For in this world is none it liche,
Ne by a thousand deale so riche,
Ne none so faire, for it full well
AYith orfreis laied was every dell.
And purtraid in the ribanings
Of dukes stones, and of kings.
And in the Roman de Garin:—
Bien fu vestuë d'un paille de Biterne,
Et un Orfrois a mis dessus sa teste.
It is in the reign of William I. (1066—1087) that we begin to meet with any historical illustration of the present subject. The Norman chronicler Vitalis, in recounting the incidents connected with his own abbey of St. Evroul, narrates that Matilda, the monarch's queen, having heard of the exemplary lives of the monks of this establishment, was induced to pay them a visit, and she placed a gift upon the Altar worthy their heartfelt recollection. In this visit she was accompanied by Adelina, the wife of Roger de Bellmont, who brought with her an alb richly adorned with Orfrais, and presenting it to the church, the priest wore it whilst celebrating mass[1]. Matilda also left, by her will, to the abbey of the Trinity at Caen, which she had founded, a chesable worked at Winchester by the wife of Alderet, and a cloak worked in gold made for a cope, and also another vestment wrought in England. From this time down to the reign of Henry VIII. there are copious notices scattered throughout our historical documents, which serve to shew the extent to which needlework was employed in beautifying various articles of ecclesiastical and secular costume. Some notion, however, may be formed of its extensive application, by merely looking over the catalogues of church vestments which were preserved in the cathedrals of York, Lincoln, London, and Peterborough. In Lincoln alone there were upwards of six hundred, wrought with divers kind of needlework, jewelry, and gold, upon Indian baudekyn, samit, tarterain, velvet, and silk. Even in the succinct way in which they were described by a common inventory, we cannot help being struck with their splendour: the constant repetition of such terms as "an orphrey of goodly needlework," "the arms of England and squirrels of gold;" or, as in the instance of mortuary copes given to the church of St. Paul's, "emblazoned with the arms of Eleanor, of England and of Spain,"
- ↑ Order. Vital., lib. vi. p. 603.
