Medieval Lady

Medieval Lady

Medieval Tapestry- A Timeless Stalwart in Home Décor

The Middle Ages saw the beginning of early tapestry decoration and where wall hanging emerged as an authentic form of decorative art in the home. The Gothic style of Medieval tapestry has always prevailed with decorations of flowers, religious subjects and mythical creatures. They were thought to be the epitome of a tasteful home and even today continue to bring pleasure to the modern house. Nowadays tapestry is more affordable to people whereas it was once the domain of the very wealthy.

The imagery of medieval tapestry conveyed messages of love and redemption, of the senses and perception and deep religious meanings. A combination of the cultures of German and Roman Art ensured that religious themes remained a pillar to artistic development during the Middle Ages.

Medieval wall hangings have retained their popularity and are an exciting addition to the modern home. Classical designs from this period continue to please today and are charming pieces of wall art.

During the Middle Ages the Wool Season from June to July was an important time of year. This is depicted in the elegant tapestry, Travailler des Laines, showing a 16th century scene from the Loire Valley. Wall hangings were used to communicate and the work shows Tomas Bohier as adviser to Charles VIII supervising peasants. In those times people like Bohier would not have been directly concerned with the peasantry, however the tapestry has provided a resource for historians through time. This type of work would have been commissioned by the wealthy and offers a glimpse into the everyday world of the peasant.

The Lady and the Unicorn remain a classical set of Medieval tapestries that weave the senses with myth and legend. They can now be seen in the Cluny Museum in Paris and had almost not survived history, being restored after their discovery in damp conditions in 1844. They are believed to have been commissioned in the late 15th century, and their origin is unclear. This series contains the mille fleur pattern throughout which is a common feature of medieval tapestry. The theme for each hanging is slightly different and features a lady, a unicorn and a lion. Each tapestry is believed to represent the senses of taste, sight, touch, love, hearing and smell.

Les Vendanges is a charming medieval tapestry, complete with mille fleur decoration and shows peasants gathering grapes for the harvest. Medieval scenes were relatively rare and capture a vision of how life was in those times. This art from the gothic age was often bold in colour and really shows the level of creative artistry practicing at the time.

Medieval wall hangings continue to bring pleasure to the modern home. Their weave helps lift the colour and adds a warmth to the home. People are often surprised by the distinctive nature of a wall textile. There is so much choice in the medieval range of wall hangings that someone looking to enhance their home will not be disappointed with the selection of elegant wall hangings that are available.

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About the Author

Angela Dawson-field writes extensively on art, history and
tapestry wall hangings
. In her spare time she sources products for
The Tapestry House

what is the definition for a medieval lady?

thank you be detailed and specific
thank yooh!

In 'Medieval Women', Eileen Power writes:

'In the medieval world, the lady of the upper classes was important in more ways than one. In the ideal of chivalry she was the adored one, the source of all romance and the object of all worship, who had but to command and she was obeyed. In law and in the fabric of feudal society she was important primarily as a landowner. In the family she was important as wife and mother, wielding great practical authority, not only in her own sphere of the home, but in a much wider sphere as her husband's representative during his absence.

The lady of chivalry was indeed a beautiful and artificial figure, but never perhaps, save in the indolence of courts and great lords' castles, the figure of a real person. It is significant that her image has been drawn from romances, and the romantic poem of the middle ages, like the romantic novel today, often represented not reality but an escape from reality.

On the other hand, in passing to the lady as landowner, we say good bye to romance and meet a very real person indeed. The political and social organisation of the feudal world was entirely based upon the tenure of land, and the importance which their position as landowners gave to women in such a society is self-evident. We find that under english common law, the unmarried woman or widow was, as far as all private, as distinct from public, rights and duties are concerned, on a par with men. She could land, even by military tenure, and do homage for it, she could make a will or a contract, could sue or be sued. On the other hand, when she married, her rights, for the duration of the marriage, slipped out of her hands. The lands of which she was tenant-in-fee at the time of her marriage, or which she might acquire later, forthwith became her husband's for the duration of the marriage. If a child was born to them, her lands became his wfor life. on his death, however, she became entitled to enjoy for life, under the name of dower, one-third of any land which her husband held.

At all stages of her life the woman, considered as a landowner, was a person of importance. As a maid she sometimes owned wide acres and was a coveted prize for an ambitious landowner and a source of profit to the lord who had the right to give her in marriage. As a wife she brought her jointure with her, and while the marriage lasted it was to all intents and purposes her husband's. if she was widowed young, and left childless she must be wooed again: if she was of more mature age she had her dower which alone, if she were a great lady, gave her more influence and made her a more considerable figure in her world than many a man of lesser rank or smaller possessions.

As a rule the well-born girl married young, and she married the man selected for her by her father. The careful father would expect to arrange for his daughter's marriage, and often to marry her off before she was fourteen. if he found himself dying while she was still a child, he would be at great pains to leave her a suitable dowry in his will. A girl insufficiently dowered might have to suffer that disparagement in marraige which was so much dreaded and so carefully guarded against. Even in the lowest ranks of society a bride was expected to bring something with her besides her person when she entered her husband's house. Dowering of poor girls was one of the recognised forms of medieval charity, like the mending of bad roads.

In observing the medieval lady at home we must bear in mind that in the Middle Ages the 'home' embraced a much wider sphere than at many later dates. Not only much more had to be done within the household, but throughout the period, social and physical conditions of life, constnat wars and slow communications, invariably threw a lot of responsibilities on ladies as representatives of their absent husbands. while the lord was away at court or at war, who looked after his mano and handed it back again, with all its walls in repair farming in order, and lawsuits fought when he returned? And when the lord got himself taken prisoner, who collected the ransom, squeezing every penny from the estate, bothering archbishops for indulgences, selling the family plate? Or when the lord perchance got killed, who acted as executor for his will and brought up his children? The answer to these questions, in nine cases out of ten, is his wife. She had to be prepared to take his place at any moment, were she Queen Regent or obscure gentlewoman. In theory there was the romantic, lovely and pacricious lady of chivalruy, flirting and embroidering and playing chess; in practice there was more often an extremely hard-working woman and a very hard nut to crack for her enemies.

It was not only on exceptional occasionas and in the absence of her husband that a lady found the weight of responsibilities upon her shoulders. True, duties as a mothr in some ways weighted less heavily upon ladies than could ahve been supposed. Large families were general, and the death-rate maong children high, but new-born childrn in upper classes were commonly handed over to wet nurses. The training of the young squire often took himat any early age from his mother's society, and in general, it was customary to send boys and girls away to the households of great persons to learn the manners of good breeding.

But if the nursery was not a great burden, housekeeping way. In the Middle Ages, as indeed in all ages prior to the Industrial Revolution, the management of a household was a much more complicated business than today. It was no small feat to provide clothes and food for the large families of great households, and to cater for the large numbers of their guests. What made the feat all the greater is that in the Middle Ages most necessities had to be prepared. Bread had to be baked in the bakehouse from corn often grown and ground up on the manor, ale brewed in the brew-house, butter and cheese made in the dairy. In the larder candles were made, bacon cured and winter meat salted down. Nor ws it only food which had to be prepared at home. some at least of the napery used and cloth worn by the household wre spun and woven there, even at a time when the expanding cloth industry made it possible to buy stuff more cheaply in greater variety outside.

The task of the lady of the manor was not only to supervise the manufacture of foodstuffs and clothing which could be made on the spot, but also to look ahead in due season and lay in household stores bought in market, shops or nearest town, or purveyed from London or some other city, or from one of the great annual fairs. Of these necessities, fish, wine and spices were the most important.

Evidently housekeeping in those days called for considerable organising ability. but the provision of food,d rink and clothing within the house by no means exhausted the lady's domestic duties. When so many commodites which she needed as housekeeper were produced on the home farm, this by itself imposed additonal chores. it is plain from medieval teatises tha tthe lady was expected to supervise the home farm and, above all, the dairy. She had to understand the choice of labourers, the seasons for different operations, the crops suitable for different soils, the care of animals, the best market for farm produce.'

Lady Carrie Dance - medieval italian dance (anonymus XVc.)