One of My Favourite Early Medieval Embroideries | HINT - Its NOT in Bayeux

This is my second presentation vlog. Here, I give a talk and presentation about technical details I discovered when I analysed the the embroidered fragment from Kempston, Bedfordshire. This is one of my favourite pieces of early medieval embroidery. It is also one that I was able to re-write the story for.
This small piece of embroidery was discovered in a bronze box that was found in a probable female burial in 1864. It has been dated to the 7th century CE and is made from wool. The embroidery is worked stem stitch and chain stitch on a worsted twill ground fabric.
The entwined knot or beast motif has links to both Germanic mythological creatures and early Christian artwork. This piece is a survivor from the 'conversion period', when people converted from pagan belief systems to Christianity. As such, it is important because it tells us about people, their beliefs and how these were told through material culture during a time of dramatic change, and from which very little documentary sources survive.
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This video only discusses part of the Kempston embroidery's biography. You can read the full story in my book, 'The Lost Art of the Anglo-Saxon World: the sacred and secular power of embroidery', which can be bought here:
www.amazon.co....
and here:
www.oxbowbooks...
In earlier videos, you can check out some more early medieval wool embroidery: • STITCH FOCUS | Buttonh... and: • The Back of a Bayeux T...
All microscopic images and drawings are ©Alexandra Makin unless otherwise stated.
Crowfoot's drawings and the early photograph are from: Crowfoot, E. ‘Textile Fragments from “Relic-Boxes” in Anglo-Saxon Graves’, in Textiles in Northern Archaeology: NESAT III: textile symposium in York, 6-9 May 1987 (Archetype Publications; 1990), pp. 47-56.
The high resolution photograph of the Kempston embroidery, bronze box, the Sutton Hoo gold buckle and the Taplow buckle, are via creative commons license from the British Museum.
The Book of Durrow, with thanks from The Library, Trinity College Dublin.
The Bracteate die from Castledyke South, Burton-on-Humber, with thanks to The Collection Museum, Lincoln.
Fashioning the Viking Age project can be found here: ctr.hum.ku.dk/...
The Kempston fragment and its bronze box can be found here: www.britishmus...
Dr Alexandra Makin
Early Medieval Embroidery
#embroidery #embroider #textiles #alexandramakin

[@RobertGaypaleorob]

You mention a couple times that this is a fragment that was put in this container as it's secondary use, as part of a much larger finished work. Is there any reason to not consider it as a small finished piece, made specifically as a talisman or akin to the fabrics tied as offerings at clootie wells?

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

The mains reasons for my thinking on this are the fragmentary nature of the piece, even taking into account that it's been buried for such a long time; evidence from other similar boxes, where all the textiles and threads are scraps and are most likely being reused; and other comparative evidence from documentary and archaeological sources which show that people did this sort of thing. It may have been a smaller piece but I would argue not as small as it is today. And yes, it could have been made as a talisman. This is one of the things I love about this sort of research, it's a story that can change over time with more evidence.

[@TheGabygael]

it's basically the early medieval version of your grandma's biscuit tin filled with button, sewing thread and needles

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

I love this analogy! I remember both my grandma and my mum's button tins very fondly.

[@liisaady5587]

Really interesting, thanks! I find it a little odd that the fabric was originally purple and then covered up. Wasn't there this whole thing about purple being pretty much reserved for royalty and/or the Church because producing dye from those snails was so expensive? So even if some herbal dye had been used to dye the pieces in the lady's bag, wouldn't she have wanted to let the original colour show to display her wealth or something? Just speculating, of course

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Sorry its taken me so long to reply. If you've seen my latest video, you'll understand why. I'm glad you found this video interesting. I like your speculating. It makes me think around things more and you never know where that will lead, which is exciting. We don't know if the whole textile was dyed purple or just sections of it. Therefore, we don't know if the whole piece was completely covered in embroidery or covered the purple colour. You can see that the surviving embroidery doesn't cover it all so some would have still been visible and it would, in my opinion, have made a statement against the bright colours of the stitchwork. Also, the fact that it was partially covered would have been an indication of wealth / status - look, I can afford to cover most of this up - type of thing. This piece probably wouldn't have been dyed with kermes because, as you point out, its expense restricted it to elite circles. There were plant dyes that could create purple, I can't remember the name at the moment, so it's more likely to have been something like that. I hope that helps.

[@liisaady5587]

@@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery Thank you for taking the time to reply, it's quite fascinating!

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

@@liisaady5587 Its no problem; honestly. It is fascinating and I love talking to people about it because you never know where the conversation will lead and what new ideas will come up.

[@katienewell7350]

This was so interesting! Thank you very much for sharing! I hadn't heard about this piece before but it's a lovely one 😍

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I don't think this piece is that well known, especially compared to some but as I said, its one of my favourites and just shows how exciting even small fragments of embroidery are :-)

[@evewagand3374]

This was amazing. It is so good to have a presentation that is based on the actual archeological finds, and the literature associated with it. Likewise you illustrate how knowledge grows as our ability to analyze the chemicals and colors of things long in the soil grows. Question--You mention purple as the base color, then blue as one of the embroidered colors (I understand why you used green in the illustration for visual clarity, likewise the yellow for the white). Any theory as to the dye for the purple?

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Hi, thank you so much for the lovely comment. I'm glad you've enjoyed the video. The blue / green thread could be either blue or green. The original dye analysis reports didn't say which sort of purple dye was used. These reports were undertaken a number of decades ago now and I don't think the analysts were able get enough information to suggest a certain dye. I'm afraid I don't have any more information (no other dye analysis has been undertaken on this piece) and I wouldn't like to guess. I'm sorry I can't be more specific than that.

[@anaesturoelejaldeperso]

Very interesting your videos. I just found you and seen some of them. Please do not stop this wonderful explanations.

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Thank you so much! I promise I won't stop making them. I'm just working on the next one, which I'm hoping to get out either this or next week. Its about another of my favourites.

[@anaesturoelejaldeperso]

@@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery great. Waiting for it

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

@@anaesturoelejaldeperso It should be out early next week

[@McNerdyCostumesandProps]

Thank you so much for this! I’ve been stuck for so long on my research into medieval Irish embroidery and the connection to the Book of Durrow was absolutely fantastic! Knot work is fascinating and I just needed one theory or example.

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

I'm so pleased it was helpful. I'm intrigued and want to know more, what is your research into medieval Irish embroidery about?

[@McNerdyCostumesandProps]

@@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery it’s a fascinating project! I’m making a traditional Irish léine dyed with a recipe I found from 1566. They’re often described as embroidered, but usually only the colors are discussed and not designs. Unfortunately there are no surviving extant examples of embroidery from Ireland specifically pre-17th century that I’ve been able to find in my research, so I’m left to manuscript depictions and descriptions. Knot work is featured very heavily in the Book of Durrow and Book of Kells, so I think I’ll go that route. However, if you come across anything that might be helpful, please let me know! I’ll be happy to link your info in my video about the project.

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

@@McNerdyCostumesandProps That does sound like a fab' project. I'd love to see the finished piece. I totally understand where you're coming from. I've found that nearly all evidence, that I know about, for embroidery in early medieval Ireland comes from documentary sources. This is great in some ways but not in others and it would be good to have it backed up by a least some archaeological evidence. I'll keep an eye out and if I come across anything, I'll let you know. I think you'll be safe with the knotwork though. Glad the video was so helpful.

[@lindawahlander]

Very interesting and inspiering! Thank You 🌸🌿🐍

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.