Information about the culture of textile production in medieval Armenia in the works of Armenian authors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46991/hc.2025.22.2.008Keywords:
Medieval Armenia, embroidery, crafts, dipak (brocade), silk, linen, flax, gold-threaded fabric, cochinealAbstract
From the Middle Ages until almost the end of the 19th century, there was no factory industry in Armenia. Specifically, the most rudimentary form of textile industry, organized within rural families, was called “cottage industry”. The gradual development of this small-scale home production led to the emergence of crafts, meaning production by consumer order. This craft of producing fabrics was described by medieval Armenian historians with several names, including weaving/textile production, linen production, hand looming, weaving (knitting, crocheting, felting), carpet weaving, and others. In this article, it is deemed appropriate to summarize these names under one term: embroidery.
Embroidery originated in the Neolithic period, was known as hand looming in ancient times, and later as weaving (knitting, crocheting, felting) in the Middle Ages and beyond. It is presumed to have emerged by analogy with weaving baskets from tender tree branches and mats from wild grasses. The development of embroidery was largely connected with the emergence and subsequent expansion of agriculture and animal husbandry. These supplied the necessary raw materials for textile production (hemp, flax, cotton threads, silk, hair, wool, etc.). Over time, different crafts of weaving fabrics from threads of various origins gradually became differentiated within embroidery. The production of woolen fabrics was called wool production, making fabrics from flax thread was linen production, silk thread was silk production, and so on.
This article summarizes the diverse information known in Armenian historiography concerning the widespread embroidery culture in medieval Armenia, covering various chronological periods. It categorizes types of fabrics and cloths, presents their unique production and dyeing methods, and outlines the principles of their use in different strata of society. The information provided by Armenian chroniclers covers the 5th-18th centuries.
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