The other day, I asked a friend, “Hey, what do normal people put on their walls?” The answer…is tapestries. Cold, stony castle? Tapestries. Small, plain cathedral? Tapestries. A house of some sort? Probably also tapestries. In this episode, Em and Dr. Jesse talk over how tapestries are made, famous tapestries from around the world, and the use of color in Medieval society. Join us!

1/ For more on textiles, see episode 33 (on women artisans) and episode 54 note 15 (on the Bayeux Tapestry).

2/ Rather than getting caught up on horizontal vs vertical terminology, just keep in mind that the warp is what goes on the loom and the weft is the part you weave with.

3/ Tang Dynasty (618–907CE) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_dynasty

Zhu Kerou (fl.12th century). See her famous “Butterfly and Camellia” silk tapestry here: https://thenewhistoria.org/schema/zhu-kerou/

4/ Uyghurs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghurs

5/ The medieval Andes! Huari tapestry images from a museum exhibition.

6/ Greek painting of sculptures is called polychromy.

7/ Check out the Bayeux Tapestry close up! https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/

8/ The Barnes Museum in Philadelphia

9/ The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Musée de Cluny (see episode 29, note 24 and episode 30, note 21).

10/ The hunting of the unicorn tapestries at The Cloisters in NYC.

11/ Raphael (1483–1520): not just a ninja turtle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael

12/ Pieter van Aelst (c.1495–c.1560). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_van_Aelst_III

13/ Mathilda episodes: episode 58 (Long Live the Queen)

14/ Episodes on England before 1066: episodes 53 (England Before the Norman Invasion) and 54 (More England, More Normans).

15/ The Bayeux Tapestry links:

16/ Beowulf episode here: episode 56

17/ Em’s newsletter.