MEDIEVAL FABRICS

The manufacture of Brussels carpets was first introduced in1750, at Wilton near Salisbury.

Tapestry carpets are produced in the same manner as aBrussels carpet, but the warp threads are printed with the requiredlength of colour to form the pattern when looped over the pile wires.The number of pile loops is about the same as in a low classBrussels carpet, i.e. 216 to 225; the width is the same, and thelength 27, 36, or 54 inches.

The pattern of a patent Axminster carpet is formed fromchenille weft threads, which are triple threads interwoven withshort strands of coloured wools which produce the pile; it hasa beautiful soft surface, but owing to the mode of producingthe chenille it is necessarily costly. A Kidderminster carpetis a double or triple cloth (two or three plies) woven together,the pattern being formed by the interchange of fabrics or theintermingling of colours. “ Oriental” or true Axminstercarpets are produced by interweaving with the strong verticalwarp threads various coloured short woollen strands which formthe pattern.

Medieval fabrics were known by various names for thedifferent classes, in order to distinguish their material, texture,colour, or use, and most of these names have an Eastern origin.

The following are some of the principal classes:—

Holosericum, a fabric wholly of silk ; Subsericum, partly ofsilk. Examitum, or Samit, had a six-threaded silken warp, hencea costly fabric. Many church vestments, such as chasubles,dalmatics, and copes of the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, were ofthis rich material.

Chaucer, in his Romaunt of the Rose, describes the dress of" Mirth ”:

“ Full yong he was, and merry of thought,

And in Samette , with birdes wrought,

And with gold beaten full fetously,

His bodie was clad full richely.”

This passage not only indicates the richness of this fabric of silkand gold, but also its ornamentation of “ birdes wrought ”; probablyit would be of Sicilian or Lucchese weaving.

Ciclatoun. —A thin, glossy, silken fabric, frequently with somethreads of gold interspersed; used for vestments and for the dressof nobles. Chaucer, in his Sire Thopas, speaks of his “robe of ciclatoun.”

Cendal, or sandal, and taffeta are thin silken fabrics usedchiefly for linings. Chaucer says of his “ Doctour of Phisike ”:

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