Some sources for extant fabrics

 

The past few weeks I've taken a deep dive into exploring extant textiles, partially because I'm trying to have a small side business to help support my geek, but more so because I am fascinated by fabrics. 

Two really cool collections that I didn't know existed online are the- 

RISD Museum textile collection which seems to have a wide variety of textiles from around the globe, but leans heavy into the European side of things, and isn't really searchable, but still helpful. 

Ashmolean- Eastern art online Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art They have a huge data base for Islamic, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese. Spanning from Egypt to Japan. The collections are divided by Culture, and in the case of the Islamic collections by colors too. The information on each piece is very detailed. 

The Met is also a very valuable resource for textiles, they are generally grouped within Culture and you might have to use the advanced search to narrow down your options, but they generally have detailed information about it. 

One of the things that I am learning though this fixation is that textiles were a lot more moveable than I previously imagined. I'm seeing many fabrics made in India that are in Egypt. A lot of textiles with Arabic on them associated with Italy or Prague even.  Also my perceptions of what I thought were clear stylistic divisions in culture and time period are not as compartmentalized as I thought.

Queen Anna Burial Fabric (Lucca Italy 1350)

 

I found this sketch of a 14th century Fabric on Pinterest. with the caption

"Pattern drawing of silk fabric of Burial vestment of queen Anna. Royal crypt of Prague castle. Production: Lucca, Italy, 1350. raport 19,2cm, lampas a fond double etoffe, lancé, broché. By: Gollerova-Placha (1937)"

My google skills came up with that it was published in this book in 1937-

Latky z prazske kralovske hrobky Les tissus du caveau royal a Prague Die Stoffe aus der Prager Königsgruft Gollerova-Placha, Jitka Published by Praha: Statni graficka skola 1937.

I really like this pattern, but there does not seem to be any other information available, at least in English or French.

My interpretation of 14th century Maghreb outfit

There is so much background research that went into this, it's hard to know where to begin. 

Best to probably begin with where I started. The Amazigh culture of the Maghreb is ancient, but it’s history is mostly oral. What is written is recent, and mostly myths and legends. Much of the history has been lost due to modern Arab influences and French colonization. But with the re-emergence of their culture much more is being recorded in their own perspective.  

I started looking at emerging research, talking with people about their traditions, and compared that with the earliest writings of the French in the late 18th century.  While it is clear that there has been a lot of influence after that, those early notes and photographs are anthropological valuable.  

The earliest photographs show many layered garment that are attached with large fibulas, reminiscent of ancient Roman garments. Along with a large quantity of jewelry.  

But these images are not mediaeval, and can be very problematic due to the nature of French colonization that followed.  So, I had to find records written earlier than this. What I did find are small things that add up to a bigger story. 

The Romans had much to say of the region, the Maghreb was considered the bread basket of empire. Many people from the region become important figures, saints and even emperors. They wrote about the pottery, the woven textiles, and the jewlery. 

Some of the descriptions of textiles, pottery and even the fibulas matched the photographs and writings of the French in the 19th century!  

How did a culture well established in Roman era, survive waves of Arabic invasions and dominant culture? 

The early Arabic Muslims were tolerant and tended to rule in the cities, and left the mountain villages and nomadic tribes to their own devices as long as they paid taxes. Many city dwellers adopted the Arabic culture, while the tribes retained their freedom. 

The first contact the Amazigh of Eastern Algérie had with the Muslim Arabs, was the Fatimids. The Fatimids hired the Katama berbers to be their supporting army, and they were pivotal in the Fatimid expansion into Egypt and the founding of Cairo. However eventually the Berbers fell out of favor and many returned back to their ancestral home. When the returned, they brought with them a new art form learned in Egypt. Enamel! 

The Katama created a distinctive technique. Green, blue, and yellow enamel embedded between fine silver and dotted with coral. 

My version of the jewelry is put together with several craft store findings and used an enamel paint to mimic the style of the antique bijoux. 

Ibn Khaldun was a prominent medieval writer in the 14th century Arabic world, he had berber origins, and wrote down many histories, including that of the berbers. 

Bougie (now Bejaia) was a prosperous city that was a melting pot of culture and knowledge, under berber control. Many Moorish berbers settled in the area, as the Reconquista forced them out of Spain. Scholars wrote how the woman would wear the tight fitting Spanish style of gown underneath their outer garments.  

Given these notes, and that cotton and bright colored are both extremely common in this area, I chose a fitted gown that was a bright blue cotton. 

Because Roman descriptions, Ibn Khaldun writings, the notes of the Ottomans and the early French postcards all depicted a similar style of outer garments, I felt comfortable using the postcards as inspiration for this recreation. I choose a bright pink herringbone wool as the Shawls. They are folded and held at the shoulders with the fibulas and belted around the waist. 

I don't have the hair necessary to recreate the braided hair (shown in some photos, but also very popular in 14th century Spain) so I choose to wrap a couple scarves as a headdress and added a gold silk veil. 

Tattoos were a very symbolic part of Amazigh culture. And the ones that I drew on had deeply personal meanings. But that's not for this post. 

I do want to update this outfit, find a Shawl or two with more accurate patterns. Add a few more jewelry elements, and probably bright trim. And maybe the hood I've seen depicted many times. 

My First Fabric Design!

 It's been a busy week around here! But I have completed my first pattern based off an extant Fabric!

I took the fabric I looked at in this Previous post and created a design inspired by it. 

A 14th Century Textile of Islamic or Italian Origin

I really liked this fabric because it is almost a universal fabric, It could be used for Europe or Arabic influenced areas during the late 14th and well into the 15th century. 

My design is a bit simplified, but still evokes the intent of the original.  

I also have created it in a few different colors!

Yes, Even a Pride one for the FAFO challenge!

I also played around with changing the foliage to roses, and created this variant-

And in other BIG news, I now have These design available for print on fabric!

Please Check out My Store!

https://labellerobemedieval.com/

Manuscript- Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

This is one of my favorite manuscripts. 

It was one of the first manuscripts to be illustrated in a more realistic manner.  It's starting to break through the stylized Illumination of the 14th century, which relied heavily on visual clues, and focused more on the noble ideal, and pigments were choosen more for thier vaulue than reality. This manuscript brings in a more realistic approach and is the harbinger of the Renaissance in France. It also gives an inside look into the French court at the time. It shows how even the noble life was dependent upon the seasons. It also depicts some medieval sites that still exist in and around Paris that I've been able to visit. 

The avril foilo was the inspriation for my recent Griffin Needle Challenge Outfit.

Grriffen Needle Challenge is a sewing competion here in Northshield, where your team of 6 attempt to create an entire outfit within a 24 hour period. More to come about my specfic entry later.

This Manuscript is housed at the Muse Conde in france, and it dosn't have the entire mauscript digitized online. 

Update! I found it here. Thank you Annetje!

https://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=10794

These Wikipedia pages are a good place to start to find references, or if you want an overview. 

https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Tr%C3%A8s_Riches_Heures_du_duc_de_Berry

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C3%A8s_Riches_Heures_du_Duc_de_Berry

The OLL Library has a detailed description of each of the calendar pages.

I found this YouTube video, below, which shows the entire manuscript.

Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry - All 128 illustrated pages [HD]

 And the description from the video, below, is very informative. 

If you are intreted in a detailed look at this Manuscript I highly recomend this book!

(it's free on google books!)

The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry.

YIS 

~Isabelle~

A 14th Century Textile of Islamic or Italian Origin

As a part of my ongoing research I'm attempting to explore a new extant textile week. This week I thought it would be appropriate to highlight the textile I chose for my background.  

This textile can be found Here at the MET and is a part of thier Islamic textile collection. 

This is one of my favorite extant textiles. The colors in this particular photograph are lovely. It's intricate so keeps your eyes moving and engaging with the fabric. It's got both a pomegranate floral style motif, and rabbits, so I suspect it is very likely to be a late 14th century fabric. This particular Silk is attributed to both Islamic textiles and Italy. The providence and reference suggests that it's more likely to be middle eastern in origin. 

One aspect that I find fascinating is that this silk has texture. The gold colored motif stands out from the ground, it has lager threads with visible stitches. 

The blue ground shows no threads, indicating a very fine cloth, also wear pattern suggests that it might be a velvet. 

A few close ups of the texture!

One of the things I'm currently studying is how contact with the Islamic world affected the fashion of the early 15th century Europe, so the fact that this fabric is attributed to both is a bit frustrating but also highlights how much the trade and contact was influencing the Silk Industries.

Bisous 

~Isabelle~

My Fascination with The Maghreb

So why the Maghreb?

Honestly many reasons. Some a bit crazy.

When I was little, my mom had a phase where she was interested in the Sahara, and she taught me to write my name in Arabic. It was deeply meaningful and a core memory. It started a light fascination with the Tuareg that stayed with me. I also discovered through DNA testing, that my maternal haplogroup has ties to the Tuareg and Amazigh people in general, and depending on the update, I'm shown having traces of DNA from the region.

During my travels to Paris, I met a geology nerd who happened to be Kabyle. He grew up in the tribal culture of Algeria. The stories he had intrigued me and reignited some of that childhood fascination. Through that connection, social media algorithms put me in touch with many other folks from the region. Musicians, artists, and even a professor at the University of Bejaia who was able to give a bit of direction.

The roots of the Kabylie people are ancient and Pre-date the Islamic conquest. Modern DNA tracking of Mitochondrial DNA Shows that the Berbers descended from Neolithic European groups, who moved into North Africa at the end of the last ice age when the Sahara desert receded along the southern coast of the Mediterranean, making the region habitable. There were also populations from the Middle East and some Sub Sahara people who integrated to create the native Amazigh population of the region.

They had a king on the Egyptian throne, Chachnak in 950 BC, and Massinissa a Nubian king in 238 BC. The Phoenicians noted their pottery and textiles. They were the breadbasket for the Roman empire.

The Arabs conquered and brought a veneer of Islam. And recruited them to conquer Spain. Then they helped establish the Fatimids empire only to lose favor and return to the Kabylie mountains, Then came the Almohads, The Hafsids who were also Berber in origin, Spain, the Ottomans, French colonization, And finally Arabic-Algerian independence filled with unrest and deadly violence.

Their cities, especially Bejaia, were known for their diversity and learning. A large trade center, it became a refuge for Christians, Jews, Spanish Muslims, pirates, and even slaves. Fibonacci, known as the father of modern maths in Europe, learned Algebra and Arabic numerals in Bejaia in the late 12th century.

Their language has survived for over a thousand years of conquests. Many of the early observations of the French colonists match descriptions from the Ottomans and the Romans. 

Historically, The Kabylie people, were more settled, living in towns and mountain valleys, and retreating to the mountains during conquests. Mainly farmers and shepherds, sometimes creating terraces in the mountainsides. The men are often more transient with the growing season, the women more stationary, creators of the textiles and pottery they are known for.

But because of those conquests, much of their history has been lost, and their culture has been repressed, and often face deep discrimination. So much so that they don't identify as Algerians or Arabs, but as their own nation within Algeria. They number around 7 million, and are the largest Berber group in the country.

They have Traditional gender roles, relationship morals, and strong family ties, but their laws are more secular and women have more rights than in most Arab societies. They have some very deep tribal traditions, with a reverence for the natural world with a veneer of Islam.

Many Kabylie have relocated due to work and repression. Often those who choose to leave face exile because of their secular beliefs and outspoken opinions of Islamic law.

So now many of them are fighting both in Algeria and Abroad to be officially recognized and for basic rights in their native home.

An interesting observation- From what I gather about the traditional tribal aspects, I am seeing many things in modern pagan practices, especially Wicca, that could have been directly lifted from the Kabylie. The French colonialists painted the Kabylie as exotic and occult, at the same time modern paganism was evolving from this occultism, and given the tribal belly dance popular in pagan circles is definitely influenced by North Africa. It's a more logical origin than underground Celtic/Norse traditions (which are well documented) hidden for centuries. Victorian cultural appropriation at its finest.

https://www.imarabe.org/en/expositions/des-tresors-a-porter

Anyways, More for later!

Bisous

Isabelle

Pie Shenanigans!

 

Each WW I try to take on dinner for the household, and I was looking for an idea. Well, On the way to Kingdom A&S there was a pit stop at Norske Nook for pie, and it dawned on me that given mediaeval food preservation methods, that a mediaeval camp would consist of a large amount of foods preserved in a crust. In addition, my household brother and I are well known for shenanigans, and this played right into one of our inside jokes.

And so pie shenanigans commenced! 

Mediaeval feast days would have been a long drawn out affair, with several courses, and entertainments presented between the removals. I styled my courses after french traditions, which varies slightly from the mediaeval pattern, but I didn’t have the bandwidth to study humoral theory in the midst of everything else.  These pies also don’t subscribe to any one time or place, they were chosen for availability of ingredients, and frankly my personal whim.

 

All the pies and sauces were made in the week before the event and then kept cold or frozen, for modern food safety precautions, and thawed the day of the feast. Due to time and energy involved, I used several premade pie crusts, but used period recipes for the meat crusts. The hand pies were edible coffins made in oversized muffin tins. I used a cookie cutter to distinguish the pies from each other, and provide venting. In period any venting would have been sealed with fat while hot for preservation.

The plan was for 12 people give or take, and so everything was split between 2 tables, each table getting its own pie.

Course 1- appetisers

Breads, various cheeses, butter, honey butter, garlic butter, and tapenade

Water, hydromel and white wine on the table. 

Course 2- savoury pies 

(2) spinach* tarts (our laurel is allergic to spinach so adjusted the quantity of the greens to eliminate the spinach.)

https://medievalcookery.com/recipes/display.html?make1001

(2) Mushroom tarts- Looking back, the mushroom pie had a bit of texture issues, and would have been better served fresh.  

http://greneboke.com/recipes/mushroomtart.html 

(2) Parsnip pie- I added honey as the parsnips were cooking.

https://medievalcookery.com/recipes/display.html?pars1001 

Course 3- meat pies

(2) Salmon pies - I used honey, mustard and rosemary for seasoning, shaped it like a fish, and plated it on a bed of salad. 

https://medievalcookery.com/recipes/display.html?salm1001 

(15) Chicken and pear hand pies

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2014/03/how-to-fill-your-coffin.html 

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2014/03/how-to-raise-edible-coffin-1594.html

(15) Venison date and currant hand pies- I substituted Venison for veal in the recipe

https://toriavey.com/shakespearean-cooking-funeral-baked-meats/

Dipping sauces- 

Cameline, http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec13.htm

Aioli, http://www.godecookery.com/friends/frec127.html

Mustard http://www.godecookery.com/begrec/begrec46.htm

Red wine on the table

Course 4- sweet pies

(1) Cherry rose torte- I deviated from the recipe to make it open faced, my child liked it so much they stole one, and it has become a household recipe. 

https://medievalcookery.com/recipes/display.html?cher1002 

(2) Pear Tart- I choose this one because it used up the bits of fruit I had left from other parts of the feast

http://greneboke.com/recipes/peartart.html 

(2) Darioles- Courtesy of Edwin

Various household members contributed bread, cheese, salad, wine, and helped decant the sauces and plate the meal. 

Although we soon found out that we had an abundance of pie, and began inviting more folks to join, it became a jovial feast by the end, with leftovers for the next day.

Lady Isabelle Montfort de Bretagne 

Oh! The layers! The basics of a 14th or early 15th century wardrobe.

A dressed lady of the 14th or early 15 century would wear at least two layers, most often 3 or even more depending on the occasion or weather.



The Under Dress-

In the 14th century bathing was still popular, although it did wane as the century progressed due to fears of the plague. But the best way to stay fresh in the 14th century was to have the proper undergarments. The underdress was meant to absorb sweat and body oils and help protect the subsequent layers from odours. This layer was often pure linen which was known to wick moisture away, withstand harsh lye soap, and get softer and more comfortable with age.

Undergarments would be changed daily, aired out between wearing's and washed weekly. Then laid out in the sun to bleach out bacteria and odors. Oftentimes people also would have linens that would be used for daily rubing of the body.

While body linens are not note worthy in the French inventories I have studied, There are quite a few different sources of undergarments throughout the 14th century, both written and depicted in art. In both there is quite a bit of variation. You can see many full long sleeved garments depicted in the artwork earlier in the century,

Most depictions of undergarments are very similar to the image on the left. A slightly shaped garment, to mid calf with long sleeves and a neckline low enough to not show when under other layers. This would have been to go to standard. Due to ease of construction, functionality, and ability to hold up to washing.


Bible of Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, 1389

However, In writing there are descriptions of breast bands, binding, tightly laced undergarments, and even breast bags sewn into them to support the bust, even early in the 14th century. The Tyrol Castle finds are a great example of this. There are some sleeveless options depicted in the 1389 Wenceslaus bible- some of which show front lacing.

Chemise ladie's undergarment, 14th century,
castle Ranis, Thuringen (Germany
A History of Costume; Kohler.

There was an extent garment that was shorter and sleeveless like a modern-day slip as shown on the left, however, it has been lost. The surviving image shows narrow shoulder straps, and a wide low neckline, very similar to a modern tanktop.

So my take on it is that the undergarments were largely a personal preference based on your body type and the amount of support you are trying to achieve.

Linen-

It’s a fascinating thing, in both the 1390 Dijon and Chateau de Chaillou inventories I've been studying, there is very little mention of anything I can discern as being undergarments, however, the French Inventories of this time mention various places where linens were acquired, Reims, Paris, Lincoln, etc… each with an easily discernible quality by sight. It is clear that linen tends to be graded by the place it came from, and each has its own price, and therefore an assumed quality.

The Simple Cotte or Kirtle in English-

Please note that the fitted cotte is the foundation layer for all classes, and when the nobility is in domestic or agricultural scenes doing actual things, they can be depicted in the fitted kirtle with long fitted sleeves. It would be the equivalent to leggings and tee shirts in the modern world. Most often, outside of the home or field, the majority of women would wear a fashion layer over this.

The inventories show that simple cottes were most commonly made of wool, for all classes. Wool is ideal because it breathes, it wicks away sweat without holding onto odors. It has just enough stretch and give to move with a person, while still maintaining support. Often in extant examples of sleeves, we see narrow bands of silk used as facings or as structures for necklines, lacings, or button holes.

A highly fitted garment has a lot of pressure on the seams- most medieval buttons would not hold up to being the support needed for the shaping provided by these garments. Supportive cottes appear to be laced in the torso, down the center, or possibly down the sides, or a pullover style (while still being fitted). See Festive Attire and Cotte Simple for more about period lacing.

This means that the job of support is totally up to the kirtle or in some cases the underdress. Many wardrobe accounts call out doubled (lined with the same fabric) or sturdy fabric like linen as a lining. Many of the extant finds and artwork show that the kirtle remained a laced supportive garment for long after the time period of this study.

In general, buttons were often used on the sleeves either as a practical element or visible fashion statement from the mid-1340s to 1400. Towards the end of the 14th century, many regions forgo using buttons, using either hidden means of fastening.

Drafting a Fitted Gown- See my previous research document on this here!
This builds off of experimentation done by Tasha Kelly of Cotte Simple and Robin Netherton.


The Surcotte or Fashion Layer-

This layer would be used to show off your wealth and status, and for warmth. If you could afford it, this would have used fancy silk, patterned wools, embroidery, metal buttons, etc… This garment was almost always lined, often with fur or silk.


Due to the types of fabrics used, and decorative elements the surcotte would be difficult to be supportive. It’s very hard to imagine a fur lined garment being supportive.

So would be a just a touch bigger than the supportive kirtle underneath.


This layer was evolving throughout the time period, and often had noticeable regional differences which I'll discuss in a future post.


There are 3 basic styles of Fashion layer.

For most of the 14th century, you have the cotehardie with various sleeve treatments and torso tailoring. Various Hanging sleeves were popular in the mid-14th century. Tippets in the later half, and wide hanging sleeves and bombard sleeves became popular in the 1390's. By 1420 cotehardies had been replaced by houppelandes.















The Sideless surcotte is also widely popular, but by 1400 became largely ceremonial.










Houppelandes seem to have developed from academic robes and saw a rise in popularity in the 1390s and by 1420 have completely replaced cotehardies. The also have a variety of sleeve treatments. men have a variety of lengths too.








Hose!

There are very few examples of women’s hose, But we know they were a standard garment for everyday wear as depicted by the art of the time period. There are several examples that show women with knee-length colored hose that are tied around the knee.





Here is an image of an extent pair,

Image from https://www.greydragon.org/library/underwear3.html

Most of the surviving examples of hose are wool, and cut on the bias, which makes sense since wool absorbs body secretions and mitigates odors, and has the stretch needed for fitting a curvy body.


Shoes- 

A selection of late 14th-century shoes. Showing decorations and pointed toes. From Museum of London.

Shoes in this age for women tended to be low leather turn shoes. They generally had a pointed toe, that at times could reach extravagant lengths that would peak out from under the long hems. In my experience, the long toes actually help hold the long hem in front of you instead of getting trapped under your feet as you walk.  I suggest you take a look at the Museum of London's medieval shoe collection.  

The Cloak or Mantle-

Cloaks and mantles were often used as a garment to add warmth they also showed wealth, and became a formal garment for court and ceremony. Often made of the same fabrics as the surcotte and lined with fur. As the century progressed the houppelande would overtake the use of the mantle as a fashion garment.

Please note that a coat like garments and hoods have been worn throughout the medieval period in one form or another for practical reasons, are are not the main topic of discussion.


Head covering-

A medieval Lady's outfit wouldn't be complete without a head covering. A young unmarried lady might go about with her head dressed in braids, especially if she were from the South. 

But most women throughout the 14th century wore some type of veil. Sometimes simple, sometimes with bits that cover your chin. beading seemed to be popular in the inventories. Frilled veils seemed to be popular in parts of England and Germany during the mid-14th century. 

Hoods were also a popular choice for the middle class and people doing outdoor activities. 

Towards the end of the 14th century especially in France and England hats started to become very complex. Rolls, cauls, and heart-shaped reticulated headdresses became vogue. 

Well Anyways, I hope this overview is helpful! 

I'll have more detailed notes about specific fashion garments in future posts.

In the meantime, you can also check out my Documentation page, for more info.

Bisous!

~Isabelle~