[561] These are the poor results of the Roman invasion and neglect of Britain during their occupation. The second invasion of Britain by the Romans, under Claudius, was caused by the squabbles between the chiefs of the different tribes. Comnenus, the prince of the Atrebates, was at war with the sons of Cunobelinus (Cymbeline). He took his grievances to Rome, and the Roman legions were despatched to settle the matter, and to dazzle the world by the echoes rather than the facts of the triumphant victories in the land of the “wintry pole.” Claudius marched with elephants clad in mail, and bearing turrets filled with slingers and bowmen, accompanied by Belgic pikemen and Batavians from the islands in the Rhine, A.D. 44. The dress of Claudius on his return from Britain was purple, with an ivory sceptre and crown of gold oak leaves. One officer alone was entitled to wear a tunic embroidered with golden palms, in token of a former victory. The Celts, the Gauls, the Gaels, the Picts, the Scots, and the Saxons,—all crowded and settled in Britain when the Romans left it in 410, after nearly four hundred years of misgovernment. (See Elton’s “Origins of English History,” pp. 306-308.)
[562] Semper, “Der Stil,” pp. 133, 134. See Louis Viardot, “Des Origines Traditionnelles de la Peinture en Italie” (Paris, 1840), p. 53, note. Also see “Les Ducs de Bourgogne,” part ii. vol. ii. p. 243, No. 4092. Muratori was born in 1672; and he says the Empress Helena’s work was in existence in the beginning of the eighteenth century. (See p. [316], ante.)
[563] When St. Augustine (546) came to preach to the Anglo-Saxons, he had a banner, fastened to a cross, carried before him, on which was embroidered the image of our Lord. (See Mrs. Lawrence’s “Woman in England,” pp. 296, 297.) Probably this was Roman work.
[564] Quoted by Mrs. Lawrence, “Woman in England,” p. 49, from one of Adhelme’s Latin poems. Adhelme, Bishop of Sherborne, died in 709, having been thirty years a bishop. He wrote Latin poems, of which the most important, in praise of virginity, is in the Lambeth Library, No. 200. The MS. contains his portrait. See Strutt’s “English Dresses,” ed. Planché.
[565] An Anglo-Saxon lady named Aedelswitha, living near Whitby, in the sixth century, collected a number of girls and taught them to produce admirable embroideries for the benefit of the monastery. (See Rock’s “Church of our Fathers,” p. 273; also his Introduction to “Textiles,” p. xxvii.) Bock speaks of Hrothgar’s tapestries, embroidered with gold, of the thirteenth century. See [Appendix 8]. But the earliest English tapestry I have seen is that in York Minster, in which are inwoven the arms of Scrope, 1390. Wright says of the Anglo-Saxon women, “In their chamber, besides spinning and weaving, the ladies were employed in needlework and embroidery, and the Saxon ladies were so skilful in this art, that their works were celebrated on the Continent.”—“History of Manners in England during the Middle Ages,” by Thomas Wright, p. 52.
[566] See Mrs. Lawrence’s “Woman in England,” i. p. 296-7.
[567] See Rock’s “Church of our Fathers,” ii. p. 272, quoting Th. Stubbs. “Acta Pontif. Th. ed. Twysden,” 1. ii. p. 1699; also Bock’s “Liturgische Gewänder,” i. p. 212, and p. 325 ante.
[569] This could hardly have been intended originally for an ecclesiastical purpose. It sounds as if it were a stray fragment from Græco-Roman art, rather than a survival of the classical legend employed as a pretty motive for decoration. Wiglaf’s veil is named by Ingulphus. See Strutt’s “English Dresses,” pp. 3, 7. See also “Historia Eliensis,” l. 2, ed. Stewart, p. 183.
[570] See Rock’s “Textile Fabrics,” p. xxi.; also for Council of Cloveshoe, see his “Church of Our Fathers,” p. 14.