Dress and Textiles IV: Speaking of (and with) Clothing and Textiles
Sponsor: DISTAFF (Discussion, Interpretation, and Study of Textile Arts, Fabrics, and Fashion)
Organizer: Robin Netherton, DISTAFF
Presider: Monica L. Wright, Univ. of Louisiana–Lafayette
The Garments of Guy in the Bayeux Tapestry
Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Univ. of Manchester
Paper focuses on event depicted in the tapestry that may not be historic, featuring Guy's capture of King Harold. The three depictions of him appear to indicate him in a negative light. We start when Harold takes off on a sea voyage for unclear purposes. He lands in what is now Picardy, either by mistake or weather. Guy, the Count of Picardy, was hostile to William of Normandy. Guy and his men are distinguished frm the English by their short trouser-like garment and shaved back of the head rather in contrast with the English tunics. (This is referring to the garment with a deep split in the lower portion.) Harold now surrenders to Guy with the latter wearing long royal robes seated on his throne. The motif of a long-robed seated figure is repeated in many contexts in the scenes. But Guy's cloak is short rather than the usual royal long one, and his legs are visible below the hem, rather than being covered by skirts, Several other features suggest "a little man trying to be big".
An Englishman then rushes off to report the capture to William, providing a contrast in the figure of William on his own throne, showing a more regal and dominating presence. William's men rush off to confront Guy, who is portrayed in tunics rathr than the "norse short-trousers" that seem to be symbolizing military power, and Guy's tunic is highly colorful. Other contexts where differential coloring is used to pick out one figure from a group incluede a depiction of Odo in a battle where his armor is distinctively colored compared with the other combattants. Another possibility is that the coloring may be intended to depict leather or fur.
Harold is handed over to William for some consideration, and aanother ppossibly implication of the colorful garment is to indicate luxury and decadence. Guy is depicted here in a Norman-style split garment but on a horse with ass's ears -- again a negative depiction. When Harold is depicted here, he is wearing a Norman-style split garment, but is identifiable as English by his hair and moustache.
Overall, the combination of unusual garments and other signifiers indicate a hostile attitude towards Guy on the part of the tapestry's designer.
The Queen of Sicily’s Paris Shopping List, 1277
Sarah-Grace Heller, Ohio State Univ.
List (in French) of items to be purchased by his agent in Paris for the King of Sicily. (Despite the paper title, the shopping was primarily being negotiated between men.) Furnishings for the court:
* textiles: linen, green serge
* tapestries/carpets (gren and red)
Garments: sets of linen robes
Household linens: tablecloths, towels
Misc:
* laces for sewing and edging, furs, hose, linen for coifs
* woolen fabrics: vermilllion scarlets, scarlets of peacock blue, green, and dark blue
* other fabrics
* gloves, lined and unlined
* furs - 2 squirrel pelisses, etc.
* belt bucklls, brooches, almspurses
* wimple fabric, linen kerchiefs, small knives
None of the above, even when women's garments, are specifically indicated as being for the queen. The later items mention her specifically.
Furnishings for the queen (Marguerite of Burgundy):
* a quilt with the arms of the queen's father
* 3 hangings with the same arms
* 3 dozen large coifs for the queen
* 4(?) dozen full coifs for the queen
* 5 dozen silk kerchiefs for the queen (only mention of silk in the whole list)
*4 pieces of cloth for wimples that will wrap around 5 times for the queen
* similar pieces that will wrap 4 times or 3 times.
* 1 crown
* 1 trecon of woven gold braid for the queen
* 2 dozen pearl chaplets
* 1 dozen peral hair ornaments for gifts
* 10,000 dozen good pins from Lagny
* 2 dozen working caps in several colors
(presumably many of these would be for gifts)
* 5 dozen "chapiaus de poisson" (?from Poissy?, ?of fish?)
Conclusions: the Parisian shopping list was not simply for personal use but to obtain gifts and supplies for the court to create the desired image for the court in Naples and Sicily, but only covered specific types of items best obtained from that source.
The Silk Metaphor: Threads of a Social Discourse in the Middle Ages
Thomas Ertl, Univ. Wien
Context of reearch was trade fairs and commerce, in which some mentions of silk were clearly not literal economic references.
Textiles mentioned in theological, literary, or historical contexts used for commentry of society. Silk in particular was used rhetorically to discuss morality and righteousness.
Several, often contrdictory, meanings for silk:
Sinful luxury vs. reasonable splendor - Beginning with early patristic writings, silk represents decadent luxury in contrast to desirable austerity. But with the increase of donations of luxury fabrics to the church, this attitude needed to be adjusted with a contrasting framing, that veneration required using the best goods available in order to show respect and to glorify God.
Women's sin vs. a reflection of women's beauty - Silk, being a clingy fabric, is too revealing of women's bodies and therefore an encouragement to sin and pride. But courtly literature used silk as an accompaniment to descriptions of idealized beauty (using much the same types of descriptions as the sin model).
National economic decline vs. Desirable exoticness (details cut for time purposes)
“At Hir Passing to the Quene”: Wardrobes of Sixteenth-Century Ladies in Waiting
Melanie Schuessler, Eastern Michigan Univ.
Ladies in waiting served a variety of purposes but their clothing was important not only to represent their own status but to uphold the status of their employer. This clothing might come, in part, from royal gifts, but generally family support was also necessary. Examples taken from English, Scottish, and French courts. The wardrobes of two sisters when they arrived at the English court generally reflect a small assortment of clothing, whereupon there were letters home explaining what was needed to make up the deficiencies of their wardrobes. Correspondence and other documentation indicate the additions, including re-made garments and new items either from the family or other gifts. This included not only main garments but all manner of accessories. Correspondence from their mother indicates that the sister serving the queen received fewer items from that source, perhaps because she received more from the court.
A second example, a young Scottish girl accompanying Mary Stuart when she went to France, seems to have had a more meagre wardrobe than her sisters and is rarely mentioned in accounts. But her sister serving Mary de Guise in Scotland was more generously supplied with more and a greater variety of items, supplied from the royal treasury rathr than Mary's own funds. The third sister of this family had a similarly meagre wardrobe when entering service, but received a great many luxurious garments subsequently. Notable are matching sets of sleeves and hoods in the various colors of sating or velvet.
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