The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, and Other Fibrous Substances;: Including Observations on Spinning, Dyeing, and Weaving.Gilroy, Clinton G.
History
The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, and Other Fibrous Substances;: Including Observations on Spinning, Dyeing, and Weaving.
Gilroy, Clinton G.
History, Ancient; Textile fabrics -- History
According to Abel Rémusat (_Journal Asiat. l. c._) the merchandise
of Eastern Asia passed through Slavonia to the North of Europe in
the middle ages, even without the mediation of Greece or Italy. This
may account for the use of the terms of the first class, while it is
possible that those of the second have been derived from the South of
Europe, from whence we have seen that silken commodities were also
occasionally transported to the North.
To the evidence now produced from _authors_ and _printed documents_
respecting the history of silk from the earliest times to the period
of its universal extension throughout Europe, another species of proof
may be added, viz. that afforded by Relics preserved in churches, and
by other remains of the antiquities of the middle ages. As examples of
this method for illustrating the subject, the following articles may be
enumerated.
I. The relics of St. Regnobert, Bishop of Bayeux in the seventh
century. These consist of a _Casula_, or _Chasuble_, a _Stole_, and a
_Maniple_. They are yet preserved in the cathedral of Bayeux, and worn
by the Bishop on certain annual festivals. They are of silk _interwoven
with gold_, and _adorned with pearls_[100].
[100] See John Spencer Smythe’s Description de la Chasuble de Saint
Regnobert, in the Procès Verbal de l’Académie Royale des Sciences,
Arts, et Belles Lettres, de la Ville de Caen, Séance d’Avril 14,
1820.
II. Portions of garments of the same description with those of St.
Regnobert were discovered A. D. 1827 on opening the tomb of St.
Cuthbert in the Cathedral of Durham. They are preserved in the library
of that church, and accurately described by the Rev. James Raine, the
librarian, in a quarto volume.
III. The scull-cap of St. Simon, said to have been made in the tenth
century, and now preserved in the Cathedral of Treves. Its border is
_interwoven with gold_.
In regard to these interesting relics, they may with confidence be
looked upon as specimens of the manufacture of silk from the _seventh_
to the _twelfth_ century.
IV. In the Cathedral at Hereford is a charter of one of the Popes with
the bull (the leaden seal), attached to it by silken threads. Silk was
early used for this purpose in the South of Europe[101]. The Danish
kings began to use silk to append the waxen seals to their charters
about the year 1000[102].
[101] Mabillon, de Re Diplomaticâ, l. ii. cap. 19. § 6.
[102] Diplomatarium Arna-Magnæanum, a Thorkelin, tom. i. p. xliv.
V. Silk, in the form of velvet, may be seen on some of the ancient
armor in the Tower of London.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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