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the production and diffusion of andalusi silk
and silk textiles, mid-eighth to
mid-thirteenth century
David Jacoby
The production of silk fibers and the manufacture of silk textiles
in medieval Andalusia, the southern region of present-day Spain,
have been the subject of numerous studies by art, textile, and
“plain” historians.1 The purpose of this short paper is to offer an
economic perspective of the production and diffusion of Andalusi
silk fiber, yarn, and cloth, in order to insert the manufacturing of
the Andalusi fabric and embroidery of the Fermo piece and the
journey to its final destination within a broad historical context.
The chronological framework adopted here extends over a period
of some five centuries, from the introduction of silk to Andalusia
around the mid-eighth century to the period in which the chasuble
discussed in this volume was associated to Thomas Becket, in my
view the early thirteenth century at the latest.2 The available
written sources and the extant silk textiles identified as Andalusi
raise multiple problems, mentioned below, many of which remain
unsolved and restrict the range of any historical reconstruction.
In addition, the inclusion of this paper in a collective volume
necessarily limits its scope. As a result, the present overview does
not aim to be exhaustive.
The reconstruction of Andalusi silk production and diffusion
is hampered in several ways. The evidence is fragmentary and
unevenly distributed over time and space. Arab authors, who
provide the bulk of evidence, frequently reproduce or paraphrase
passages from earlier works, yet even when their sources can be
identified, it is often unclear whether the information is still
relevant, in others words, whether it also reflects contemporary
facts and developments.
These authors cite various generic terms for silk brands and
types of silk cloth. However, over time some textile terms were
applied to silk fabrics whose nature differed. Other terms
underwent a semantic evolution leading from the description of
a specific feature, such as color or decorative design, to a more
general appellation referring to the texture of the cloth. Moreover,
incomplete data—or a total lack of data—regarding the nature of
silk fibers or the composition, technical features, decoration, or
origin of the textiles prevents the establishment of a direct corre-
lation between textual evidence and extant fabrics, except in rare
cases. It is, therefore, indispensable to proceed with the utmost
caution in the identification of silk terms in order to avoid
142 The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
erroneous or unfounded interpretations and implications, which
unfortunately abound in modern research.3
The Arabs extended moriculture, sericulture, and the manu-
facturing of silks from the Middle East to the Iberian Peninsula.
The settlement of Arab tribes from Syria in Andalusia in the 740s
introduced the growing of the red mulberry tree and the rearing
of silkworms to the south of the Sierra Morena and the Sierra
Nevada, as implied by an Arab author of the thirteenth century
who refers to the Syrian mulberry tree growing in that region.4
The weaving of silk textiles must have followed a few years after
the planting of the trees. However, there is no evidence in this
respect for almost an entire century, until the reign of Abd al-
Rahman II (822–52), when a tiraz, or weaving workshop, attached
to the emir’s court was established at Cordoba, in imitation of the
one existing at the Abbasid court in Baghdad.5 This move was
apparently connected with the adoption of fashionable Eastern
clothing, which supposes the earlier arrival of Iraqi textiles in
Cordoba and their imitation in the tiraz. Gowns of khazz silk and
mulham cloth are mentioned in that context. Khazz was a high-
grade silk,6 and mulham a highly prized plain fabric with a silk
warp and a weft of another yarn.7 Two testimonies provide further
evidence to the weaving of silk textiles in Andalusia in the first
half of the ninth century, although we do not know where the
fabrics were produced. Emperor Louis the Pious offered a Spanish
coverlet to the abbey of Saint Wandrille in Normandy around 823.8
The “Spanish” veils granted to several Roman churches by two
popes, Gregory IV (827–44) and Leo IV (847–55), are listed among
silk textiles. It is noteworthy that some of these light fabrics were
woven or embroidered with silver thread.9
The creation of the tiraz in Cordoba implies that skilled silk
weavers and dyers were available in Andalusia by the first half of
the ninth century. We cannot determine whether these were local
craftsmen or new immigrants from silk-weaving regions in the
eastern Mediterranean. Whatever the case, a number of them
were hired to work in the court’s workshop. The continuous
operation of the tiraz required some measure of control over the
production of silk fibers and the collection of dyestuffs, as well as
a regular supply of these raw materials. The exercise of the ruler’s
authority in this respect is reflected by the so-called Calendar of
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Cordoba, composed in 961. It refers to the requisition of silk and
colorants by state officials, obviously in return for payment to
producers or instead of some taxes they owed.10 There is good
reason to believe that this was common practice since the
establishment of the tiraz, despite the time lag of around one
century between its creation and the “Calendar.” Although silk
fibers were being appropriated for the court’s tiraz, there was still
a large volume of them available from other sources. In 939 Ibn
Shuhayd, vizier of Caliph Abd al-Rahman III al-Nasir, delivered
an impressive amount of silk as a present to his lord’s weaving
establishment, namely 4,000 ratls of silk yarn and 1,000 ratls of
raw silk, respectively 2,016 and 504 kilograms.11 Whether the silk
came from the vizier’s estates or from other sources is unknown.
Extant tenth-century contracts illustrate the cultivation of the
red mulberry tree, the rearing of silkworms, the unwinding of silk
filaments from cocoons, and silk weaving in Andalusia.12 Other
sources document the continuous operation of the Cordoba tiraz
in the tenth century.13 The so-called Pyrenees strip and the veil or
almaizar of Hisham II (976–1009, 1010–13) were produced in
that period. The veil, a cloth woven of silk and gold thread, bears
an inscription praising the Umayyad ruler.14 This implies weaving
in the tiraz of Cordoba or the one of Madinat al-Zahra, the new
government center built beginning between 936 and 940.
Muslim rulers enhanced their prestige by exhibiting high-grade
silks as well as by granting them to members of their entourage
and to foreigners belonging to the upper strata of society. Abd al-
Rahman III al-Nasir sent various textiles from Cordoba to
Emperor Charles the Bald in 865.15 The silks were most likely
produced in his court’s tiraz. A display of luxury silk garments
and of silks covering the soil greeted the embassy sent by Count
Borrell II of Barcelona in 950 on its arrival at the caliph’s court in
Cordoba.16 The powerful vizier Muhammad ibn Abu Amir, known
by his honorific title al-Mansur (“the Victorious”), was de facto
ruler during most of the reign of Hisham II, Abd al-Rahman’s
weak grandson. Following a successful military campaign in 997,
he rewarded the Christian princes and the Muslims who had
assisted him with 2,285 pieces of various kinds of tirazi silk and
other silken fabrics.17 Even if we do not accept the total figure at
face value, there clearly was a massive grant of textiles. Their
production implies a large workforce and the accumulation of
cloth over several years.
The court’s tiraz in Cordoba was obviously not the only manu-
facturer of high-grade silks. In 939 the vizier Ibn Shuhayd offered
to Caliph Abd al-Rahman III al-Nasir textiles, some embroidered
with gold thread, which must have been produced in another
atelier.18 Similarly, considering the large number of tiraz silks
granted by al-Mansur in 997, it is likely that some of them had
been woven in workshops other than the court’s establishment of
Cordoba.19 The number of tiraz ateliers in the caliphate had
The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
increased by that time.20 Al-Mansur’s grant also included silks not
labeled tirazi.21 These fabrics must have been woven in private
workshops.
It is possible, though, that the term tirazi in the report of al-
Mansur’s grants does not refer to tiraz workshops, but rather to
inscriptions borne by the silks, or else to a type of silk cloth, the
nature of which is unknown. Tiraz as textile type is already
attested in Muslim Spain from 938.22 In 997 it is mentioned
alongside siqlatun and dibaj rumi, the latter woven in Rum or the
Byzantine Empire.23 Siqlatun derived from Greek sigillatos,
“sealed.” It was a Byzantine monochrome or multicolored silk
fabric adorned with “seals” or roundels enclosing birds, animals,
or designs. However, by the time siqlatun is attested in Muslim
Spain the term had already evolved from the definition of roundels
as the main decorative design to the appellation of a specific cloth
type.24 Dibaj was a glossy figured silk cloth.25
The circulation of Andalusi luxury silks was at first limited to
the upper ranks of society, yet their display stimulated demand in
wider circles, both domestic and foreign.26 Political fragmentation
and market incentives led to the expansion of silk manufacture in
Andalusia. Seville had its own tiraz workshop from 899, and such
additional establishments were later created in other cities.27
Almeria already practiced silk weaving by the early tenth century,
yet we do not know whether in a tiraz or in private workshops.28
The city became the major center of silk manufacture in Anda-
lusia by the eleventh century, the period of Cordoba’s decline.29
Almeria then supplanted Cordoba in the quality, variety, and
volume of its silks. Yaqut stated in the early thirteenth century that
“figured washi-stuff and dibaj of excellent manufacture are made
there [in Almeria]. This was first made in Cordoba, but then
Almeria outstripped it [= Cordoba].” Yaqut added that Almeria
produced the best dibaj silks in al-Andalus. Al-Zuhri had already
stated somewhat earlier, in the second half of the twelfth century,
that Almeria was “the city of the dibaj.”30
Several manufacturing centers specialized in specific types of
silk textiles, while others produced an assortment of them. There
was also a differentiation in quality resulting from the production
of downscaled versions of luxury textiles targeting a larger market.
According to the Calendar of Cordoba compiled in 961, at the
beginning of cold weather in al-Andalus in the month of October
people exchanged their white summer clothes for others woven
of khazz, wool, or other stuff.31 This change in clothing was clearly
not restricted to members of the ruler’s circle. Ibn Hawkal, who
visited Andalusia in 948, records the weaving of khazz textiles,
without referring to the tiraz. Significantly, he also records the
manufacturing of downscaled versions of luxury cloth woven of
greige, the silk filament still surrounded by gum sericin, the
adhesive holding several filaments together.32 Figured khazz pieces
in various colors are mentioned in fatwas or legal pronouncements
143
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issued in Cordoba in the 1050s or 1060s.33 Some types of Andalusi
luxury silks were produced in several versions, such as cloths of
gold, cloths of silver, or fabrics devoid of precious metal thread,
as attested in 1207.34
Despite its thriving silk manufacture, Muslim Andalusia
imported foreign silks, some of which impacted on its own
production. In 939 Ibn Shuhayd’s grants included six Iraqi royal
cloaks, clearly silken ones.35 Diplomatic exchanges between
Cordoba and Constantinople are attested from the 940s, and there
is good reason to believe that they were accompanied by an
exchange of gifts, as well as by commercial imports of Byzantine
silks.36 In 942 a group of merchants from Amalfi brought to
Cordoba silk textiles, among them brocades and porpora, as well
as other precious goods, and a second group arrived later in the
same year with a Sardinian embassy. Ibn Hayyan adds that
afterwards other merchants arrived in Andalusia, without
specifying whether or not they were Amalfitans.37 All or most of
the silks brought in 942 must have been of Byzantine origin, since
no silk weaving took place at Amalfi. Their origin is suggested by
a statement of Bishop Liutprand of Cremona. He reports that
before his mission to Constantinople in 968 Amalfitan and
Venetian merchants had been exporting high-grade silks from
Byzantium to Italy.38 A Byzantine imperial charter of 992 implies
that the Amalfitans pursued that activity by the late tenth century.39
It is possible, therefore, that they brought to Andalusia the two
pieces of dibaj rumi or Byzantine dibaj included among the grants
made by al-Mansur in 997.40
It would seem that the Amalfitans assumed a major role as
middlemen in the transfer of Byzantine silks via Italy to Anda-
lusia, beginning in the 940s. They may have replaced or displaced
Byzantine intermediaries established in Provence,41 who earlier
had conveyed Byzantine silks to Christian Spain, from where
some of these had reached Andalusia. Byzantine silks are in-
creasingly attested from the early ninth century in Christian
Spain, largely by documents relating to churches and mon-
asteries.42 The presence of Andalusi silks in ecclesiastical institu-
tions in Italy and Amalfitan households in the second half of the
tenth and in the eleventh century lends support to Amalfitan
involvement in the silk traffic between continental Italy and
Andalusia in that period.43 That involvement is further suggested
by an Amalfitan blanket presumably made of Byzantine silk cloth
in Amalfi, recorded in Portugal in 1041.44 The Amalfitan silk trade
with Andalusia apparently extended into the second half of the
twelfth century, when al-Zuhri reported that Andalusia imports
various commodities from Amalfi.45
The tenth-century Pyrenees strip and the veil of Hisham II,
mentioned above, illustrate another current of imports. The two
pieces reveal respectively the influence of Coptic weaving
technique and Sasanian iconography on Andalusi silks.46 That
144 The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
impact implies the earlier import of silks from Egypt and Iran,
which appears all the more likely since Andalusi silk fabrics were
reaching Egypt and Khurasan by the mid-tenth century, according
to Ibn Hawkal.47 The impact of Iraqi and Iranian silks on the
manufacture of silk textiles in Andalusia is also illustrated in the
following period. Some workshops imitated Baghdadi weaves and
ornamental designs. A silk found in the tomb of Bishop San
Pedro, buried in 1109 in the cathedral of Burgo de Osma (Soria),
carries a Kufic inscription ascribing it to Baghdad. However, some
paleographic details in the inscription and technical features of
the cloth reveal that it was in fact woven in Spain. This piece
belongs to a group of silks sharing the same iconographic,
stylistic, and technical features and the same combination of red
and green colors on an ivory ground. The group has been dated
to the first half of the twelfth century and ascribed to Almeria in
view of the high quality of the silks.48 Ibn Ghalib appears to
confirm this attribution. He mentions baghdadi silks in con-
nection with Almeria around 1170, after the city’s return under
Muslim rule.49 Contemporary documents mentioning bagadelli
hispanici also illustrate the continuous weaving of this type of
silks.50 There were also imports from other regions. A textile from
Bukhara is listed in Catalonia in the inventory of Arnau Mir de
Tost, dated 1071.51 Such fabric may have also arrived in Andalusia.
Al-Muqaddasi reported in the last quarter of the tenth century that
Andalusia manufactured Sicilian fabrics.52 These must have been
silks, since no other textiles would have been imported from Sicily.
In the second half of the twelfth century sundus from Khurasan
arrived in Andalusia, which also produced this type of silk cloth.53
Rich embroidery was also a distinctive aspect of Andalusi
court luxury. It is well illustrated by a taffeta cloth adorned with
medallions enclosing animals and horsemen embroidered in silk
and gold thread, as well as an embroidered Kufic inscription
mentioning al-Muzaffar (“the Victorious”), the title borne by Abd
al-Malik, the effective ruler of the caliphate under Hisham II, after
his victory over a Christian army in 1007. The silk may have been
embroidered for him in 1007 to 1008 at the earliest. After its
display at an Andalusi court had ceased, it arrived at Autun,
France, where it was used as a shroud in the tomb of Saint
Lazarus, opened around 1147. Both the embroidery technique and
many iconographic features recall the Fermo chasuble.54
The Arab geographer al-Idrisi, who compiled his Kitab Rudjar,
or “Book of Roger,” in Palermo between 1139 and 1154, reports that
800 tiraz in Almeria were producing various types of silk cloth
and garments before the fall of the city to King Alfonso VII of León
and Castile in 1147.55 The sixteenth-century al-Makkari mentions
looms instead of tiraz, which seems more likely, yet adds a few
thousand of them to embellish his account.56 In any event, not all
the weaving workshops in Almeria were court establishments. In
Fatimid Egypt there was a distinction between amma, or “public,”
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tiraz workshops, in fact private ateliers, and khassa tiraz,
“exclusive” or court ateliers, both types being controlled by
government officials.57 We do not know whether such a distinction
existed in Andalusia.
Al-Makkari also lists the types of silk fabrics manufactured in
Almeria.58 They included dibaj, for which the city was famous, as
noted above, as well as siqlatun and imitations of Iraqi and Iranian
silks. Attabi was a taffeta fabric with silk warp and cotton woof
originally produced in Attabiya, a quarter of Baghdad. Isfahani and
jurjani silks were respectively named after the Iranian city of
Isfahan and the province of Jurjan, southeast of the Caspian Sea.
Almeria also produced silken veils.59 Al-Zuhri adds white sundus
garments.60 In the absence of detailed information regarding the
textiles it is impossible to determine whether the group of fabrics
ascribed to Almeria mentioned above belongs to any of the silk
types listed by the Arab authors. Al-Zuhri also points to a division
of labor in Almeria’s silk manufacture. Women prepare the silk
yarn for weaving by twisting together several filaments, whereas
the weaving itself is carried out by men.61 Murcia and Malaga also
manufactured costly silks by the late twelfth century.62
The expansion of Andalusi silk manufacture was sustained by
the extension of sericulture. Al-Idrisi reports around the mid-
twelfth century that 600 households raise silkworms in the
Alpujarras, west of Almeria, and 3,000 in the mountains around
Jaén. Regardless of the accuracy of the figures, there clearly was a
massive involvement in that production, which continued at the
time of al-Shakundi, who wrote between 1199 and 1212. A region
south of Granada also produced much silk fiber.63
It is unclear when Andalusi silk fiber or yarn began to be
exported. In Christian Spain silk was presumably used at first for
embroidery, rather than for weaving. An embroidered silk is
attested in 944 in Catalonia,64 yet it is impossible to determine
where the decoration had been carried out. In 1024 King Alfonso
V of León employed three Musaraves de rex tiraceros, or tiraz
workers, most likely silk weavers recruited in Andalusia.65 The
Usatges of Barcelona, article 21, mention craftsmen among the
Muslim captives without specifying the crafts they practiced.66
There were presumably silk weavers among them working in
Catalonia. The tixidor listed in 1076 in the will of Ermengol
Samarell may have been one of them.67 These weavers must have
mostly used silk imported from Andalusia. However, mulberry
trees (morere) recorded in 1034 and 1038 along the Catalonian
coast suggest that sericulture was being practiced on a small scale
in that region.68
More secure evidence on the diffusion of Andalusi silk fiber
outside Muslim Spain appears from the mid-tenth century, when
surpluses were available for export despite the continuous
expansion of silk manufacture in that region. Several varieties and
grades reached Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt in the eleventh and
The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
twelfth centuries. Jewish Geniza letters of that period mention
several varieties of Andalusi silk reaching Egypt.69 This was a
highly profitable trade, as attested in 1143.70 In the second half of
the twelfth century al-Zuhri reports that Andalusia exported silk,
the nature of which he fails to mention, to Mallorca, and khazz,
high-grade silk, to Sudan.71 In 1161 and 1163 Andalusi silk
imported to Genoa was forwarded respectively to Bougie and
Alexandria.72 Andalusi silk also reached Montpellier in the first
half of the thirteenth century.73
The export of Andalusi silk textiles was far more important in
economic terms than the export of silk fibers or yarn.74 These silks
already reached Christian Spain by the mid-ninth century,
whether as grants, tribute, booty, or commercial commodity. At
first their circulation was limited to ecclesiastical institutions and
members of the social elite. Ciclaton or siqlatun is attested in 852
in Asturias, in 922 in Castile, and in 938 in Galicia.75 A purpura is
recorded in 908.76 By that time the appellation purpura had ceased
to stand for a purple fabric and had become a generic term for a
specific type of silk cloth, regardless of its color.77 Diplomatic
relations between Cordoba and Barcelona from 950 onward must
have stimulated the diffusion of Andalusi silks in Catalonia and
beyond.78 An unspecified silk cloth is recorded in that region in
964.79
The growing circulation of silk fabrics in Christian Spain from
the early eleventh century may have been partly furthered by the
disintegration of the caliphate of Cordoba at that time, which gave
way to smaller independent states called taifas. As noted above,
the number of tiraz workshops increased. Some of the taifa states
obtained security along their borders by paying tribute to northern
Christian rulers. The payments, specified in gold, were frequently
delivered in silver. In the absence of precious metals, the taifa
rulers included silk textiles, as delivered by the taifa of Almeria.
Interregional trade, especially the export of silk fibers, yarn, or
textiles, may have allowed taifa rulers to finance their tribute
payments.80 Tiraz cloth from Cordoba also appears in a
Portuguese document of 1090.81 By the first half of the eleventh
century Andalusi silk textiles were being marketed in Christian
Spain, as in Barcelona, and their use spread to lower ranks of
society.82 A variety of them were found in rich households. The
will of Oriol Iñiguez and his wife, Sancha, drafted in 1059 after
their return from Zaragoza, lists a ciclaton garment and two
others made of unspecified silk cloth.83 The will of Arsenda, wife
of Arnau Mir de Tost, a rich Catalan lord, and the inventory of the
latter’s movable goods, dated 1068 and 1071, respectively, record
numerous pieces of silken clothing, bedding, and hangings. These
pieces were made of several types of textiles, some of ciclato, others
of oztorin, a cloth of gold, and still others of unidentified silk cloth
such as tirez and pallio.84 Purpura and tiraz appear in the toll lists
of Jaca and Pamplona, two cities of northern Spain, compiled
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between 1076 and 1094 yet apparently reproducing rules of the
first half of the eleventh century.85
The growing fame and circulation of Andalusi silk textiles in
various regions of Christian Spain and among the social elite
north of the Pyrenees, in France and Germany, is reflected from
the twelfth century onward by literary works, documentary
sources, and an increasing number of extant silks. Çiclaton is
mentioned several times in the Castilian Cantar de Mio Cid, dated
to circa 1140, some pieces being described as embroidered with
gold thread.86 The high-grade silks manufactured in Almeria were
especially renowned, and they became the epitome of luxury
textiles and markers of high social status.87 The Roman d’Alexandre
of circa 1180 refers to the siglatons d’Espagne and the pales
d’Aumarie, or silks of Almeria. Other French romances mention
the city’s porpre and tirez. Almeria silks also appear in the Parzival
of the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach (ca. 1170–
ca. 1220).88 The English chronicler Roger of Hoveden, who sailed
along the Iberian coast in 1190, praised Almerian silks and
reported that the Muslim ruler of the Balearic Islands was sending
500 pieces of them as annual tribute to the Aragonese court.89
A few extant silk pieces may illustrate the broad geographic
diffusion of Andalusi textiles in the twelfth century. The Burgo de
Osma silk interred in the tomb of Bishop San Pedro in 1109 is
ascribed to Almeria.90 San Ramón del Monte, who from 1104
served as bishop of Roda-Barbastro (Huesca, northeastern Spain),
was buried in his cathedral in 1126 in a dalmatic made of an
Andalusi gold-interwoven samite cloth.91 The Suaire de Saint
Lazare of Autun arrived in that city between 1107–08 and 1145.92
Between 1121 and 1152 Bernard of Agen transferred the relics of
Saint Librada from Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot in Aquitaine to
Sigüenza, in the province of Guadalajara, where he served as
bishop. Technical and stylistic features of the silks found in the
saint’s shrine point to their weaving in Almeria.93 The chasuble
of Saint Exupère, fragments of which are preserved at the church
of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, in Paris, London, and Florence, is an
Andalusi silk of the late twelfth century.94 Several extant silks
formerly ascribed to Sicily in the later twelfth century, such as
samites in red and gold presently in Halberstadt and Brunswick,
both in Germany, are now believed to be of Spanish origin.95
Andalusi silks from the early thirteenth century, possibly from
Almeria, also reached Siegburg and Bamberg.96 At the Cortes of
Toledo in 1207, King Alfonso VIII of Castile fixed maximum
prices for tiraz, porpora, and cendal of silk interwoven with gold
thread, with silver thread, or without them.97 These textiles are
mentioned without reference to their precise origin yet were
clearly high-grade Andalusi silks, in contrast to the sendal from
Lucca listed in the same decree. The sendals from Murcia, also
listed there, were of rather moderate quality, as revealed by their
price.98 However, Murcia was especially renowned for its costly
146 The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
silks and splendid tapestries, according to al-Shakundi.99 The city’s
silks are cited in French romances and arrived in London, where
they are recorded in 1166 to 1167.100 In 1214 the English king John
offered three Spanish silks to the abbey of Bury Saint Edmunds.101
We may now turn to exports of Andalusi silk textiles across the
Mediterranean. Ibn Khurradadhbih described between 846 and
886 the activity of the Jewish Radhanite merchants.102 His account
has generated an intense, still ongoing debate regarding the
reliability of the Persian author’s depiction of their trade routes
and the commodities they handled.103 Dibaj appears among the
goods carried by the Radhanites when sailing from “Frankland.”
Regardless of the identification of that region,104 it is obvious that
silk textiles exported from the western Mediterranean to Egypt in
the ninth century must have been Andalusi weaves, the only ones
produced in the West at that time.105 As noted above, Andalusia
apparently began to manufacture high-grade silk fabrics in the
second quarter of that century.
Andalusi silk textiles were reaching Egypt and even Khurasan
by the mid-tenth century, according to Ibn Hawkal, as mentioned
above. Gilded khazz garments were being exported to Iraq in the
same century.106 Andalusi futas, garments made of an untailored
long piece of cloth as worn in India, made of silk, traveled to Egypt
in the eleventh century. Futas in the style of Manarah, a locality
near Seville, were being sent from Egypt via Aden to India in the
1130s and 1140s.107 The reference to Manarah suggests a specific
weave, color, or quality of the cloth, rather than a fashion feature.
It has been suggested that these garments were eastern imitations
of original Andalusi futas,108 yet even if that was the case, it would
anyhow imply that Manarah had previously exported such
garments to Egypt. Andalusi sundus garments, the precise origin
of which is not stated, also traveled to India in the second half of
the twelfth century.109 Silk garments of unspecified types were sent
to Sus in southern Morocco in the second half of the twelfth
century.110 Dibaj silks were being shipped from Valencia to all
regions of the Maghreb by the early thirteenth century.111
Andalusi silks are attested in Italy as early as the mid-ninth
century, when two popes granted a total of fourteen “Spanish”
veils to several Roman churches.112 The veils may have reached
Rome as gifts, rather than as commercial commodities. It is likely
that Amalfitan merchants, first attested in the caliphate of
Cordoba by 942,113 were the purveyors of Andalusi silks to the
papal court and several monasteries of central and southern Italy
in the second half of the tenth and in the eleventh century. 114 A
pallium spaniscum is recorded in an Amalfitan document of 1007.
In 1021 an Amalfitan living in Naples willed to his daughter two
Spanish pieces of clothing (duas flectas spanicas) made of silk, since
they are listed among silken objects.115 In 1061 the emir of Palermo
offered a number of Spanish silk textiles to the Norman leader
Robert Guiscard, and in 1085 Robert himself granted the
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monastery of Monte Cassino duas cortinas arabicas, probably
imported from Andalusia.116 Al-Idrisi, who wrote around the mid-
twelfth century, had an intimate knowledge of Andalusi luxury
silk production, especially in Almeria. This appears to reflect the
appreciation of the textiles at the Norman court in Palermo.
Animal motifs on Andalusi silks are likely to have served as
models for some paintings on the ceilings of the Cappella Palatina
in that city.117 Various technical and iconographic elements typical
of Andalusi embroidery on silk tapestries also appear on the
mantle of King Roger II of Sicily, embroidered at Palermo in 1133
to 1134.118 The export of Andalusi silks to Sicily continued in the
second half of the twelfth century, whether by Sicilians, whose
activity in Barcelona is recorded by Benjamin of Tudela in the late
1150s,119 or by Genoese merchants.
Indeed, the Genoese assumed a growing role in trade with
Andalusia from the first half of the twelfth century. By 1143
Genoese ships were regularly sailing to Almeria, the only port of
the Iberian Peninsula mentioned among the destinations of
Genoese merchants at that time. They were clearly attracted by
the silks manufactured in the city. After capturing Almeria in 1147,
the Genoese must have returned home with many of its silken
textiles, although they are not specifically mentioned. The
Genoese consuls granted the conquered city to Otto Bonvillan,
whose obligations included the yearly delivery of two silks to the
church of San Lorenzo in Genoa.120 In 1155 the Genoese offered
Emperor Frederick I many precious objects from the booty
captured at Almeria, which included costly silks.121 In 1149 the
Muslim ruler of Valencia, Ibn Mardanish, concluded a ten-year
treaty with Genoa. He included numerous silk fabrics in the
payment made to Guglielmo Lusio, the Genoese ambassador,
clearly at the latter’s insistence.122 It is possible that these were
locally produced silks, since al-Zuhri mentioned somewhat later
the weaving of precious garments in the city.123 In 1153 Genoa sold
its portion of Tortosa to Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona,
whose obligations included the yearly delivery of a silk cloth worth
15 morabetini to the Genoese church of San Lorenzo.124 Judging by
this sum the fabric, most likely Andalusi, would have been a cloth
of gold or silver.125 Ten pieces or bolts of Spanish cloth (tela Yspanie)
were sent from Genoa to Bougie in 1161, and four pieces from
Granada (panni de Granata) in 1186.126 There is good reason to
believe that these were silks, the only Spanish textiles of interest
to the Genoese.
Around the mid-twelfth century Genoa was importing panni de
Bagadello, a generic name for genuine Baghdadi or Iraqi silks.127
However, the same appellation was applied to Spanish imitations
of these fabrics, sometimes called bagadelli hispanici, or “Spanish
Baghdadi silks.”128 Some of these imported Spanish imitation
fabrics were sent from Genoa to Ceuta in 1201.129 It seems rather
strange that they should have traveled all the way from Andalusia
The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
to Genoa and been re-exported to Ceuta, a city located across the
Straits of Gibraltar at a short distance from Andalusia. Their
owner may have failed to sell them in Genoa or to ship them to
another market, or else may have sent them to Ceuta to finance
his purchases in that city. On the other hand, these “Spanish”
bagadelli may well have been similar to the bagadelli shipped from
Genoa to Ceuta in 1197.130 It is possible that the latter, neither
ascribed to Baghdad nor called “Spanish,” were in fact imitations
of Spanish bagadelli produced in Lucca, the only major Italian silk
center in the twelfth century. Lucca’s silk industry was heavily
dependent upon Genoa, the main transit station for its imports
of raw materials and the diffusion of its silk textiles.131 Its weavers
may have adopted technical and ornamental features from
Andalusi bagadelli in order to further the export of their own
imitation silks to Spain. The marketing of Lucchese silks in Castile
is attested in 1207, as noted above.132
How does the Fermo silk fit within the currents of Andalusi silk
exports? There are no documentary or literary sources covering
the various stages of its adventurous life from its weaving in
Andalusia to its arrival in central Italy. In their absence, only a
sketchy hypothetical reconstruction of its journey can be attempt-
ed, based on circumstantial evidence and some general consid-
erations.
Regula Schorta suggests that the fabric of the Fermo chasuble,
a weft-faced compound twill, was woven and embroidered some-
time between the 1030s and the 1120s, most likely in Spain, in
view of its affinity with a few Spanish silks, some of which can be
dated more or less precisely. Her late chronological limit is related
to the burial of San Ramón del Monte in Roda in 1126.133 However,
the silk fabric found in his tomb may have been woven much
earlier. There are several more or less contemporary examples of
large chronological gaps between the weaving of silks and their
use or secondary use.134 Schorta’s earlier date seems more
plausible, although it cannot be convincingly supported by con-
siderations regarding the two embroidered Kufic inscriptions on
the Fermo silk, which have not been deciphered.
After being woven, presumably in a tiraz, the cloth was shaped
into a canopy.135 The embroidered designs and Kufic inscriptions
enclosed within cartouches, in gold thread and colored silk, were
all executed in the same atelier, presumably a tiraz attached to a
ruler’s court.136 Once the canopy ceased to be used, its owner sold
it to a Christian merchant unfamiliar with Arabic, who did not
ascribe any cultural message to the Kufic inscriptions and viewed
them merely as ornamental designs. The merchant clearly consid-
ered the textile a highly marketable commodity, in view of its
lavish embroidery. Both the cloth and the embroidery were still in
good condition, as implied by the care with which they were
handled in the cutting of the canopy into pieces, and the latter’s
reassembly into a chasuble.137
147
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Considering the arrival of Andalusi silks in England in the
1160s,138 one could envisage that Thomas Becket wore the Fermo
chasuble before his murder in 1170. However, there is good reason
to believe that it never belonged to him. Given the intensity of his
cult in Canterbury, it is inconceivable that an entire costly
chasuble, a liturgical garment powerfully reflecting his ministry
as archbishop, should have left his church in good condition and
found its way to the Fermo Cathedral. Other churches, such as
Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome,139 also claimed to own some of
Becket’s liturgical vestments, yet spurious attributions of relics
abounded in the Middle Ages. It is likely, therefore, that the
Andalusi canopy was purchased in Spain by a Genoese merchant,
and that it traveled directly to Italy. By the second half of the
twelfth century the Genoese already fulfilled a major role as
middlemen in the marketing and distribution of silk fabrics across
the Mediterranean, like Amalfi’s merchants in earlier centuries,
yet on a larger scale. They handled silks of various origins,
including Andalusi textiles.140 It is in that context that the Fermo
silk must be considered.
The silk canopy presumably arrived in Italy in the late twelfth
century. A later date may also be dismissed for another reason. In
Italy the growing appreciation of silks produced by the expanding
silk industries of Lucca and Venice in the thirteenth century and,
in addition, the arrival in the West of Oriental silks woven in
Mongol-ruled territories from the 1260s appear to have generated
a sharp decline in demand for Andalusi fabrics.141 One must also
take into account the growing success, including in Italy, of the
English and Cypriot embroidery styles, respectively the opus
anglicanum and the opus cyprense.142 These fashion trends are well
reflected by the papal inventory of 1295. It mentions less than ten
Spanish pieces, which may have arrived there much earlier,
among several hundred silks of other origins accumulated over a
long period.143
After the canopy’s arrival in Italy in the late twelfth century the
tailor entrusted with the fashioning of the chasuble cut the canopy
into pieces of varying sizes and shapes, carefully preserving the
embroidery. The pieces were then stitched together to produce a
chasuble.144 There are other such instances of luxury silk fabrics
woven of silk intertwined with gold or silver threads or else
embroidered with them that were remodeled in the twelfth
century to serve a new purpose, sometimes after a long period,
148 The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
which in the case of the Fermo silk may have extended over more
than one and a half centuries.145 However, the sewing of the
chasuble directly for the cult of Thomas Becket seems
implausible. The precious embroidered silk and its remodeling
were both costly, and despite the urge to compete with other
ecclesiastical sites, it seems rather unlikely that the Fermo church
should have made an expensive investment to establish Becket’s
cult shortly after the destruction of its cathedral in 1176 on the
orders of Emperor Frederick I. The abbey of Moggio found a
cheaper and more effective way to promote the local cult of the
murdered Becket, claiming to display pieces of a garment soaked
in his blood.146 There is good reason to believe, therefore, that the
Fermo chasuble was fashioned for a living bishop, worn by him
for some time, and only afterwards connected to Becket at some
unknown date in order to strengthen his cult in the city of Fermo.
Becket’s cult was introduced into the diocese of Fermo by
archdeacon Presbyter between the saint’s canonization in 1173 and
the beginning of Presbyter’s tenure as the city’s bishop in 1184.147
Indeed, within these years Presbyter founded a church in the rural
territory of Fermo bearing the names of Saint Mary Magdalene,
Saint Thomas Becket, and All Saints, as revealed by a document
issued by Presbyter himself in 1188, preserved in a notary copy of
1296.148 However, the document does not refer to the chasuble of
Thomas Becket and, therefore, its connection to him must have
been made at a later date. Presbyter may also be safely credited
with the introduction of Becket’s cult to the city of Fermo, once he
became its bishop in 1184. It is likely, therefore, that the attribution
of the chasuble to Becket is related in some way to him. He was
presumably the bishop for whom it was fashioned. Whether he
donated it to the episcopal church of Fermo and connected it to
Thomas Becket is an open question.149 Most likely, the link was
established after Presbyter’s death in 1202 or somewhat later. The
church of Fermo was then in dire need of a cult attracting
worshippers and benefactors, in order to rebuild its cathedral, the
reconstruction of which only began in 1227.
* This study has benefited from two short periods of research at the Abegg-Stiftung
in Riggisberg. I wish to thank Dr. Regula Schorta, director of the foundation, for
her hospitality, and Ms. Andrea Meuer, librarian, for her help.
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1 24
I avoid here the appellation al-Andalus, applied by medieval Arab authors to
the region of Spain under Muslim rule, since its extent varied over time. For
recent surveys on the production of silk textiles in medieval Andalusia during
the period covered in this paper, see Martín i Ros 1999; Partearroyo Lacaba
2005a; Borrego Díaz 2005; Gayo García and Arteaga 2005; Culubret Worms
2005; Arteaga et al. 2005; Partearroyo Lacaba 2007. Feliciano 2014 focuses
upon Andalusi silks in the social and cultural life of Iberia.
2
Constable 1994, esp. pp. 173–81, has dealt with silk weaving and trade in
Andalusia, yet I use additional sources and my approach differs from hers.
3 25
For instance, as in Serrano-Piedecasas Fernández 1986, pp. 214–16, 220–21.
Several silk types mistakenly described in that study are discussed below.
4
On the areas of Syrian settlement in Andalusia, see Taha 1989, pp. 132–50.
On the introduction of sericulture to Andalusia, see Lombard 1978,
pp. 95–96 and 97 (map); Lagardère 1990, pp. 97–99; Lagardère 1993. In view
of the Syrian connection we may discount an intermediate stage in the
diffusion of the mulberry tree via the Maghreb, suggested by Ouerfelli 2000,
esp. p. 27.
5
Serjeant 1972, pp. 165–67. Tiraz was the term used in the Muslim world for
bands displaying official honorific inscriptions woven into or embroidered
onto a cloth. By extension it was also applied to the textiles manufactured in
the workshops attached to the rulers’ courts or supervised by them, as well as
to the workshops themselves: Stillman and Sanders 2000.
6
Khazz has been mistakenly considered a low-grade silk. In fact, it was a high-
grade fiber, as implied by its price: Goitein 1967–93, vol. 1, p. 454 n53; Gil
2002, pp. 34, 36–38. According to Ibn al-Athir, writing in the first half of the
12th century, the term khazz had previously been applied to a cloth woven of
silk and wool: Gil 1974, p. 312 n54.
7 30
According to a 12th-century author: Serjeant 1972, p. 62 n12.
8
Constable 1994, pp. 177–78.
9
Liber Pontificalis 1955–57, vol. 2, pp. 75 (“vela cum argento spanisca XIIII”),
107, 122, 128. For this type of cloth, see a few later rectangular silk veils of
various provenances preserved in Spain, France, and Germany: Desrosiers
2002, pp. 54–56.
10
Calendrier de Cordoue 1961, pp. 90, 132; Lagardère 1990, pp. 99–100.
11
Serjeant 1972, p. 168; Lévi-Provençal 1932, pp. 102–103; see also Lagardère
1990, p. 105; Vallvé 1980, p. 227. Silk yarn is obtained by the twisting together
of several silk filaments to increase the tensile strength of the silk, an operation
essential for medium and high-grade textiles. See also below, note 61. The ratl
weighed 504 grams.
12
Lagardère 1990, pp. 101–105; Lagardère 1995, p. 181, no. III/312 (Cordoba,
before 1111). Since silkworms fed with the leaves of the red mulberry tree
produced a silk thread of higher quality, the peasants in the former kingdom
of Granada opposed the introduction of the white mulberry tree in the 16th
century: see López de Coca Castañer 1997, pp. 183–99.
13
Serrano-Piedecasas Fernández 1986, pp. 210–11.
14
See Partearroyo Lacaba 2005a, pp. 49–50; Borrego Díaz 2005, pp. 82–83;
Culubret Worms 2005, pp. 147–48.
15
Constable 1994, p. 178.
16
Report by the Andalusian mystic Ibn al-Arabi: French trans. by Lévi-Provençal
1932, pp. 48–49, and Bonnassie 1976, vol. 1, p. 13; see also p. 342.
17
Serjeant 1972, p. 169; Vallvé 1980, p. 228. On another possible interpretation
of the term tirazi in that context, see below.
18
See above, note 11.
19
See above, note 17.
20
Serjeant 1972, p. 165. It is unclear whether the statement is already relevant
for the time of Ibn Hawkal’s visit to Spain, in 948 (Arabic p. 108, trans. p. 107,
for the date), or for 988, when he completed the final version of his description
of Islamic countries: see also Ibn Hawqal 1964, pp. xi–xiii, 107, for these dates.
21
For the wording of the report, see above, note 17.
22
Sources mentioning tiraz as cloth type: Martínez Meléndez 1989, pp. 373–74.
23
Serjeant 1972, p. 169; Vallvé 1980, p. 228.
The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
Jacoby 1991–92, p. 460 n36; Jacoby 1997b, p. 61; see also Lombard 1978,
pp. 242–44. The colors varied: see Goitein 1973, p. 77, par. 11. Alfau de
Solalinde 1969, pp. 79–82, collected many sources on siqlatun and other
versions of the term, yet like other authors failed to perceive the semantic
process mentioned here and the evolution in the nature of the cloth. On that
semantic evolution, see Jacoby 1997b, p. 60. According to an early 11th-century
Iraqi treatise siqlatun was a gold interwoven cloth: Cahen 1951, Arabic p. 26,
French trans. p. 28. This illustrates changes over time in the nature of silk
fabrics appearing under the same appellation. Other examples appear below.
The erroneous interpretation of dibaj as silk brocade, for instance by Serjeant
1972, p. 41 n9, and Lagardère 1990, p. 107 (“étoffe brochée d’argent”), is still
common in recent studies and translations, although the nature of this cloth
was clarified long ago: see Pfister 1948–49, p. 65 n107; also Lombard 1978,
pp. 241–42. The tombstone of an Arab weaver of dibaj who died in 1072 in
Sicily or Ifriqiya is preserved in Verona: see Johns 2006.
26
On foreign demand, see below.
27
Serjeant 1972, pp. 170–71, and Lombard 1978, pp. 98–99; Lagardère 1990,
pp. 106–7, yet without regard for chronology. For the tiraz of Seville in the
first decade of the 10th century, see Lévi-Provençal 1932, p. 120. Ibn Abdun,
Spanish author of a treatise dealing with this city in the second half of the 11th
or first half of the 12th century, states that silk dyers should operate outside
the city. Strangely, however, when dealing with weight units used for textile
fibers he mentions cotton, linen, and wool, yet omits silk: Lévi-Provençal 1947,
p. 111, par. 160, on silk dyers; pp. 88–89 and 134, respectively pars. 96 and
221, on textile fibers.
28
Lévi-Provençal 1953, p. 67.
29
On that decline, see Guichard 2013, pp. 21–23.
Serjeant 1972, p. 170, where the use of “brocade” for dibaj is incorrect; see
above, note 25. See also al-Zuhri 1968, pp. 205–6, par. 261, and for the dating,
p. 25.
31
Calendrier de Cordoue 1961, p. 159 (Arabic text). Pellat’s rendering of khazz
as “soie grège” or raw silk (French trans. p. 158) is incorrect; it is based on
“seta crossa” in the 13th-century Latin translation of the treatise (p. 159), which
is a misunderstanding. On the nature of khazz, see above, note 6.
32
Ibn Hawqal 1964, Arabic p. 114, trans. p. 113.
33
Lagardère 1995, p. 355, no. V/279, and p. 452, no. VII/125; khazz, translated
as “soie grège” and “soie écrue,” respectively, both expressions referring to
raw silk. Lagardère 1990, p. 99, based on the same passage, mentions
“filoselle,” silk fibers coming from damaged cocoons and surface floss, as well
as waste silk discarded in the process of turning raw silk into thread. All these
translations are mistaken.
34
Hernández 1988, p. 241.
35
See above, note 11.
36
On these diplomatic relations: Signer Codoñer 2004, pp. 212–45.
37
Ibn Hayyan 1981, Arabic pp. 322 and 327, trans. pp. 358–59 and 365. The
arrival of Amalfitans appears to have been a new development. Until the 10th
century they were only involved in regional trade and shipping close to their
city and did not venture westward beyond Corsica: McCormick 2001, pp. 627–
30. Skinner 2013, pp. 236, 244–45, mistakenly assumes that the Amalfitans
settled in Cordoba, based on her incorrect translation from the Spanish
translation of Ibn Hayyan’s report, and on p. 244 states that conditions in the
11th century did not encourage further Italian immigration to Andalusia. In
fact, Ibn Hayyan only mentions Amalfitans operating in Cordoba. On porpora
or purpura, see below, note 97.
38
Liudprand 1998, pp. 211–12, Relatio de legatione, pars. 53 and 55.
39
Jacoby 2001b, pp. 5–7.
40
See above, note 17.
41
On these merchants and relations between Provence and Byzantium until the
first half of the 10th century, see Salvatori 2014, pp. 386–87.
42
See references in Serrano-Piedecasas Fernández 1986, p.  222, under
“Grecisco.” While discussing possible commercial links between Barcelona
149
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69
and Italy, Skinner 2013, pp. 241–44, completely overlooks the import of Goitein 1967–93, vol. 1, p. 223, and vol. 4, pp. 168–69; Andalusi harir and
Byzantine silks. khazz in the 11th century: Gil 2002, pp. 32, 36. For the 11th century, lasin,
43
The presence in Italy is discussed below. iltiqat or waste silk, and khazash of inferior quality: Goitein 1973, pp. 126–27,
44
Portugaliae monumenta historica 1867, p. 192, doc. 313. As noted above, silk no. 24, and for the 12th century, pp. 245–46, no. 53; pp. 259–62, no. 59, silk
weaving was not practiced in Amalfi. Serrano-Piedecasas Fernández 1986, bought in Almeria for export in 1138; p. 284, no. 64. See also Constable 1994,
p. 220, mistakenly lists “malfatana” among textile types. pp. 175–76.
45 70
al-Zuhri 1968, p. 231, par. 196. Ashtor 1965, p. 668.
46 71
Martín i Ros 1999, pp. 18–19; Arteaga et al. 2005, pp. 53–55. al-Zuhri 1968, p. 178, par. 348, and pp. 183–84, par. 333, respectively.
47 72
Ibn Hawqal 1964, Arabic p. 110, trans. p. 109. Giovanni Scriba 1935, vol. 2, pp. 4 and 39, nos. 812 and 882, respectively. In
48
Day 1954; Shepherd 1957; Partearroyo 1992, pp. 105–9; Partearroyo Lacaba the first case the silk is coupled with Spanish cloth, and since the silk was sent
1996, pp. 318–22. to Alexandria in the second it is likely that it originated in Spain rather than
49
These textiles were not attabi fabrics, as suggested by Constable 1994, p. 146, in the eastern Mediterranean region. For the Spanish provenance, see
which were half-silks (see below), considering the nature of the identified convincing arguments in Schaube 1906, pp. 160, 284, 286.
73
Baghdadi silk textile mentioned above. Constable 1994, p. 176.
50 74
See below, p. 147. In what follows I illustrate various destinations of Andalusi silk, without
51
Bonnassie 1976, vol. 2, p. 795: “lencio Bocari.” Silks from Khurasan and attempting to present an exhaustive picture.
75
Bukhara arrived north of the Pyrenees even earlier: Jacoby 1997b, p. 56. Serrano-Piedecasas Fernández 1986, p. 223, no. 5; von Brunn 1982,
52
al-Muqaddasi 2001, p. 214. pp. 130–31, and see above, note 25.
53 76
On import, see al-Zuhri 1968, p. 247, par. 138. On Andalusi sundus, see Serrano-Piedecasas Fernández 1986, p. 224, no. 17.
77
below. The cloth was known as sendes in Byzantium, English sendal: Jacoby Examples also appear in 12th-century Old French romances: Alfau de
1991–92, pp. 458–60. Solalinde 1969, p. 149 n409.
54 78
Desrosiers 2004, pp. 138–40, no. 62. On the affinity of gold embroidery on On these relations, see Bonnassie 1976, vol. 1, pp. 341–43.
79
the two pieces, see also the contribution by Regula Schorta in this volume, Bonnassie 1976, vol. 1, p. 419.
80
pp. 66–79. As suggested by Constable 1994, pp. 8–9, 49.
55 81
Edrîsî 1866, pp. 239–40; English trans. in Serjeant 1972, p. 170, but “brocade” Portugaliae monumenta historica 1867, p. 470: “lenzo tiraz” and silken veil:
for dibaj is mistaken: see above, note 25. May 1957, p. 9.
56 82
Serjeant 1972, p. 169. Bonnassie 1976, vol. 1, pp. 419–21.
57 83
On the two types of tiraz, see Serjeant 1972, pp. 143–44, and Sokoly 1997, Sénac 2000, p. 373 and note 28.
84
pp. 115–22, esp. pp. 116 and 120, who also dwells on weaves and quality. Bonnassie 1976, vol. 2, pp. 792–95: “capas de oztorin, tota facta cum auro”
58
Serjeant 1972, pp. 169–70. (p. 792). The author’s interpretations of ciclato as “soie brochée d’or” and tirez
59
On the original products, see Serjeant 1972, pp. 28–29 (attabi), pp. 83–84 as “toile teinte brodée d’or,” apparently a brocade (vol. 1, p. 422), are both
(isfahani), and pp. 80–81, 89, 105 (jurjani). Strangely, however, the early 11th- groundless: see above, note 25.
85
century Iraqi treatise mentioned above, note 24, describes attabi as a gold Lacarra 1952, p. 35; Sénac 2014, p. 131 n59.
86
interwoven cloth, while a 12th-century Andalusi geographer described it as Marcos Marín 1997, vv. 2574, 2721, 2739, 2744; 3090–3091: “sobrella ...
striped in black and white like a zebra: Constable 1994, pp. 145–46. These de çiclaton/obrada es con oro”; documentary evidence in Menéndez Pidal
descriptions appear to illustrate varieties of the same textile type. 1944–46, vol. 2, pp. 573–74.
60 87
al-Zuhri 1968, pp. 205–206, par. 261. Constable 1994, pp. 178–79; Kinoshita 2004.
61 88
al-Zuhri 1968, pp. 206–207, par. 261. Constable 1994, p. 174, mistakenly von Brunn 1982, pp. 130–34, for French literary works; von Wilckens 1991,
mentions women spinning. The spinning of silk was only required for short pp. 74–75.
89
fibers from damaged cocoons, surface floss, and waste silk discarded in the Roger of Hoveden 1868–71, vol. 3, pp. 48, 51.
90
process of turning raw silk into thread: Goitein 1967–93, vol. 1, pp. 104, See above, note 48.
91
454–55. For a vivid description of the twisting process in Azerbaijan in 965, Culubret Worms 2005, p. 149.
92
see Lombard 1978, pp. 227–28. The cloth produced from that yarn was of low See above, note 54.
93
quality. Otavsky and Salim 1995, pp. 145–53, no. 85, who, however, mistakenly state
62
al-Muqaddasi 2001, p. 175; Luya 1936, p. 175, and dating p. 140. that the relics were transferred from Almeria. The hypothetical attribution to
63
Edrîsî 1866, pp. 209, 248; Luya 1936, pp. 171–72; Serjeant 1972, pp. 174–75, Castile by Feliciano 2014, p. 55, is groundless.
94
and Lombard 1978, pp. 95–96 and 97 (map), on the geographic extension of Desrosiers 2004, pp. 249–51, no. 132.
95
sericulture in al-Andalus, yet both without regard for chronology. von Wilckens 1992b.
64 96
Bonnassie 1976, vol. 1, p. 419 n168: “obrado de sidda.” von Wilckens 1991, pp. 75, 111.
65 97
Hitchcock 2008, pp. 69–74, on the meaning of “musaraves” or Mozarab. The Porpora is yet another cloth type whose appellation derived from a specific
three craftsmen were clearly weavers, since the king had granted them a ornamental feature, namely its color. Sendal was a lightweight cloth in tabby
village, the collective possession of which suggests that they had been weave.
98
recruited together. Silk weavers were more valued than embroiderers, who Hernández 1988, p. 241. The reference to “los otros cendales murcis,” i.e.,
also worked in court workshops. Glick 2005, p. 121, mistakenly states that the from Murcia, reveals that the long bolts of gold and silver interwoven sendals
village of Pajarejos was settled by a group of Mozarab weavers. mentioned before that item were woven in the same city. Despite being longer,
66
Bonnassie 1976, vol. 2, p. 858 n126: slaves who were “artifices experti ex their maximum prices were similar or lower than those fixed for bolts of other
diverso genere magistrorum.” It is unclear whether the article citing them types of silk fabrics woven elsewhere in Andalusia, which implies that the
was among the oldest recorded in the 1060s or 1070s: see pp. 718–28, esp. Murcia silks were of lower quality. Prices may have changed over time, yet
p. 726. those listed in 1207 provide useful indications about the nature of the fabric
67
Bonnassie 1976, vol. 2, p. 858, for the will, and for its dating, p. 857, p. 858 mentioned in 1153, on which see below, note 125. Lucchese silks are the only
n126. foreign textiles cited in the regulations of 1207.
68 99
Miret i Sans 1911–12, p. 352; Miret i Sans 1915–16, p. 425. Luya 1936, p. 175. On Murcia’s earlier production, see above, note 62.

150 The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century
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100 142
Silks “de Mucia”: Lachaud 1999, p. 182. The scribe mistakenly omitted a On English embroidery, see Ertl 2010, yet contrary to this author I do not think
character. This is far more plausible than the derivation from musceraves, or that the appellation was used outside England as a mere “Qualitätsbegriff.”
“Mozarab,” suggested by Lachaud. On Cypriot embroidery, see Jacoby 2014a.
101 143
Lachaud 1999, p. 182. Molinier 1885, pp. 28–31, nos. 925, 929–31, 938–39, 960, 962.
102 144
de Goeje 1889, p. 153; English trans. Gil 2004, p. 618, where, however, dibaj On the tailor’s care, see Schorta (note 54).
145
is translated into the indistinct “silk cloth.” On time lag between weaving and reuse, see Jacoby 2004, pp. 204–5, yet the
103
Pellat 1960. dating of the weaving and embroidery of the Fermo silk stated there should
104
Gil 1974, pp. 310–11, considers this a reference to Italy. be corrected in view of the studies published in this volume.
105 146
According to Ibn Khurradadhbih the Radhanites spoke “Andalusi,” a rather Bottazzi 2011, p. 576.
147
puzzling statement which at first glance seems to imply that they were not On the rapid spreading of the cult in Italy, see Simon-Cahn 1993, p. 4, and
Arabic speakers. One should remember, though, that Ibn Khurradadhbih was Bottazzi 2011, pp. 561–76, especially for Italy. See also the contribution by
Persian. Ursula Nilgen in this volume, pp. 152–65.
106 148
Gil 1974, p. 312. See in this volume below, pp. 268–69, Addenda; see also Avinoam Shalem,
107
Goitein and Friedman 2008, pp. 175–80, on futas, which were made of cotton, “The Course of Research,” in this volume, pp. 26–39.
149
linen, goat hair, or silk, depending on the region in which they were produced. Simon-Cahn 1993, p.  1, on the traditional account, according to which
On Andalusi and more specifically Manarah futas, see p. 176 n15, p. 325, and Presbyter donated the chasuble to his church. There is no contemporary
note 27, pp. 423–24, 651–52, with dating pp. 321, 413, and 648 respectively. documentation supporting it.
108
Constable 1994, p. 177 n42.
109
al-Zuhri 1968, p. 276, par. 60.
110
al-Zuhri 1968, pp. 188–89, par. 317.
111
Luya 1936, p. 175.
112
See above, note 9.
113
See above, note 37.
114
Sources cited by Monneret de Villard 1946, p. 466.
115
Muratori 1738–42, vol. 4, p. 770; Codice Perris 1985, p. 124, no. 81.
116
Monneret de Villard 1946, p. 470 and note 28.
117
Kapitaikin 2013, p. 118.
118
Desrosiers 2004, p. 142.
119
Adler 1907, Hebrew pp. 1–2, trans. p. 2; dating in Jacoby 2008, p. 149.
120
Schaube 1906, pp. 317–18; Libri Iurium 1992, pp. 149–50, no. 94.
121
Otto von Freising 1965, p. 314.
122
Libri Iurium 1992, pp. 180–82, no. 118.
123
al-Zuhri 1968, p. 205, par. 265. On Valencia silks ca. 1200, see above, note 111.
124
Codice diplomatico 1936–42, vol. 1, pp. 291–95, esp. pp. 292, 294.
125
Although prices must have changed over time, those of 1207 (see above, note
98) provide useful suggestions regarding the nature of the fabric.
126
Giovanni Scriba 1935, vol. 2, p. 4, no. 812; Oberto Scriba 1940, p. 98, no. 263.
127
Some were shipped in 1160 from Genoa to Spain and others to Ceuta:
Giovanni Scriba 1935, vol. 1, pp. 340, 414–15, respectively nos. 626, 771.
128
On these imitations, see above, p. 144.
129
Genoa, Archivio di Stato, Notarili, no. 102, fol. 209v (unpublished).
130
Shipment mentioned by Jehel 1993, p. 137.
131
Jacoby 1999, pp. 16–31, 38–39.
132
The reference is to plain sendals: Hernández 1988, p. 241. It is quite plausible
that the weave of these silks was similar to the Andalusi textiles with which
they competed.
133
See above, note 91.
134
Jacoby 2004, pp. 204–5.
135
According to Schorta (note 54), it must have been an object of roughly
octagonal shape, with an overall length and width of approximately 250
centimeters each. The dimensions suggest its use as a canopy for one or two
people, rather than a tent.
136
Schorta (note 54).
137
See Schorta (note 54) on this process.
138
See above, note 101.
139
Simon-Cahn 1993, p. 4.
140
Jacoby 1999, and the evidence adduced above.
141
Jacoby 1999, pp. 16–1, 35–36, 39; Jacoby 2000, 2010, pp. 71–73. In England
the listing of Spanish silks in royal records rapidly diminished after 1240 and
ceased completely later in the 13th century: Lachaud 1999, p. 182. This
downward trend may have started earlier.

The Production and Diffusion of Andalusi Silk and Silk Textiles, Mid-Eighth to Mid-Thirteenth Century 151