includes vestments, banners, and church furnishings, 13th to 20th century, the earliest from the tomb of Walter de Gray, archbishop of York, 1215–1255; and two cross-shaped panels attributed to North Germany, late 15th and 15th to 16th century, respectively. Short bibliography including original publications of graves of Walter de Gray and Geoffrey Ludham. Originally published in 1987.
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  157. Ivy, Jill. Embroideries at Durham Cathedral. Durham, UK: Dean and Chapter, 1997.
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  159. Includes the early-10th-century embroideries found in the tomb of St. Cuthbert; 11th-century fragments from the grave of William of St. Calais, bishop of Durham 1081–1096; a 15th-century cope; and later embroideries, including vestments and church furnishings, from the 17th to 20th centuries. Originally published in 1992.
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  161. Muthesius, Anna. Byzantine Silk Weaving: AD 400 to AD 1200. Edited by Ewald Kislinger and Johannes Koder. Byzantinische Geschichtsschreiber 4. Vienna: Fassbaender, 1997.
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  163. An interdisciplinary study that considers production of raw materials and technical processes and analyzes surviving material according to weaving processes. It covers Central Asian and Sicilian/South Italian silks and contains a list of 120 items catalogued according to M(uthesius) numbers.
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  165. Spies, Nancy. Ecclesiastical Pomp and Aristocratic Circumstance: A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tabletwoven Bands. With a foreword by Peter Collingwood. Jarrettsville, MD: Arelate Studio, 2000.
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  167. Appendix C gives a catalogue of all the brocaded tablet-woven bands known to the author at the time of publication, listed by country, city, and museum. Corrections and updates are available on the author’s website.
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  169. V&A Search the Collections. Victoria and Albert Museum.
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  171. Electronic catalogue of the museum containing the largest British collection of medieval textiles.
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  173. Journals
  174.  
  175. Medieval textiles lacked dedicated publications until recently. The establishment of the Medieval Dress and Textiles Society was a landmark in recognition of the subject in Britain, and its MEDATS Newsletter is a useful publication. Medieval Clothing and Textiles, first published in 2005, is a cross-disciplinary refereed journal specific to the subject. Textile History and Bulletin du CIETA focus on textile, but do not confine themselves to the medieval period, while the Archaeological Textiles Newsletter similarly ranges over time and geography. Otherwise, the bibliography of the subject is scattered: items about dress in literature have appeared in journals dedicated to the literature of various languages and periods, archaeological finds have appeared in journals devoted to archaeology, and essays on medieval topics have occasionally appeared in publications on dress such as Costume.
  176.  
  177. Archaeological Textiles Newsletter. 1985–2012.
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  179. Archaeological Textiles Newsletter was a twice-yearly publication for textiles found in archaeological contexts, mainly but not exclusively Old World, from the prehistoric to the present. In 2012 it became an annual, called Archaeological Textiles Review. Also publishes occasional papers. Published by the Centre for Textile Research in Copenhagen since 2008. An important outlet for scientific studies of textiles. Available by subscription, currently in printed format, soon electronically.
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  181. Bulletin du CIETA. 1955–.
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  183. Annual publication of the Lyon, France–based Centre International d’Étude des Textiles Anciens (CIETA); text and summaries in English and French. It includes details of unpublished lectures from the Annual Congress. Includes world textiles ancient to postmedieval. The centre publishes a vocabulary of technical terms in multiple languages—French, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Scandinavian languages, German, Japanese, and Russian, with updates in the bulletin.
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  185. MEDATS Newsletter. 1991–.
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  187. The thrice-yearly newsletter of the Medieval Dress and Textiles Society, which sends information about the society’s study days and meetings (usually three per year, in London) and of other conferences and publications of interest. The scope of the society is European clothing and textiles from the end of the Roman Empire in western Europe until about 1600.
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  189. Medieval Clothing and Textiles. 2005–.
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  191. An interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed annual journal that includes papers on surviving textiles, archaeology, art, text both literary and nonliterary, and responsible attempts at reconstruction, with no restriction of geographical area, from the early medieval period to the Renaissance. Includes book reviews. See especially Volume 8.
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  193. Textile History. 1968–.
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  195. A peer-reviewed journal launched by the Pasold Research Fund with the avowed aim of fostering the publication of research into textile history; published twice yearly. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, covering all aspects of textiles, including social, economic, and cultural history; technological developments; design; conservation; and uses of textiles such as dress.
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  197. Shrouds
  198.  
  199. Occupying a place between a garment and bedding, a shroud is the wrapping for a corpse. At the lower end of the social scale, as in the Greenland finds (see Archaeological Textiles: Northern Europe), dead bodies might be wrapped in old clothes, not necessarily their own. Some early shrouds may have been wool (Turner and Scaife 1995). The desirable norm throughout the Middle Ages was probably linen, but for ecclesiastics of major importance, expensive silks were used. Fleming 2007 enumerates pre-1100 silk shrouds in the context of the cultural importance of this fiber. Silk textiles among the relics of St. Cuthbert should probably be categorized as shrouds. Important survivals are listed in Desrosiers 2004 and Lafontaine-Dosogne 1982. The Turin Shroud is one of the most famous of textiles, with controversy raging over whether it is ancient, and a genuine relic of Jesus Christ, or a medieval “fake.”
  200.  
  201. Desrosiers, Sophie. Soieries et autres textiles de l’Antiquité au XVIe siècle: Catalogue du Musée National du Moyen Âge Thermes de Cluny. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2004.
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  203. Includes early-10th-century shroud of St. Bénigne, “figured (or patterned) weft-faced compound twill” with confronted birds and stylized trees in blue, yellow, beige-pink, green, and white (Persia); and a fragment of the shroud of St. Lazare d’Autun, blue silk taffeta embroidered in red, white, yellow, blue-grey, and green-bronze silk and gold with medallions containing a sphinx and falconer (Spain). See pp. 138–140, 233–236.
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  205. Fleming, Robin. “Acquiring, Flaunting and Destroying Silk in Late Anglo-Saxon England.” Early Medieval Europe 15 (2007): 127–158.
  206. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0254.2007.00201.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  207. In an original article on the cultural significance of silk, discusses silks used to wrap the remains of saints, both small squares and large silks, often employed long after the death of the saint (pp. 152–153), and lists nineteen silk shrouds associated with the relics of saints dating to before 1100 (n. 105). Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  209. Lafontaine-Dosogne, Jacqueline. Splendeur de Byzance. Brussels: Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire Bruxelles, 1982.
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  211. Describes and illustrates the shroud of St. Lambert from Liège, Belgium, Musée d’Art Mosan, Ct 1980 no F 14. Remarkable for its size and good state of preservation, it dates to the late-11th-/early-12th-century Byzantine Empire with Islamic influence and is samite of silk and linen, red and yellow, with medallions containing addorsed beasts and stylized cruciform motifs between. See p. 218.
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  213. Turner, R. C., and R. G. Scaife. Bog Bodies: New Discoveries and New Perspectives. London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum, 1995.
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  215. In the context of a gazetteer and discussion of other bog bodies from the British Isles, mentions a woolen cloth, originally 1.5 m square but torn, so that a separate piece wrapped the feet, in what may have been a child’s wooden coffin from Quernmore, Lancashire, UK; a 19th-century find, carbon dated to AD 610 + 110 and AD 650 + 100. See pp. 110 and 210.
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  217. The Turin Shroud
  218.  
  219. Passionate controversy rages over whether this linen cloth, more than fourteen feet long and bearing the image of a man’s body, is the actual shroud of Jesus Christ, a representation of the body of Christ, or a medieval fake relic. It was first exhibited in its full length in the mid-14th century. The image was dramatically revealed as a negative in 1898 when it was photographed for the first time and the “lifelike” face and body appeared on the photographic plate. The shroud’s history up to 1977 is charted in Wilson 1978, its antiquity convincingly argued. The creation of the image is there described as possibly akin to “some kind of thermonuclear flash” (p. 210). Subsequent carbon-14 testing in 1988 apparently demonstrated the shroud dated to between 1260 and 1390; yet there has been no satisfactory explanation of how the image could have been made either by medieval forgers or otherwise. De Wesselow 2012 provocatively reopens the discussion, arguing from more recent scientific tests that the Turin Shroud is authentic.
  220.  
  221. De Wesselow, Thomas. The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection. London: Viking, 2012.
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  223. Revisits Wilson 1978. Valuable for drawing attention to a textile analysis of 2002 and pollen analysis of 2005, which contradict the 1988 carbon-14 finds and suggest that the cloth dates to the time of Christ. The thesis that the image provoked a belief in the Resurrection is personal and controversial.
  224. Find this resource:
  225. Wilson, Ian. The Turin Shroud. London: Victor Gollancz, 1978.
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  227. Presents medical evidence to prove the image is of a crucified body. Argues that the shroud, folded to show only the face, was identical with the Mandylion or Image of Edessa and that a copy of this triggered the legend of St. Veronica. Suggests that the Christ-type in post–6th-century art derives from the shroud.
  228. Find this resource:
  229. Domestic Soft Furnishing
  230.  
  231. Furnishing textiles, both functional and decorative, constituted valuable property throughout the Middle Ages. Although survivals are few, art and the evidence of wills and inventories indicate the importance of this material to the wealthier classes of secular people throughout the medieval period. Eames 1971 and Wood 1983 discuss the furnishing of the later medieval house, while Coatsworth 2007 indicates that comfort and elegance were provided by soft furnishings much earlier than might have been thought. The silk coffin furnishings catalogues in Carretero 1988 (cited under Shrine and Coffin Furnishings) give some idea of the domestic textiles available to royalty in 13th-century Spain.
  232.  
  233. Coatsworth, Elizabeth. “Cushioning Medieval Life: Domestic Textiles in Anglo-Saxon England.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 3 (2007): 1–12.
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  235. Discusses the documentary and visual sources, and archaeological evidence, for soft furnishings, a study not previously done for the pre-Conquest period in England.
  236. Find this resource:
  237. Eames, Penelope. “Documentary Evidence Concerning the Character and Use of Domestic Furnishings in England in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.” Furniture History 7 (1971): 41–57.
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  239. Uses wills and inventories to demonstrate the value of textiles, including bedding and hangings as portable wealth for the nobility and gentry.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Wood, Margaret. The English Medieval House. London: Bracken, 1983.
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  243. Chapter 31, “Interior Decoration,” includes a discussion of textile hangings in late medieval houses. First published in 1965.
  244. Find this resource:
  245. Shrine and Coffin Furnishings
  246.  
  247. Royal coffins might be lined with silk and the corpses laid on underquilts and pillows or cushions (Carretero 1988, Krag 2010). Other distinguished dead might have their heads resting on cushions decorated with labor-intensive workmanship (Coatsworth 2007, pp. 189–190, cited under Embroidery; Evans 2012).
  248.  
  249. Carretero, Concha Herrero. Museo de Telas Medievales: Monasterio de Santa María la Real de Huelgas. Madrid: Editorial Partimonio Nacional, 1988.
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  251. Catalogue of textiles from ten medieval royal tombs, all but one 13th century, one 14th; apart from garments, survivals include luxurious silk coffin linings, pillows, and a 13th-century banner. In Spanish.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Evans, Lisa. “Anomaly or Sole Survivor? The Imprunta Cushion and Early Italian ‘Patchwork.’” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 8 (2012): 133–154.
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  255. A linen cushion covered with geometric silk patchwork on the front and wool patchwork on the back was found under the head of Bishop Agli, who was buried in 1477. The author argues convincingly, on scientific and artistic grounds, that the cushion was contemporary with the bishop, not a later intrusion.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Krag, Anne Hedeager. Ørnetæppet og Andres Silkefund fra Knud den Helliges Helgenskrin i Odense Domkirke/The Eagle Silk and Other Silks in the Shrine of St. Canute in Odense Cathedral. Herning, Denmark: Poul Kristensens Forlag, 2010.
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  259. Medieval textiles from the shrine of the martyr-king Canute (1100) include a silk-covered underquilt, a peacock-silk-covered pillow, a thin purple silk that lined the shrine, and a magnificent eagle silk, origin disputed but possibly southern Italian. The shrine of his brother (c. 1125–1150) contained an underquilt and a pillow. In Danish and English.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. Other Uses of Textiles
  262.  
  263. Recent research on little-known items has shown how textiles were used for practical purposes that also enhanced and sometimes added to the mystery of religious experience. This last aspect is explored throughout Rudy and Baert 2007, with Schmidt 2007 and Sciacca 2007 contributing on different types of curtains. Textiles on and in books are examined in Muthesius 1978, Sciacca 2007, and Swales and Blatt 2007, while Sciacca 2010 explores a newly recognized art form: embroidered repairs in books.
  264.  
  265. Muthesius, Anna. “The Silk over the Spine of the Mondsee Gospel Lectionary.” Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 38 (1978): 51–73.
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  267. A study of a single manuscript that raised awareness of the practice of using precious textile on the spines of medieval books.
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  269. Rudy, Kathryn M., and Barbara Baert, eds. Weaving, Veiling, and Dressing: Textiles and Their Metaphors in the Late Middle Ages. Medieval Church Studies 12. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
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  271. An original approach to medieval textiles as they functioned in Christianity. A collection of twelve interdisciplinary essays grouped as “Weaving,” “Veiling,” and “Dressing” that examine the various roles of textiles, real and imagined, in, and in association with, art and text.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. Schmidt, Victor M. “Curtains, Revelatio, and Pictorial Reality in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy.” In Weaving, Veiling, and Dressing: Textiles and Their Metaphors in the Late Middle Ages. Medieval Church Studies 12. Edited by Kathryn M. Rudy and Barbara Baert, 191–213. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
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  275. Describes the practice of protecting panel paintings and altarpieces with curtains, arguing that some were normally concealed, and only revealed on special occasions. It discusses the many depictions of curtains in paintings, primarily in non-narrative religious works, arguing that the painted textiles belong to a repertoire of compositional devices contributing to the impact of the holy figure and also mediating between viewer and the sacred person.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Sciacca, Christine. “Raising the Curtain on the Use of Textiles in Manuscripts.” In Weaving, Veiling, and Dressing: Textiles and Their Metaphors in the Late Middle Ages. Medieval Church Studies 12. Edited by Kathryn M. Rudy and Barbara Baert, 161–190. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
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  279. Focuses on textile curtains stitched into books in front of entire illuminated pages and individual initials, especially those with gold or silver decoration. Discusses the protective function of the curtains, also the spiritual mystery of an image partially obscured by semitransparent veiling, and the dramatic effect on the reader of raising the curtain on an image normally concealed.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Sciacca, Christine. “Stitches, Sutures and Seams: ‘Embroidered’ Parchment Repairs in Medieval Manuscripts.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 6 (2010): 57–92.
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  283. Examines needlework additions to parchment pages that were naturally blemished, inconveniently shaped, or that had been cut to prevent buckling. A practical necessity, the technique was developed into an art form in central Switzerland and southwest Germany, especially at Engelberg, Weingarten, and Interlaken. Includes a catalogue of surviving examples.
  284. Find this resource:
  285. Swales, Lois, and Heather Blatt. “Tiny Textiles Hidden in Books: Towards a Categorization of Multiple-Strand Bookmarkers.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 3 (2007): 145–179.
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  287. Twenty-seven extant examples (from the 12th to 18th centuries) are listed, and examples of artworks showing multiple-strand bookmarkers are listed. The authors offer a terminology for the individual parts of bookmarkers and a classification of the textile techniques used in them. The datable contexts of the books in which they are found are discussed.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. Archaeological Textiles
  290.  
  291. Textiles survive only in exceptional circumstances: permanently frozen conditions (see Northern Europe); very dry conditions not generally found in Europe (but common in Egypt); very wet conditions, such as bogs (Hald 1980, cited under Northern Europe), crannogs, and low-lying urban sites (Crowfoot, et al. 2001; Walton 1989; both cited under British Isles); partial burning or charring; and anaerobic conditions such as enclosure in a sealed tomb. Soil conditions can affect textile preservation, with acidity conducive to survival. The presence of metal is also a positive factor, with animal fibers particularly associated with iron and vegetal with copper alloy, and to a lesser extent, silver. Textiles touching metal may be preserved in the corrosion products or replaced by them, surviving only in a mineralized state. Unique conditions in the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo ship burial (Crowfoot 1983, cited under British Isles) and the Oseberg, Norway, ship burial (Christensen and Nockert 2006, cited under Northern Europe) have led to particularly good preservation of organic materials, including textiles. Conditions of survival are explained in Wild 1988 and outlined as a necessary preliminary to discussion of finds of archaeological textiles in several works (e.g., Coatsworth and Owen-Crocker 2007, Crowfoot 1983, both cited under British Isles). The North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles volumes (cited under Collections of Essays) and the Archaeological Textiles Newsletter (cited under Journals) are dedicated to the topic. In Walton 2007 (cited under British Isles), the evidence of textiles is archaeological, taken from a selection of sites.
  292.  
  293. Wild, John Peter. Textiles in Archaeology. Shire Archaeology. Princes Risborough, UK: Shire, 1988.
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  295. A brief introduction to archaeological textiles in Britain and Europe from the neolithic to medieval periods, dealing with fibers, tools, and techniques.
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  297. British Isles
  298.  
  299. The majority of surviving items are from England. The one example from Wales (Granger-Taylor and Pritchard 2001) is a unique embroidered garment. An unusually large textile surviving from Ireland (Heckett 2004) was probably a luxury cloth. Many textile fragments that survived in furnished graves have been analyzed and published in archaeological reports. These, and other references for textiles up to 1100, are collected in Coatsworth and Owen-Crocker 2007. The Anglo-Saxon material in particular is exploited in books on cloth and dress (Owen-Crocker 2004, cited under Textbooks). Substantial urban finds from London and York are among the most important in Europe (Crowfoot, et al. 2001; Walton 1989). Other important sources include Crowfoot 1983, Walton Rogers 1997, and Walton Rogers 2007.
  300.  
  301. Coatsworth, Elizabeth, and Gale R. Owen-Crocker. Medieval Textiles of the British Isles AD 450–1100: An Annotated Bibliography. British Archaeological Reports, British Series 445. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2007.
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  303. A list of all known publications on textiles, and many on textile-making tools, for the period up to 2005 (see Bibliographies). Most of the textiles are excavated, most from cemeteries, others from occupation sites. Many of the items listed had been rather obscurely published in appendices to archaeological reports.
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  305. Crowfoot, Elisabeth. “The Textiles.” In The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. Vol. 3, Late Roman and Byzantine Silver, Hanging-Bowls, Drinking Vessels, Cauldrons and Other Containers, Textiles, the Lyre, Pottery Bottle and Other Items. Edited by Angela Care Evans (gen. ed.) and Rupert Bruce-Mitford (vol. ed.), 404–479. London: The British Museum, 1983.
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  307. A general account of Anglo-Saxon textiles, introducing finds from the high-status ship burial found in 1939, including soft furnishings, probable clothing, tapes, and matting. Also covers the 1938 Sutton Hoo finds, and textiles from prestigious barrow burials at Broomfield, Essex and Taplow, Buckinghamshire.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Crowfoot, Elisabeth, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland. Textiles and Clothing, c. 1150–c. 1450. Medieval Finds from Excavations in London 4. 2d ed. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2001.
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  311. Established London as unparalleled source of archaeological textiles from urban environments. Contents: brief accounts of the excavations and textile-making techniques; excavated material according to fiber: wool, goat hair, linen, silk, and mixed cloths; narrow wares, most discussions accompanied by selected catalogues; sewing techniques and tailoring; appendix by Penelope Walton on dyes; concordance linking textiles discussed to sites, catalogue numbers, dates, and technical details; and a short glossary.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Granger-Taylor, Hero, and Frances Pritchard. “A Fine Quality Insular Embroidery from Llan-gors Crannóg, Near Brecon.” In Pattern and Purpose in Insular Art: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference in Insular Art Held at the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff, 3–6 September 1988. Edited by Mark Redknap, N. Edwards, S. Youngs, et al., 90–99. Oxford: Oxbow, 2001.
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  315. Publication of a fragment of a linen garment embroidered in silk with stylized motifs including animals, birds, a vinescroll, and geometric designs, preserved by having been carbonized (in a fire) and then deposited in water. Early 10th century, from the presumed stronghold of Brecananmere, destroyed 916 in a conflict between the Welsh and Anglo-Saxons under Æthelflæd, “Lady of the Mercians.”
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Heckett, Elizabeth Wincott. “A Tenth Century Cloth from Bogstown Co, Meath.” Paper presented at the Eighth North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles, 8–10 May 2002. In Priceless Invention of Humanity: Textiles. Edited by Jerzy Maik, 95–99. Acta Archaeologica Lodziensia 50/1. Lodz, Poland: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 2004.
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  319. Discusses a white wool textile now 100 cm D 113 cm, originally larger; carbon dated to the 10th century, pile woven with curls, and originally decorated with metal mounts arranged between the curls. Suggests it was a cloak, with the pattern focused on the back, a rare and precious Irish cloth, possibly used on ceremonial religious occasions.
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  321. Walton, Penelope. Textiles, Cordage and Raw Fibre from 16–22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York 17.5. London: Council for British Archaeology for the York Archaeological Trust, 1989.
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  323. Established York as a major source of archaeological textiles from urban environments in northwestern Europe. Mostly dating to the mid-9th to mid-11th centuries, the Anglo-Scandinavian (“Viking”) period, plus mid-11th- to 14th-century material. Discusses textile—wool, vegetable fiber, and silk, with one example of gold thread now lacking its fiber core—yarn, rope, and raw animal fiber. Special attention is given a nålebinding sock, a silk pouch, and a silk cap.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Walton Rogers, Penelope. Textile Production at 16–22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York: The Small Finds 17.11. York, UK: The Council for British Archaeology for the York Archaeological Trust, 1997.
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  327. Innovative book relating to tools and raw materials of textile production excavated from Coppergate, York, UK, chiefly 9th to 15th century but including earlier and later items. It describes tools and parts of tools in detail and examines the social and economic implications of the finds in the context of York’s commercial history. There is a select catalogue of items mentioned and illustrated, and a concordance giving catalogue information for other artifacts.
  328. Find this resource:
  329. Walton Rogers, Penelope. Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England, AD 450–700. CBA Research Report 145. York, UK: Council for British Archaeology, 2007.
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  331. Innovative book by a leading expert in archaeological textiles, generously illustrated, covering textile production and main cloth types attested by archaeology, as well as issues connected specifically with dress. Despite the regional and chronological limitation suggested by the title, comparative evidence is given for a wide range of place and times.
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  333. Eastern Europe
  334.  
  335. English-language treatments of textiles in eastern Europe are uncommon. There is an overview in Bender Jørgensen 2003.
  336.  
  337. Bender Jørgensen, Lise. “Textile Industries of the Early Medieval World to AD 1000: The Balts, the Slavs and the Avars.” In The Cambridge History of Western Textiles. Edited by David Jenkins, 138–140. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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  339. Treatment of textiles from eastern Europe, by an author well able to compare the material with western European weaves and dress.
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  341. Northern Europe
  342.  
  343. The study of archaeological textiles has a distinguished history in Scandinavia, with Bender Jørgensen 1992 and Bender Jørgensen 2003 publishing the results of a long-term research project. Some important sites have yielded major textile finds, and in some cases work on them is ongoing or has been revisited. Peat bogs have yielded entire garments (Hald 1980); the Oseberg ship burial contained furnishings, clothing, and textile-making equipment (Christensen and Nockert 2006); Migration Age burials (Nöckert 1991); and the Viking Age cemetery of Birka (Geijer 1938, Geijer 1983) have yielded some detailed information about clothing and the textiles it was made of.
  344.  
  345. Bender Jørgensen, Lise. North European Textiles until AD 1000. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 1992.
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  347. A catalogue of textiles and survey of textile production from the Hallstatt era (the last millennium BC to Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon periods with considerable archaeological textiles content). See Reference Works.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Bender Jørgensen, Lise. “Textile Industries of the Early Medieval World to AD 1000: Scandinavia, AD 400–1000.” In The Cambridge History of Western Textiles. Edited by David Jenkins, 132–138. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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  351. Identifies a similarity in textiles throughout Scandinavia AD 400–600, though Norway had greater variety of wools; discusses Migration Period tablet-woven bands; identifies innovations c. AD 550/600; and discusses clothing from Birka and the harbor at Hedeby, Germany.
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  353. Christensen, Arne Emil, and Margareta Nockert. Osebergfunnet. Vol. 4, Tekstilene. Oslo, Norway: Kulturhistorisk Museum, 2006.
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  355. Contributions written over several decades, from the 1930s onward, on textiles from the Viking Age Oseberg ship burial. Includes the pictorial tapestry, furnishing fabrics, dress, and utilitarian textiles with special studies on tablet weaves and silks. In Norwegian with English summary.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Geijer, Agnes. Birka 3: Die Textilfunde aus den Grabern. Uppsala, Sweden: Kungl Vitterhets Historie de Antikvitets Akademien, 1938.
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  359. Influential book on textiles from the Viking cemetery at Birka, Sweden, which includes techniques with fibers, gold- and silver-work on textiles and as independent decorations, conclusions about dress, and a register of graves.
  360. Find this resource:
  361. Geijer, Agnes. “The Textile Finds from Birka.” In Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe. Edited by Negley B. Harte and Kenneth G. Ponting, 80–99. London: Heinemann, 1983.
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  363. Re-examination of textile issues arising from the Viking Age cemetery at Birka, including the terms pallium fresonicum and haberget. The author suggests many of the clothing materials were imported, originating variously from Syria, a Slavonic area, probably Kiev, possibly China and Byzantium.
  364. Find this resource:
  365. Hald, Margrethe. Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials: A Comparative Study of Costume and Iron Age Textiles. Publications of the National Museum of Denmark Archaeological-Historical Series 21 (in English). Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark, 1980.
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  367. A detailed study of Scandinavian textiles from the Bronze Age through to the 14th century, indispensable for its own area and as a source of comparative material for other European areas of the same periods, especially as fibers, their processing through to weaving, applied decoration such as embroidery, and construction, especially of dress, are looked at in some detail for every item where available. Translated from Danish.
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  369. Nöckert, Margareta. The Högom Find and Other Migration Period Textiles and Costumes in Scandinavia. Umeå, Sweden: Department of Archaeology, University of Umeå, 1991.
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  371. Account of a male, Migration Age grave from Högom, Sweden. Survival of textiles in well-preserved colors enabled reconstruction of clothing, including decorated tablet-woven bands. Includes catalogue of Roman Iron Age/Migration Period textiles from Sweden and Migration Age textiles associated with clasps.
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  373. Techniques and Tools
  374.  
  375. Medieval techniques have been painstakingly researched by analysis of extant examples, occasionally helped by pattern books such as the one examined in Benns 2007 (cited under Nonloom Techniques). Medieval tools rarely survive, because most were made of wood. Those that do survive are often incomplete or damaged and require recognition by comparison with artworks or modern examples from nonindustrialized societies. Documentary sources may identify production centers for specific goods, such as Paris (see Textile Trade).
  376.  
  377. Nonloom Techniques
  378.  
  379. Narrow wares, such as points, laces, tapes, and belts were often made by looping and braiding techniques such as fingerloop braiding, the manufacture of braids made entirely on the fingers of one or two persons (Benns 2007, Benns and Barrett 2000); nålebinding, a technique using a needle and the fingers of one hand (Hansen 1990a); and tablet weaving (Hansen 1990b). Tablet-woven bands were often brocaded in filé thread of gold or silver gilt (Spies 2000). Knudsen 2004 uses the errors in tablet-woven braids in an attempt to discover how designs were transmitted. Knitting, which is often difficult to distinguish archaeologically from other techniques, was used for luxury products in silk and for woolen caps (Rutt 1987).
  380.  
  381. Benns, Elizabeth. “‘Sette on Yowre Hondys’: Fifteenth-Century Instructions for Fingerloop Braiding.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 3 (2007): 135–144.
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  383. Concerns instructions for making forty laces in the technique now called fingerloop braiding, contained in manuscript London, British Library Harley 2320. The article compares similar texts, categorizes the patterns described, and compares them with archaeological finds. It concludes that the text was likely to have been written for a woman of the merchant or gentry class. One example of braiding instructions, and some diagrams, are included in the article.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. Benns, Elizabeth, and Gina Barrett. Fingerloop Braids. Billesdon, UK: Soper Lane, 2000.
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  387. Elucidates a nonloom technique that employs the fingers of both hands, and sometimes two people.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Hansen, Egon H. “Nalebinding: Definition and Description.” In Textiles in Northern Archaeology: NESAT III, Textile Symposium in York 6–9 May 1987. Edited by Penelope Walton and John Peter Wild, 21–27. London: Archetype, 1990a.
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  391. Elucidates a nonloom textile technique that uses a needle, the fingers of one hand, and short lengths of thread.
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  393. Hansen, Egon H. Tablet Weaving: History, Techniques, Colours, Patterns. Højbjerg, Denmark: Hovedland, 1990b.
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  395. Analyzes many medieval tablet-woven bands and gives patterns for them.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Knudsen, Lise Raeder. “Written Patterns in Early Tablet Weaving.” Paper presented at the Eighth North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles, 8–10 May 2002. In Priceless Invention of Humanity: Textiles. Edited by Jerzy Maik, 121–127. Acta Archaeologica Lodziensia 50/1. Lodz, Poland: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 2004.
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  399. Examines mistakes in patterning of extant tablet woven bands to distinguish between “observation defects”—misreading the pattern while weaving—and “pattern defects” relating to misreading a “recipe.”
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  401. Rutt, Richard. A History of Hand Knitting. London: B. T. Batsford, 1987.
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  403. Knitting is defined as opposed to other techniques such as nålebinding and sprang. Examples discussed include knitted cushions from 13th-century royal tombs in Spain. Follows Kirsty Buckland in suggesting the first items knitted in England were probably caps, as documented, although the earliest surviving examples appear to be 16th century. Discusses paintings showing the Virgin Mary knitting.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Spies, Nancy. Ecclesiastical Pomp and Aristocratic Circumstance: A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tabletwoven Bands. Jarrettsville, MD: Arelate Studio, 2000.
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  407. A history of brocaded tablet-woven bands from the 6th to the 16th centuries, focusing on where and when they were woven, their uses, technical information, and designs of surviving examples. Includes detailed patterns.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Loom Weaving
  410.  
  411. The medieval loom that leaves clear archaeological evidence is the warp-weighted type. The standard work on this loom is Hoffmann 1964.
  412.  
  413. Hoffmann, Marta. The Warp-Weighted Loom: Studies in the History and Technology of an Ancient Implement. Studia Norvegica No. 14. Oslo, Norway: Universitetsforlaget, 1964.
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  415. Classic text on a type of vertical loom attested archaeologically by finds of its characteristic weights, known from 3000 BC in Asia Minor and the Middle East, and particularly important in early medieval and Viking Age western Europe. Includes practical experiments with surviving exponents of weaving on this loom from western Norway and Lappish areas of Norway and Finland.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Tools
  418.  
  419. Material includes finds from modern excavations of specific towns or locations (Brown 1990, Walton Rogers 1997) and surveys of long-term archaeological finds (FitzGerald 2000, Sherman 2008).
  420.  
  421. Brown, D. “Weaving Tools.” In Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester. Vol. 1. Edited by Martin Biddle, 225–232. Oxford: Clarendon, 1990.
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  423. Includes limited evidence for the use of the warp-weighted loom and bone tools believed to have been associated with the two-beam loom.
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  425. FitzGerald, Maria A. “Textile Production in Prehistoric and Early Medieval Ireland.” 5 vols. PhD diss., Manchester Metropolitan University, 2000.
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  427. One volume of historical background to textile production from c. 400 to the Viking Age, examining evidence (from archaeology and early Irish literature and also from some late-continuing practices recorded in more modern times) for fibers, processing, and the significance of textiles in Irish society. Four volumes of fully illustrated catalogue of textile tools up to c. 1000.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Sherman, Heidi. “From Flax to Linen in the Medieval Rus Lands.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 4 (2008): 1–20.
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  431. Uses documentary evidence for flax and linen, ethnographic reconstruction of medieval processes, and archaeological finds of textiles and implements from Staria Lodoga, to present a survey of medieval Russian linen production.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Walton Rogers, Penelope. Textile Production at 16–22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York The Small Finds 17.11. York, UK: The Council for British Archaeology for the York Archaeological Trust, 1997.
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  435. Based largely on archaeological finds of implements and textiles at Coppergate, York, a survey that suggests chronological change and technological developments. Includes a select catalogue.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Cotton
  438.  
  439. First used in western Europe as padding for quilted protective garments, cotton as thread seems to have been used in Italy from the 12th century, and cotton cloth was in the British Isles by the 13th century. The definitive book on the subject is focused on Italy (Mazzaoui 1981). There is a short discussion of the topic in Bamford, et al. 2012.
  440.  
  441. Bamford, Debbie, Mark Chambers, and Elizabeth Coatsworth. “Cotton.” In Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles: c. 450–1450. Edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Maria Hayward, 151–154. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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  443. Covers the cultivation and processing of cotton, evidence for trade in medieval Europe, and the uses of cotton in medieval England, in the latter case using both the rare evidence from surviving garments and that from documentary sources (mainly for cotton wool). Concludes with an analysis of some ambiguous terms and problems occasioned by variations in naming.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Mazzaoui, Maureen Fennell. The Italian Cotton Industry in the Later Middle Ages, 1100–1600. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
  446. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511897009Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. Describes the processes necessary for preparing cotton, the history of the Mediterranean cotton industry, and the sources of raw material.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Linen
  450.  
  451. A vegetable fiber that could be either coarse or very fine, linen was prized for undergarments because it was washable. It does not survive as well as wool in the archaeological context of northern Europe but is attested by many small fragments of Archaeological Textiles. An early medieval example of great interest is the fragmentary garment from Llan-Gors, Wales (Granger-Taylor and Pritchard 2001, cited under Archaeological Textiles: British Isles). The techniques of linen production are well understood and there are many finds of tools (FitzGerald 2000, Sherman 2008, both cited under Techniques and Tools: Tools). FitzGerald 2012 provides a summary.
  452.  
  453. FitzGerald, Maria. “Linen.” In Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles: c. 450–1450. Edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Maria Hayward, 325–329. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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  455. Examines the uses of linen, its preparation, and tools and survivals from the British Isles.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Silk
  458.  
  459. Silk was a precious commodity, documented as a prized possession in wills and inventories (Dunlevy 2011) and depicted in art (Monnas 2008). Originally a closely guarded secret and confined to China, silk was initially imported into western Europe from Asia, then from Byzantium (Muthesius 1997, cited under Museum and Other Catalogues). The later medieval period saw the rise of the silk industry in Italy and Spain (Meek 2011, cited under Textile Trade, and Muthesius 1997, cited under Museum and Other Catalogues). Good historical and technical guidance related to the Paris Cluny collection is given in Desrosiers 2004, which is especially informative on Islamic textiles. Von Folsach and Bernsted 1993 (cited under Islamic Silks) is also instructive in the context of an exhibition collection.
  460.  
  461. Desrosiers, Sophie. Soieries et autres textiles de l’Antiquité au XVIe siècle: Catalogue du Musée National du Moyen Âge Thermes de Cluny. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2004.
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  463. Two hundred sixty-six items from the Cluny collection, up to the 16th century but including some modern copies. A technical/historical introduction; detailed technical and iconographic descriptions and bibliographies. Divided by textile types: simple and tapestry weaves and complex weaves (brocades, samites, lampas). Origins include Near and Middle East, Spain, and Italy.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Dunlevy, Mairead. Pomp and Poverty: A History of Silk in Ireland. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2011.
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  467. The first chapter covers literary references and documentary sources attesting to silks owned by medieval Irish people, including wills and inventories, accounts, and records of taxes on imported luxury cloths; and archaeological evidence from Cork, Dublin, and Waterford, for imported cloths and locally made “narrow wares.” The second discusses and illustrates imported late-15th- and early-16th-century vestments.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Monnas, Lisa. Merchants, Princes, and Painters: Silk Fabrics in Italian and Northern Paintings, 1300–1550. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2008.
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  471. Examines evidence of silk fabrics depicted in paintings from Italy, England, and the Netherlands to classify the textiles, and discuss their social and economic importance. Also considers painters’ use of textiles as props, and the input of painters to the design of the silks.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Byzantine Silks
  474.  
  475. Various aspects considered in Muthesius 1997 (cited under Museum and Other Catalogues) and in Muthesius 1995, otherwise chiefly discussed in catalogues of exhibitions dedicated to the wider theme of Byzantine culture (Baumstark 1998, Evans and Wixom 1997, Lafontaine-Dosogne 1982). Byzantine textiles, mostly fragments, survive from many European tombs.
  476.  
  477. Baumstark, Reinhold, ed. Rom und Byzanz: Schatzkammerstücke aus bayerischen Sammlungen. Munich: Hirmer, 1998.
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  479. Catalogue of early medieval pieces from Bavarian treasuries and museums including important early textiles; silks from Byzantium, Syria, Persia, or Spain, including one used in a book binding (nos. 24, 25, 42, 64); and vestments.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Evans, Helen C., and William D. Wixom, eds. 1997. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture in the Middle Byzantine Era, AD 843–1261. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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  483. Accompanied an exhibition focusing on the second great era of Byzantine culture, and Byzantium’s international relations. Items 148–150 are fragments of luxurious Byzantine silks; 269–271 Islamic and Eastern Mediterranean silk fragments; and 344 Byzantine or Sicilo-Byzantine with pseudo-Kufic inscriptions. Also illustrates (p. 406) a 9th-century Constantinople silk of Sassanian inspiration.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Lafontaine-Dosogne, Jacqueline. Splendeur de Byzance. Brussels: Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire Bruxelles, 1982.
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  487. Exhibition catalogue containing sections on silk textiles (pp. 205–219; fifteen pieces, 7th to 12th century, including an unusual painted silk depiction of St. Just from the Cattedrale San Giusto, Trieste, Italy) and gold embroideries (pp. 220–224; three total, one 14th century and the other two 16th century).
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Muthesius, Anna. Studies in Byzantine and Islamic Silk Weaving. London: Pindar, 1995.
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  491. Twenty previously published papers covering the silk industry, cultural aspects of the silk trade, and individual surviving silks.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Islamic Silks
  494.  
  495. Islamic/Muslim are cultural rather than religious labels in this context. Textiles were important possessions in the Islamic world, as attested by the sources cited in Serjeant 1972 and the primary text translated in Al-Qaddūmī 1996. They were also imported into Europe and copied there. Catalogues of world-famous collections (Desrosiers 2004, Von Folsach and Bernsted 1993) include sociocultural information as well as technical details.
  496.  
  497. Al-Qaddūmī, Ghāda al Hijjāwī. Book of Gifts and Rarities (Kitāb al Hadāyā wa al Tuhaf): Selections Compiled in the Fifteenth Century from an Eleventh-Century Manuscript on Gifts and Treasures. Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs 29. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.
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  499. Translation of an Arabic text enumerating precious possessions and gifts, mostly between Moslems but including presents from Byzantium, China, and India. Precious textiles include clothing, tents, saddlecloths, and blinkers (for horses, camels, and a giraffe); the costumes of a Byzantine emperor are described.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Desrosiers, Sophie. Soieries et autres textiles de l’Antiquité au XVIe siècle: Catalogue du Musée National du Moyen Âge Thermes de Cluny. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2004.
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  503. Includes Islamic textiles from the Near and Middle East and specifically from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Spain, and possibly Morocco. Inscriptions on tiraz textiles are transcribed and translated (into French) and there is a list of Arabic characters, their transcriptions, and sound values.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Serjeant, R. B. Islamic Textiles: Material for a History up to the Mongol Conquest. Beirut, Lebanon: Librairie du Liban, 1972.
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  507. A geographically arranged survey of Islamic textiles AD 600–1300 from translated documentary sources, with useful maps.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Von Folsach, Kjeld, and Anne-Marie Keblow Bernsted. Woven Treasures: Textiles from the World of Islam. Copenhagen: David Collection, 1993.
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  511. Detailed discussion of historical and cultural contexts of Islamic textiles; methods and problems of dating and localization, including contentious issues like forced movement of skilled workers and pseudo-inscriptions; and weaving methods; with diagrams, map and historical chart. Accompanying a catalogue of fifty-four 7th/8th- to 19th-century textiles from three Danish collections.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Wool
  514.  
  515. Many discussions of wool are to be found in the context of appendices to articles reporting on Archaeological Textiles or in the context of economics and trade (see Textile Trade). Christiansen 2012 gives a short technical survey, and the two main types of wool cloth, worsteds and woolens, are discussed in Munro and Owen-Crocker 2012 and Owen-Crocker 2012, respectively. Pedersen and Nosch 2009 (cited under Collections of Essays) is an important survey of wool, specifically broadcloth (manufacturing processes, trade, terminology), throughout northern Europe.
  516.  
  517. Christiansen, Carol. “Wool.” In Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles: c. 450–1450. Edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Maria Hayward, 637–642. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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  519. Describes the breeds of sheep, types of wool, and the processing of it in the British Isles in medieval times.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Munro, John, and Gale R. Owen-Crocker. “Worsted.” In Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles: c. 450–1450. Edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Maria Hayward, 653–654. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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  523. A brief history of the wool cloth called worsted and its characteristics.
  524. Find this resource:
  525. Owen-Crocker, Gale R. “Woollens.” In Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles: c. 450–1450. Edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Maria Hayward, 652–653. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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  527. A brief description of the techniques that produced the cloths called woolens, and their economic importance in the later Middle Ages.
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  529. Embroidery
  530.  
  531. The gold- or silver-gilt embroidery known as opus anglicanum was highly prized in the later Middle Ages for secular uses as well as ecclesiastical, though most of the surviving examples are ecclesiastical. The 10th-century embroideries found among the relics of St. Cuthbert demonstrate that the technique of gold and silk embroidery on silk was already well established in England long before the technique became famous and widely popular among the élite of western Europe. Embroidery in more modest materials survives from as early as the 6th century, despite its organic composition; the sixty-eight-meter Bayeux Tapestry, which is wool embroidery on linen, is the most famous example. In addition to the titles listed in this section, see King 1963 (cited under Exhibition Catalogues); Brel-Bordaz 1982, Ivy 1997, and Ingram 2007 (all cited under Museum and Other Catalogues); and Staniland 1991 (cited under Textile Workers). Christie 1938 and Schuette and Müller-Christensen 1964 are still valuable surveys, though more discoveries have been made and more research done since their publication: see Budny and Tweddle 1985, Coatsworth 2005, and Coatsworth 2007. The essays on embroideries in Battiscombe 1956 remain authoritative. King and Levey 1993 is a guide to England’s major collection of medieval embroideries.
  532.  
  533. Battiscombe, C. F., ed. The Relics of Saint Cuthbert. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956.
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  535. Important in this context are Elizabeth Plenderleith on the techniques of the 10th-century embroidered stole, maniple, and the reversible object known as “Maniple II,” from the tomb of St. Cuthbert at Durham Cathedral; all silk and gold embroideries on silk ground; and essays by Christopher Hohler on the iconography and R. Freyan on their art historical context.
  536. Find this resource:
  537. Budny, Mildred, and Dominic Tweddle. “The Maaseik Embroideries.” Anglo-Saxon England 13 (1985): 65–96.
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  539. Discusses eight embroideries, part of a composite vestment associated with Saints Harlindis and Relindis, now at Maaseik, Belgium, formerly at Aldeneik, suggesting they are southern English work of the late 8th to early 9th century. Includes an account of early medieval English embroidery. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  540. Find this resource:
  541. Christie, A. G. I. English Medieval Embroidery. Oxford: Clarendon, 1938.
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  543. Dated but still the most comprehensive, and influential, study of English embroidery, from the early 10th century to the late 14th, cataloguing 107 items, illustrated by 159 plates. Pre-Conquest material restricted to the stole and maniples from the tomb of St. Cuthbert but coverage of opus anglicanum has never been superseded.
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Coatsworth, Elizabeth. “Stitches in Time: Establishing a History of Anglo-Saxon Embroidery.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 1 (2005): 1–27.
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  547. Particularly useful for its list of known western European embroideries from the 6th to the 11th centuries. Suggests that some examples surviving from other countries may have been English work.
  548. Find this resource:
  549. Coatsworth, Elizabeth. “Text and Textile.” In Text, Image, Interpretation: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Its Insular Context in Honour of Éamonn Ó Carragáin. Studies in the Early Middle Ages 18. Edited by Alastair Minnis and Jane Roberts, 187–207. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
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  551. A discussion of the uses, interpretation, and social significance of inscriptions on early medieval, mainly embroidered textiles, mainly vestments, grave furnishings, and hangings.
  552. Find this resource:
  553. King, Donald, and Santina Levey. The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Textile Collection: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1993.
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  555. English embroidery from the 9th (Maaseik, not illustrated) to the end of the 15th century briefly introduced by King. Some of the earliest examples illustrated are not in the Victoria and Albert collection. No detailed catalogue but a list of 123 plates, nos. 1–21 of which illustrate eighteen textiles from the 10th to the end of the 15th century.
  556. Find this resource:
  557. Schuette, Marie, and Sigrid Müller-Christensen. The Art of Embroidery. Translated by Donald King. London: Thames & Hudson, 1964.
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  559. Catalogue of 464, mainly West European, embroideries from the 4th to the 12th centuries, important for the breadth of its coverage. First published in German. Tübingen, Germany: Wasmuth, 1963.
  560. Find this resource:
  561. The Bayeux Tapestry
  562.  
  563. An 11th-century embroidery, the so-called Bayeux Tapestry, is the largest surviving medieval textile. It is on public exhibition in Bayeux, France. Because the Bayeux Tapestry has a dedicated bibliography (Brown 1988, Brown 2004, both cited under Bibliographies), the list here is confined to facsimiles and a few important recent works. The technical studies published in Bouet, et al. 2004 (cited under Recent Scholarship), following the hands-on examination of the embroidery in pp. 220–223, rendered out of date most previous publications relating to the textile and its embroidery.
  564.  
  565. Facsimiles
  566.  
  567. Stenton’s black-and-white facsimile (Stenton 1965) remains important for its essays, though the color plates of Wilson 2004 are usually cited in British and American publications. French scholars generally use Musset (Musset 2005). The digital edition (Foys 2003) is the only facsimile not interrupted by page divisions. Lewis’s numbered and tagged version (Lewis 2005) provides a useful reference tool.
  568.  
  569. Foys, Martin K. The Bayeux Tapestry: Digital Edition. Leicester, UK: Scholarly Digital Editions, 2003.
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  571. Scroll-along color facsimile accompanied by description, commentary, facsimiles of the Stothard and Monfaucon copies, and translations and commentaries on medieval comparative material. Invaluable research resource.
  572. Find this resource:
  573. Lewis, Michael John. The Archaeological Authority of the Bayeux Tapestry. BAR British Series 404. Oxford: John and Erica Hedges, 2005.
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  575. Includes a complete black-and-white facsimile on which figures, buildings, ships, animals, vegetation, and trees are numbered.
  576. Find this resource:
  577. Musset, Lucien. The Bayeux Tapestry. Translated by Richard Rex. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell and Brewer, 2005.
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  579. Complete small-scale color facsimile at the opening of the book and at the tops of pages. Complete facsimile also in larger scale one-page plates, accompanied by description and commentary that includes illustrations of comparative material. First published in French as La Tapisserie de Bayeux. Paris: Editions Zodiaque, 2002.
  580. Find this resource:
  581. Stenton, Sir Frank. The Bayeux Tapestry: A Comprehensive Survey. 2d ed. London: Phaidon, 1965.
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  583. Black-and-white facsimile plus color plates. Articles on historical background (Stenton), style and design (Francis Wormald), technique and production (George Wingfield Digby), arms and armor (Sir James Mann), costumes (James L. Nevinson), architecture (R. Allen Brown, added for second edition), history (Simone Bertrand), commentary on plates (Charles H. Gibbs-Smith), and inscriptions (Wormald). Essential research resource. Originally published in 1957.
  584. Find this resource:
  585. Wilson, David M. The Bayeux Tapestry: The Complete Tapestry in Color. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.
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  587. Color facsimile in large book format, each plate a double-page spread; with introduction, description, and commentary. Originally published in 1985.
  588. Find this resource:
  589. Recent Scholarship
  590.  
  591. Included here are some opposing views on where the tapestry was designed and made: Normandy, its present home (Grape 1994); the Loire region of France (Beech 2005); or England, specifically Canterbury (represented by the useful monograph Bernstein 1986). Recent books of essays indicate the multidirectional nature of the Bayeux Tapestry research industry: Bouet, et al. 2004; Foys, et al. 2009; and Lewis, et al. 2011. Hicks 2007 takes the history of the Bayeux Tapestry into modern dangers and rescues.
  592.  
  593. Beech, George. Was the Bayeux Tapestry Made in France? The Case for Saint-Florent of Saumur. The New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
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  595. Argues for manufacture in the Loire region of France on the basis of the tapestry designer’s familiarity with Brittany and its wars, because the abbot of Saint-Florent at Saumur was of the Breton ruling class. The theory has not displaced current favoring of England as the most likely candidate for design.
  596. Find this resource:
  597. Bernstein, David J. The Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry. London: Guild, 1986.
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  599. Though the author’s theory about Old Testament influence on the tapestry has not received general acceptance, this book is valuable for its well-illustrated accounts of its sources, styles, and evidence for English, probably Canterbury, design.
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  601. Bouet, Pierre, Brian Levy, and François Neveux, eds. The Bayeux Tapestry: Embroidering the Facts of History. Proceedings of the Cerisy Colloquium 1999. Caen, France: Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2004.
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  603. Major publication with an introduction, twenty-two essays, and a conclusion. Divided into historiography; textile—publishing the research of the scientific investigation, which took place in 1982–1983; source studies; the tapestry as documentary evidence; and the tapestry as art; plus an updated bibliography (Brown 2004, cited under Bibliographies). Published simultaneously in French as La tapisserie de Bayeux: L’art de broder l’histoire; actes du colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle.
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  605. Foys, Martin, Karen Overbey, and Dan Terkla, eds. The Bayeux Tapestry: New Interpretations. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell and Brewer, 2009.
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  607. Papers originating in a Yale seminar, further developed in a Leeds congress and a London conference. The volume consists of an introduction, ten essays—theoretical, visual, and historiographical—and a select bibliography by Dan Terkla.
  608. Find this resource:
  609. Grape, Wolfgang. The Bayeux Tapestry: Monument to a Norman Triumph. Translated from German by David Britt. Munich and New York: Prestel, 1994.
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  611. Argues for a Norman origin on iconographical grounds—a view that has not, however, withstood the prevailing consensus in favor of an English one on iconographical and other grounds.
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  613. Hicks, Carola. The Bayeux Tapestry: The Life Story of a Masterpiece. London: Vintage, 2007.
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  615. Discusses the conception and patronage of the tapestry (with a new theory concerning Queen Edith); rediscovery in the 18th century; rescue from destruction during the French Revolution; propaganda uses by Napoleon in the 19th century; English interest and copying of it; and Nazi attempts to appropriate it during World War II. Originally published in 2006.
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  617. Lewis, Michael J., Gale R. Owen-Crocker, and Dan Terkla, eds. The Bayeux Tapestry: New Approaches; Proceedings of a Conference at the British Museum. Oxford: Oxbow, 2011.
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  619. Nineteen papers, and abstracts of four others, from a major international conference on the Bayeux Tapestry held at the British Museum, London, in 2008. Generously illustrated in black and white and color with Lewis’s tagged and numbered facsimile of the whole tapestry (see Facsimiles).
  620. Find this resource:
  621. Tapestry
  622.  
  623. The word “tapestry” can be applied to a weaving technique or to a textile hanging, including hangings not made in this technique (such as the Bayeux Tapestry). The technique was probably transmitted to Europe from the Near East, and some of the earliest examples in Europe may have been imports (Coatsworth 2012). Becoming popular for furnishings in the 14th century, tapestries were manufactured in various places, including London, but the most famous production centers were Paris and Arras in France. In the 16th century, Flanders took over as the leading area for production. A unique insight into how tapestries were designed is provided in Kane 2010. Some of the most famous surviving tapestries are the six-panel Lady and the Unicorn in the Cluny Museum (Erlande-Brandenburg 1989, Musée National du Moyen-Age) and the largest surviving example, the Apocalypse Tapestry at Angers (Delwasse 2007). In England, the Victoria and Albert Museum has an extensive collection, including the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries (V&A Gothic), and other interesting collections can be found in the French Chateau of Saumur, in the Loire (Castle of Saumur), and the Cloisters Museum in New York (Cavallo 1993).
  624.  
  625. The Castle of Saumur.
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  627. The French chateau of Saumur, famous for a horse museum, also has an extensive collection of 15th- and 16th-century tapestries.
  628. Find this resource:
  629. Cavallo, Adolfo Salvatore. Medieval Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993.
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  631. The New York collection, housed in the Cloisters Museum, includes the Nine Heroes Tapestry and a seven-panel Unicorn Tapestry.
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  633. Coatsworth, Elizabeth. “Tapestry.” In Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles in the British Isles: c. 450–1450. Edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Maria Hayward, 577–578. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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  635. Explains tapestry technique and lists some pre-12th-century examples of it in England and Scandinavia, explaining the similarity with soumak weave. Identifies the earliest surviving woolen wall hangings as those from Halberstadt and Quedlinburg, Germany, and gives evidence of the existence of tapestries in England by the 14th century.
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  637. Delwasse, Liliane. La Tenture de l’Apocalypse d’Angers. Paris: Éditions du Patrimoine, Centre des Monuments Nationaux, 2007.
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  639. An illustrated guide to the six-panel, 14th-century tapestry depicting the visions of St. John.
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  641. Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain. The Lady and the Unicorn. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1989.
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  643. Illustrated study of the Mille-fleur Tapestry now at the Cluny Museum in Paris. Made for Jean le Viste in the second half of the 15th century, probably at one of the major events in his life, in 1457 or 1489. The six panels are here interpreted as representing the five senses and the renunciation of all passion
  644. Find this resource:
  645. Kane, Tina. The Troyes Mémoire: The Making of a Medieval Tapestry. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2010.
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  647. A translation and discussion of a 15th-century text giving detailed instructions to the artists who were to paint the cartoon from which a six-panel choir tapestry was to be woven.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Musée National du Moyen-Age.
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  651. Details of the Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry on the website of the Musée National du Moyen Age—Thermes and Hotel de Cluny—in Paris. Attributes the weaving to Flanders/Netherlands and emphasizes the mystery of the panel captioned A mon seul désir.
  652. Find this resource:
  653. Owen-Crocker, Gale R. “Looms; Tapestry Looms.” In Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles in the British Isles: c. 450–1450. Edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Maria Hayward, 346–347. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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  655. Explains the haut lisse and basse lisse looms that produced tapestry furnishing fabrics.
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  657. V&A Gothic.
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  659. The Victoria and Albert Museum’s website on Gothic tapestry, which includes an annotated bibliography and links to individual websites.
  660. Find this resource:
  661. Textile Workers
  662.  
  663. In the course of the Middle Ages, the textile industries became increasingly professional and productive, and in England the most common source of employment. The social history of individuals who contributed to the manufacture of textile goods in England is well served by two monumental studies of textile trades that developed into two of the most influential guilds in medieval London, the Mercers (Sutton 2005) and Merchant Taylors (Davies and Saunders 2004). An offshoot of mercery, and an almost exclusively feminine trade, was that which produced points, belts, and other narrow wares of silk (Lacey 1987), while the production of embroidery, which had been associated with women in the earlier medieval period, became a male-dominated industry employing both male and female workers (Staniland 1991).
  664.  
  665. Davies, Matthew, and Ann Saunders. The History of the Merchant Taylors’ Company. Leeds, UK: Maney, 2004.
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  667. A notably well-researched history of one of the “Great Twelve” livery companies of the City of London, from the medieval period to the 1950s, covering in detail (in Part 1) from its early origins to 1500. Looks at its internal organization and governance; issues of external governance (City and Crown); its part in the development of trade and industry; and influence of (and on) current religious practice and institutions.
  668. Find this resource:
  669. Lacey, K. “The Production of ‘Narrow Ware’ by Silkwomen in Fourteenth and Fifteenth Century England.” Textile History 18.2 (1987): 187–204.
  670. DOI: 10.1179/004049687793700736Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  671. Notes the main products of silkwomen, mainly in London. Recognizes the lack of guild organization (unlike, e.g., France), dependence on piecework, imported raw silk and silk cloth, and competition from (illegal) imports of finished work. Comments on the varying wealth and social status of silkwomen, showing that some were recognized as sole traders, able both to borrow money and to stand surety for others. Concludes with a register of all named silkwomen.
  672. Find this resource:
  673. Staniland, Kay. Medieval Craftsmen: Embroiderers. London: British Museum, 1991.
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  675. Traces European embroidery from Early Bronze Age, touches on the Anglo-Saxon period, but focuses on the 12th to 15th centuries when embroidered garments and hangings were in demand for both ecclesiastical and secular use. Uses documentary evidence, much from royal accounts, to focus on professional embroiderers and their organization; techniques of design, production, and costs; and amateur and domestic embroiderers.
  676. Find this resource:
  677. Sutton, Anne F. The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130–1578. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2005.
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  679. Substantial history of mercery and mercers—dealers in silk, linen, and worsted—and makers and sellers of small goods made from them, such as silkwomen. Covers their history from itinerant workers and small artisans to their association as a guild, overseas trading, wealth, and influence in the City of London.
  680. Find this resource:
  681. Textile Trade
  682.  
  683. The later Middle Ages saw the international trade in textile becoming increasingly important in the economy of Europe. Items here focus on the English wool trade (Bell, et al. 2007; Bridbury 1982; Britnell 1996; Quinton and Oldland 2011), the Scottish wool trade (Gemmill 2012), changes in the fashionable colors of luxury woolens (Munro 1983, Munro 2007), and textile production in the Italian silk center, Lucca (Meek 2011). Muthesius 1997 (cited under Museum and Other Catalogues) also discusses evidence for specific production centers for silk.
  684.  
  685. Bell, Adrian R., Chris Brooks, and Paul R. Dryburgh. The English Wool Market, c. 1230–1327. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  686. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511496202Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  687. An analysis of surviving forward contracts for selling wool, their terms, the sellers and buyers, and their location when contracting, and a focused study of one Cistercian abbey, Pipewell Abbey in Northamptonshire. Modern financial research methods are applied to the documented prices to calculate the rates of interest allowed for in the contracts and to estimate the general economic efficiency of the medieval English wool market.
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  689. Bridbury, Anthony Randolph. Medieval English Clothmaking: An Economic Survey. Pasold Studies in Textile History 4. London: Heinemann, 1982.
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  691. Brief survey of research on clothmaking up to date of publication. The chapter “Fulling Mills” remains important for its balanced analysis of opposing views of the 13th century as a period of development (see Carus-Wilson 1954, cited under Collections of Essays) or of some decline (E. Miller, “The Fortunes of the English Textile Industry in the Thirteenth Century,” Economic History Review 2nd ser. 18 [1965]: 64–82).
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  693. Britnell, Richard H. The Commercialization of English Society, 1000–1500. 2d ed. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996.
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  695. Analyzes interaction between the development of towns and local regulation, the priorities of government, and those of different levels of society whether in terms of governance or in increasing specialization, in the development of commercialization from the late Anglo-Saxon period onward. Specific trades such as wool are included. First published 1993.
  696. Find this resource:
  697. Gemmill, Elizabeth. “Wool Trade: Scottish 1250–1450.” In Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles: c. 450–1450. Edited by Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Maria Hayward, 653–654. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2012.
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  699. Examines the development and organization of the Scottish wool trade, its exports, the role of monasteries in production, and regional variations.
  700. Find this resource:
  701. Meek, Christine. “Laboreria Sete: Design and Production of Lucchese Silks in the Late Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth Centuries.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 7 (2011): 141–168.
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  703. Uses the evidence of brokers’ books to establish the types of silk cloths being produced in Lucca, and their specifications.
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  705. Munro, John H. “The Medieval Scarlet and the Economics of Sartorial Splendour.” In Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe: Essays in Memory of Professor E. M. Carus-Wilson. Pasold Studies in Textile History No. 2. Edited by Negley B. Harte and Kenneth G. Ponting, 13–70. London: Heinemann, 1983.
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  707. Seminal article on the cloth known as scarlet, associating it with the expensive kermes dye.
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  709. Munro, John H. “The Anti-Red Shift—to the Dark Side; Colour Changes in Flemish Luxury Woollens, 1300–1550.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 3 (2007): 55–95.
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  711. Examines the fact that while in the mid-14th century the textile of choice was scarlet, the high cost and prestige of which are attributable to its expensive dyestuff, from the late 15th to the 16th century, Flemish civic leaders were choosing black clothing. Includes tables of data extracted from the Bruges town accounts. The author considers various theories for the change, rejecting them in favor of “fashion.”
  712. Find this resource:
  713. Quinton, Eleanor, and John Oldland. “London Merchants’ Cloth Exports, 1350–1500.” Medieval Clothing and Textiles 7 (2011): 111–139.
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  715. Examines the affiliations of merchants involved in the dramatic rise in cloth exports, where previously raw wool had been the major commodity, noting the contribution of grocers and fishmongers and eventual predominance of drapers and mercers.
  716. Find this resource:
  717. Terminology
  718.  
  719. The establishment of a modern terminology to describe textile structures, of any period, is necessary for analysis and discussion. At the same time research on medieval terminology attempts to establish what words meant in the Middle Ages and their changing semantics over time.
  720.  
  721. Modern
  722.  
  723. Respected works on modern terminology are Burnham 1981 (cited under Reference Works), Emery 2009, and Seiler-Baldinger 1994.
  724.  
  725. Emery, Irene. The Primary Structures of Fabrics: An Illustrated Classification. London: Thames & Hudson, 2009.
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  727. A classification system covering a wide variety of methods for the construction and decoration of textiles, from forms of looping or knotting through all manner of weaves, to stitches including embroidery stitches. All illustrations are modern, made for the purposes of description, but can be applied to works of any period or area. Some definitions debatable but the book is comprehensive and helpful. Reprint of 1980 revised edition. First published Washington, DC: Textile Museum, 1966.
  728. Find this resource:
  729. Seiler-Baldinger, Annemarie. Textiles: A Classification of Techniques. Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia: Crawford House, 1994.
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  731. This is a classification system that concentrates on techniques, using examples drawn from archaeological textiles and from many different cultures. It is illustrated partly by photographs of specific examples, but mainly by line drawings, some seminaturalistic, others diagrammatic. Like Emery 2009, it is helpful in identifying structures where full information is available.
  732. Find this resource:
  733. Medieval
  734.  
  735. Roberts, et al. 1995 presents an innovative way of grouping lexical items in Old English. Kurath, et al. 1952–2001 is the primary source for Middle English and some other terminology of the later medieval period. The Lexis of Cloth and Clothing in Britain c. 700–1450 examines terminology from Old and Middle English, Anglo-French, Latin, Norse, Norn, Irish, Welsh, and Cornish used in the medieval period in the British Isles.
  736.  
  737. Kurath, Hans, Sherman M. Kuhn, S. M. John Reidy, and Robert E. Lewis. The Middle English Dictionary. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1952–2001.
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  739. The first port of call for the meaning, with examples drawn from contemporary texts, of medieval English words. Available online as the Middle English Compendium.
  740. Find this resource:
  741. The Lexis of Cloth and Clothing in Britain c. 700–1450: Origins, Identification, Contexts and Change.
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  743. Searchable database of cloth and clothing terminology in all the languages of the British Isles in the medieval period, with defining citations and etymologies.
  744. Find this resource:
  745. Roberts, Jane A., Christian Kay, and Lynne Grundy. A Thesaurus of Old English. 2 vols. London: King’s College London, Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 1995.
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  747. A classification of words in Old English into various useful categories, with specific entries flagged according as to whether they occur only in poetry or only in glossaries. Dress and textile terms occur largely in Volume 1.4 (Material Needs), subsection 04.04 (headed “Weaving”); terms for tools, such as scissors, are in section 17.03 (“Implements and Tools”), under the broad heading “Work.” Volume 2 provides an index of all words classified.
  748. Find this resource:
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