The St Cuthbert Maniple Recreation Project Part I - The Origin Story

This is the origin story behind the St Cuthbert Maniple Recreation Project. We discuss the history of this embroidered early medieval maniple, who's studied it, why I couldn't get access to it and how this led to the development of the recreation project.
The St Cuthbert maniple is a church vestment hand embroidered in gold and silk threads. It is worked in split stitch, stem stitch and two forms of goldwork surface couching.
The maniple along with a matching stole were re-discovered in the tomb of St Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral, England, in 1827. Both were stitched by embroiderers in early medieval England, who were commissioned to make them by Queen AElfflaed (Ælfflæd). She wanted to give them as a present to the Bishop of Winchester but it's thought he never received them...
You can also read about the stole, maniple and a set of embroidered ribbons that were also found in St Cuthbert's tomb, in my book, 'The Lost Art of the Anglo-Saxon World: the sacred and secular power of embroidery'.
www.amazon.co....
You can also read about how the stole and maniple were viewed by early medieval society in my latest article, 'Embroidery and its early medieval audience: a case study of sensory engagement', published in World Archaeology. Copies can be bought here: www.tandfonlin...
In an earlier video, you can check out some of the goldwork:
• A glimpse at goldwork ...
Dr Alexandra Makin
Early Medieval Embroidery
#embroidery #embroider #goldwork #textiles #alexandramakin

[@veronicabradley3420]

Wonderful combination of history and embroidery, so glad you appeared on my feed yesterday.

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Oh thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 😃

[@Ben-kv7wr]

Oh I’ve been looking for in depth mediaeval silk embroidery detail it’s so hard to find without access to scholarly databases I’m so excited to dive in to this

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Welcome to the channel. You know there’s no escape now though 😄

[@lindapinsd]

This is just an amazing project. I love your passion.

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Thank you so much! I am a bit hooked and obsessed 😄

[@barbschannel2124]

I first discovered the existence of these beautiful embroideries via the Michael Wood documentary on King Athelstan (it's here on KZbin) and have been thoroughly fascinated by their history. ❤

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

That's a good documentary. THeir history is really interesting and it still keeps giving, which is really cool for people like me (a little obsessed😄)

[@cerwelt]

The forensics of studying such ancient embroideries is amazing. Whenever I watch your videos I end up with a thousand more questions than I had before I watch! Who did the Queen commission? Who drew the figures? Why didn’t the bishop receive the gifts? Why were they buried with St. Cuthbert? Etc. etc.

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

You've been sucked into the black hole of early medieval embroidery😄. Welcome! I explore some of these questions in a round about way in an article I published in World Archaeology 52:2. Here's the link: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00438243.2020.1835530 If you have trouble accessing it, sometimes you have to pay, let me know.

[@mpr1138]

Absolutely fascinating. A few years ago I refurbished some vestments at our church which were really ornate (wrapped gold thread etc.) and learned so much from unpicking them that I could recreate with a little confidence. Amazing work. Thank you.

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Thank you so much, and sorry it's taken so long to reply. Your project sounds fascinating too. People don't always realise how much you can learn from doing something like that but you never know what hidden secrets you're going to uncover.

[@michaelaschmid]

I heard your zoom talk on Wednesday and I can’t stop thinking about the work you’re doing. You’re amazing.

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

I'm so glad you enjoyed the Zoom talk! It was great to be able to tell people about the project and chat afterwards. Thank you so much!

[@arsamalie3652]

I'm curious how you were able to access a copy of Christie's book! I've been dying to get my hands on a copy, but since it's out of print and considered a "rare book," so far I haven't had any luck. Thank you so much for sharing your research!!

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Ah, I was very lucky and found a second hand copy at a not too outrageous price. I decided that because I do so much research based on the embroideries that it'd be worth it ;-> Libraries sometimes have or can get hold of a copy too, so it may be worth seeing if you can get hold of a copy via interlibrary loans.

[@MonksModernMedievalCuisine]

Great stuff! It's good to hear about the reasons for the project. My questions: What will happen to your recreation? Will it be used in education work as a (gloved) hands-on piece?

[@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery]

Thanks! So the plan is to put on a mini exhibition and I'm talking to somewhere about this. They were enthusiastic but the pandemic has slowed progress / the process. If it goes ahead, I'll also give a talk or two and run a workshop or two, so people can have a go at this type of embroidery using authentic materials. Watch this space! It will be an educational piece but I'm thinking of getting it framed in a two-sided frame so you can see the front and back. I've got sample pieces that I plan to use as handling objects.

[@MonksModernMedievalCuisine]

@@EarlyMedievalEmbroidery Sounds exciting 😊.