On Mar 12, 2005, at 13:52, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
[...] the greatest impact was wars,
when women were taken as "slaves" and moved with the armies to other areas.
Weavers of unique luxury textiles were usually men. They were captured and sent
to the conquering country's major cities to produce and teach what they knew.
Wars have been an almost-constant occurence in the world, and it is
interesting to learn of the impact on weaving, embroidery, lace, etc.
It doesn't have to be an out-and-out war and slaves; persecution attendant on a religious mania will have the same effect, even if the movement is voluntary, or almost (one more reason to remain an atheist <g>)...
Everyone knows about the Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution in England and settling the northern part of the East Coast of US. Presumably, they brought their knowledge of crafts - including textiles - with them.
Very few people know of the role of Jews in Poland...
Until 14th century, Poland was almost entirely agricultural and mono-racial. But, somewhere between 1333 and 1370 (I'm one of those people who paid scant attenton to *dates* in my history classes; I did pay attention to ideas and their implications, however <g>), the king, Kazimierz Wielki (Casimir the Great) "brought in the Jews". They were escaping from Spain, where it was "convert or die", and he offered them freedom of worship, by law. He also hemmed them in, by a law which forbid them buying land; they could only practice their *artisan* skills, but could not farm. So, they settled in towns or, if there were no town, they started one and got a charter for it from the king.
Almost all the crafts in Poland - including textiles - can be traced directly to the Jewish presence and skills they brought with them from Spain. Not lacemaking, perhaps, at that time, but glass making, pottery, weaving, gold- and silver-smithing, embroidery... By the time Karzimierz's granddaughter Jadwiga was brought to be the queen in 1384 (and forced to marry the heathen Jagiello of Lithuania; we couldn't stomach having a female rule us <g>), town life just about equalled Jews...
Of course, as soon as the Jews established thriving businesses and taught the "Christian infidels" all they knew, their religious rights were yanked away from them, but that's another story...
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Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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