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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture At 9:54 PM -0500 10/11/03, Jim Bugslag wrote: > > Herlinda and Relinda (d. c. 745 and 750) H. and R. were daughters of an >> Austrasian noble family. Their dad founded a convent for them at Maaseik, >> Belgium; they served as first and second abbesses of the community. They >> were active supporters of the mission to the Frisians, friends of both >> Willibrord and Boniface. > >Fragments of very early decorative embroidery survive at Maaseik which are >generally attributed to SS Herlinda and Relinda. Whether a sound >attribution or not, >they are important early survivals of embroidery work, from about this period. >cheers, You beat me to it :) The fragments are commonly known as the "chasuble" of Sts. H. & R., but they really appear to be assembled pieces of some sort of church furnishing (perhaps an altar frontal). The designs of arches, birds, sinuous interlaced animals and monograms are worked in "couched" gold thread, originally bordered with rows of pearls. (Most of the pearls have long since fallen off, leaving lines of white linen foundation fabric showing.) The background is embroidered in red, blue, yellow and green flat silks, now very much faded of course. The consensus seems to be that the saints didn't work the embroidery themselves; it's probably contemporary with them, but it seems to be Anglo-Saxon professional work. -- _________________________________________________________ O Chris Laning | <[log in to unmask]> + Davis, California _________________________________________________________ ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html