Textiles

Abstract

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 pieces of cloth 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 of any size 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.