240 ember days
husband’s family, she left the castle with two servants to
retire to a hermitage near Eisenach, then in 1228 moved
to Marburg. She then renounced all her property, became
a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis, and
distributed her property to the poor. She lived a life of
great austerity, taking care of the sick and poor. Worn out
by the sadistic Conrad and her own austerity, she died at
age 24 on November 17, 1231, near Wittenberg and was
soon canonized in 1235.
See alsoWALTHER VON DERVOGELWEIDE;WOLFRAM
VONESCHENBACH.
Further reading:Charles Forbes Montalembert, Life
of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Duchess of Thuringia,trans.
Francis Deming Hoyt (New York: Longmans, Green,
1904); Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, Poverty, My Riches: A
Study of St. Elizabeth of Hungary 1207–1231(Southamp-
ton: The Saint Austin Press, 1997).
ember days Ember days are the days of fasting on
Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in the liturgical CALEN-
DARat the start of each of the four seasons. The spring
ember days were during the first week of LENT, those
of summer during the octave of PENTECOST, those of
autumn in the third week of September, and those of
winter during the first week of Advent. They might have
had their origins as pagan holidays commemorating the
change in seasons.
See alsoFASTING AND ABSTINENCE.
Further reading:Geoffrey Grimshaw Willis, A His-
tory of Early Roman Liturgy to the Death of Pope Gregory
the Great (London: Henry Bradshaw Society, Boydell
Press, 1994).
embroidery The medieval art of embroidery consisted
of sewing a design to a fabric with a needle. The thread
may be of different or rich materials, such as GOLDor SILK,
and applied with several types of stitch. Of Oriental ori-
gin, it spread in Europe with the taste for rich fabrics
imported from SPAINand SICILYbetween the eighth and
12th centuries. By the 13th century English work, in par-
ticular, was known throughout Europe. Almost the entire
demand was from the church for liturgical vestments such
as miters and chasubles. The most famous masterpiece of
medieval embroidery was the 11th-century BAYEUX
TAPESTRY.
Further reading:A. G. I. Christie, English Medieval
Embroidery: A Brief Survey of English Embroidery Dating
from the Beginning of the Tenth Century until the End of the
Fourteenth (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1938); Donald
King, Opus Anglicanum: English Medieval Embroidery
(London: Arts Council, 1963); Victoria and Albert
Museum, The Victoria & Albert Museum’s Textile Collec-
tion: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750(New York:
Canopy Books, 1993); Leonie von Wilckens, “Embroi-
dery,” The Dictionary of Art10.180–183.
enamels Medieval enameling as an art involved the
application or fusing of mineral oxides in a vitreous or
glass paste onto objects or surfaces usually made of pre-
cious metals. This was done by using a very hot fire.
There were several techniques that were popular at vari-
ous times: plique à jour(against the light), champlevé
(raised field), en résille sur verre(in grooves on glass),
cloisonné(cell work), basse taille(shallow cut), en ronde
bosse(rounded relief), bas-relief, and painting. The art
was practiced in the early Middle Ages in the Celtic
world and in the Byzantine Empire. It spread more
widely into the Carolingian and Ottonian Empires in
the ninth and 10th centuries and into AQUITAINEand
northern Spain in the 12th. By the 13th century work-
shops in Limoges in France produced enamels for a
European market. In the later Middle Ages, VENICEand
SIENAwere also important production centers of this
luxurious art form.
Further reading:Marit Guiness Aschan, “Enamel,”
The Dictionary of Art10.192–195; Marian Campbell, An
Introduction to Medieval Enamels (Owings Mills, Md.:
Stemmer House, 1983); John P. O’Neill, ed., Enamels of
Limoges: 1100–1350(New York: Metropolitan Museum of
Art, 1996); Theophilus, The Various Arts,trans. C. R.
Dodwell (London: T. Nelson, 1961).England England occupies the southern and central
part of the island of Britain. After the departure of the
Roman government in 407, Britain or the Roman
province of Britannia was overrun by large numbers of
Germanic-speaking people from FRISIA and Jutland in
DENMARK. By the midsixth century, the Briton GILDAS
wrote that large parts of Britain were occupied by these
Germanic settlers. The native Romanized Britons had
been forced back into WALESand Devon and Cornwall in
the southwest of the island. By the end of the sixth cen-
tury, these Germanic settlements had grown in the king-
doms of Kent, WESSEX, East Anglia, Mercia, and
Northumbria and were all contending for dominance.
AUGUSTINEof Canterbury in 597 began converting these
kingdoms to Christianity. So by the late seventh century,
most of England was Christian. England then played
important roles in Christian learning, education, and mis-
sionary activity to the Continent. For most of the eighth
century, Mercia was able to achieve dominance over its
two main rivals, the kingdoms of Kent and Wessex.ARRIVAL OF THE VIKINGS AND DANES
At the end of the eighth century, a new threat to English
peace appeared in the form of VIKINGraiders from 793.
For much of the ninth century they raided and settled
throughout England. Much of eastern England was set-
tled by Danish immigrants and was known as the
DANELAW. There was a Viking kingdom in the city of
YORKfrom 866. These Viking attacks destroyed much of