Taffeta, it is likely, if not a thinner, was a less costly silken stuff than cendal; which word, to this day, is used in the Spanish language, and is defined to be a thin transparent textile of silk or linen: “Tela de seda ó lino muy delgada y trasparente.”
As the Knights’ flags:
Ther gonfanens and ther penselles
Wer well wrought off grene sendels;
as their long cyclases which they wore over their armour were of cendal, so too were of cendal, all blazoned with their armorial bearings, the housing of the steeds they strode. Of cendal, also, was the lining of the church’s vestments, and the peaceful citizen’s daily garments. Of his “Doctour of Phisike,” Chaucer tells us:—
In sanguin and in perse he clad was alle
Lined with taffata, and with sendalle.[127]
For the weaving of cendal, among the Europeans, Sicily was once celebrated, and a good example from others in this collection, is [No. 8255], p. 163.
[127] Prologue, Poems, ed. Nicolas, ii. 14.
Sarcenet, during the fifteenth century took by degrees the place of cendal, at least here in England.