Quilting in the Middle Ages

Guest Author - Tamara Bostwick

The term Middle Ages generally refers to the time period in Europe and Great Britain between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance, approximately 500 - 1500 A.D./C.E. (Christian Era) and is considered by many to have been the "Dark Ages" of Europe. At first glance, this may appear to be true because no longer were the classical sculptors and artists creating works of art such as the Venus di Milo. Much of the fabric of European life became religious in nature as Christianity spread throughout western and eastern Europe. In October of 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England and is now remembered as William The Conqueror. The Holy War and the first of the Crusades began in 1095 with the objective of returning the Holy Land to the control of the Church. These Crusades sent many men far away from their homelands to those foreign and exotic. The latter centuries became the age of chivalry, of courtly love. The 12th and 13th century troubadours of France sang the virtues of love in the well known Roman de la Rose as well as many others. Much of the art and literature of the times was produced under the auspices of the church.

Now that we have had our brief history lesson, let us talk about quilting. Did quilting exist in Medieval Europe? The answer is yes, but that is just about the only thing that is certain, and as such it is different from what we consider quilting to be today. Because quilted items were made to be used and because fabric is a fairly fragile medium susceptible to damage from vermin, light, and body oils there are few existing examples of quilting that have survived over the centuries. One such example that I read about in Embroiderers by Kay Staniland (London : British Museum Press, 1991) is the Tristan quilt that was made in Sicily at the end of the fourteenth century. It was only stuffed in selected areas after the decorative stitching was completed and depicted scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde. It appears from Kay Staniland's book that quilts or coverlets generally consisted of two layers of whole fabric that were stitched together in a decorative or figural pattern with selective stuffing rather than a whole layer of batting in between.

Also, Kay Staniland mentions another important use of quilting and that is in garments worn under chain mail or armor. This was a useful way to provide cushioning and warmth underneath these heavy and cold metal battle garments.

There is one other topic of interest that has carried over into modern day quilting that I wish to discuss briefly and that is Celtic Quilting. This type of quilting consists of appliqueing tubes onto a top in a celtic interlace pattern. This is a modern invention based on a motif that was very prevalent in Ireland during the seventh and later centuries on crosses and in illuminated manuscripts, the most well known of these is the Book of Kells. The celtic knot is unbroken and is symbolic of eternity. There is no evidence that quilts were made this way in antiquity, but the imagery used in modern day quilting has descended to us from the middle ages.

The existing information is very sketchy and with my art history background, I am just itching to scan artwork of the era to look for images of any type of quilting in them to learn more about quilting during the Middle Ages.