floated aloft in the ship of Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, we have spoken before (p. xliii.) In the "Fabric Rolls of York Minster" vestments made of worsted—there variously spelt "worsett,"[1] and "woryst"[2]—are enumerated.
Irish cloth, white and red, in the reign of John, A.D. 1213, was much used in England; and in the household expenses of Swinford, bishop of Hereford, A.D. 1290, an item occurs of Irish cloth for lining.[3]
But our weavers knew how to throw off from their looms, artistically designed and well-figured webs; in the "Wardrobe Accounts" of our Edward II. we read this item: "to a mercer of London for a green hanging of wool wove with figures of kings and earls upon it, for the king's service in his hall on solemn feasts at London."[4] Such "salles," as they were called in France, and "hullings," or rather "hallings," the name they went under here, were much valued abroad, and in common use at home: under the head of "Salles d'Angleterre," among the articles of costly furniture belonging to Charles V. of France, A.D. 1364, who began his reign some forty years after our Edward II.'s death, one set of such hangings is thus put down: "une salle d'Angleterre vermeille brodée d'azur, et est la bordeure à vignettes et le dedens de lyons, d'aigles et de lyepars," quoted from the MS. No. 8356, in the Imperial Library, Paris, by Michel;[5] while here in England, Richard Earl of Arundel, A.D. 1392, willed to his dear wife "the hangings of the hall which was lately made in London, of blue tapestry with red roses with the arms of my sons,"[6] &c.; and Lady Bergavenny, after bequeathing her hullying of black, red, and green, to one friend, to another left her best stained hall.[7]
Flemish textiles, at least of the less ambitious kinds, such as napery and woollens, were much esteemed centuries ago, and our countryman, Matthew of Westminster, says of Flanders, that from the material—perhaps wool—which we sent her, she sent us back those precious garments she wove.[8]
Though industrious everywhere within her limits, some of her towns stood foremost for certain kinds of stuff, and Bruges became in the latter end of the fifteenth century conspicuous for its silken textiles. Here in England, the satins of Bruges were in great use for church garments; in Haconbie church, A.D. 1566, was "one white vestmente of Bridges
