So a while back I wrote up a post summarizing the information found in Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450, a book about a large number of archaeological finds from London. I shared it to a Facebook group, thinking it might be useful to other people, and there was one guy who commented on it who had a problem with….well, basically everything I wrote.

And I was quite surprised, one because I was just summarizing a book, and in case you haven’t noticed I am not any of the authors and therefore not responsible for the content of said book. Secondly, because some of the things he was upset with I barely mentioned. And thirdly, a few of the things he mentioned are what I would consider to be common knowledge in this field, and I really wasn’t expecting anyone to argue about them. That also worried me, because I’m definitely not an expert and I wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed anything major.

Now I asked him if he had any other sources he recommended, since he clearly did not think that book was reliable, but he was not forthcoming in that regard. The good news is I am OK at this research thing, and it turns out I have access to a pretty good textile library!

Sources for the statement “in general, brighter/more saturated colors tended to be more expensive to dye”

Brandenburgh, Chrystel. 2010 “Early medieval textile remains from settlements in the Netherlands. An evaluation of textile production” Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries, 2(1) She discusses dyes on page 55, stating

“Only the wealthy could afford to wear certain colours because they were expensive to produce. To wear them was thus a social signal to the wearer’s contemporaries, that they could afford this level of luxury”

Munro, John H. 2007. “The Anti-Red Shift– To The Dark Side: Colour Changes in Flemish Luxury Woolens 1300-1550” in Medieval Clothing and Textiles, Volume 3.

“By far the most highly esteemed, most regal colour in medieval Europe, especially during the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, was that shade of brilliant or vivid red known as scarlet; and by far the most expensive woollen textiles (rivalling imported silks) of this era were the scarlets, everywhere—in the Low Countries, England, France, Spain, Italy”

“The high value of medieval Flemish scarlets (scaerlakenen) is explained principally by the costs of the dyestuff itself”

“In Mechelen, from 1361 to 1415, as may be seen in more detail in table 4.2, the quantities of kermes used in dyeing the best woollens ranged from 10.58 kg to 18.15 kg for cloths of this size (40 ells = 27.56 metres long), and in value from a low of 32.81 percent of the final purchase price (50.76 percent of the cost of the unfinished cloth) to a high of 51.39 percent (112.8 percent of the cost of the unfinished cloth).”

“It is therefore absolutely indisputable that the high cost, value, and prestige attached to medieval scarlets were overwhelmingly due to the scarlet-kermes dyestuff itself, all the more so since the actual pre-finishing costs of unfinished woollen broadcloths woven from fine English wools did not differ significantly among the various cloths dyed scarlet, blue, black, green, purple (murrey, perse, or violet), and brown.”

“Over this long period, as reflected in tables 4.3 and 4.4, we find a similar and equally striking shift in the spectrum of colours for luxury-grade woollen broadcloths: from bright, vivid, essentially red-based but often multicoloured textiles (i.e., the medleys and striped or rayed woollens), so predominant in the fourteenth century, to those that are chiefly dark and sombre, and largely “plain” (the word used in the texts) or uniform in colour. Such a dichotomy involves, of course, arbitrary choices—far more arbitrary in tables 4.3–4.4, for the Bruges cloth purchases, than in the simpler table 4.1, for Mechelen.”

Stabel, Peter. 2021. “Unlikely followers of fashion? Dressing the poor in Medieval Bruges” in Un panno medievale dell’azienda pratese di Francesco Datini. Studio e ricostruzione sperimentale 293-318, in which he examines records of the so-called “bastard’s privilege,” which provides information on the estates of people of a wide range of social status, including tailors, unskilled laborers, lower levels of the clergy, and serving girls.

“Blacks seem to be more present in middle class inventories, reds among both the poorest and wealthiest inventories. But of course, red is not always the same. The Bruges inventories distinguish between two kinds of red fabrics: sanguine (colour of blood) and vermeil (vermilion): the stock of inventories contains 32 houppelandes that are described as sanguine, while 16 are made of vermillion cloth. Poorer households tend to have more of the latter (20% of all vermillion garments can be found in the poorest quartile) and less of the former: there is only one houppelande in the poorest quartile that is described as «blood red». It is, therefore, likely that sanguine fabrics were dyed in more saturated colours, adding for example brazilwood to the normal madder, and that they were more expensive than the vermilion fabrics.”

“Other colours than black and red are socially more distinct. Blue was more present in the lower strata of Bruges society, grey among the middle groups.”

“Although the garments often receive a lot of attention and their value is regularly indicated by qualifications, only 8% of all houppelandes are described as «shab- by», «old» and «faded». In the lowest quartile this percentage is only slightly higher, 14%. But the figure remains relatively low. Dress in the lower strata of Bruges society is clearly not associated automatically with old and worn fabrics (Spufford 2000; 2003).”

So it seems from this source that while poorer people did not necessarily dress in old, faded, or shabby clothing, they tended to wear less saturated shades of colors, which were dyed with cheaper dyes, or duller colors like blue or grey instead of red and black.

Fernández, Luiz and Juan V. G. Marsilla. 2021. “Fashion, emulation and social classes in late medieval Valencia. Exploring textile consumption through probate inventories” in Un panno medievale dell’azienda pratese di Francesco Datini. Studio e ricostruzione sperimentale, 341-366

“Peasant tunics that appear in our sample are made of locally produced cloths and a narrow range of colours and finishes like linings.” (note: linings here seems to refer to fur)

“This analysis reveals an evident ‘chromatic inequality’ between town and countryside. Many of the colours present in urban textiles can hardly be seen among peasant possessions, particularly, those of darker tonalities, which were the hardest to produce in the period. Black and purple garments, for instance, can almost exclusively be found among inventories of townspeople. Moreover, it is also possible to see among them a wider range of tonalities for each colour, as suggested by the adjectives used by notaries in the description of specific colours, turning to very precise words.”

(to be fair, this may be my fault for not being clear–I did previously say brightest when what I meant was most saturated, and those aren’t necessarily the same thing, and is confusing if you think of dark colors, which are saturated but not bright)

Sources for the transition from twills being the common woven structure in the pre-14th Century to plain wools becoming more common–this turns out to be not entirely true

(In Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450 they literally cite a transition between a 1340s dump being 49% plain weaves and a late 14th Century dump being 90% plain weaves, as I mentioned in my original post)

Kirjavainen. 2002. “Medieval Archaeological Textiles Found in Turku, Finland” in Archaeological Textile Newsletter #36, 12-19

“There are three basic weave types found in the textile material; plain weave, 2/2 twill and 2/1 twill. 2/2 twill is the most frequent with 84 pieces (54.5%) of the textile material studied. Tabby weave is in second place with 60 pieces (39%) and the last one is 2/1 twill with only 10 pieces (6.5%). This spectrum of weaves does not correspond with any North European weave combination during the 1 4th and 1 5th centuries, where in the most common combination tabby or 2/1 twill comes in first and then 2/2 twill comes in second or third (Maik 1998, 217). The overwhelming number of 2/2 twills can be seen as specialisation in just one type of weave or reflecting a need for this kind of weave for special purposes.”

(interestingly, this source does mention twilled woolens, when my understanding is that woolens were usually plain-weave, just because the finishing process would make any surface patterning basically invisible. Looks like that assumption is incorrect, at least in this case!)

Kirjavainen, Heini. 2009. “A Finnish Archaeological Perspective on Medieval Broadcloth” in The Medieval Broadcloth, 90-98

“A small number of archaeological textiles found in Turku in 1998 are presented below: relative dating of the fragments dates them at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries (Kirjavainen 2002, 348; 2005, 143). They are woven in fine and short fibred wool (fibre length are approx. 2–3 cm), which is similar both in warp and weft yarns. characteristic for these textiles are the same thread count in both yarn systems and that the weave is well balanced underneath a dense nap (Kirjavainen 2005, 143). They are all woven in tabby and differ from the cloth types of the 11th and 12th centuries (Kirjavainen & riikonen 2005, 31–32).”

Munro, John H. 2009. “Three Centuries of Luxury Textile Consumption in the Low Countries and England, 1330–1570” in The Medieval Broadcloth

“Before examining these differences in prices and relative values, however, we must first examine the physical differences between the wool-based textiles grouped into three categories: says or worsteds, woollens, and a hybrid category, commonly called serges, says or worsteds, a very ancient textile fabric, historically preceding genuine woollens, were generally the much lower quality, lighter, and least expensive of the three types. They were woven from relatively cheap, coarse, strong, long-stapled ‘dry’ yarns (20.0–30.5 centimetres), that is, worsted yarns in both warps and wefts; and they were generally woven on a narrow, one-man horizontal treadle-loom, often with a diamond or lozenge-twilled weave.

Woollens, on the other hand, were generally much finer quality, much heavier, and more expensive of these three types. The principal reason for their greater weight, better quality, and higher cost (when undyed) was their wool-composition: very fine, curly, short-stapled (5.0–6.0 centimetres) ‘greased’ or ‘wet’ yarns, in both warp and weft.”

(Munro then goes into great detail on the weaving and fulling processes, which I have not included here)

“…once fulled in this fashion, woollen broadcloths were virtually indestructible and could be worn by and through several generations, through inheritance or second-hand sales. At the same time, the fulling process obliterated almost all traces of the designs created by twilled weaving.”

Rammo, Riina. 2010. “Social and Economic Aspects of Textile Consumption in Medieval Tartu, Estonia” presented at North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X

“The vast majority of the obviously imported textiles constitute quite a homogeneous group primarily of medium grade. Most common are tabbies and 2/1 twills7 with z-spun yarn in warp and s-spun yarn in weft, which are felted and additionally finished (i.e. teaselled and sheared) in different grades (48 % of all finds, cf. with group 1 in Hammarlund et al. 2008, 79–80). This group probably represents broadcloth – well-known from written sources and the main cloth type traded during the Middle Ages. Not so common are the so- called ordinary plain 2/1 twills and tabbies (19%) similar to this broadcloth group according to the technical data, but without clear marks of fulling and finishing.”

“The remainder of the material (25%) comprises different types of coarser twills, made primarily of hairy medium wool resembling local sheep’s fleece. Only few of these twill types can in fact be pointed out as being local products: for example, fragments of four-shed twills (87 fragments) resembling textiles found in rural cemeteries and one group of three-shed twills (31 fragments) – both made wholly of z-spun yarns.

However, these fragments are mostly 2/1 twills with z/s spin combination. Thus, the binding and yarn twist direction differ clearly from traditional local textiles. These new technical traits characteristic of the urban fabrics witness the spread of new textile production technology in Estonia during the 13th–14th centuries (e.g. horizontal looms)”

“Furthermore, the mass occurrence of imported textiles makes it necessary to emphasize the fact that imports do not automatically signify luxury items, but rather that these cloths were probably a more widespread commodity, embracing quite a wide range of consumers, even if the latter all belonged to the wealthy sectors of the community. Thus, these cloths perhaps regularly featured in the daily life of the middle class burghers, e.g. artisans, and, even servants of wealthier households.”

Tidow, Klaus. 2010. “Textilfunde aus Ausgrabungen in Heidelberg” presented at North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X

“Among the textile finds from Heidelberg, fabrics made from sheep’s wool are the most common. There are approx. 2500 fabric fragments, of which 79.5% are plain weave, 16.3% are K 2/2 twill weave, 1.6% are K 2/1 twill weave and 2.1% are 1/4 satin weave. From the derivations of the cloth and twill weaves, only six Panama (P 2/2 2-thread) and one pointed check (from K 2/1) could be determined. This fabric consists of twisted yarns (z/S) in one yarn system and single yarns (z) in the other yarn system. It belongs to the medium-fine to fine qualities.”

(Apologies for the grammar, this paper is in German, which I don’t read or speak, so thank Google Translate here. These finds are 15th-17th centuries, so a little bit later, but definitely at this point showing a predominance of plain weave, although again, in an urban setting)

OK, so I think it’s fair to say that while plain weave material had definitely become more common, that was primarily among populations that were likely to be purchasing material made professionally (and possibly imported from a manufacturing center), rather than those using locally made fabrics or fabrics made at home. That’s good to know, I was not aware of that distinction, although it makes a lot of sense that earlier technologies would persist in a home setting.

Sources for silk as a rare luxury good in this time period

Wilson, L. 2021. “The impact of technological change on medieval fashion” in Un panno medievale dell’azienda pratese di Francesco Datini. Studio e ricostruzione sperimentale, 25-51

“…since silk clothing was extremely rare in Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In their authoritative text on medieval fashion, Françoise Piponnier and Perrine Mane state flatly that, until the fourteenth century, silk «remains reserved for the most part for hangings and liturgical ornaments» (1995)”

“At the highest levels of society, at least in England and France, there does seem to have been a gradual shift to a greater proportion of silk over the course of the fourteenth century (England: Oldland 2019, 55-7; France: Wilson 2010).”

Munro, John H. 2007. “The Anti-Red Shift– To The Dark Side: Colour Changes in Flemish Luxury Woolens 1300-1550” in Medieval Clothing and Textiles, Volume 3.

“By far the most highly esteemed, most regal colour in medieval Europe, especially during the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, was that shade of brilliant or vivid red known as scarlet; and by far the most expensive woollen textiles (rivalling imported silks) of this era were the scarlets, everywhere—in the Low Countries, England, France, Spain, Italy”

Fernández, Luiz and Juan V. G. Marsilla. 2021. “Fashion, emulation and social classes in late medieval Valencia. Exploring textile consumption through probate inventories” in Un panno medievale dell’azienda pratese di Francesco Datini. Studio e ricostruzione sperimentale, 341-366

“Doublets could be made of silk and velvet, like the pieces visible in the courts of kings and nobles, but also of cotton of various qualities, including rough, cheaper qualities called cotonina, more affordable for vast members of society.”

Table from Fernández and Marsilla, although I would like to note that in this period Valencia was a major silk producer, so silk was almost certainly cheaper and more accessible here than it would be further north, where it would have been imported. Still, it is much more common in the wealthy city than in the countryside. Cotton was also much more available in Spain than other places in Europe.

Sources in which the fiber used for sewing thread is identified

In my previous post I summarized the findings in Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450, where they found a significant amount of stitching done in silk, and a significant amount of stitching that had been lost due to archaeological decay, which was assumed to be linen. These are finds from a major city.

In Woven into the Earth and Medieval Garments Reconstructed, which feature the famous Herjolfsnes finds, the only sewing thread mentioned is wool. These are finds from an isolated, subsistence community.

Mannering, Ulla, Charlotte Rimstad and Irene Skals. 2021. “The textile bog find from Vong in Denmark” in Archaeological Textile Review #63, 75-89

“The sewing thread was also of plant fibres and small remnants are still visible in the otherwise empty stitch holes along the edges of the fabric. The still visible parts of the sewing threads have a thread diameter of 0.14 mm and twist of approximately 44. The threads are either z-twisted or z-plied. A similar use of plant fibre sewing threads has also been recorded in British textiles”

(This find has been carbon-14 dated to the early 15th Century)

That is all I have been able to find about thread types in this time period. If anyone else knows of any, please let me know. I’m sure there was a certain amount of mixing and matching depending on what was available or what people were making. I will probably continue using linen thread on linen objects and for structural seams, and use wool for overcasting and topstitching on wool fabrics.

(In case anyone was wondering, the best source for wool sewing thread that I have been able to find is Devere Yarns. It works pretty well and is fairly reasonably priced, although shipping to the US from Europe/the UK remains slow and expensive, and I would love a domestic source if anyone knows of one!)

Evidence for madder as a commonly-used dyestuff

Kirjavainen. 2002. “Medieval Archaeological Textiles Found in Turku, Finland” in Archaeological Textile Newsletter #36, 12-19

“Only nine dye samples were sent for analysis to Textile Research in Archaeology at York because eight of them seemed to be dyed red when microscopic research was executed. The York test results were very positive: all of the samples had been dyed red, four of them with imported dyer’s madder (Rubia tinctorum L.) and rest of the samples in local bedstraw ( Ga/jum verum L. or Galium odoratum L.).”

(Honestly I did not look at most of the papers that did HPLC-MS on archaeological fragments for dye identification, there are a bunch of papers that do just that and if anyone really cares I can read them but that’s basically my day job so I skipped it here)