medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Sarah,
After writing my previous note, I decided to check on Google for cochineal.
I have made an exerpt from the paper which I believe will answer your
question on cardinal red with quotable authority.
A FORGOTTEN CHAPTER OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE: MEXICAN COCHINEAL AND THE
EUROPEAN DEMAND FOR AMERICAN DYES, 1550-1850
Carlos Marichal
El Colegio de México
Paper presented to the Conference on "Latin America Global Trade and
International Commodity Chains in Historical Perspective", Stanford
University, November, 16-17, 2001.
(Preliminary version; please do not cite without permission from the
author).
But why were dyestuffs so expensive ? Scarcity of high-quality dyestuffs, of
course, played a major role but it is also worthwhile underlining that
certain colors had great socio-economic significance in traditional society
in affirming hierarchies. In this regard, it is worthwhile recalling that
from the medieval era, one of the colors most prized by crown, church and
nobility in Europe for their finest fabrics was that of carmine or deep
crimson.
For centuries Europeans sought the perfect red dye, red being a color much
valued and somewhat difficult to obtain. Red could be obtained from various
plant sources such as madder root and related alizarin-based dyestuffs. The
other main source of red came from insects. The best of these insect sources
was American cochineal, which provided the best intensity of color and was
most readily available.1 A similar insect dye was known in Europe in the
form of the kermes insect (Kermes vermilio), a shield-louse that lives on
the host tree Kermes oak. In the later Middle Ages these insects were
gathered commercially in several Mediterranean countries and sold throughout
Europe. Kermes dyes have been found in the ecclesiastical burial wrappings
in fourteenth and fifteenth-century England, at Baynards Castle in the
fourteenth-century layers, and in Anglo- Scandinavian York. Kermes fell out
of use with the introduction of cochineal in the sixteenth century due to
the simple fact that, while the two dyes were comparable in quality and
color intensity, ten to twelve times as much kermes was needed to produce
the same effect as cochineal.
Again, good hunting, Jim
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