Textiles and the Cloth Trade

Any recommendations for books on this important subject?

I would like something that explained the details of what the various types of cloth were (scarlet, tabby, broadcloth etc.) and dyeing, but also something broader about the trade itself and its economic importance. I am mostly interested in England 1100-1500 but would still like to know about anything covering a wider period or geographic scope.

Type, "Textiles" in the ( Search ) icon, you will get
a list of book titles on textiles.

1699 works with 'textiles' in the title.

I remember that bolts of cloth were often listed as assets in last wills and testaments. Textiles must have been important to the economies of Europe then, and a book on the subject could prove interesting. I suppose the technology of cloth making could be interesting too.

I hope you get a usable answer here, Peasant.

Robert

You won't find much about cloth production in England in the early part of your period for the simple reason that the industry was dominated by Flanders and Italy, and most of the wool that the English produced then was exported over to them.

Part way through the period the ratio of wool to cloth exports reversed, and cloth became the dominant export. *

If you are interested in the wool trade (which may lead you to cloth sources for England), the two classics are Eileen Powers' The wool trade in English medieval history and T. H. Lloyd's 'The English wool trade in the Middle Ages' (no touchstone).

It would, of course, be much easier to recommend books if we knew what you wanted them for - scholarly, general, SCA, etc. - and if we could see what else you own/read.

* Lloyd has a table showing dates and quantities, if I remember correctly.

Thanks mcalister. My interest is scholarly not historical re-enactment if that helps.

The Powers is apparently a set of lectures. Would you say it provides a comprehensive overview or is it just detailed snapshots of specific aspects?

I have to say I am surprised: despite this being so important for the medieval economy there don't seem to be many dedicated books out there, let alone recent ones, and for the few I can find it is hard to find any reviews or descriptions.

Does anyone have any opinions on the following?
Textiles and Clothing : Medieval Finds from Excavations in London
Medieval Clothing and Textiles (this seems to be a series)

I recently read Victory of Reason by Rodney Stark (2005), which has a chapter on the development of the wool and textile trade in Europe, and in England specifically. He has a chart on page 149 that lists "English Wool Exports 1279-1540" depicting the shift from export of fleeces to cloth over that period. You may find that interesting. In his notes he lists, among other sources, England's Export Trade, 1275-1547 by Eleanora Carus-Wilson et al., published by Oxford in 1963. There are a number of journal articles cited as well by Carus-Wilson and others.

You might also be interested in Medieval England: Towns, commerce, and crafts, 1086-1348 by Miller and Hatcher and references therein.

Forthcoming from Brill in July: Encyclopaedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles. From the publisher's description: "There is a clear need for an interdisciplinary reference work which will introduce readers to various sources of evidence, and give clear information about the most recent discoveries and interpretations and bibliographical guidance to readers."

Mention is also made there of a journal, Medieval Clothing and Textiles, which appears to be available from Boydell and Brewer. This may be the same as the series you mentioned in 5.

Just adding to the list of possibilities:

* Encountering Medieval Textiles and Dress: Objects, Texts, Images
* Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland
* Medieval Fabrications: Dress, Textiles, Clothwork, and Other Cultural Imaginings
* Textile History: Special Issue on Ancient and Medieval Textiles (journal)
* The Medieval Broadcloth: Changing Trends in Fashions, Manufacturing and Consumption
* Weaving, Veiling and Dressing: Textiles and Their Metaphors in the Late Middle Ages
* Ancient and Medieval Textiles

Start with Cambridge History of Western textiles Vol 1 then follow with Eleanora Carus-Wilson, Bridbury, John Munro, N. B. Harte, etc for the economics details.

For English archaeological textiles see Textiles and clothing, c. 1150-c. 1450

Medieval Clothing and Textiles is a hardcover annual scholarly journal. Many of the papers were presented as earlier versions at K'zoo or Leeds. I have the contents posted in the comments field of my listings. The Journal Textile History also has a occasional paper withing the period of interest.

If you're willing to read a story along with your research, both The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End actually have so amount of detail having to do with textiles.

Just don't believe the characters in either Pillars or World are anything but 20th-century people.