From the Archives of the 12th Century Garb Yahoo Group:
Some of Katrine’s Source Material
Message #106, July 31, 2002
I thought I might put together a basic list of the sources floating around in my house. It is by no means comprehensive, but for those searching, I’ll try to give you the run down of what to see.
20,000 Years of Fashion by Francois Boucher –
12 12th century images.
The Book of Costume by Milia Davenport
Here we have about 60 images of 12th century art, with the emphasis on costume, from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. This is a standard costume reference work and a must read!
Kunstgeschichte der Seidenweberei by Otto von Falke
(History of Silk Weaving)
This book is wonderful to look at. It contains about 500 photographs of extant (in 1921 anyway) silk textiles and some garments, including several 12th century ones. Worth getting on interlibrary loan if you don’t have lots of textile primary sources.
Das Stickereiwerk (Available as The Art of Embroidery in English or La Broderie in French) by Marie Schuette and Sigrid Muller-Christensen
This has been referred to as the SCA Embroidery Bible on one of my lists. If you can’t get it on ILL in English, chose to search by the alternate foreign titles. It is easiest to get in German.
This is a book that causes drooling… There are nice photographs of extant garments with detail shots of the embroider techniques. Again, several 12th century images, including nice detail photos of the coronation regalia of the Holy Roman Emporers, including the jeweled cuffs etc. I found the amount of whitework – Opus Teutonicum, quite interesting.
Perhaps one alternative to woven patterned fabrics would embroidered fabrics.
2000 Years of Silk Weaving, and Exhibition catalog, 1944
has several 12th century silks with photos and descriptions.
Already mentioned on this list:
Textiles and Clothing, Medieval Finds from Excavations in London c. 1150 – 1450 by Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard and Kay Staniland.
I know that there is also a shoe book and accessory book, but I haven’t read them yet.
Okay, some various art books. I am going to ask a friend for some suggested illumination source books –
The Sculpture of Moissac by Meyer Schapiro,
nice quality detailed photos of this 12th century statuary. Nice details of the trimming of the garments.
Deutscher Buchmalerei vorgotischer Zeit by Albert Boeckler (German Bookpainting in the early gothic times)
Some less common images (some are scanned in the files) from this not too large book.
Romanesque Art by George Zarnecki
A nice book, 200 illustrations, lots of inspiration from different sources.
Die Anfange der Italienischen Malerei by Ferdinando Bologna (The Beginnings of Italian Painting – I think this title is also available in English)
Just a potluck of images, but some good Italian sources.
Romanesque Architecture – Sculpture – Painting Edited by Rolf Toman
I recently purchased this at Borders for about $15 – Nice color. I enjoy looking at the architectural details for trimming and decorative details. I’d recommend it for 12th century library collections.
Medieval French Miniatures, Jean Porcher
Again, this covers a wide range of dates, but there are some nice 12th century color plates.
This is a start. When I find something that piques my interest, I’ll post it out here.
I’d be interested in seeing other books that this esteemed company may have run across with 12th century information. I’m also going to ask a jewelry guru for some good sources on 12th century jewelry.
Regards,
Katrine
Q: Does anyone have this book?
French Textiles from the Middle Ages Through the Second Empire
by Marianne Carlano; Paperback
Publisher: Wadsworth Atheneum; ASIN: 0918333024; (December 1985)
Is it worth the $45?
~ Sylvie
Message #257, September 30, 2002
Katrine Goes to the Library
“Here in Portland there’s a private University called Reed College that has a jewel of an art section. I just discovered them last June, but they closed at 4:15 and weren’t open on the weekends for the summer. My chance to browse a while came last night, and I thought I would tell you about some books you might consider ordering on Inter Library Loan if you need a bliaut art fix.
“The best of the bunch so far (and I only looked at 4 books out of about 100 on the subject of illumination only) –
Romanesque Manuscripts, The 12th Century,
Volume 1 ( Text & Illustrations. 48pp plus 16 colour plates and 376 monochrome plates and illustratons, 20 monochrome figures, map.)
and Volume 2 (Catalogue. 219pp with 1 monochrome plates and illustrations, 20
monochrome illustrations, map),
by Walter Cahn.
A definitive work, definitely worth getting sent to your house and perusing
with a cup of tea.
Krone und Krönung,
by Joachim Ott, published by Phillip von Zabern.
This is a catalog of images of crowns and coronations from the late antique period to 1200. There are 100+ images just of the 12th century and good representations of kings and queens in all sorts of bliauts.
Romanesque Wall Painting in Central France,
by Marcia Kupfer.
An interesting book, but the images on the walls are faded and details hard to make out without my trusty magnifying glass.
Romanesque Mural Painting in Östergötland,
by Aaron Borelius.
Very large book with impressive photographs of very faded walls. Women’s costume detail was minimal, which was too bad as I wanted to have more info on the Scandianvian costume.
~ Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #275, October 8, 2002
Byzantine Silk Weaving, AD 400 to AD 1200,
by Anna Muthesius,
published by Verlag Fassbaender in 1997.
“Not only is there a nice catalog of extant fabrics photographed, there are detailed analyses of dyes, weaving style, uses – including book bindings – and more. I highly recommend trying to get to see a copy through the library. The graphics could help supply technical details as to what sort of silk would be appropriate for an approximate
reconstruction of 12th century clothing.”
~ Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #292, October 13, 2002
Shoes, another extant garment and jewelry
Shoes and Pattens
by Francis Grew and Margrethe de Neergaard.
“This is part of a nice series by the Museum of Londone on medieval clothing, textiles, accessories and shoes of the middle ages as mostly recovered from excavations of land fills/garbage dumps in London. (For those that don’t know – we call these the “Museum of London or MOL books for short). Teffania, I’ll bet you have seen this?
“There are several 12th century examples with some photographs and quite a few line drawings, including the actual patterns at a 1:3 scale. This would be a great reference for anyone wanting to make an accurate to the period pair of shoes!
“I made a list of the articles referenced by the book on further articles in the footnotes. Does anyone already have a copy of them?
The Quest for Becket’s Bones
by John Butler
“There was a photograph of what is purported to be Becket’s linen tunic which the book said was authenticated as probable by two scientists from the University of Munich. I’ll order this book too and post a scan when it comes, but what I remember from my brief study is that it had a round neckhole and that it was a gored garment, but not exactly rectangular construction. Of note was the rounded bottom hem and the very long sleeves that look like they would scrunch up on the arm. I’m also going to write the University of Munich and ask if there has been a publication on this garment.”
Okay, extant jewelry stuff:
From Four Gothic Kings, The Turbulent History of Medieval England and Plantagenet Kings
Edited by Elizabeth Haller, is about a later period but does have a photo of the crown found in the tomb of Constanz (12th century), the mother of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.
From the Glory of Byzantium, Art and Culture of the Byzantine Empire, 843 – 1261
– a golden necklace and several pairs of earrings from Russia. Interesting in itself – but I wonder if the style was also Byzantine, or was the Rus culture a little more tribal than the rest of Europe. More research necessary!
A few other interesting books:
Gothic Sculpture 1140 – 1300
by Paul Williamson
– for the person asking about Scandinavia, there is an excellent statue of another Madonna missing a child from Sweden wearing a bliaut with manches.
Enamels of Limoges 1100 – 1350
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Several 12th century pieces.
~ Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #346, November 17, 2002
“According to my library catalog (note the slight change of editor’s name):
Four Gothic kings : the turbulent history of medieval England and the Plantagenet kings (1216-1377)
–Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III–seen through the eyes of their contemporaries.
edited by Elizabeth Hallam ; preface by Hugh Trevor-Roper.
New York : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, c1987.
~ Magdalena / Christina L. Biles
Message #354, November 18, 2002
Re: Articles mentioned in the Shoes & Pattens book
Groenman van Waatering, W. 1974, Die Entwicklung der schuhmode in
2500 Jahre, Die Kunde, 25 111-120.
MacGregor, A, Anglo Saxon finds from Lloyds Band, Pavement and
Other Sites, The Archaeology of York, 17
(Hope I wrote them down correctly)
~ Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #355, November 18, 2002
Re: Becket Book
“My friend has a copy of this she showed me. (I think she picked it up cheap at a sale <sigh>. I was interested by the mention of the tunic, but something stopped me from asking her to borrow the book. Perhaps it was 14th century or something. Anyway I remember from my skim being very annoyed at the glancing mention of scientists dating it without details.
~ Teffania / Tiffany Brown
Message #353, November 17, 2002
“I only scanned it as well, but gleaned that it had Becket’s blood on it, so, unless it was a fake, it should be 12th century. I will get this one on loan. I remember thinking that the style looked 13th century to me, but the really long tight sleeves got me thinking.
“I did note the names of the researchers. They were Leonie von Wilckens, who passed away in 1997 and Ursual Nilgen who is listed as a professor emeritus in the art department at the University of Munich. I already fired off an email to try to get an address for more information from Dr. Nilgen.
~ Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #355, November 18, 2002
Re: Crown Picture
I’ve been collecting a few pictures of 12th C crowns and decorative
crosses. They’re all of the style of random polished gems mounted in
gold. i’ll get around to organising them soonish. I’m struck by the
simularity of the style.
~ Teffania / Tiffany Brown
Message #353, November 17, 2002
“This one looked like a helmet-shaped to me than crown shaped really. It did have the hanging decorations from the sides.”
~ Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #355, November 18, 2002
“About Shoes and Pattens- I have the book and love it. It had a couple shoes of our time sort of flattened out and taken apart (as is) but it is pretty easy to reconstruct the plan. I have made the boot that ties at the ankle- I took a photo copy of their plan and blew it up to sort of match my sole size, then made many muslin trials to get the pattern tweaked for me. They look great and are really comfortable. definitely good book to have.
“As for other books that are really good- I came across a “bargain book” at Barnes and Noble some years past called Romanesque architecture, sculpture and painting.
I don’t see an author listed. About 4″ thick. It has a Lot of Really good carvings – primary pictures. You have to look closely and for a long time to See what you are looking at. I have about 60 little colored tabs in it marking hats, tunics, bags, shoes veils etc.
“Also , by Georges Duby, Mediavel Art
Europe of the cathedrals 1140-1280. I have numerous tabs in this one as
well.”
~ Aénor d’Anjou / Kirsten Wienand Vaughan
Message #356, November 18, 2002
Books
Here are the books I looked at this week that I thought may be of interest to our group – I’ll add them to the database.
The Art of the Crusaders in the Holy Land, 1098 – 1187
by Jaroslav Folda,
Cambridge University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-521-45383-6
There is a lot of information in here on Crusader Art in the Holy Land, which would provide great information for those of us that have personas that traveled there. I am going to check it out for further study. Of especial textile interest is a treasure psalter of Queen Melisande of Jerusalem that has an embroidered spine in gold and red threads. There is a color and a black and white photo of it. There are also photos of sculptures of a man and woman pilgrims, and the male does have a cockle shell indicating his status as pilgrim.
Studien zur Geschichte der Europäischen Skulptur im 12./13. Jahrhundert
by Herbert Beck and Kerstin Hengevoss-Dürkop, 1994,
ISBN 3-921606-25-X (volume 1 text, volume 2 plates)
I’ve mentioned this one already – good photos of statuary.
Another book that had some good likenesses of Empress Irene (who I’m interested in) is:
Das Mittelalterliche Byzanz 725-1204
by A. Cutler and J. M. Spieser (Medieval Byzantium 725 – 1204)
~ Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #390, November 24, 2002
The Pictorial Arts of the West 800-1200
I just got this book
from the library and wanted to mention that it, as previously mentioned on the list and in the
book database, is a great period art
resource and is going to be added to my library
right away! Thanks for telling me about it!
~ Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #673, January 7, 2003