Note 565 — Chapter XI

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.