Greetings!
>For the dyes used in coloring woven materials, I have no suggestions. I am
>sure that they have also been studied and documented. The "hippie" period
>looked for "natural dyes", and I am sure that your university reference
>librarian can find materials on the use of dyestuffs in medieval times.
A good place to start on that topic would be E. Crowfoot, F. Prichard and K.
Staniland, _Textiles and Clothing c.1150-c.1450: Medieval Finds from
Excavations in London_ (London: HMSO, 1992). There is an appendix there
which gives a good account of which dyestuffs have been positively
identified in those finds by modern chemical analysis.
In order by frequency of occurance, these were: madder, kermes (often
called "grain"; probably the source of the colour "sanguine" in household
accounts), woad/indigo (likely the source of "perse" in household accounts),
lichen purple, and a range of yellows including weld and possibly
brazilwood. There were some dyes which could not be identified, and about
37% of the finds contained no dye at all, meaning that either they were not
dyed or the dye has leached out over the centuries.
I also beleive that a good deal of work in this field has been done by
those studying Norse archaeology.
Another excellent resource are fibre guilds (Ontario has an excellent
one) where a good number of folks have studied natural dyeing in depth and
could actually tell you about the medieval techniques. When I'm not
studying Domincan education, I research medieval clothing, but construction
techniques and household accounts, rather than dyeing, are my fields of
expertise.
Susan Carroll-Clark
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