[256] Roger de Wendover, “Chronica,” t. iv., ed. Coxe; also Yates, “Textrinum Antiquorum,” pp. 243, 244.
[257] In the twelfth century. Semper, i. p. 38.
[258] See illustration from the portrait of Sultan Mahomet II., by Gentil Bellini. Ante, p. [146], Plate [33].
[259] See Semper, p. 157.
[260] The Sicilian type of design in silk-weaving was carried into Germany about the end of the second period. We are informed by Auberville that there existed at that time a manufacture of ecclesiastical stuffs at Leipzig, from which he gives us fine examples.
[261] See Bock’s “Liturgische Gewänder,” vol. ii. Taf. xxxiii. The pattern is twelfth century “metal work,” embroidered in gold.
[262] See Wilkinson’s “Ancient Egyptians,” iii., pl. xvi.; v., pl. xxxiv. In general, a scarf floats from the prow or from the oars.
[263] The Crusaders carried away splendid booty from the towns they took and ransacked. As it was the great gathering-place of all Eastern and Western nations, Jerusalem was a mart for rich merchandise from Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Phœnicia, till the times of the Latin kings. Antioch, as well as Jerusalem, yielded the richest plunder. Matthew Paris (a contemporary historian), speaking of what was taken at Antioch, 1098, says, “At the division of costly vessels, crosses, weavings, and silken stuffs, every beggar in the crusading army was enriched.” Alexandria, as early as the middle of the sixth century, A.D., had been the depôt for the silken stuffs of Libya and Morocco. Here is a wide area opened to us for suggestions as to the origin and traditions of patterns in silk textile art. See Bock’s “Liturgische Gewänder,” vol. i. pp. 29, 30.
[264] Rock, Introduction, p. ccxlviii, and p. 268, No. 8710.
[265] The weaving of inscriptions in textiles is not a Saracenic invention. Pliny says it was a custom among the Parthians. See Rock’s “Textile Fabrics,” p. lxi.