[MR] cotton in period

[james barker]

First my apologies to Lidiya, I realized after I sent my message that it 
went to her directly not the Mary Rose list.

Here is my reply to the thread:

There are sources out there that state cotton was used for clothing in Spain 
in the mid 1500s and plenty of sources that the Italians used cotton for 
sheets and drapes starting 1500 and a growing amount of sources (one being 
Elizabeth’s wardrobe unlocked I believe) that the middle class in 1600 
England, Germany, and Italy had cotton velvets to look like nobles but it 
was considered a cheap fabric and the wealthy did not use it as far as is 
known, and I have not seen an analysis of how modern cotton velvet is made 
compared to these new finds. There has as far as I have heard never been a 
find of cotton damask.

Fustian has a cotton warp but is a linen weft, and it was a heavy weight 
canvas used to line coat armors. There are coat of plates and brigs finds 
with it used and the under part of the foundation garment using fustian and 
had a finer material such as silk velvet of alum tanned goat skin on the 
outside. The modern fabric of this name is a blend of cotton and linen and 
so is not a period weave.

There are a few finds of silk velvets that have a cotton backing.

Cotton was used to stuff arming coats from the 12th century, the black 
Prince's arming coat is cotton stuffed, and the velvet is silk and linen.

So far the evidence available and the consensus of living history groups 
across the world is that cotton is rare even in the late 16th century, and 
the cotton the upper class used was nicer than the cotton the lower class 
used and that the cotton we use now would certainly not be good enough for 
the upper class either :). Sure cotton existed but it was barely used for 
clothing and in Western Europe it is almost unheard of pre 1600. Linen, 
wool, and silk are long fibers and cotton is a short fiber that is part of 
why it was not used.

Linen is a superior material anyway, it is a stronger material than cotton, 
it is easier to clean, and keeps your body cooler than cotton. Also in the 
heat when you wear a light wool over it, it causes you to sweat lightly 
(which you will do anyway) and if you have a linen shirt on it wicks the 
sweat which brings down your body temperature. The Arabs wear black in so 
many layers in the desert for a reason :). I wore a light wool G63 over a 
linen shirt all through Pennsic this year and people in cotton kept asking 
me “aren’t you hot?” while they where sweating profusely and I was not. I 
always asked “do I look as hot as you?” the answer was always no.

For the SCA it is all up to you what you make your clothing out of. 
Personally none of my cotton stuff I started with lasted over a year, even 
the just for court stuff, and I have wool and linen items that I use for 
fighting and living history that have been used and abused for over a year 
and a half now and it is totally fine.

James de Biblesworth







From: Lydia Leovic <lidia_de_ragusa at yahoo.com>
To: atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
Subject: [MR] cotton in period
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2003 14:39:46 -0800 (PST)

Friends,

According to a new revised edition of "Spinning
Cotton," by Paula Vester, cotton was first grown at
Elis, Greece in 150 A.D.  Her timeline indicates that
cotton reached Northern Europe about 1350.

Whether or not your personae would have come in
contact with cotton is a personal decision.  In my
case, I place my personae in mid 15th c. Ragusa, a
major trading port on the Adriatic Sea, so my feeling
is that she would have been exposed to the possibility
of owning cotton not only from Greece, but from
documented merchant voyages between Ragusa and Goa
during this time period.

Hope this helps,
Lidiya



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