The fourth volume of this landmark series features a special focus on headdress, with papers analysing women's turbans in fifteenth-century French manuscript paintings; the changing meaning of the term cuff; the spread of wimple from England to Southern Italy; and a surviving embroidered linen cap attributed to Saint Birgitta of Sweden. Northern European dress and textiles are further explored in papers on archaeological textiles from medieval towns in Finland, Norway, and Sweden; the construction of gowns excavated at Herjolfsnes, Greenland; and references to scarlet clothing in Icelandic sagas. Other papers focus on linen production in medieval Russia and an enigmatic quilt of Henry VIII's that almost certainly arrived in England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Aragon. Also included are reviews of recent books on clothing and textiles.
ROBIN NETHERTON is a professional editor and a researcher/lecturer on the interpretation of medieval European dress; GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester.
Contributors: MARK CHAMBERS, CAMILLA LUISE DAHL, LISA EVANS, JOHN BLOCK FRIEDMAN, LENA HAMMARLUND, HEINI KIRJAVAINEN, ALEXANDRA M. LESTER, ROBIN NETHERTON, GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER, KATHRINE VESTERGÅRD PEDERSEN, HEIDI M. SHERMAN, LUCIA SINISI, ISIS STURTEWAGEN, MARIANNE VEDELER, ANNA ZANCHI
Reviews
The essays are all of uniformly high quality, imaginative, thoughtful, well researched and well written. Whether presenting entirely new material or reevaluating known examples and earlier research, all the authors have new and intriguing arguments to make, supported by solid evidence and methodology. SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNALThe depth and breadth of the expertise and interests of the authors result in an absorbing insight into the importance of textiles and clothing to the economic and aesthetic aspects of medieval life. In addition, the material elucidates the importance of cloth and clothing as indicators of status and symbolism. [...] An excellent addition to the study of medieval Europe. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLGY