Publisher's description:
The fourth volume of this landmark series features a special focus on headdress, with papers analysing women's turbans in fifteenth-century French manuscript paintings; the changing meaning of the term cuff; the spread of wimple from England to Southern Italy; and a surviving embroidered linen cap attributed to Saint Birgitta of Sweden. Northern European dress and textiles are further explored in papers on archaeological textiles from medieval towns in Finland, Norway, and Sweden; the construction of gowns excavated at Herjolfsnes, Greenland; and references to scarlet clothing in Icelandic sagas. Other papers focus on linen production in medieval Russia and an enigmatic quilt of Henry VIII's that almost certainly arrived in England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Aragon. Also included are reviews of recent books on clothing and textiles.
The essays are all of uniformly high quality, imaginative, thoughtful, well researched and well written. Whether presenting entirely new material or reevaluating known examples and earlier research, all the authors have new and intriguing arguments to make, supported by solid evidence and methodology. SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL
The depth and breadth of the expertise and interests of the authors result in an absorbing insight into the importance of textiles and clothing to the economic and aesthetic aspects of medieval life. In addition, the material elucidates the importance of cloth and clothing as indicators of status and symbolism. [...] An excellent addition to the study of medieval Europe. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLGY

Contents:
page VII Illustrations
IX Tables
X Contributors
XIII Preface
1 1. From Flax to Linen in the Medieval Rus Lands, Heidi M. Sherman
21 2. "Melius Abundare Quam Deficere": Scarlet Clothing in Laxdaela Saga and Njals Saga, Anna Zanchi
39 3. The Wandering Wimple, Lucia Sinisi
55 4. From Head to Hand to Arm: The Lexicological History of "Cuff", Mark Chambers and Gale R. Owen-Crocker
69 5. Visual Textiles: A Study of Appearance and Visual Impression in Archaeologi cal Textiles, Lena Hammarlund, Heini Kirjavainen, Kathrine Vestergård Pedersen, and Marianne Vedeler
99 6. The Cap of St. Birgitta, Camilla Luise Dahl and Isis Sturtewagen
Appendix 6.1.: The Construction of St. Birgitta's Cup, Camilla Luise Dahl and Isis Sturtewagen
135 Appendix 6.2: The Embroidery on St. Birgitta's Cup, Camilla Luise Dahl and Isis Sturtewagen
143 7. The View from Herjolfsnes: Greenland's Translation of the European Fitted Fashion, Robin Netherton
173 8. The Art of the Exotic: Robinet Testard's Turbans and Turban-like Coiffure, John Bloch Friedman
193 9. "The Same Counterpoincte Beinge Olde and Worene": The Mystery of Henry VIII's Green Quilt, Lisa Evans
209 Recent Books of Interest
217 Contents of Previous Volumes
219 Index