4 - Survival, Recovery, Restoration, Re-creation: The Long Life of Medieval Garments

Summary

One of the most revelatory experiences, as one of the authors of a book on medieval garments, was the good condition in which so many of them had survived to the present. Some were examples of deliberate deposition – in formal burial according to the rites and traditions of the time, modified by the relative wealth and social standing of the buried; or to conceal a crime, as in the case of a murder victim buried in a peat bog. Others were brought about through accidental loss in the same favourable environment, as suggested in the case of a child's hood from Orkney, ca. ad 250–615. Textiles of almost all fibres can have a surprisingly long life, and survive in surprisingly good condition, if the circumstances of burial are right, though few conditions involving intentional or accidental deposition favour textiles of both animal and vegetable origin. Very little underwear, which was usually of linen, has survived, for example, from either intentional or incidental burial in Western Europe, while linen survives very well in the dry sands of Egypt. But the survival of buried remains, human or material, was not the purpose of Christian burial. Textile coverings, whether shrouds or dress, were never intended to be seen again by human eye after deposition, though in the case of royal persons and high-ranking ecclesiastics they were probably seen in versions of what we would now call “lying in state” before burial (and see evidence of actual practice in the case of an English king, below, p. 72). This is probably why in these cases status-proclaiming dress was employed: the majority of corpses seem to have had only shrouds.

However, it was the ability of textile (which we assume to be a fragile medium) which had never been buried, or buried for only a short time, to survive above ground for hundreds of years – sometimes in use or for display over a large part of its history – which seemed to me to merit more thought. Textiles which are in constant use, as garments or furnishings, are subject to wear, damage, and even decay: for example through long exposure to light, as in curtains and hangings; through soiling and subsequent laundering; or through the action of pests such as moths.