A Comprehensive History of Norwich

by A. D. Bayne

PART III.

CHAPTER I.
The Commercial History of Norwich.

What has been the trade of the city, from the earliest period up to the present time, is an interesting subject of inquiry to the inhabitants. The sources of information are very scanty, for local historians of former days did not trouble themselves much about trade, but were content with simply recording passing events and the proceedings of public bodies. From old charters and acts of parliament, and details of local taxation, we may, however, learn something about the industry and trade of by gone ages. We may discover how people lived, how they were employed, and what sort of clothes they wore; and we shall find a remarkable sameness from age to age. The trade of any country, or county, or town, arises from productive industry in agriculture or manufactures, or in mercantile business, or in carrying goods from one place to another, or in all three combined. All three have existed in this city and county; and it is important to inquire into the past and present state of our trade, and the causes which have promoted or retarded its progress or decline.

Textile Fabrics.

In tracing the rise and progress of manufactures in this city, it will be necessary to refer to many sources of information respecting the garments worn by the people of every period. The Roman writers supply some information relating to the Iceni and other aborigines of this island; the Anglo-Saxon illuminations represent the costumes of a later period; monumental effigies exhibit the clothing of the middle ages; and many acts of parliament allude to the manufactures of modern times. The arts of spinning, weaving, dyeing, and dressing wool, linen, and silk, were known to all ancient civilized nations. The Gauls taught those arts to the ancient Britons in this island. Of the kinds of cloth made in Gaul, according to Pliny, one was made of fine wool dyed in several colours. This wool, being spun into yarn, was woven in stripes or checquers, of which the Gauls made their summer garments. Here we have the origin of the Scotch plaid or tartan, which is called the garb of old Gaul to this day.

The dress of the ancient British females may be ascertained from the account by Dion Cassius of the appearance of Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, who inhabited this eastern district. Her light hair fell upon her shoulders. She wore a torque of gold, a tunic of several colours all in folds, and over it a robe of coarse stuff, fastened by a brooch. The commonalty and the less civilized tribes, inhabiting the interior of the island, went about simply clad in skins. The Druids wore white dresses, and the Bards a robe of sky blue, emblematic of peace. The Ovates, professing to know medicine, wore green, the symbol of learning. Julius Agricola being appointed to the command in Britain, A.D. 78, soon succeeded in establishing the Roman sway, and introducing the Roman costume, manners, and language; and before the close of the first century the British habit was regarded as a badge of barbarism. Tacitus says, “The sons of the British chiefs began to affect our dress.” The southern and eastern Britons disused the Broccoe, and wore the Roman tunic reaching to the knee, with the cloak or mantle. The female garb was similar to that of the Roman women, who wore two tunics.

The Anglo Saxons, Jutes, and Danes, when located in different parts of England, spun and wove most of the materials now used for dress. The woollen, linen, and silk yarns were all home-spun, and the textile fabrics were home-made. The civil costume consisted of a linen shirt, a tunic of linen or woollen, worn according to the season, descending to the knee, and having long loose sleeves. It was made like the shirt, and open at the neck, and put on in the same manner. It was sometimes open at the sides and confined by a belt or girdle at the waist. Over this a short cloak was worn fastened with brooches, sometimes at the breast, sometimes on both shoulders.

Mr. Strutt remarks that the silence of the Anglo-Saxon writers on the subject of Danish dress, while they are profuse in the description of the dress of their countrymen, proves a similarity of costume. According to Danish ballads, black was the colour of the ancient Danish dress. Saxon chronicles allude to the Danes by the name of the “Black Army.” Black amongst them had no funeral associations. This sombre hue may have been their national colour, their standard being a raven. After becoming settled in Norwich and Norfolk, they doffed the black colour, and became effeminately gay in their dress, and often changed their attire.

The Normans and Flemings who came over with the Conqueror into England, and those who followed him in great numbers, were remarkable for their love of finery, according to our early historians. The dresses of the common people of course continued to be much the same from age to age, but the habits of the nobility were more influenced by fashion; and the reign of William Rufus is stigmatised by many writers of the period for shameful abuses. The king himself set the example, and the clergy and laity were alike infected with the love of costly clothing. After the Norman Conquest, a sort of cloth was introduced which, though not a new discovery, had not been formerly known in England. This was quite a different article to what had been previously called cloth, the preparation being by a combing instead of a carding process. By the former the wool was drawn out to a very long staple, by the latter to a very short staple, the fibres of the fleece being extended the whole length in one instance, and broken and intersected in the other. For 1000 years after the christian era there were no textile manufactures as we now understand the terms. All the yarns were homespun, and all the garments were home-made.

The female costume in Norwich and other towns, from 1087 to 1154, presents us with but one striking novelty, and that by no means an improvement. The rage for lengthening every portion of the dress was not confined to the male sex. The sleeves of the ladies’ tunics, and their veils or kerchiefs, appear to have been so long in the reigns of William Rufus and Henry I. as to be tied up in knots, to avoid treading on them, and the trains or skirts of the garments lay in immense rolls at the feet. Over the long robe or tunic a shorter garment was occasionally seen in the illuminations of the period.