medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
At 5:36 PM -0800 1/28/03, Phyllis Jestice wrote:
>Bathild (d. 680) Bathild was an Anglo-Saxon slave who attracted the
>interest of the Frankish King Clovis II and married him in 649. When
>Clovis died, B. acted as regent for her eldest son, and in her spare time
>founded the monasteries of Corbie and Chelles besides promoting the work of
>several religious figures. After a palace coup in 665, she became a nun at
>Chelles, where she was noted for her humility.
<textile historian chimes in>
The story is that the surviving tunic of Queen Bathilde, elaborately
embroidered with simulated "jewels," was made for her because, as a
nun, she had renounced precious jewels -- yet she still needed to
look suitably "regal" when she appeared as dowager queen at state
ceremonies. It's in amazingly good shape for a Western European
textile 1,300 years old.
It's actually quite cleverly worked on plain white linen in red,
green, two shades of blue, bright yellow and deep yellow silk thread,
in a simple outline stitch. The embroidered round or square "jewels"
have imitation "gold settings" worked around them, and little round
circles of plain white unstitched linen are left to represent
"pearls." The tour de force is the elaborate "necklace" embroidered
onto the tunic, which from a distance appears as a gold chain with
multiple medallions dangling from it, and in the center a large,
heavily jeweled hanging cross. Similar "jeweled crosses" (but worked
in tapestry weaving) are known from at least a couple of other
roughly contemporary tunics.
(Laporte, Jean-Pierre and Raymond Boyer. "Sepultures et Reliques de la Reine
Bathilde et de l'Abbesse Bertille". Chelles: Societe Archeologique et
Historique, 1991; Laporte, Jean-Pierre. "La Tresor des Saintes de Chelles".
Chelles: Societe Archeologique et Historique, 1988.)
There's a photo posted at
http://www.kipar.demon.co.uk/photos/bathilde_shirt.jpg
--
_________________________________________________________
O Chris Laning
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+ Davis, California
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