Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages

J >> Julia De Wolf Addison >> Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages

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Henry VIII. was devoted to tapestry collecting, also. An agent
who was buying for him in the Netherlands in 1538, wrote to the
king: "I have made a stay in my hands of two hundred ells of goodly
tapestry; there hath not been brought this twenty year eny so good
for the price." Henry VIII. had in his large collection many subjects,
among them such characteristic pieces as: "ten peeces of the rich
story of King David" (in which Bathsheba doubtless played an important
part), "seven peeces of the Stories of Ladies," "A peece with a man
and woman and a flagon," "A peece of verdure... having poppinjays
at the nether corners," "One peece of Susannah," "Six fine new
tapestries of the History of Helena and Paris."

A set of six "verdure" tapestries was owned by Cardinal Wolsey,
which "served for the hanging of Durham Hall of inferior days."
The hangings in a hall in Chester are described as depicting "Adam,
Noe, and his Shyppe." In 1563 a monk of Canterbury was mentioned as
a tapestry weaver. At York, Norwich, and other cities, were also to
be found "Arras Workers" during the sixteenth century.

There was an amusing law suit in 1598, which was brought by a gentleman,
Charles Lister, against one Mrs. Bridges, for accepting from him, on
the understanding of an engagement in marriage, a suite of tapestries
for her apartment. He sued for the return of his gifts!

Among the State Papers of James I., there is a letter in which
the King remarks "Sir Francis Crane desires to know if my baby
will have him to-hasten the making of that suite of tapestry that
he commanded him."

In Florence, the art flourished under the Medici. In 1546 a regular
Academy of instruction in tapestry weaving was set up, under the
direction of Flemish masters. All the leading artists of the Golden
Age furnished designs which, though frequently inappropriate for
being rendered in textile, were fine pictures, at any rate. In
Venice, too, there were work shops, but the influence of Italy was
Flemish in every case so far as technical instruction was concerned.
The most celebrated artists of the Renaissance made cartoons: Raphael,
Giulio Romano, Jouvenet, Le Brun, and numerous others, in various
countries.

[Illustration: TAPESTRY, REPRESENTING PARIS IN THE 15TH CENTURY]

The Gobelins work in Paris was inaugurated in the fifteenth century
under Jean Gobelins, a native of Rheims. His son, Philibert, and
later, many descendants persevered steadily at the work; the art
prospered under Francis I., the whole force of tapestry weavers being
brought together at Fontainebleau, and under Henry II., the direction
of the whole was given to the celebrated artist Philibert Delorme. In
1630 the Gobelins was fully established as a larger plant, and has
never made another move. The work has increased ever since those days,
on much the same general lines. Celebrated French artists have
designed tapestries: Watteau, Boucher, and others were interpreted
by the brilliant manager whose signature appears on the works,
Cozette, who was manager from 1736 until 1792. With this technical
perfection came the death of the art of tapestry: the pictures
might as well have been painted on canvas, and all feeling for the
material was lost, so that the naive charm of the original workers
ceased to be a part of the production.

Among European collections now visible, the best is in Madrid,
where over six hundred tapestries may be seen, chiefly Flemish,
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The collection at the
Pitti Palace in Florence comprises six hundred, while in the Vatican
are preserved the original Raphael tapestries. South Kensington
Museum, too, is rich in interesting examples of various schools.
It is a very helpful collection to students, especially, although
not so large as some others.

In 1663, "two well intended statutes" were introduced dealing with
curiously opposite matters: one was to encourage linen and tapestry
manufacture in England, and the other was "for regulating the packing
of herrings!"

The famous English Mortlake tapestry manufactory was not established
until the seventeenth century, and that is rather late for us. The
progress of craftsmanship has been steady, especially at the Gobelins
in France. Many other centres of industry developed, however, in
various countries. The study of modern tapestry is a branch by
itself with which we are unable to concern ourselves now.

CHAPTER VI

EMBROIDERIES

The materials used as groundwork for mediaeval embroideries were
rich in themselves. Samit was the favourite--shimmering, and woven
originally of solid flat gold wire. Ciclatoun was also a brilliant
textile, as also was Cendal. Cendal silk is spoken of by early
writers.

The first use of silk is interesting to trace. A monopoly, a veritable
silk trust, was established in 533, in the Roman Empire. Women
were employed at the Court of Justinian to preside over the looms,
and the manufacture of silk was not allowed elsewhere. The only
hindrance to this scheme was that the silk itself had to be brought
from China. But in the reign of Justinian, two monks who had been
travelling in the Orient, brought to the emperor, as curiosities,
some silkworms and cocoons. They obtained some long hollow walking
sticks, which they packed full of silkworms' eggs, and thus imported
the producers of the raw material. The European silk industry, in
fabrics, embroideries, velvets, and such commodities, may owe its
origin to this bit of monastic enterprise in 550.

Silk garments were very costly, however, and it was
not every lady in early times who could have such luxuries. It is
said that even the Emperor Aurelian refused his wife her request
for just one single cloak of silk, saying: "No, I could never think
of buying such a thing, for it sells for its weight in gold!"

Fustian and taffeta were less costly, but frequently used in important
work, as also were sarcenet and camora. Velvet and satin were of later
date, not occurring until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Baudekin, a good silk and golden weave, was very popular.

Cut velvets with elaborate patterns were made in Genoa. The process
consisted in leaving the main ground in the original fine rib which
resulted from weaving, while in the pattern these little ribs were
split open, making that part of a different ply from the rest of
the material, in fact, being the finished velvet as we now know
it, while the ground remained uncut, and had more the appearance
of silk reps. Velvet is first mentioned in England in 1295, but
probably existed earlier on the Continent.

Both Roger de Wendover and Matthew Paris mention a stuff called
"imperial:" it was partly gold in weave, but there is some doubt
as to its actual texture.

Baudekin was a very costly textile of gold and silk which was used
largely in altar coverings and hangings, such as dossals; by degrees
the name became synonymous with "baldichin," and in Italy the whole
altar canopy is still called a _baldachino_.

During Royal Progresses the streets were always hung with rich cloth
of gold. As Chaucer makes allusion to streets

"By ordinance throughout the city large
Hanged with cloth of gold, and not with serge,"

so Leland tells how the Queen of Henry VII. was conducted to her
coronation and "all the stretes through which she should pass were
clenely dressed... with cloths of tapestry and Arras, and some
stretes, as Cheepe, hanged with rich cloths of gold, velvetts,
and silks." And in Machyn's Diary, he says that "as late as 1555
at Bow church in London, was hangyd with cloth of gold and with
rich Arras."

The word "satin" is derived from the silks of the Mediterranean,
called "aceytuni," which became "zetani" in Italian, and gradually
changed through French and English influence, to "satin." The first
mention of it in England is about 1350, when Bishop Grandison made
a gift of choice satins to Exeter Cathedral.

The Dalmatic of Charlemagne is embroidered on blue satin, although
this is a rare early example of the material. At Constantinople,
also, as early as 1204, Baldwin II. wore satin at his coronation.
It was nearly always made in a fiery red in the early days. It
is mentioned in a Welsh poem of the thirteenth century.

Benjamin of Tudela, a traveller who wrote in 1161, mentions that
the Jews were living in great numbers in Thebes, and that they
made silks there at that time. There is record that in the late
eleventh century a Norman Abbot brought home from Apulia a quantity
of heavy and fine silk, from which four copes were made. French
silks were not remarkable until the sixteenth century, while those
of the Netherlands led all others as early as the thirteenth.

Shot silks were popular in England in the sixteenth century. York
Cathedral possessed, in 1543, a "vestment of changeable taffety
for Good Friday."

St. Dunstan is reported to have once "tinted" a sacerdotal vestment
to oblige a lady, thus departing from his regular occupation as
goldsmith to perform the office of a dyer of stuff.

Many rich mediaeval textiles were ornamented by designs, which usually
show interlaces and animal forms, and sometimes conventional floral
ornament. Patterns originated in the East, and, through Byzantine
influence, in Italy, and Saracenic in Spain, they were adopted and
modified by Europeans. In 1295 St. Paul's in London owned a hanging
"patterned with wheels and two-headed birds." Sicilian silks, and
many others of the contemporary textiles, display variations of
the "tree of life" pattern. This consists of a little conventional
shrub, sometimes hardly more than a "budding rod," with two birds
or animals advancing vis-a-vis on either side. Sometimes these
are two peacocks; often lions or leopards and frequently griffins
and various smaller animals. Whenever one sees a little tree or
a single stalk, no matter how conventionally treated, with a
couple of matched animals strutting up to each other on either
side, this pattern owes its origin to the old tradition of the
decorative motive usual in Persia and in Byzantium, the Tree of
Life, or Horn. The origin of patterns does not come within our
scope, and has been excellently treated in the various books of
Lewis Day, and other writers on this subject.

Textiles of Italian manufacture may be seen represented in the
paintings of the old masters: Orcagna, Francia, Crivelli, and others,
who delighted in the rendering of rich stuffs; later, they abound
in the creations of Veronese and Titian. A "favourite Italian
vegetable," as Dr. Rock quaintly expresses it, is the artichoke,
which, often, set in oval forms, is either outlined or worked solidly
in the fabric.

Almeria was a rich city in the thirteenth century, noted for its
textiles. A historian of that period writes: "Christians of all
nations came to its port to buy and to sell. From thence... they
travelled to other parts of the interior of the country, where
they loaded their vessels with such goods as they wanted. Costly
silken robes of the brightest colours are manufactured in Almeria."
Granada was famous too, a little later, for its silks and woven
goods. About 1562 Navagiero wrote: "All sorts of cloth and silks
are made there: the silks made at Granada are much esteemed all
over Spain; they are not so good as those that come from Italy.
There are several looms, but they do not yet know how to work them
well. They make good taffetas, sarcenet, and silk serges. The
velvets are not bad, but those that are made at Valencia are better
in quality."

Marco Polo says of the Persians in certain sections; "There are
excellent artificers in the cities, who make wonderful things in
gold, silk, and embroidery.... In veins of the mountains stones
are found, commonly called turquoises, and other jewels. There
also are made all sorts of arms and ammunition for war, and by the
women excellent needlework in silks, with all sorts of creatures
very admirably wrought therein." Marco Polo also reports the King
of Tartary as wearing on his birthday a most precious garment of
gold, while his barons wore the same, and had given them girdles of
gold and silver, and "pearls and garments of great price." This Khan
also "has the tenths of all wool, silk, and hemp, which he causes to
be made into clothes, in a house for that purpose appointed: for
all trades are bound one day in the week to serve him." He clothed
his armies with this tythe wool.

In Anglo-Saxon times a fabric composed of fine basket-weaving of
thin flat strips of pure gold was used; sometimes the flat metal
was woven on a warp of scarlet silk threads. Later strips of gilded
parchment were fraudulently substituted for the genuine flat metal
thread. Often the woof of gold strips was so solid and heavy that
it was necessary to have a silk warp of six strands, to support
its wear.

Gold cloth was of varying excellence, however: among the items in
an inventory for the Earl of Warwick in the time of Henry VI., there
is allusion to "one coat for My Lord's body, beat with fine gold;
two coats for heralds, beat with demi-gold."

It is generally assumed that the first wire-drawing machines were
made about 1360 in Germany; they were not used in England until
about 1560. Theophilus, however, in the eleventh century, tells
"Of the instruments through which wires are drawn," saying that
they consist of "two irons, three fingers in breadth, narrow above
and below, everywhere thin, and perforated with three or four ranges,
through which holes wires are drawn." This would seem to be a primitive
form of the more developed instrument. Wire drawing was introduced
into England by Christian Schutz about 1560. In 1623 was incorporated
in London, "The Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wire-Drawers."
The preamble of their charter reads thus: "The Trade Art of Drawing
and flattening of gold and silver wire, and making and spinning
of gold and silver thread and stuffe." It seems as though there
were some kind of work that corresponded to wire-drawing, earlier
than its supposed introduction, for a petition was sent to King
Henry VI. in 1423, by the "wise and worthy Communes of London, &
the Wardens of Broderie in the said Citie," requesting protection
against "deceit and default in the work of divers persons occupying
the craft of embroidery;" and in 1461 "An act of Common Council
was passed respecting the gold-drawers," showing that the art was
known to some extent and practised at that time. In the reign of
George II., in 1742, "An act to prevent the counterfeiting of gold
and silver lace and for the settling and adjusting the proportions
of fine silver and silk, and for the better making of gold and silver
lace," was passed.

Ecclesiastical vestments were often trimmed with heavy gold fringe,
knotted "fretty wise," and the embroideries were further enriched
with jewels and small plaques of enamel. Matthew Paris relates a
circumstance of certain garments being so heavily weighted with
gold that the clergy could not walk in them, and, in order to get
the solid metal out again, it was necessary to burn the garments
and thus melt the gold.

Jewelled robes were often seen in the Middle Ages; a chasuble is
described as having been made for the Abbot of St. Albans, in the
twelfth century, which was practically covered with plaques of gold
and precious stones. Imagine the unpleasant physical sensation
of a bishop in 1404, who was obliged to wear a golden mitre of
which the ground was set with large pearls, bordered with balas
rubies, and sapphires, and trimmed with indefinite extra pearls!

The body of St. Cecilia, who was martyred in 230, was interred in
a garment of pure woven gold.

The cloth of solid gold which was used for state occasions was
called "tissue;" the thin paper in which it was wrapped when it
was laid away was known as tissue paper, and Mr. William Maskell
states that the name has clung to it, and that is why thin paper
is called "tissue paper" to-day.

St. Peter's in Rome possessed a great pair of silver curtains,
which hung at the entrance to the church, given by Pope Stephen
IV. in the eighth century.

Vitruvius tells how to preserve the gold in old embroidery, or
in worn-out textiles where the metal has been extensively used.
He says: "When gold is embroidered on a garment which is worn out,
and no longer fit for use, the cloth is burnt over the fire in
earthen pots. The ashes are thrown into water, and quicksilver
added to them. This collects all particles of gold, and unites
with them. The water is then poured off, and the residuum placed
in a cloth, which, when squeezed with the hands suffers the liquid
quicksilver to pass through the pores of the cloth, but retains
the gold in a mass within it."

An early allusion to asbestos woven as a cloth is made by Marco
Polo, showing that fire-proof fabrics were known in his time. In
the province of Chinchintalas, "there is a mountain wherein are
mines of steel... and also, as was reported, salamanders, of the
wool of which cloth was made, which if cast into the fire, cannot
burn. But that cloth is in reality made of stone in this manner,
as one of my companions a Turk, named Curifar, a man endued with
singular industry, informed me, who had charge of the minerals in
that province. A certain mineral is found in that mountain which
yields threads not unlike wool; and these being dried in the
sun, are bruised in a brazen mortar, and afterwards washed, and
whatsoever earthy substance sticks to them is taken away. Lastly,
these threads are spun like ordinary wool, and woven into cloth.
And when they would whiten those cloths, they cast them into the
fire for an hour, and then take them out unhurt whiter than snow.
After the same manner they cleanse them when they have taken any
spots, for no other washing is used to them, besides the fire."

In the Middle Ages it would have been possible, as Lady Alford
suggests, to play the game "Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral" with
textiles only! Between silk, hemp, cotton, gold, silver, wool,
flax, camel's hair, and asbestos, surely the three elements all
played their parts.

Since the first record of Eve having "sewn fig leaves together to
make aprons," women have used the needle in some form. In England,
it is said that the first needles were made by an Indian, in 1545,
before which time they were imported. The old play, "Gammer Gurton's
Needle," is based upon the extreme rarity of these domestic implements,
and the calamity occasioned in a family by their loss. There is a
curious old story about a needle, which was supposed to possess
magic powers. This needle is reported to have worked at night while
its owner was resting, saving her all personal responsibility about
her mending. When the old lady finally died, another owner claimed
this charmed needle, and began at once to test its powers. But, do
what she would, she was unable to force a thread through its obstinate
eye. At last, after trying all possible means to thread the needle,
she took a magnifying glass to examine and see what the impediment
was, and, lo! the eye of the needle was filled with a great tear,--it
was weeping for the loss of its old mistress, and no one was ever
able to thread it again!

Embroidery is usually regarded as strictly a woman's craft, but in
the Middle Ages the leading needleworkers were often men. The old
list of names given by Louis Farcy has almost an equal proportion of
workers of both sexes. But the finest work was certainly accomplished
by the conscientious dwellers in cloisters, and the nuns devoted
their vast leisure in those days to this art. Fuller observes:
"Nunneries were also good shee-schools, wherein the girls of the
neighbourhood were taught to read and work... that the sharpnesse
of their wits and suddennesse of their conceits (which even their
enemies must allow unto them!) might by education be improved into
a judicious solidity." In some of these schools the curriculum
included "Reading and sewing, threepence a week: a penny extra
for manners." An old thirteenth century work, called the "Kleine
Heldenbuch," contains a verse which may be thus translated:

"Who taught me to embroider in a frame with silk?
And to draw and design the wild and tame
Beasts of the forest and field?
Also to picture on plain surface:
Round about to place golden borders,
A narrow and a broader one,
With stags and hinds lifelike."

A study of historic embroidery should be preceded by a general knowledge
of the principle stitches employed.

One of the simplest forms was chain stitch, in which one stitch
was taken through the loop of the stitch just laid. In the Middle
Ages it was often used. Sometimes, when the material was of a loose
weave, it was executed by means of a little hook--the probable
origin of crochet.

Tapestry stitch, of which one branch is cross-stitch, was formed by
laying close single stitches of uniform size upon a canvas specially
prepared for this work.

[Illustration: EMBROIDERY ON CANVAS, 16TH CENTURY, SOUTH KENSINGTON
MUSEUM]

Fine embroidery in silk was usually executed in long smooth stitches
of irregular length, which merged into each other. This is generally
known as satin stitch, for the surface of the work is that of a satin
texture when the work is completed. This was frequently executed
upon linen, and then, when the entire surface had been hidden by the
close silk stitches, it was cut out and transferred on a brocade
background, this style of rendering being known as applique. Botticelli
recommended this work as most durable and satisfactory: it is oftenest
associated with church embroidery. A simple applique was also done
by cutting out pieces of one material and applying them to another,
hiding the edge-joinings by couching on a cord. As an improvement
upon painted banners to be used in processions, Botticelli introduced
this method of cutting out and resetting colours upon a different
ground. As Vasari says: "This he did that the colors might not
sink through, showing the tint of the cloth on each side." But
Dr. Rock points out that it is hardly fair to earlier artificers
to give the entire credit for this method of work to Botticelli,
since such cut work or applique was practised in Italy a hundred
years before Botticelli was born!

Sometimes solid masses of silk or gold thread were laid in ordered
flatness upon a material, and then sewn to it by long or short
stitches at right angles. This is known as couching, and is a very
effective way of economizing material by displaying it all on the
surface. As a rule, however, the surface wears off somewhat, but
it is possible to execute it so that it is as durable as embroidery
which has been rendered in separate stitches.

In Sicily it was a common practice to use coral in embroideries
as well as pearls. Coral work is usually called Sicilian work,
though it was also sometimes executed in Spain.

The garments worn by the Byzantines were very ornate; they were
made of woven silk and covered with elaborate devices. In the fourth
century the Bishop of Amasia ridiculed the extravagant dress of his
contemporaries. "When men appear in the streets thus dressed," he
says, "the passers by look at them as at painted walls. Their clothes
are pictures, which little children point out to one another. The
saintlier sort wear likenesses of Christ, the Marriage of Galilee,
and Lazarus raised from the dead." Allusion was made in a sermon:
"Persons who arrayed themselves like painted walls" "with beasts and
flowers all over them" were denounced!

In the early Dark Ages there was some prejudice against these rich
embroideries. In the sixth century the Bishop St. Cesaire of Arles
forbade his nuns to embroider robes with precious stones or painting
and flowers. King Withaf of Mercia willed to the Abbey of Croyland
"my purple mantle which I wore at my Coronation, to be made into
a cope, to be used by those who minister at the holy altar: and
also my golden veil, embroidered with the Siege of Troy, to be
hung up in the Church on my anniversary." St. Asterius preached to
his people, "Strive to follow in your lives the teachings of the
Gospel, rather than have the miracles of Our Redeemer embroidered
on your outward dress!" This prejudice, however, was not long lived,
and the embroidered vestments and garments continued to hold their
popularity all through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

It has been said on grave authority that "Woman is an animal that
delights in the toilette," while Petrarch, in 1366, recognized the
power of fashion over its votaries. "Who can see with patience,"
he writes, "the monstrous fantastical inventions which people of
our times have invented to deform rather than adorn their persons?
Who can behold without indignation their long pointed shoes, their
caps with feathers, their hair twisted and hanging down like
tails,... their bellies so cruelly squeezed with cords that they
suffer as much pain from vanity as the martyrs suffered for
religion!" And yet who shall say whether a "dress-reform" Laura would
have charmed any more surely the eye of the poet?

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