. The word “textile” stems from Latin texere “to weave,” and the weaving process remains central to production of medieval tapestries. Throughout the Middle Ages, political, technological, and economic changes continued to shape the textile industry. From their origins in China and Coptic Egypt, fabrics made of such fibers as silk, linen, hemp, cotton, and wool changed in quality, character, and design as the weaving process changed along with trade routes and the rise of mercantilism in Europe. Technological innovations took weavers out of the domestic and monastic environment and into the professional urban workshop. In the later Middle Ages, tapestry production became a separate industry, and major tapestry centers tended to be located near centers of political and economic power. Tapestries and other wall hangings served architectural, social, and practical purposes, as they colored space with images or scenes that were objects of conversation, and provided insulation. Textiles used as banners, ecclesiastical and liturgical materials, clothing, furniture accessories, napkins and towels, and even horse trappings survive.
In the early Middle Ages, weavers worked with the vertical warp-weighted loom, which rested against a wall. Warp threads tied to an upper crossbar were secured to the ground by weights. The wefts were attached to rods and woven through warps in a variety of ways that resulted in differently patterned weaves. In the mid-11th century, the invention of the horizontal treadle-operated loom sped up the process immensely and initiated the change in workers and working environment. Before the horizontal loom, workers were predominantly women who operated within the domestic sphere. After this invention, professional, mostly male, workshops were established, and the industry became more export-oriented. In the mid-13th century, the invention of the broadloom, a loom twice as broad as the horizontal treadle loom, allowed two people to work at one loom and so heightened productivity.
Apart from wool, other fibers, such as linen, silk, and satin, were either produced or imported. Linen production apparently was widespread but poorly documented, with such varieties as dowlas and poldavy from Brittany, sieve cloth from Rennes, and fuller linens, such as bysse and cambric, originally from Cambrai. Silk from Byzantium, Islamic Spain and other Islamic countries, Italy, and even central Asia was brought to western Europe and woven into damask, lampas, and satin, often in elaborate patterns. Ecclesiastical embroideries of silver-gilt thread on colored silk or linen could be used for copes, altar frontals, and orphreys. In the domestic realm, embroidered napkins, towels, tablecloths, and pillow covers were popular.
While the textile industry flourished in medieval France, the 14th century brought the establishment of tapestry workshops to urban centers. The specialized trade of tapestry introduced new steps to production. Artists produced small drawings called petit patrons, designers transformed the compositions into cartoons (patrons) for the tapestry, and weavers translated the cartoons into tapestry. The weaving method involved weft threads that cover short spaces with different colors as specified by the design and hide the warp threads in the finished fabric. Only
Nicolas Bataille. King Arthur tapestry, end of 14th century, 14′×9′9″. Courtesy of The Cloisters Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The Unicorn Brought to the Castle, The Hunt of the Unicorn, tapestry, late 15th century, 12′×12′9″. Courtesy of The Cloisters Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
wool warp threads could be used, but wool wefts could be used in combination with different fibers, such as gold and silk threads.
The Livre des métiers (ca. 1263), initiated by the provost of Paris Étienne Boileau, contains the earliest references to tapestries. In medieval Paris, three groups of textile workers—tapissiers notrez, tapissiers sarazinois, and tapissiers de la haute lisse (high-warp weavers)—were documented, the tapissiers sarazinois being most closely associated with Islamic techniques. An agreement from 1303 allowed high-warp weavers to practice their technique, and by the end of the 14th century Paris workshops were firmly established. Later in the 14th century, references to tapestries and carpets became interchangeable.
To a great extent, patrons controlled the rise and fall of tapestry production. In the late 13th century, Arras was the principal center of production, but soon Paris, then Tournai in the 14th century, became leading centers due to changes in patronage. From 1350 on, King John 11 the Good acquired 237 tapis, intended for his own quarters and his sons, probably supplied by Parisians. In the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, workshops in the Loire region benefited from its proximity to the court.
Initially, high-warp tapestries had simple designs, such as geometric patterns and heraldic devices, followed later by depictions of birds and small animals. Around 1370, subject matter included religious and secular scenes, figure compositions, landscapes, and genre scenes. Over the course of the 15th and 16th centuries, the number of secular themes grew, and portrayal of the narrative became more complex and subtle. Tapestries depicted the Nine Heroes and Heroines, scenes from the Trojan War, and the Labors of Hercules. Manuscripts often served as the basis for complicated projects. For the design of the Apocalypse Tapestry, the duke of Anjou provided one of his illuminated manuscripts as a model.
A category of tapestries known as millefleurs was produced in the Loire region ca. 1500. With their delicately depicted flowers and foliage on blue or pink grounds, millefleurs tapestries helped transform the interior into a world of sensual pleasure and provided the patron, who could name the vast array of plants, with conversation pieces.
Long after the Middle Ages, the tapestry industry continued to flourish. Many late-medieval tapestries survive along with a fair amount of documentary information about artistic activity, patronage, and tapestry merchants.
Burnham, Dorothy. Warp and Weft: A Dictionary of Textile Terms. New York: Macmillan, 1981.
Chorley, Patrick. “The Cloth Experts of Flanders and Northern Europe During the Thirteenth Century: A Luxury Trade?” Economic History Review 40(1987):349–87.
Geijer, Agnes. A History of Textiles. London: Sotheby, 1979.
Lepinasse, R.de. Les métiers et corporations de la ville de Paris. 3 vols. Paris, 1879–97.
Weibel, A.C. Two Thousand Years of Tapestry Weaving: A Loan Exhibition. London: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1951.
Weigert, Roger-Armand. French Tapestry, trans. Donald and Monique King. London: Faber and Faber, 1962.
This is the complete article, containing 1,031 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
