Ecclesiastical Pomp and Aristocratic Circumstance: A Thousand Years of Brocaded Tabletwoven Bands

from Nancy Spies' book on Medieval brocaded tabletwoven bands.
Halberstadt Cingulum, 13th/14th century, ?Halberstadt Cathedral Treasury.

The cingulum is the belt for the basic ecclesiastical garment, the alb. Although the alb was traditionally made of simple white or light-colored linen, the cingulum was often quite ornamental. This cingulum is completed at both ends with very ornate plaitwork.
    Technical Data
  • Width: 1.7 cm
  • Length: 108.0 cm
  • Warp: green silk
  • Weft: green linen
  • Brocade weft: gold thread (?wire); used double
  • Number of tablets: 44
  • Tablets threaded in all four holes = 176 warp ends
  • Tablets threaded alternating S-and-Z
  • Pattern: alternating dogs and six-petalled flowers spaced out down band; tie-downs under one or two threads

Braun, Joseph. Die Liturgisches Gewandung im Occident und

Orient. Frieburg: Herdersche Verlagshandlung, 1907,
pp. 107-108 and Bild 46.
Rutt, Richard. A History of Hand Knitting. Loveland,
Colorado: Interweave Press, 1987, pp. 11, 53 and
pictures 8, 52, and 53.
Key: one square=one cord (one tablet)
circle = gold thread brocade weft
forward slant=?silk thread, brocaded or embroidered
blank square = ground weave and tie-downs
arrows pointing up=ca. 20 plain rows between the motifs
  • The pattern repeats from the top of the graph back down to the bottom.
  • Warp runs vertically and weft runs horizontally.

Copyright © 2000 Nancy Spies · All rights reserved

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Updated November 24, 2000
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