Medieval Fabrics Acсording to the Texts of Birch-Bark Letters of the Second Third of the XIII – XV Centuries

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of Novgorod and Pskov birch-bark letters of the second third of the XIII – XV centuries, containing information about fabrics. The research includes an analysis of data on fabric length measures, textile dyeing and bleaching, range of fabrics and value of their certain types. Besides that, a special focus is given to the texts pointing out the local manufacturing of fabrics or their foreign origin. The most important data on fabrics mentioned in the birch-bark letters are compared with the pre-Mongol period. As a result of the analysis, it was found out that textiles common in Rus in the period from the second third of the XIII to the XV century were made of the same raw materials as in pre-Mongol times – wool, silk, flax and hemp; meanwhile the birch-bark letters indicate a variety of fabrics from the same raw material, and that was due to the differences in the quality of textile processing and its dyeing. At the same time information about the use of cotton fabrics appeared in the period under review, though such information was absent in the documents of the previous period. The study of birch-bark letters also showed that Rus fabrics were measured by cubits and by pieces of cloth, textiles were being dyed in different colors, and fabrics made from vegetable raw materials could be bleached. The fact of presence on the market of silk and cotton, which were imported fabrics, confirms the existence of economic relations of Rus with other countries. Besides, birch-bark texts demonstrate that fabrics were involved in internal trade, they could be used for tax payment instead of money, as well as means of paying debts and compensating losses.

Keywords

• archaeology
• middle ages
• birch-bark letters
• novgorod
• pskov
• fabrics/textiles
• cubit
• piece of cloth
• dyeing and bleaching
• weaving
• textile trade