cotton-msg

cotton-msg - 10/22/99

Period cotton cloth.

NOTE: See also these files: linen-msg, silk-msg, textiles-msg, cotton-art, fabric-ident-msg, velvet-msg, spinning-msg, weaving-msg, fabric-SCA-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous

Stefan at florilegium.org

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From: foxd at silver.ucs.indiana.edu (daniel fox)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Period Velvet?

Date: 14 Jun 1996 06:11:57 GMT

Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington

Actually you can tell them the cotton comes from Italy.

See: Mazzaoui, Maureen Fennell, _The Italian Cotton Industry in the Later

Middle Ages:1100-1600._

Audelindis

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 10:06:34 EST

From: <SNSpies at aol.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu, h-needlework at ansteorra.org,

h-costume at indra.com

Subject: Cotton in a European grave

In the recent issue of "Archaeological Textiles Newsletter," (ATN 27, Autumn

1998, 12-14) Penelope Walton Rogers writes about "Cotton in a Merovingian

Burial in Germany." She points out that cotton rarely enters the picture for

European textile researchers and when it does, it usually can be dismissed as

a modern contaminant. However, in this case, the identification of cotton

comes from a secure context in a Merovingian burial dated to the end of the

5th century, so it is therefore of rather exceptional interest.

The cotton is a Z-spun thread which was used to quilt some sort of garment or

cover which was made from a wool diamond twill with a padded backing. This

textile was found over the whole length of a woman's body in a coffin burial

in the Merovingian cemetery at Lauchheim/Ostalbkreis in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

She concludes that the presence of this cotton thread suggests some far-

reaching link with the eastern Mediterranean or western Asia. It is at

present unknown whether the textile arrived in Germany already quilted with

the cotton thread or whether the thread arrived in Germany on its own and was

then used to quilt the textile. It is also unknown whether it was unpicked

from another textile, but further research should answer these questions.

Ingvild/Nancy

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 12:35:23 -0500

From: capriest at cs.vassar.edu (Carolyn Priest-Dorman)

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: Cotton in a European grave

Daveed wrote:

>Wouldn't such a

>thread and/or cloth have been available through Roman trade routes across

>the Med with Egypt?

Upper Egypt did produce some textiles woven of indigenous cotton. However,

if a cotton textile was purchased during that period in Egypt, then it was

mostly likely that its cotton fibers themselves originated in India. From a

very early date India had a lively trade relationship in both raw fiber and

finished cotton goods with the Mediterranean via the Arabian Sea and the

eastern coast of Egypt. The Near East, India, and the Arabian peninsula

also produced indigenous cotton textiles of many sorts, much more than was

produced in Egypt. The intriguing question is, what species of _Gossypium_

(_arboreum_ or _herbaceum_) will the fibers turn out to be? That would give

a much clearer signal of where it ultimately originated.

Maureen Mazzaoui (in _The Italian Cotton Industry in the Later Middle Ages

1100-1600_) makes the important point that cotton in the late Roman and

early Byzantine Empire was a luxury textile limited by its high price to the

court and the wealthy landowning classes. The Arabs were the first to adopt

cotton as the dress of the normal people. Before that, cotton had been a

novelty textile, even in the areas where it grew readily.

Accordingly, I'd guess the Merovingian woman had some sort of royal

connection. The other Frankish find of cotton in a grave that I know of is

dated seventh century. The textile in question was a violet overtunic made

from a silk, cotton, and unidentified vegetable fiber blend, perhaps a

_mulham_ from Persia. That woman was also sporting Byzantine gold-thread

embroidery--a clear sign of high rank.

Carolyn Priest-Dorman Thora Sharptooth

capriest at cs. vassar. edu Frostahlid, Austmork

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 17:04:44 EST

From: <SNSpies at aol.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: Cotton in a European grave

<< Wouldn't such a thread and/or cloth have been available through Roman

trade routes across the Med with Egypt? >>

Let me quote further from the article:

"Cotton and cotton-union fabrics circulated within the Roman empire, although

they seem to have been regarded as a luxury and are comparatively rare in

the European archaeological record.

J.P.Wild (1970, "Textile Manufacture in the Northern Roman Provinces") cites

the following findings of cotton in Roman Europe: a single S-spun thread from

an early 4th-century well near Chew Stoke in Somerset, England (possibly a

modern contaminant - Wild, pers.comm.); a cotton-wool union fabric used to

wrap a 4th-century mummified woman's body buried near Aquincum-Budapest,

Hungary; and a cotton winding sheet from another mummified body in a tomb

on the Via Cassia near Rome."

There are also a couple of examples of fibre capsules from cotton plants found

in 6th-7th century France, but such objects are thought to have been brought

back from the Holy Land by pilgrims.

Ingvild/Nancy

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 17:21:01 EST

From: <SNSpies at aol.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: Cotton in a European grave

<< I have never heard of the "ATN" before. Can you tell me how I may obtain

a subscription? >>

Subscriptions to "Archaeological Textiles Newsletter" are available by

writing to:

Dr. J.P. Wild

Department of Art History and Archaeology

University of Manchester

Oxford Road

Manchester M13 3PL

England

Payment is 20 pounds for a 2-year subscription (4 issues) and is accepted

only in pounds sterling. Payment should be made in the form of a bank check.

Ingvild/Nancy

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 19:38:45 -0500

From: capriest at cs.vassar.edu (Carolyn Priest-Dorman)

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: Cotton in a European grave

Ingvild asked:

><< I'd guess the Merovingian woman had some sort of royal

> connection. The other Frankish find of cotton in a grave that I know of is

> dated seventh century. >>

>Thora, could you please post your reference for this? =20

The reference for this is:

France-Lanord, Albert. "La fouille en laboratoire:

Methodes et resultats." _Dossiers de l'Archeologie_

32 (January-February 1979), pp. 66- 91.

Details of the burial textiles in the so-called

Aregond grave, that of a seventh-century

Merovingian royal woman. Includes evidence for

silk, linen, hemp, wool, and cotton! Frustratingly

vague on weave details in some cases.

The gist of the article's information on textiles can be found in Chapter 6

of Marieke's and my _Compleat Anachronist_, #59.

Carolyn Priest-Dorman Thora Sharptooth

capriest at cs. vassar. edu Frostahlid, Austmork

Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 20:06:06 EST

From: <SNSpies at aol.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: Cotton in a European grave

<< Oooh! Are there any pictures, or detailed descriptions, available??

This sounds like something that would be fun to duplicate! >>

Sorry. The only picture with the article is a x400 magnification of the

cotton fibres. I will see what I can find out. From the article, it appears

that the quilted garment is still being analysed, etc. by Johanna Banck-

Burgess, she who did the Hochdorf chieftain textiles (so you can believe that

the end result of her analysis will be very good indeed). I will pass on

anything further that I can find out.

Ingvild/Nancy