[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.
[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.
[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 isinterwoven with gold.
In regard to these interesting relics, they may with confidence be looked upon as specimens of the manufacture of silk from theseventhto thetwelfthcentury.
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.
[101]Mabillon, de Re Diplomaticâ, l. ii. cap. 19. § 6.
[101]Mabillon, de Re Diplomaticâ, l. ii. cap. 19. § 6.
[102]Diplomatarium Arna-Magnæanum, a Thorkelin, tom. i. p. xliv.
[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.
VI. The binding of ancient manuscripts affords specimens of silk. A French translation of Ludolphus Saxo’s Life of Christ in four folio volumes, among Dr. William Hunter’s MSS. at Glasgow, still has its original binding covered with red velvet, which is probably as old as thefourteenthcentury. A curious source of information on the art of book-binding at that period is the Inventory, or Catalogue of the library collected by that ardent lover of books, Charles V. of France. As this catalogue particularly describes the bindings of about 1200 volumes, many of which were very elaborate and splendid, it enables us to judge of the use made of all the most valuable stuffs and materials which could be employed for this purpose, and under the head of silk we find the following: “soie,”silk; “veluyau,” velvet; “satanin,” satin; “damas,” damask; “taffetas,” taffetas; “camocas;” “cendal;” and “drap d’or,” cloth of gold, having probably a basis or ground of silk[103].
From the few examples of ancient Catholic vestments that have escaped destruction, the generality of persons are but little acquainted with the extreme beauty of the embroidery worked for ecclesiastical purposes during the Middle Ages. The countenances of the images were executed with perfect expression, like miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. Every parochial church, previous to the Reformation, was furnished with complete sets of frontals and hangings for the altars. One of the great beauties of the ancient embroidery was its appropriate design; each flower, leaf, and device having a significant meaning with reference to the festival to which the vestment belonged. Such was the extreme beauty of the English vestments in the reign of Henry III., that Innocent IV. forwarded bulls to many English bishops, enjoining them to send a certain quantity of embroidered vestments to Rome, for the use of the clergy[104].
[103]See Inventaire de l’Ancienne Bibliothèque du Louvre, fait en l’année 1373. Paris, 1836, 8vo.[104]The art of embroidery seems to have attained a higher degree of perfection in France, than any other country in Europe;—it is not, however, so much practised now. Embroiderers formerly composed a great portion of the working population of the largest towns; laws were specially framed for their protection, some of which would astonish the working people of the present day. They were formed into a company as early as 1272, by Etienne Boileau, Prévot de Paris, under their respective names of “Brodeurs, Découpeurs, Egratigneurs, and Chasubliers.”In the last and preceding centuries, when embroidery, as an article of dress both for men and women, was an object of considerable importance, the Germans, and more particularly those of Vienna, disputed the palm of excellence with the French. At the same period, Milan and Venice were also celebrated for their embroidery; but the prices were so extravagantly high, that according to Lamarre, its use was forbidden by sumptuary laws.
[103]See Inventaire de l’Ancienne Bibliothèque du Louvre, fait en l’année 1373. Paris, 1836, 8vo.
[103]See Inventaire de l’Ancienne Bibliothèque du Louvre, fait en l’année 1373. Paris, 1836, 8vo.
[104]The art of embroidery seems to have attained a higher degree of perfection in France, than any other country in Europe;—it is not, however, so much practised now. Embroiderers formerly composed a great portion of the working population of the largest towns; laws were specially framed for their protection, some of which would astonish the working people of the present day. They were formed into a company as early as 1272, by Etienne Boileau, Prévot de Paris, under their respective names of “Brodeurs, Découpeurs, Egratigneurs, and Chasubliers.”In the last and preceding centuries, when embroidery, as an article of dress both for men and women, was an object of considerable importance, the Germans, and more particularly those of Vienna, disputed the palm of excellence with the French. At the same period, Milan and Venice were also celebrated for their embroidery; but the prices were so extravagantly high, that according to Lamarre, its use was forbidden by sumptuary laws.
[104]The art of embroidery seems to have attained a higher degree of perfection in France, than any other country in Europe;—it is not, however, so much practised now. Embroiderers formerly composed a great portion of the working population of the largest towns; laws were specially framed for their protection, some of which would astonish the working people of the present day. They were formed into a company as early as 1272, by Etienne Boileau, Prévot de Paris, under their respective names of “Brodeurs, Découpeurs, Egratigneurs, and Chasubliers.”
In the last and preceding centuries, when embroidery, as an article of dress both for men and women, was an object of considerable importance, the Germans, and more particularly those of Vienna, disputed the palm of excellence with the French. At the same period, Milan and Venice were also celebrated for their embroidery; but the prices were so extravagantly high, that according to Lamarre, its use was forbidden by sumptuary laws.