Silk is an interesting topic when it comes to the SCA. What type of silk was period? And for whom? How much silk was actually used? Would entire garments have been made of silk? Embroidery? Tablet-woven trim?
For now, I'm going to post some information that was gleaned from an email group of which I'm a member. In case someone else wants to join, it's the Early-Medieval-Ireland@yahoogroups.com or EMI (as the posts generally are titled). Back in March, 2006, there was a discussion concerning a green silk dress reference that a woman was trying to find, because she wanted to make the self same outfit for an upcoming event. I'm going to do a bit of cutting and pasting in this post, so enjoy!
Begin Thread...
[Ealawen]
1) Use of silk in Early Medieval Ireland - most sources i have been able to identify refer to the use of silk in garments and braid on garments, however there is not much reference to the type of silk available. From my sources about the availability of silk in mainland europe, brocades and satins would have been prohibitively expensive as they would have had to come from the middle/far east at that time...Byzantinium is still quite a distance from Dublin. I am planning to go with raw silk, and yet even some sources debate the availability of any silk during this time period in ireland. Does anyone have any direct references for the types of silks used in this time period?
2) Can anyone help me locate the annal entry/mythological tale i cant seem to identify. The closest i can find is the Wooing of Etain, where she is wearing a green mantle with red and gold trim. I can remember vaguely something about the Arthurian Elayne/Elaine, but as this not always a good historical reference point. I am hoping for something more substantial.
[LindaC]
I am not sure on the history of trading. Ireland has a history of lace making. In Pennsylvania (USA) we had silk mills and lace mills. If the era is correct you could wear Irish lace with silk.
[AndyN]
This came up as a long discussion session on the list of an early medieval re-enactment group of which I'm a member.
The consensus of opinion, after checking a wide number of academic sources [the delights of a group with a number of serious fabric geeks on it :) ], was that there is no good evidence for entire garments made of silk in early medieval North West Europe - with the exception of a some high-status wimples and a couple of ecclesiastical items. As a result my hand-dyed (woad over weld) silk tunic is consigned to the cupboard :(, and I am left withsilk bands at the cuff and neck of my best (seriously high-status, silk-embroidered, gold and pearl-couched) woollen tunic.
I'm not sure about types of silk - we got round the problem by issuing 'this is right, this is wrong' silk swatches to all the authenticity officers. However it was noted that there seems to be no record of silk from the Indian species of silkworm being found in Britain or Scandinavia in an early medieval context.
[MalachiM]
Dear Megan,
In your question about Silk in Early Medieval Ireland, you use of the term "historical re-enactment". This suggests to me a desire for historical accuracy, though I also get a sense from your "...planning to go with raw silk..." that you would like to wear that green silk dress that you vaguely remember, the "...young woman wearing a green silk dress when meeting a hero for the first time.")
You may indeed have encountered some ancient references to silk in Ireland. In my collection "Herself Long Ago"* --which is the poetry of six Irish women from the 8th to the 10th C that I translated-- in an extraordinary "leannan sidhe" (vision) poem entitled "Creide's House", comes the verse:
"Her beautiful complexion is lime-colored;
A quilt is between her and the rushes
silk between her and her blue cloak;
redgold between her and her drinking horn."
There is another reference in the poem to a "black shawl" being washed (dyed?) in a vessel into which the juice of berries drips --I imagine those to be probably elderberries (Sambucus canadensis), which grew in profusion in Creide's native Kerry. (In "Sambucca" the Italians discovered another laudable use for elderberries, but that didn't reach our shores until comparatively recently --as far as I know.)
You do need to be aware that the Irish words for silk, "sioda" and "sita", are sometimes used for wool --just to confuse the issue.
Clearly, however, to all practical purposes, silk was almost non-existent in early Ireland. (A young lad from Portugal walking in the streets of Cork in 1491 wearing a silk suit drew a huge crowd of amazed locals who were convinced he must be a foreign prince from a distant land.)
Indeed, silk was extremely rare (and very expensive) anywhere in Europe --in fact, anywhere outside of China.
The Huguenots --refugees from Louis XIV's bloody tyranny in France-- who came to Ireland in the late 1600's, and who are credited with bringing so many great innovations to Ireland (probably chief among them the linen industry) were interested in bringing the cultivation of silk to Ireland. Unfortunately, their efforts to grow that chief ingredient in silk --to wit, the mulberry tree -- failed for reasons of inhospitable climate. (The Chinese had made a rougher kind of silk, called pongee, by feeding oak leaves to silkworms, but that's another story.)
From these few historical references it's easy to get a sense of how rare silk in Ireland was.
All that said, however, I think I'd still go with that green silk dress --if not exactly "historically accurate", it was definitely "historically possible." And silk is always fabulous: there is an old --and decidedly un-burkan-- Arabic proverb* which is one of my favorites: "Silk was invented so a woman could go naked in clothes."
Enough said,
Malachi McCormick
*If you need any further information about these books you can find it on my site www.stonestreetpress.com
Welcome to our list and good luck with the re-enactment
[Ranvaig]
What exactly do you mean by "raw silk"? Usually it used for "silk noil", a low sheen, nubby fabric. The cost of the silk so far from its source will nearly all be "shipping charges" so silk noil would cost almost as much as those satins and brocades.
There are several finds of silk scarves and caps in Dublin, dating from the 10th to mid 12th century. These were all very fine, almost sheer, smooth silk, the weave is open, almost gauzy. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/43630//Location/DBBCViking Age Headcoverings from Dublin by Elizabeth Wincott Heckett
There are other finds of silk "samite" bands appliqued as trim, this was a heavier, multicolored weave from the Middle East. http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/textilebiblio.html A whole gown of silk might not be impossible, but would have been VERY expensive and unusual.
[Morgwn]
Okay: coupla-three things.
I don't know of *any* hard evidence of silk garments in early period Ireland - keep in mind that most of the Irish sagas/myths we have access to were written down much later. Not all, but most. So what would seem reasonable to a twelfth century scribe is not necessarily what was in the original version, and silk seems to be a common word used as almost an emotional shorthand for "rich/exotic/fabulous/mythical". That doesn't mean that there wasn't the very occasional garment long since disintegrated, although judging from Norse sources (admittedly not quite the same) it seems silk was so precious that larger pieces were cut up and used for trim.
However, silk was not usually the raw stuff with all the slubs. Look for the smooth stuff. A lot was unspun (straight off the cocoon, basically). I'd stay away from the slubby rough stuff, I really would.
[AmyG]
Hello,
Though the topic/costume decision seems to have been resolved, I thought I'd offer the passage, which happens to open chapter 3 "The Christian Triumph: The Golden Age," by Liam de Paor, in Treasures of Early Irish Art: 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.
It's a description of Etain, from the saga "The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel."
"He saw a woman at the edge of a well, and she had a silver comb with gold ornament. She was washing in a silver basin in which were four birds of gold, and bright little gems of purple carbuncle in the chasing of the basin. She wore a purple cloak of good fleece, held with silver brooches chased with gold, and a smock of green silk with gold embroidery. There were wonderful ornaments of animal design in gold and silver on her breast and shoulders. The sun shone upon her, so that the men saw the gold gleaming in the sunshine against the green silk. There were two golden tresses on her head, plaited in four, with a ball at the end of every lock."
It's a gorgeous picture, but I have to agree that it may well be the storyteller's imagination giving the richest possible effect.
I'd be glad to see more information on Irish dress of the Early Christian period, myself, and if anyone can discuss the legal right to wear colors (how many, and which ones), that would be wonderful, too! Thanks!
...end Thread [unfortunately]
I'll do a bit more research on this later, but this is another good starting point for Irish persona.
