IMC 2025: Sessions
Session 722: Threads of Knowledge: Medieval Textiles, 400-1400, III
Tuesday 8 July 2025, 14:15-15:45
| Organisers: | Tracey Davison, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York Georgia Gould, Department of Scandinavian Studies, University College London |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Alexandra Makin, Department of History, Politics & Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Paper 722-a | The Exotic in Early Medieval Wales: The Networks of the Llangorse Crannog Textile (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Decorative Arts, Economics - Trade, Women's Studies |
| Paper 722-b | Let's Talk Socks: Textile Production Networks in the Anglo-Scandinavian World (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Decorative Arts, Economics - Trade, Economics - Urban |
| Paper 722-c | Cloth and Currency: Exploring the Economic Status of Textiles in Viking-Age Ireland (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Economics - Trade, Language and Literature - Scandinavian |
| Abstract | This session takes a diverse, interdisciplinary, broadly thematic and geographical approach to the subject presenting a multivalent consideration of elite and non-elite, secular and ecclesiastical medieval textiles, examining the interplay between material, function, process, reception and appearance. The theme of learning lends itself to the world of medieval textiles through the sharing of generational artisanal knowledge and skills amongst male and female makers. Themes include: Communities of learning; international networks of trade and knowledge; Scandinavian textile practices; practical learning and experimental archaeology; female agency in textile production and decoration; the influence of eastern and Byzantine textiles; early medieval Middle Eastern textiles; textiles as a form of communication; the significance of material, colour and motif; analyses of craft, technique and process; finished/unfinished textiles; fragments; fraying; fabric; threads; woven, interwoven; embroidered and embellished; tablet-woven bands and braiding; edges and borders; text and motif; colour and pattern. Reaching across boundaries of discipline and period, this session shares ideas, and the exploration of new thoughts on textile in its widest possible connotations, providing a platform for the reconsideration of textiles as a medium of learning. |