[MR] cotton

[Betty Eyer]

Makes perfect sense. 

You rarely see primary sources of cotton as European
garb; it happens as Daria said, but it is rare and it
would have been expensive.  If you are Turkish,Yemeni,
Persian, etc. wear cotton garb without any hesitation.
 Egypt was the capital of linen production, but
imports of cotton were common in North Africa.

This is because of production and trade.  Cotton does
not grow well in cold, damp climates with short
growing seasons and linen is much more tolerant of
those conditions.  

Cotton was produced for trade and used in the Levant
(eastern Mediteranean and western Asia) to the same
extent and in the same ways generally as linen was in
Egypt, North Africa, Italy.  Syria was a leading
producer of cotton during period.  My understanding
was that imports of cotton to Europe were more for
finished utility textiles (veils, table and altar
cloths, tea towels) and raw cotton for various
manufacturing uses rather than bolts or garb.   



--- Woodrow Jarvis Hill <asim at mindspring.com> wrote:
> > What someone said in the authenticity thread (I
> can't remember who since the 
> > thread is so long) implied that cotton was not a
> period fabric.
> > It prompted me to do a little research.  
> [snipped fine notes on cotton]
> > So, all of my fellow SCAdians who've been
> wondering about 
> > the authenticity of their cotton garb, relax.  
> 
> My understanding, from having heard/read this
> sentiment many times, is that the concept of cotton
> not being period is _not_ about cotton not existing.
> Rather, it's about cotton not being widely available
> to W. Europe during most of period. Since it's been
> years since I've done any research into W. European
> cloth, I cannot speak to the truth of that. I know
> that various emissaries in late period to Ottoman
> Turkey, of all types, knew about cotton; goomluks
> (Ottoman undershirts/chemises) are often description
> as being of cotton, for example.
> 
> Does that make sense, in this context?
> 
> 
> ----asim
> 
> 
> 
>
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