A Use for Dyed Linen

[Sean M]

By the 1360s, linen dyed a variety of colours was a standard trade good in Europe, but so far we don't know what they made from it. (I don't know of a single account book, inventory, or description of someone's clothing, which says, "and a red linen ..." or "five ells of short blue linen to make ...").

In the book on the von Roggendorf slashed and puffed armour, there is a photo of one of the leather strips from the top of the cuisses of one of the 1480s armours in the KHM Wien, and near the top this seems to have a dark purple plain weave against the leather. Does anyone know if that is a layer of linen, or just the base of the disintegrated purple velvet covering the leather tab?

The tailors of Seville agreed in 1520 that doublets of major silks such as damask would have an extra layer of linen dyed the same colour as the silk between the facing and the canvas.

Edit: my part of this thread has now been ported to Age of Datini!

[Sean M]

I checked the book by Ruth M. Anderson which Susan Reed cites, but it just gives an English paraphrase and a shelf number in Seville. Unfortunately sometimes archival researchers succumb to the weakness of the flesh and just summarize what they are reading in their native language rather than copy the original in full.

So far Ruth M. Anderson seems like a careful scholar, I am not too worried about her translations. She has another example of something in red (colorado) tafetta lined with flesh-coloured (encarnado) linen.

The idea that nobody wanted expensive damask or satin to look washed out because of the white/blonde/grey linen backing makes sense to me.

[Mac]

By the 1360s, linen dyed a variety of colours was a standard trade good in Europe, but so far we don't know what they made from it.

One of the things that may be made from colored linen is braies. Sure.. they are usually white or off white, but we have lots of pics showing that in the 15th and 16th centuries they were available in other colors as well. Black, and shades of blue seem to have been popular.












Mac

[Sean M]

Thank you Mac! The first dyer who found a way to colour linen a dark blue or black which would survive washing must have made a killing.

The fragment of a brigandine from a putlog hole at Schloss Tirol has a layer of red linen next to the plates. The interlining of white linen is next to the yellow satin cover. I don't have an explanation for that choice better than "maybe the local draper had a deal on the end of a piece of red linen?"

[Johann ColdIron]

Very interesting! Once I learned that linen was mostly undyed in period it changed my SCA world view with all our brightly colored linen outfits.

Mac, any chance those representations of Blue braies were colored in by later "puritans" editing out the what they thought were naughty bits?

[Mac]

Mac, any chance those representations of Blue braies were colored in by later "puritans" editing out the what they thought were naughty bits?

I really hate using absolutes... but no. There's pretty much no chance that these are not more or less their original colors.

Having looked at a couple thousand images of medieval folks in states of undress, I am confident that these have not been altered. When some prude gets their hands on a "naughty" old picture, they either scratch out the genitals, or paint something over them... like a veil, or some foliage.

This is just a small sample of the colored undies I have pinned in one or another of my boards. I could probably find another twenty or thirty... maybe more. It seems like they really were a thing.

Mac

[Sean M]

Very interesting! Once I learned that linen was mostly undyed in period it changed my SCA world view with all our brightly colored linen outfits.

Mac, any chance those representations of Blue braies were colored in by later "puritans" editing out the what they thought were naughty bits?

Hi Johann,

as someone who passed on the myth 'they did not dye linen in the ancient and medieval world' I want to make sure I do not go too far in the opposite direction. I think that the big issue is that we tend to use linens to face garments which would have been faced in wool or silk, because just like in the middle ages linen is cheaper than (woollen, worsted, or silk) cloth, and we are not wearing one outfit all summer long in all weather.

I have ordered Rosita Levi Pisetzky's Storia del Costume in Italia from interlibrary loan, and I hope it has some good inventories.

Sean

[Sean M]

Also, we English-speakers researching the late 14th century do not have the massive amounts of documents which are available for 16th century research. There is a lot of colourful clothing in the Tacuinum illustration for vestis lintea but I would be a lot more confident to have a nice court record "and the deceased was wearing a shift, russet hosen, a blue linen dress, and a grey mantle lined in green linen."

[Sean M]

Tasha K-M has heard that the golden gown of Queen Margareta in Uppsala is lined in blue linen. Does anyone have the publications to confirm that? This article mentions three linens, two blues and an unbleached http://forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/ ... rethe.html

There seems to be dispute whether it dates to c. 1410 or c. 1470 https://doi.org/10.1080/00233609608604396

[Sean M]

I found an inventory from Rimini in April 1439 with a clamidi (light mantle in the ancient style) of black cloth lined with linen cloth of the same colour (di panno nero foderata di panno di lino dello stesso colore: Elosa Tosi Brandi, Abbigliamento e Società a Rimini nel XV Secolo, page 72). With this and the gown which Tasha found, I think we have reasonable evidence that coloured linen was seen as appropriate for lining other fabrics in the 15th century.

[Sean M]

3. Item, que nul ne face juppons de soye ne de camelot, s’il n’y a bon contre endroit de toille tainte; et qui autrement le fera, il paiera dix sols parisis d’amande, dont les six sols parisis seront au Roy et les quatre aux gardes dudit mestier; et si sera l’euvre descousue et baillée à remender à l’ouvrier ou à ung autre à ses depens, s’il ne le veult faire.

"Third item, that nobody shall make jupons of silk or chamlet (probably a linen-silk blend with the linen threads hidden on the wrong side), such as there is not a good interfacing of dyed linen, and whoever shall do otherwise, shall pay ten sols parisis in penalty, of which the six sols parisis shall be to the king and the four to the guards of the aforesaid mastery; …"

So what was good in Paris in 1382 was still best practice in Seville in 1522. You can find the French on Armour in Texts.

[Håvard]

Red linen lining is found in a 14th century brigantine fragment in Schloss Tirol published by Beatrix Nutz 2015

CT8920: fragment with outer cover of yellow silk, middle layer of white linen and inner layer of red (!) linen. Both linen layers are tabby, while the silk is samite. Threadcount is 17-19 threads/cm.

Some discussion of further litterature on the garment and a snap shot here.

[Sean M]

I also confirmed that it is blue or black linen (tela nera o azzurra) and not "cloth" which Cennini thinks a painter may have to paint for hangings. Datini carried more colours, but it looks like the colours of the breeches which Mac found and the dress lining which Tasha found were especially widely available.

[Sean M]

In 1462, the tailors of Bordeaux agreed that in all pourpoints of silk, the valets and the master tailors should be held to put a toile of buckram of the same colour next to the (silk) cloth.

10. Item. Qu'à tout pourpoint de soie, les valets et maîtres tailleurs soient tenus de mettre une toile de bougran de même couleur contre le drap.

This was published somewhere in the series Ordonnance des rois de France de la Troisème Race ... (Edit: volume 15, pages 474 and following, the original is in Occitan so Le Rozier 'Frenched' it).

[Sean M]

Mart found Item j. jakke of blakke lynen clothe stuffyd with mayle. in either the Paston Letters or the inventory of the effects of Sir John Fastolfe. Black linen cloth for a jack could be the kind painted with oil and soot (Lübeck), or daubed with pitch (John Major), not dyed, though. Edit: its page 41 of the inventory of the effects of Sir John Fastolfe in 1459.

Edit: The Old Norwegian King's Mirror is also keen on gambesons, cuisses, and covers for horses made "of soft linen cloth thoroughly blackened" af blautum léreptum ok vel svörtuðum. I suspect that is similar to the jacks in Lübeck and the descriptions of Scottish jacks as daubed with pitch.

[Sean M]

Practical plain aprons of usually white and sometimes blue linen of various qualities were worn by both men and women to protect clothes during household chores and work. (Fig. 11 {which shows a sketch of a woman in a white apron})
...
Blue was one of the easiest colours to achieve on plant fibre (cellulose fibre) fabrics, together with black. Due to the unique chemical process of woad-dyeing, the colour was fixed the textile more easily and a mordant was not required, but still resulted in a light-and wash-fast textile. This made blue a popular colour for linen. While most linen and canvas remained undyed, blue linen aprons were a very common accessory for women of all social levels. As already mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Bruges became famous for the beautiful colours of its linen buckrams. Very little is known about the dye techniques used in this industry to achieve the quality colours these fabrics were so much appreciated for.
...
The probate inventory of Neelken Aelbrecht († 1584), daughter of Roylant Jacop Aelbrecht, includes perhaps the most detailed account of clothing purchases, in that it consistently lists the garments bought and repaired during a period of just over three years, as well as when precisely they were purchased ... In May 1580 and November 1582 she purchased a total of six aprons, four in blue linen, one in black say (a lightweight, narrow woolen or worsted) and another in blue say

If you are interested in 16th century clothing, her dissertation is https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1316950151162165141 I hope she can print it.

[Sean M]

The Schloss Tirol altarpiece (c. 1370-1372) and the Toggenbuerg Bible (c. 1411) both show big checked blue-and-white pillows at the head of beds. Those would most likely be linen, hemp, or cotton although medieval beddings could be of worsted or silk (Mary's bed has checked pillows, and She was not the kind for silk bedding).

Edit: And Suzie Day found a Pinterest page https://www.pinterest.ca/cesca7/that-me ... r-blanket/

[Mac]

The Schloss Tirol altarpiece (c. 1370-1372) and the Toggenbuerg Bible (c. 1411) both show big checked blue-and-white pillows at the head of beds. Those would most likely be linen, hemp, or cotton although medieval beddings could be of worsted or silk (Mary's bed has checked pillows, and She was not the kind for silk bedding).

Edit: And Suzie Day found a Pinterest page https://www.pinterest.ca/cesca7/that-me ... r-blanket/

The blue plaid pillow was surprisingly common. I've got a board of them as well, but there is probably a lot of overlap with teh board cited above.

Mac

[Sean M]

Timothy Dawson says that pillows and bedcovers with groups of three blue stripes are all over Byzantine art in the 9th to 12th centuries.

Hilde Thunem points to blue-dyed and red-dyed linen in graves from Birka and Pskov. Its frustrating because linen and canvas were cheap and low status and rot in the wet, so medieval people rarely describe the colour and archaeologists rarely have something to catalogue.

[RandallMoffett]

Sean,

I am working on this using records from London. I have about a dozen examples of linen being colored, yellow, brown, green, blue and red. I have mostly found finished goods that are linen dyed. Why we don't see it in the pre finished garment or item is something I notices as well. That said I have a few of them.

As Mart found I suspect most garments of this nature were linen for some reason. Really that should not be a surprise as they show up so often in the accounts for building material.

Once I can find my linen dyed list I'll share it.

Bob C. had much the same response as Mac on the topic. Its funny as I just had an conversation with a person who claimed it was impossible to have dyed linen pre 1800 or somewhere around there. No matter the examples it just was not evidence enough I guess.... reenactorisms are hard to kill.

Reminds me of Ian's video on the pendulum being swung to far the other direction.

Best,

Randall

[Sean M]

In the 1540s, Lord Aran the Regent of Scotland had a coat and a cloak made of Spanish frieze, the body of the coat lined with black buckram and black fustian (Melanie Schuessler Bond, Dressing the Scottish Court, p. 42). Buckram seems to be a coarse, heavyweight linen cloth in the 16th century, it was often soaked in a flour paste and used for stiffening.

Randall, I hope you can publish the thing on coloured linen in documents from London.

[Håvard]

Chasuble, Ösmo church, Södermanland, Sweden, late 15th century. Silk damask. Lining of dark blue linen. In Maria Neijmans blog with some nice images here.

[Sean M]

Håvard, I like that dark blue linen lining!

Sir John Fastolfe owned "ij peces of Blewe Canvas of xlij yerdes (length)" in 1459 (Inventory of Effects formerly Belonging to Sir John Fastolfe p. 27)

Guilhelm Ferrand's book on inventories from Dijon 1390-1408 has no. 1 p. 58 Item 1 sac de futaine roye (http://www.atilf.fr/dmf/definition/rayé "striped") "Item: one sack of striped (rayé) fustian." Elsewhere fustian is normally white or black, but some of those striped pillows and mattresses could be of fustian.

[Sean M]

Louis Douet-d'Arcq, Nouveau Recueil de Comptes de l'Argenterie des Rois de France p. 32: Pour iiij aunes de toille vermeille, pour fourrer les corps de ij corsez broudez, pour mondit seigneur, xvij s iiij d

For 4 ells of vermillion linen, for lining the bodies of two embroidered corsets, for my aforesaid lord, 17 s. 4d.

With this and Havard's chausible, maybe some of the linings in contrasting colours we see were linen? There also seem to be some coloured linen linings and interlinings for silk draperies for chambers.

Edit: The quilted lining of a 16th c close helmet in the Wallace collection is linen dyed blue. Datini carried headpieces and camails lined with vermillion, red (rossa), black, sky-blue (azzura), bioda [blonde/natural coloured?], and white linen (tela) or boccasino (a cotton or part-cotton fabric, probably smooth).

[Sean M]

I think I never posted examples from 1340s Montauban in Languedoc. I have not proofread these transcriptions, but they mention vermillion and green linen (tela) for doublets (jupos), sleeves, a mi parti cote hardie, and an overgarment (sobreviesta). In these texts a palm is a "span" ie. about 9", the greatest distance you can stretch from your little finger to your thumb. Coto mapus is cotton which has not been spun into thread (what the British call wadding).

Forestie Vol. 1 p. 162 Gallica

1. Mo L'arcesque de Montalba ...
Item deu per XI palms tela blanca, e per III palms tela vert, e
per mega lh. coto mapus, e per Ia onsa fil sedene e blanc que pres
n'Anstore, per far adobar II jupos, que monta: ... IIII s. X d.
...
Item deu per II palms tela vert e per mega onsa fil vert, que
pres lo P. Pouchier per Ia marguas far jupo, que monta: I s.

Forestie vol. 1 p. 67 Gallica

Item deu per Vi aunas tela vert, e per XII ochaus sedas que baliem am sa letra a Mo P. Chiralba, a XXVII de novembre, e per guarnit las raubas dels efaus, e de II escudiers, e de III donzelas; l'escane per XXII s. ... XXIII s.

Forestie vol. 2 p. 188 Gallica

2. Pons de Cauzac, donzel del Verdier, en Albeges, deu
...
bo. - Item deu, a XX s. l'escut, per Ia onsa fil vermelh; V palms
tela vert e vermelha; II ochaus sedas, quo pers Mo W. Bru, per Ia
cotardia meg partida, a XXIII de feurier: ... VI s. I d.

4. Matio Guari, mercador de Montalba, deu, comte fag am lu per
totas cauzas entre nos e lu, tro a XV de may l'an XLVII (1347) que monta: ... II cadieiras d'aur.

Item deu per III aunas fustani blanc; I palm tela vert; Ia onsa fil vert; per far sobreviesta.

At some point I will move this thread to Age of Datini

[Sean M]

Thanks to Augusto Boer Bront: the Churburg S18 gauntlets are lined with gloves of blue hemp cloth or linen cloth https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/14101430-c ... 859579880/

[Sean M]

In Bronze Age Egypt, high quality tunics often have tablet-woven bands in dyed linen. The tomb of Tuthmosis IV had fragments of linen tapestry weave in red, blue, green, yellow, brown, and back. https://doi.org/10.2307/3854566

Edit: thread has been ported to Age of Datini! Updates there may or may not be cross-posted here.