Catullus speaks of tapestries that showed the adventures of Theseus and Ariadne. The figures of Britons were constantly being reproduced in Roman tapestries. In Rome there were organized societies of weavers known as _collegii opificum_. The fabrics that have been preserved are woven in coloured woollens and linen threads. They show a wealth of floral and leaf adornment, and figures of ducks and fishes. One shows a child riding a white horse; another portrays Hermes with his caduceus. These date from the second or third centuries A.D. The growth of Christianity, and the breaking up of Roman civilization, drove the art of tapestry weaving into monasteries and convents, or to the royal courts. It was not until the eleventh century that associations of free craftsmen--as against the early organizations of slaves--began to be formed in different countries. The movement started in England, Flanders, and Brabant, and afterwards spread to France, where this particular form of art was to find so congenial a home. The Golden Age of mediæval tapestry opened, however, in the thirteenth century when Raphael began his cartoons. This introduction of realism, the widening of the whole artistic range, was rendered more feasible by the discovery of new dyes which added richer and more glowing tints to the fabrics. The borders, which had previously been simple, grew wider and more elaborate in design. From this ever-increasing elaboration of the borders, indeed, it is often possible to fix the date of an otherwise dubious specimen. In the following century Arras became the centre of the industry. So closely was the tapestry associated with its place of manufacture that in England the name of the town became synonymous for the name of the fabric, and the arras became a recognized decoration of luxurious rooms. From early times there are references in Spanish inventories to _pan de raz_. This supremacy remained unchallenged until the fifteenth century when Brussels and Bruges achieved fame as tapestry centres. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the industry took root at Middleburg, Delft, and Paris, and Mortlake in England became a famous centre in the seventeenth century. It was not until the late seventeenth century that tapestry weaving really became established in Spain. Before that the Spanish kings and nobles had been content to acquire masterpieces of foreign workmanship, chiefly from the Low Countries. There are, however, traces of a feeble industry to be found as far back as the late fourteenth century when one man seems to have followed the craft of _tapissier_ in Catalonia. It is possible--but not certain--that two _tapissiers_ of Navarre, who flourished about 1411--Llucia Barthomew and Juan Noyan--may have been Spaniards. Another Barthomew is spoken of a few years later in connexion with two tapestries, namely, those of the _Resurrection_ and _St. Anthony_.