Blue Ribbon

This document covers sources for tablet weaving before 1600. It started life as the bibliography for a paper on the early history of tablet weaving in February 1990. I'm not bored with it yet! Last update was on 29 November 2001. New entries are marked with a triple asterisk, *** .

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Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial private research purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. The definitive version of this document is at http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/t weavebib.html.


Bibliography of Sources for Information on Period Tablet Weaves

© 1993-1997, 1999, 2001 Carolyn Priest-Dorman


*** Alexander, Jonathan, and Binski, Paul, eds. Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400. London: Royal Academy of Arts/Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987.
Some information (catalogue number 632) on a strap or belt from the funeral achievements of Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince, died 1376), which was tablet woven. Not technical; no photo.
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. Sakrale Gewänder des Mittelalters: Ausstellung im Bayerischen Nationalmuseum Munchen, 8. Juli bis 25. September 1955, ed. Sigrid Müller- Christensen. Munchen: Hirmer, 1955.
Some nice plates of brocaded ecclesiastical pieces, including the Girdle of Witgarius.
Bergli, Aud. "Medieval Textiles from the Finnegarden Excavation at Bryggen, Bergen." Archaeological Textiles: Report from the Second NESAT Symposium, 1-4 May 1984, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 221-27. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Købnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, Købnhavns Universitet, 1988.
A thirteenth-century Norwegian brocaded band woven in Birkatechnik.
Budny, Mildred, and Tweddle, Dominic. "The Early Medieval Textiles at Maaseik, Belgium." The Antiquaries Journal, vol. 65 (1985), pp. 353-389.
Brocaded, multicolored silk bands, some fringed, dating to the eighth or ninth century.
*** Capitani d'Arzago, Alberto de. Antichi tessuti della Basilica Ambrosiana. Biblioteca de "l'Arte," Nuova Serie, Vol. I. Milano: L'Arte, 1941.
A very nice b/w plate of a 12th century Sicilian band with brocading and warp floating. Also some stuff that looks like tablet weaving but isn't.
Cardon, Dominique. "Burial Clothing of One of the First Counts of Toulouse." Archaeological Textiles Newsletter, no. 21 (Autumn 1995), pp. 7-11.
Some silk tubular-woven bands used to fasten a tenth- century man's tunic.
*** -----. "Des vêtements pour un comte." Le comte de l'An Mil, ed. É. Crubézy and Ch. Dieulafait, pp. 155-186. Revue Aquitania, Supplément 8. Talence, France: Fédération Aquitania, 1996.
Technical analysis of red silk tubular-woven bands from a tenth-century man's tunic at Toulouse, with several citations to parallels.
Collingwood, Peter. The Techniques of Sprang. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1974.
Touches briefly on the issue of tablet-woven edging for sprangwork.
-----. The Techniques of Tablet Weaving. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1982.
This book is the chief source in English for general comparative information and construction techniques. Collingwood's typology is comprehensive and definitive; however, no complete analyses of individual historic pieces are included, and much of his work on medieval material is beginning to be outpaced by current scholarship.
Crowfoot, Elisabeth. "Textiles," pp. 36-37 in "The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Finglesham, Kent: A Reconsideration," by Sonia E. Chadwick. Medieval Archaeology, vol. 2 (1958), pp. 1-71.
A six-card selvedge border for a pagan period Jutish wool textile, woven in plain weave, alternately threaded.
-----. "The Textiles." The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Fonaby, Lincolnshire, ed. Alison M. Cook, pp. 89-100. Occasional Papers in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology 6. Sleaford: The Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, 1981.
Some sixth-century Saxon remnants that may have been patterned; some are in two colors. See also page 101, Audrey Henshall's appendix.
-----. "The Textiles," pp. 81-83 in "The Burial of John Dygon, Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury," by James Copland Thorn. Collectanea Historica: Essays in Memory of Stuart Rigold, ed. Alec Detsicas, pp. 74-84 and Plate XII. Maidstone, Kent: The Kent Archaeological Society, 1981.
Plate and brocading draft for the brocaded band from the abbot's burial in 1504. The technique included two different brocading styles, one with metallic weft and the other using both a metallic and a silk brocading weft that "switched places" to create the pattern.
-----. "The Textiles." The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, vol. 3, part 1, ed. Rupert Bruce-Mitford, pp. 409-479. London: British Museum Publications Limited, 1983.
In addition to the plain weave from the Sutton Hoo find, an appendix documents some contemporary weaves: a two-hole starting border and a four-hole closing border from Broomfield Barrow, and the gold brocaded bands from Taplow Barrow.
-----. "Textiles." Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, vol. 2, ed. Martin Biddle, pp. 467-488. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
The remains of several gold-brocaded bands, dating to the ninth through fourteenth centuries. The ground of at least one (early twelfth century) appears to have been a multicolored 3/1 broken twill.
-----. "Textiles." Salisbury Museum Medieval Catalogue, Part I, ed. Peter and Eleanor Saunders, pp. 50- 53. Salisbury: Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, 1991.
A gold- and silk-brocaded silk girdle with heraldic motifs, thirteenth century.
Crowfoot, Elisabeth, and Hawkes, Sonia Chadwick. "Early Anglo-Saxon Gold Braids." Medieval Archaeology, vol. 11 (1967), pp. 42-86.
The basic source for early gold brocaded tablet weaving, it catalogues over 100 finds of Frankish, Anglo-Saxon, and Jutish pieces from the sixth century onward.
Crowfoot, Elisabeth; Pritchard, Frances; and Staniland, Kay. Textiles and Clothing c. 1150-1450. Medieval Finds from Excavations in London 4. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1992.
Good black/white photos of several fragmentary finds found in London from this period, including several belts and part of a fabulous tubular-woven silk rosary with amber beads. Selected catalogue of several pieces that includes dating, materials, size, and weave information. Useful information for everyday usage of tablet weaving in the high middle ages.
Crowfoot, Grace M. "Anglo-Saxon Tablet Weaving." Antiquaries Journal 32, nos. 3-4 (1952), pp. 189-191.
Mostly plain weave, but includes the original of that drawing of early Saxon wrist clasps that many writers use.
-----. "The Braids." The Relics of St. Cuthbert, ed. C.F. Battiscombe, pp. 433-463. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Careful material analysis of some extant tenth-century tablet-woven ecclesiastical vestments commissioned by a Saxon queen; in some cases, not much discussion of the ground weave.
-----. "Fragment of Braid, with Centre in Warp Pattern Weave and Two Tablet Twists on Either Side." The Antiquaries Journal, vol. 36, nos. 3-4 (July-October 1956), pp. 188- 189.
A linen band, apparently two-hole threaded-in tablet weave with eccentric turning, circa seventh century.
-----. "Tablet-woven Braid from a Thirteenth-century Site." The Antiquaries Journal, vol. 34, no. 3-4 (July- October 1954), pp. 234-235.
A piece of two-hole linen twill tablet-weave, found with a buckle.
-----. "Tablet-woven Braids from the Vestments of St. Cuthbert at Durham." The Antiquaries Journal, vol. 19, no. 1 (January 1939), pp. 57-80.
The best technical analysis of the Cuthbert bands.
-----. "Textiles of the Saxon Period in the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology." Cambridge Antiquarian Society Proceedings 44 (1950), pp. 26-32.
Discusses an early three-color threaded-in lozenge pattern from the "late pagan" period--i.e., before 650 C.E.; Collingwood's draft of the piece is more helpful, though.
Doppelfeld, Otto, and Pirling, Renate. Fränkische Fürsten im Rheinland: Die Gräber aus dem Kölner Dom von Krefeld-Gellep und Morken. Schriften des Rheinischen Landesmuseums Bonn, Band 2. Dusseldorf: Rheinland-Verlag GmbH, 1966.
A photo of the gold wire brocading weft from a Frankish woman's vitta, clearly showing signs of soumak as well.
*** Erikson, Marianne. Textiles in Egypt 200-1500 A.D. in Swedish Museum Collections. Göteborg: Röhsska Museet, 1997.
Photo and information, including turning diagram, for a wide Mamluk period band in double-faced 3/1 broken twill.
Fingerlin, Ilse. Gürtel des hohen und späten Mittelalters. Kunstwissenschaftliche Studien, Band XLVI. München: Deutschen Kunstverlag GmbH, 1971.
High Middle Ages and Renaissance girdles, most with decorated plaques. Nice black and white plates. She identifies several as tablet-woven, but some of the others also look tablet- woven.
Flury-Lemberg, Mechthild. Textile Conservation and Research: A Documentation of the Textile Department on the Occasion of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Abegg Foundation. Schriften der Abegg-Stiftung Bern 7. Bern: Abegg-Stiftung, 1988.
A very rich source for analyses of historic textiles of all sorts; even includes information on pearling and sewing down gems. Includes many interesting weave variations for brocaded bands, as well as several interesting unbrocaded weaves: four-color plain weave in narrow diagonals, woven letters, and 4/1 twill. Further, an Anglo-Saxon soumak band worked over tablet weave, a velvet weave with gold loops, and a silk girdle woven on five-hole tablets, make this a delectably diverse group.
Fuhrmann, Irmingard. "Der Gewebefund von Pilgramsdorf: Unter Berücksichtigung der Gewebe von Sacrau und Anduln." Praehistorische Zeitschrift 30-31, nos. 1-2 (1939-1940), pp. 308-329.
A third-century 3/1 broken twill.
Geijer, Agnes. Die Textilfunde aus den Gräbern. Birka: Untersuchungen und Studien III. Uppsala: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akadamien, 1938.
Several pages of plates showing tablet woven finds, mostly brocaded, make this German-language book useful even to those who can't read the language. Many of the designs and diagrams, however, are reprinted in her "The Textile Finds from Birka" (see below).
-----. "The Textile Finds from Birka." Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe: Essays in Memory of Professor E.M. Carus-Wilson, ed. N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting, pp. 80-99. Studies in Textile History 2. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1983.
This is an English-language digest of much of the information in Die Textilfunde aus den Gräbern (see above). It offers some good, basic comparative information on the "Birka style," a unique one.
Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. El Panteon Real de las Huelgas de Burgos. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Diego Velázquez, 1946.
Presents the rich finds of textiles, mostly thirteenth-century, in the royal burials at Burgos; includes brocaded bands.
Hägg, Inga. "Viking Women's Dress at Birka: A Reconstruction by Archaeological Methods." Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe: Essays in Memory of Professor E.M. Carus-Wilson, ed. N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting, pp. 316-350. Studies in Textile History 2. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1983.
Mainly talks about tablet-woven trim placement.
Hald, Margrethe. Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials: A Comparative Study of Costume and Iron Age Textiles, trans. Jean Olsen. Archaeological-Historical Series Vol. XXI. Copenhagen: The National Museum of Denmark, 1980.
Chapter VII, "Tablet Weaving," has some excellent basic comparative information on early Scandinavian weaves, particularly brocade techniques, but Hald does not discuss any piece in depth.
Halldórsdóttir, Sigríður. "Forn spjaldvefnaður," Hugur og Hönd (1985), pp. 23-29.
Three Icelandic bands, two brocaded and one totally wacked! Some turning drafts.
Hansen, Egon. "Technical Variations in Pre-Medieval Tablet Weaving." Archaeological Textiles: Report from the Second NESAT Symposium, 1-4 May 1984, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 256-269. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Købnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, Købnhavns Universitet, 1988.
By "pre-medieval" Hansen seems to mean "pre-Christian," as his article discusses finds as late as the tenth-century ones from Birka. He advocates research by attempted reconstruction; concerning brocaded and missed-hole work, he advances a provocative theory about mixed-thread (e.g., linen/wool) weaving that is elaborated in his Tablet Weaving (see below). Also useful as a typology of very early textured and double-cloth weaves.
Hansen, Egon H. Tablet Weaving: History, Techniques, Colours, Patterns. Høbjerg, Denmark: Hovedland Publishers, 1990. (Distributed in America by Books for Craftsmen, Inc., Petaluma, CA)
This book is a distillation of Hansen's experience heading up the Moesgard textile reproduction unit in Denmark, and it explains how to reproduce a great many early period weaves. It corrects some of Collingwood (on Snartemo technique and Birka brocading, for example), which alone makes it incredibly valuable. However, his drafting technique is very idiosyncratic, the translation is sometimes fuzzy, a few mistakes were made in the printing of some drafts, and the book is badly organized. Takes patience to work with, but ultimately very rewarding. Nice color plates of reproductions.
Harte, N.B., and Ponting, K.G., eds. Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe: Essays in Memory of Professor E.M. Carus-Wilson. Studies in Textile History 2. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1983.
The Geijer and Nockert essays specifically touch on Scandinavian tablet weaving finds, but there's something here to interest anyone from a Copt (early Mediterranean tunic construction) to a Cavalier (tin-mordant red dye).
*** Hedges, John W. "Appendix 6: The Textiles and Textile Equipment," pp. 190-193 in "Excavations at 1 Westgate Street, Gloucester, 1975," by C.M. Heighway, A.P. Garrod, and A.G. Vince. Medieval Archaeology 23 (1979), pp. 159-213.
Tablet woven starting border on a ninth-century wool.
Henshall, Audrey. "Five Tablet-Woven Seal-Tags." Archaeological Journal 121 (1964), pp. 154-62.
All are silk ribbons: two are double-face double-turn, one is 3/1 broken twill double-cloth, one is brocaded, and one is threaded-in tubular; most are late twelfth or early thirteenth century English or Scottish.
Henshall, Audrey S. "Appendix to the Textile Report." The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Fonaby, Lincolnshire, ed. Alison M. Cook, p. 101. Occasional Papers in Lincolnshire History and Archaeology 6. Sleaford: The Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, 1981.
Some notes, earlier than Crowfoot's, on the sixth- century Saxon remnants form Fonaby.
-----. "Early Textiles Found in Scotland, Part I." Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 86 (1954), pp. 1-29.
An elaborate plain-weave, fringed hood edging thought to be Viking Age.
-----. "Textiles on the Back of a Brooch from Blewburton Hill, Berks.," pp. 68-72 in A.E.P. Collins and F.J. Collins, "Excavations on Blewburton Hill, 1953." The Berkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 55 (1959), pp. 52-73.
A starting border in tablet-weave for a warp-weighted textile, sixth- or seventh-century Saxon.
Henshall, Audrey S.; Crowfoot, G.M.; and Beckwith, John. "Early Textiles Found in Scotland, Part II." Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 88 (1956), pp. 22-39.
Brocaded weaves from the fourteenth-century grave of King Robert Bruce and two sixteenth-century bishops' graves.
*** Herrmann, Hannelore, and Langenstein, York, eds. Textile Grabfunde aus der Sepultur des Bamberger Domkapitels. Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Arbeitsheft 33. München: Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, 1987.
Eight bands, mostly medieval; includes brocaded pieces, two different textured weaves, and a band with looped silk pile.
Hoffmann, Marta. The Warp-Weighted Loom: Studies in the History and Technology of an Ancient Implement. Oslo: The Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities, 1974 [Robin and Russ Handweavers reprint; original printing 1966, Studia Norvegica 16].
The best book available on the subject, with an excellent bibliography. Historically, tablet-woven starting borders were used on many texiles woven on the warp-weighted loom.
Hundt, H.-J. Die Textil- und Schnurreste aus der Frühgeschichtlichen wurt Elisenhof. Studien zur Küstenarchäologie Schleswig-Holsteins, Serie A. Elisenhof: Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabung der Frühgeschichtlichen Marschenseidlung beim Elisenhof in Eiderstedt 1957/58 und 1961/64, Band 4. Frankfurt am Main/Bern: Peter D. Lang, 1981.
Textiles from a proto-Viking Age town (6th to 8th centuries) in Schleswig, North Germany. Lots of tablet-woven starting borders.
Ierusalimskaja, Anna A. Die Gräber der Moscevaja Balka: Frühmittelalterliche Funde an der Nordkaukasischen Seidenstrasse, trans. I.M. Smoljanski and Ursula Rosenschon. Muünchen: Editio Maris, 1996.
Contains three unusual eighth- and ninth-century bands, including a Greek military inscription, a young woman's twill headband in linen and wool with a bird pattern, and a wool headband with simple trefoils. Descriptions do not include in-depth discussion of weave techniques.
Jørgensen, Lise Bender. North European Textiles until AD 1000, trans. Peter Crabb. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1992.
Contains a vast catalogue of textile finds, most previously unpublished. Gives interesting statistics on relative occurrences of various types of textiles including tablet weaves, and some information on their frequency and occurrence in the northern cultures. No piece is analyzed in detail, but what is there is useful.
*** Kaukonen, Toini-Inkeri. "Om brickbandsvävningens traditioner i Finland och ett par brickband från korstågst," Finskt Museum (1968), pp. 49-62.
Photo of an 11th to 12th century Finnish band and its reconstructed weave; includes pattern draft. Technique is an interesting variant of "Egyptian diagonals" weave. Also a line drawing of the original of the Finnish "S" design (as seen in Collingwood), with the author's woven copy.
Knudsen, Lise Ræder. "Analysis and reconstruction of two tabletwoven bands from the celtic burial hochdorf." Textilsymposium Neumüster, ed. Gisela Jaacks and Klaus Tidow, pp. 53-60. Archäologische Textilfunde--Archaeological Textiles, 4. - 7.5.1993 (NESAT V). Neumüster: Textilmuseum Neumüster 1994.
Information on two of the six bands from a Hallstatt period Celtic chieftain's burial, plus a description of the author's methods of warping and graphing. One is a double weave combining sections of 3/1 broken twill with double-face double-turn that is accomplished with some idling of tablets and appears to be the earliest double-face double-turn band in existence. The other involves a double weave that is threaded alternately in groups of two.
-----. "An Iron Age Cloak with Tablet-woven Borders: a New Interpretation of the Method of Production." Textiles in European Archaeology: Report from the 6th NESAT Symposium, 7-11th May 1996 in Borås. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Christina Rinaldo, eds. GOTARC Series A, Vol. 1. Göteborg: Göteborg University Department of Archaeology, 1998.
Based on analysis of one from Vrangstrup, Knudsen offers an approach to the problem of Roman Iron Age Prachtmantel borders that contradicts that of Karl Schlabow. Good drawing of how the Vrangstrup borders are attached to the cloak.
Krag, Anne Hedeager. "Three Danish Graves with Textiles from the 3rd-4th Centuries AD." Archaeological Textiles in Northern Europe: Report from the 4th NESAT Symposium 1.-5.May 1990 in Copenhagen, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 75-82. Tidens Tand 5. Copenhagen: Udgivet af Konservatorskolen Kulturhistorisk Linie/Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, 1992.
Tablet-woven borders to some warp-weighted fabrics, with the suggestion that there may have been patterning.
LaPorte, Jean-Pierre, and Boyer, Raymond. Trésors de Chelles: Sépultures et Reliques de la Reine Bathilde et de l'Abbesse Bertille. Chelles: Societé Archéologique et Historique/Les Amis du Musée, 1991.
Nice plates of Merovingian bands from the Chelles collection of relics. Includes several pieces of a four-color band with geometric patterning, quite similar in effect to the Snartemo four-color bands; a piece worked with blocky creatures that looks like a double weave; and a two-color band used for a tunic cuff that looks threaded-in.
Lamm, Carl Johan. Cotton in Mediaeval Textiles of the Near East. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1937.
Photo and brief description of a piece of a Mamluk band (Egypt, 13th to 15th century). See Erikson for more information.
Lehtosalo-Hilander, Pirkko-Liisa. Ancient Finnish Costumes. Helsinki: Suomen Arkeologinen Seura, 1984.
Touches on some pieces from circa 1000, but it's difficult to weave something based on her redrawings that looks like the originals.
*** Lemberg, Mechthild. "Das Puzzle mit den Stoffteilchen der Malatesta-Gewänder." Artes Minores: Dank an Werner Abegg, ed. Michael Stettler and Mechthild Lemberg, pp. 207-228. Bern: Verlag Stämpfli & Cie AG.
Some excellent black and white closeups of a 15th century girdle from the burial of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. The weave includes both velvet pile and gold bouclé.
Magnus, Bente. "A Chieftain's Costume: New Light on an Old Grave Find from West Norway." Textilsymposium Neumüster: Archaeologische Textilfunde, 6.5. - 8.5.1981, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Klaus Tidow, pp. 63-73. Neumünster: Textilmuseum Neumünster, 1982.
This is the find that contained the famous early 3/1 broken twill double-cloth trim with the beasties on it; there's more information here than in Collingwood.
*** Müller-Christensen, Sigrid, et al. "Die Gräber im Königschor." pp. 923-1023 in Hans Erich Kubach and Walter Haas, eds., Der Dom zu Speyer, Vol. 2 (Textband). Münich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1972.
Get both volumes: one is text and the other black and white plates. Covers royal and episcopal graves in Speyer Cathedral dating from tenth to early thirteenth centuries, including some Holy Roman emperors and empresses. Details of a large number of brocaded bands, a belt and inscription band in twist-patterning, and some tablet-woven fringes.
-----. "Examples of Mediaeval Tablet-Woven Bands." Studies in Textile History in Memory of Harold B. Burnham, ed. Veronika Gervers, pp. 232-237. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1977.
Interesting short article on eleventh- and twelfth-century brocades from the Holy Roman Empire, some with Saracen influence. Some photos and a brief discussion of soumaking.
-----. "Textilien in Schwaben" and "Textilien" [catalogue]. Suevia Sacra: Frühe Kunst in Schwaben, pp. 51-52 and 192-216. Augsburg: International Council of Museums, 1973.
Catalogue entries for the ninth-century cingulum of Witgarius and three inscribed monochrome bands of the ninth to tenth centuries. Some nice plates of same.
Munksgaard, Elisabeth, and Else Østergaard. "Textiles and Costume from Lönne Hede. An Early Roman Iron Age Burial." Archaeological Textiles: Report from the 2nd NESAT Symposium 1. - 4.V.1984, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 53-64. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Købnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, 1988.
Two examples, one tubular and the other double- woven.
*** Nockert, Margareta. The Högom Find and Other Migration Period Textiles and Costumes in Scandinavia. Archaeology and Environment 9. Umeå, Sweden: University of Umeå Department of Archaeology, 1991.
Details of many early tablet weaves, including the figured Evebø and Snartemo bands. No pattern drafts, though.
-----. "A Scandinavian Haberget?" Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe: Essays in Memory of Professor E.M. Carus-Wilson, ed. N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting, pp. 100-107. Studies in Textile History 2. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1983.
Profiles a four-color patterned tablet-weave from about thirteenth-century Leksand, Sweden, used as edging on a woman's mantle. (The technique combines four- and three-hole weave.)
*** -----. "Textilfynden," Tusen år på Kyrkudden: Leksands kyrka, Arkeologi och Byggnadshistoria, ed. Erik Hofrén and Birgitta Dandanell, pp. 143- 157. Dalarnas Fornminnes och Hembygdsförbunds Skrifter, 25. Leksand, Sweden: Leksands Församling, 1982.
More in-depth study of the complex thirteenth-century Leksand band, including suggested method for weaving and a complete pattern draft. Good photo of a related band from Iceland.
Nockert, Margareta, and Knudsen, Lise Ræder. "Gotländska brickband från vikingatiden." Gotländskt Arkiv vol. 68 (1996), pp. 41-46.
Geometric narrow bands from Viking Age Gotland,combining two- and four-hole weave.
North Europe Symposium on Archaeological Textiles. Archaeological Textiles in Northern Europe: Report from the 4th NESAT Symposium 1.-5.May 1990 in Copenhagen. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Elisabeth Munksgaard, eds. Tidens Tand 5. Copenhaven: Udgivet af Konservatorskolen Kulturhistorisk Linie/Det Kongelige Dansk Kunstakademi, 1992.
These are the proceedings from the fourth North Europe Symposium on Archaeological Textiles. Participants included curators from many northwest European textile museums. Papers are in two languages (English and German).
-----. Archaeological Textiles: Report from the Second NESAT Symposium, 1-4 May 1984. Lise Bender Jørgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, eds. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Købnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, Købnhavns Universitet, 1988.
These are the proceedings from the second North Europe Symposium on Archaeological Textiles. Participants included curators from many northwest European textile museums. Papers are in two languages (English and German).
-----. Textiles in European Archaeology: Report from the 6th NESAT Symposium, 7-11th May 1996 in Borås. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Christina Rinaldo, eds. GOTARC Series A, Vol. 1. Göteborg: Göteborg University Department of Archaeology, 1998.
These are the proceedings from the sixth North Europe Symposium on Archaeological Textiles. Participants included curators from many northwest European textile museums. Papers are in two languages (English and German).
-----. Textilsymposium Neumüster. Gisela Jaacks and Klaus Tidow, eds. Archäologische Textilfunde--Archaeological Textiles, 4. - 7.5.1993 (NESAT V). Neumüster: Textilmuseum Neumüster 1994.
These are the proceedings from the fifth North Europe Symposium on Archaeological Textiles. Participants included curators from many northwest European textile museums. Papers are in two languages (English and German).
-----. Textilsymposium Neumünster: Archaeologische Textilfunde, 6.5. - 8.5.1981. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Klaus Tidow, eds. Neumünster: Textilmuseum Neumünster, 1982.
These are the proceedings from the first North Europe Symposium on Archaeological Textiles. Participants included curators from many northwest European textile museums. Papers are in two languages (English and German).
Owen-Crocker, Gale R. Dress in Anglo-Saxon England. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1986.
Some information about garment-related usage of tablet weaving; she herself doessn't weave and doesn't seem to understand it particularly well.
-----. "Early Anglo-Saxon Dress--the Grave-goods and the Guesswork." Textile History 18, no. 2 (1987), pp. 147-57.
Useful principally for information on how the weaving was used in garments.
Pedersen, Inger Raknes. "The Analyses of the Textiles from Evebø/Eide, Gloppen, Norway." Textilsymposium Neumünster: Archaeologische Textilfunde, 6.5. - 8.5.1981, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Klaus Tidow, pp. 75-81. Neumünster: Textilmuseum Neumünster, 1982.
More on the 3/1 broken twill "animal frieze" tablet-woven trim from the Migration Age.
-----. "The Analysis of the Textiles from Blindheim, Giske." Archaeological Textiles: Report from the 2nd NESAT Symposium 1.-4.V.1984, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 116-125. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Købnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, 1988.
Three fourth-century Norwegian bands: one plain weave closing border, a wider plain weave edging sewn to the closing border, and a polychrome band sewn to a selvedge. This last is wide plain weave with warpwise striping and checking.
*** Peres, Aviva. "Bands from the State Museum of Art, in Tbilizi, Gruzia (Georgia)." TWIST [Tablet Weavers' International Studies & Techniques], vol. VII, Issue 3 (Fall 2000), p. 16.
Article includes small b/w photo of some 14th century bands from the Republic of Georgia. The exact tecchnique is not specified, but it is a double-faced weave. The bands were used as belts and clothing trimmings.
Priest-Dorman, Carolyn. "'Scutulis Dividere Gallia': Weaving on Tablets in Western Europe." Creating Textiles: Makers, Methods, Markets; Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America, Inc., New York, New York 1998, pp. 51-60. Earleville, Maryland: Textile Society of America, Inc., 1999.
An overview of several different tablet weave structures used in Europe before 1600.
Pritchard, Frances. "Aspects of the Wool Textiles from Viking Age Dublin." Archaeological Textiles in Northern Europe: Report from the 4th NESAT Sympposium 1.-5.May 1990 in Copenhagen, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 93-104. Tidens Tand 5. Copenhaven: Udgivet af Konservatorskolen Kulturhistorisk Linie/Det Kongelige Dansk Kunstakademi, 1992.
Briefly discusses the use of tubular tablet-woven edging for a pouch. Mentions a brocaded wool band and a band used as an edging.
-----. "Silk Braids and Textiles of the Viking Age from Dublin." Archaeological Textiles: Report from the Second NESAT Symposium, 1-4 May 1984, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, eds., pp. 149-61. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Købnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, Købnhavns Universitet, 1988.
Brocaded bands, circa tenth to twelfth centuries.
Ramm, H.G. "The Tombs of Archbishops Walter de Gray (1216-55) and Godfrey de Ludham (1258-65) in York Minster, and their Contents." Archaeologia CIII (1971), pp. 101-147.
One of the brocaded pieces pictured in this article is thought to be a "sampler," as it has narrow sections representing several different metallic brocading patterns.
Rutt, Richard. A History of Hand Knitting. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1987.
Although this is a book about knitting, it includes some nice photos of tablet-woven pieces that were misidentified as knitting many years ago, including an ecclesiastical girdle with interlaced cording and fringe.
*** Schlabow, Karl. Textilfunde der Eisenzeit in Norddeutschland. Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz Verlag, 1976.
Explanations of some pieces of Iron Age tablet weaving: three girdles and the sleeve bands from the Thorsberg tunic.
Schmedding, Brigitta. Middelalterliche Textilien in Kirchen und Klöstern der Schweiz. Schriften der Abegg-Stiftung. Bern: Verlag Stämpfli &Cie., 1978.
Catalogue of textiles from Swiss religious treasuries. Contains an analysis of the Maniple of St. Ulrich including thread count; brocaded bands in silk, linen, and wool; and several patterned two- and four-hole bands, some with woven- in fringes.
Schuette, Marie. "Tablet Weaving." CIBA Review 117 (November 1956), pp. 2-29.
Not too much on the in-period aspects of tablet weaving, and nothing on specific weave techniques, but some good photos of medieval pieces.
Snow, Marjorie, and Snow, William. Step-by-Step Tablet Weaving. New York: Golden Press, 1973.
An excellent technical introduction to tablet weaving, with chapters on some period techniques as well as much useful twentieth-century information. Many threaded-in drafts, including the Coptic arrowhead, and a photo of the tablet weaving setup found in the Oseberg ship burial.
*** Spies, Nancy. Ecclesiastical Pomp & Aristocratic Circumstance: A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tabletwoven Bands. Jarrettsville, Maryland: Arelate Press, 2000.
In-depth consideration of medieval European brocaded tablet woven bands, including a large number of pattern drafts. Instruction included.
-----. "Purple Garments and Silks: Precious Gems and Gold, Technical Information from Historical Brocaded Tabletwoven Bands." Ars Textrina 27 (1997), pp. 15-60.
Covers the sixth to sixteenth centuries in Europe. Summary information on materials, size, ground weaves, tie-down points, and selvedge handling. Well- sourced.

*** Start, Laura E. "Textiles," pp. 204-224 in Lagore Crannog: An Irish Royal Residence of the 7th to 10th Centuries A.D., by Hugh Hencken. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 53, Section C., No. 1 (1951)

Fragments of two different pieces, both unusual. One is narrow with fringes on one side, the other has been called "missed-hole" technique. Since both pieces are now missing from their museum home, neither can be further investigated.
Streiter, Anneliese, and Weiland, Erika. "Brettchengewebte Zierborten an Kostümen der Spanischen Mode." Waffen- und Kostümkunde, vol. 27, no. 1 (1985), pp. 13-28.
A catalogue of narrow sixteenth- and seventeenth-century trimmings, with good photos of depictions and extant examples. Drawings and drafts of the various pieces included. The techniques involves using two- and four-hole cards simultaneously to make a band combining plain tablet weave with tabby weave.
Sundström, Amica. "Reproduction of Horsehair Tablet Braids from Scandinavia's Migration Period," Archaeological Textiles Newsletter, no. 21 (Autumn 1995), pp. 24-26.
Dyed horsehair supplementary weft wrapping techniques over idling tablet warps. Estimated production time one millimeter per hour, according to the author.
*** Textiel van de vroege middeleeuwen tot het Concilie van Trente. Tongeren Basiliek van O.-L.-Vrouw Geboorte, I. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1988.
Two brocaded bands in the relic collection of the Basilica of Our Lady at Tongeren. Catalogue entry by Daniël De Jonghe contains some technical information but no patterns.
Townsend, Gertrude. "A Twelfth Century Chasuble." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts [Boston] 33, no. 195 (February 1935), pp. 5-16.
A photo of some brocaded tablet-woven edging used on a German ecclesiastical garment; the work is thought to be Sicilian.
*** TWIST: Tablet Weavers' International Studies & Techniques.
This thrice-yearly newsletter by and for tablet weavers sometimes publishes articles about early tablet weaves. See their website for more information.
Vial, Gabriel. "Un Ruban de Velours Tissé 'aux Cartons'." Bulletin de Liaison du Centre International d'Étude des Textiles Anciens [CIETA] 34, no. 2 (1971), pp. 54-74.
Detailed analysis with excellent photos of a 15th century Italian silk band incorporating gold looping and velvet weave. Suggested weave method involves 8-hole tablets.
Walton, Penelope. "Textiles and Caulking Cords." Excavations in High Street and Blackfriargate, Peter Armstrong and Brian Ayers, pp. 227-232. East Riding Archaeologist, vol. 8 (1987). Hull Old Town Report Series, no. 5.
Two interesting double-weave (not double-cloth) straps, one woven on six-holed cards. Period is circa 1300.
-----. Textiles, Cordage and Raw Fibre from 16-22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York, Volume 17, Fascicule 5. York: York Archaeological Trust and the Council for British Archaeology, 1989.
Remains of a Viking Age tablet weave executed in two colors of silk and some since-decayed fiber.
Wild, John-Peter. "Some New Light on Roman Textiles." Textilsymposium Neumünster: Archaeologische Textilfunde, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Klaus Tidow. Neumünster: Textilmuseum Neumünster, 1982, pp. 10-24.
An interesting plain weave band sewn to a selvedge, dating to the early Roman empire, found in Mainz. The weave is two-hole; in the body two different colored threads are used per tablet.
Wild, John-Peter, and Jørgensen, Lise Bender. "Clothes from the Roman Empire: Barbarians and Romans." Archaeological Textiles: Report from the Second NESAT Symposium, 1-4 May 1984, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 65-98. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Købnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, Købnhavns Universitet, 1988.
Useful information on some very early Saxon mantles edged on all four sides with tablet weaving.
*** Zarina, Anna. Libiesu Apgerbs 10.-13.gs. Latvijas PSR Zinatnu Akademija Vestures Instituts. Riga: "Zinatne," 1988.
Informative book on Latvian costume and textiles from the 10th through 13th centuries, including schematics for several different types of patterned bands. Unfortunately, structural analysis is not provided. Russian and German summaries.

This page was created on 18 February 1997 and last updated on 29 November 2001.

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