changed along with trade routes and the rise of mercantilism in Europe. Technological
innovations took weavers out of the domestic and monastic environment and into the
professional urban workshop. In the later Middle Ages, tapestry production became a
separate industry, and major tapestry centers tended to be located near centers of political
and economic power. Tapestries and other wall hangings served architectural, social, and
practical purposes, as they colored space with images or scenes that were objects of
conversation, and provided insulation. Textiles used as banners, ecclesiastical and
liturgical materials, clothing, furniture accessories, napkins and towels, and even horse
trappings survive.
In the early Middle Ages, weavers worked with the vertical warp-weighted loom,
which rested against a wall. Warp threads tied to an upper crossbar were secured to the
ground by weights. The wefts were attached to rods and woven through warps in a
variety of ways that resulted in differently patterned weaves. In the mid-11th century, the
invention of the horizontal treadle-operated loom sped up the process immensely and
initiated the change in workers and working environment. Before the horizontal loom,
workers were predominantly women who operated within the domestic sphere. After this
invention, professional, mostly male, workshops were established, and the industry
became more export-oriented. In the mid-13th century, the invention of the broadloom, a
loom twice as broad as the horizontal treadle loom, allowed two people to work at one
loom and so heightened productivity.
Apart from wool, other fibers, such as linen, silk, and satin, were either produced or
imported. Linen production apparently was widespread but poorly documented, with such
varieties as dowlas and poldavy from Brittany, sieve cloth from Rennes, and fuller linens,
such as bysse and cambric, originally from Cambrai. Silk from Byzantium, Islamic Spain
and other Islamic countries, Italy, and even central Asia was brought to western Europe
and woven into damask, lampas, and satin, often in elaborate patterns. Ecclesiastical
embroideries of silver-gilt thread on colored silk or linen could be used for copes, altar
frontals, and orphreys. In the domestic realm, embroidered napkins, towels, tablecloths,
and pillow covers were popular.
While the textile industry flourished in medieval France, the 14th century brought the
establishment of tapestry workshops to urban centers. The specialized trade of tapestry
introduced new steps to production. Artists produced small drawings called petit patrons,
designers transformed the compositions into cartoons (patrons) for the tapestry, and
weavers translated the cartoons into tapestry. The weaving method involved weft threads
that cover short spaces with different colors as specified by the design and hide the warp
threads in the finished fabric. Only
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1704