So How Did This Mediterranean Herb End Up in 
England?   
 
I was curious to see if I could find a route that these motifs might have followed from the East to 
the West. So, I continued my research with the Greek, Alexander the Great, who defeated the Persians in 
333 B.C., he then turned to Egypt who welcomed him. After his death in 323 B.C., Ptolemy, the son 
of one of Alexander's bodyguards declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt. The Ptolomies, Greek-Egyptians, 
ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 B.C. 
 
The Ptolemies created reasonable tariffs, and they fostered trade among their coastal cities. Cleopatra 
was the last pharaoh of the Ptolemies and after her death Rome ruled Egypt. Egypt was the bread basket of the
Roman empire.  
 
In the seventh century Egypt was taken over by Islamic invaders and Egypt eventually became a Muslim country. 
The Fatimid era from 969 to 1171 was stable with a rising trade with Europe and India. Egyptian ships 
sailed to Sicily and Spain and the Italian city states from two Egyptian harbors, Alexandria and Tripoli. 
   
Cloth trade is first documented between Egypt and Europe in the Fatimid era. Married Egyptian women embroidered 
clothing for export to Europe, this practice was acceptable as they could stay home and there were women agents 
to pick up and deliver the materials. We know this from marriage contracts and other personal correspondence from 
that time found in the Old Cairo Geniza.  
 
The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1066 and in turn they were defeated by the Ayyubid who ruled Persia and 
Egypt from 1171 until 1249. The Ayyubid's were distant rulers who used mamluks or slaves to rule Egypt. The 
mamluks were purchased Turkoman slaves from east of the Caspian Sea and Circassian slaves from the Caucasus 
Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (this definition of Mamluks is from the Library of 
Congress Country Studies). Although slaves, the mamluks were paid for their services by their masters. 
Eventually they formed two ruling dynasties in Egypt, the first Mamluk Dynasty began in 1250. The second 
ended in 1571.
 
Research of these Egyptian eras revealed that elements of modern Hardanger were being used then.  
 
This Mamluk band from the 13th century has Hardanger elements: Klosters, Dove's Eyes and withdrawn threads.
The fabric threads were cut away from the Satin stitches in each block. Dove's Eyes were added in some of the blocks as shown.
I have used this remnant as it best displays the elements similar to Hardanger and each Egyptian era used these elements.  
 
These elements of Hardanger began to appear in Europe. Some of the religious embroideries from Lower Saxony in 
Europe dated from the 12th and 13th century have similar techniques and stitches as modern Hardanger. A translation 
of Kloster, a key element of Hardanger, is convent or monastery in German. So it is not surprising that some of the 
oldest European examples of drawn thread are in religious communities. 
 
This embroidery, 13th century, depicts religious figures with halos, raised hands and robes, each figure is separated from the others by a column and some of the figures have upraised hands and eyes. The fabric ground behind these figures is a drawn thread grid like the one shown here. 
  
 
 
Another different type of drawn thread embroidery from the  15th century was also from Lower Saxony. You can 
see the familiar Hardanger grid and stars are in the background behind the figures. The religious figures 
are outlined with Satin stitches with the clothing and 
bodies left uncut and unembellished.  This embroidery 
has Persian type motifs dotting the drawn thread 
background like the ones shown here.
It is easy to see how stitching bands developed, they were records of stitches and they could embellish
clothing. I have included a couple of examples if you would like to try Hardanger.  
Click on the picture for a link to the chart and information on how I did this band.
 
And if you needed a finish like this point. Click on the picture for a link to the chart and information on 
how I did this band.   
 
Continuing, the mamluk band was the type of design that was exported to Europe from Egypt. Clothing in medieval 
Europe was a constant problem as wool, the principle material for cloth, did not last because of moths or rats. 
Leather fostered skin problems like leprosy. Leprosy is caused by a bacterium closely related to tuberculosis, 
and while leather did not give the wearer the disease the moist environment it causes when worn against human 
skin does foster the development of the disease. 
 
Egyptians had harvested vegetable fibers for a very long time, they had lots of cloth and clothing 
and could produce even more. Second hand clothing was valued as it was the major asset of most 
Islamic households. It was used for loan guarantees and short term loans, and it was often mentioned 
in a woman's marriage contract as a personal asset that she would bring to the marriage. It is easy to 
see that a trade would develop between Europe and Egypt, as one country needed the fabric that the 
other had in abundance.   
  
An interesting side note is that the Egyptians were amazed at the indiscriminate purchases of the Europeans as 
they paid the same for poor quality linen as they did for the best quality linen. The meaning of this from 
another point of view is that Egyptian cloth of any quality was valuable to medieval Europeans.  
  
So, how did this leave the Orient?  
The Europeans wanted to produce fabric as well. The enterprising citizens of Venice were able to 
produce the fabric by purchasing trading rights with Greece. During the Middle Ages the Byzantium empire 
controlled Egypt and most of Greece but it was poorly financed. They allowed the Europeans to use the 
Greek Islands by selling trading rights to them. Chios, a Greek island, became the center of European trade. 
The English established the Levant Company of Turkey Merchants and the Venetians had a shipping route from 
Zara to the Caucasus to the Nile delta.  
 
Furthermore, Roderick Taylor in his book Embroidery of the Greek Islands states that "the contact between 
the Italian republic, Egypt, Syria and the Greek Islands made the movement of designs and styles very simple: 
patterns from Egypt passed through the Greek Islands into Italy and throughout Europe. Much of the . . .pattern 
designs can be traced to the Mamluks."  Next Page ©2000 Linda Fontenot. All Rights Reserved, you may not copy 
in any manner any portion of this article, other than a personal copy for the individual.
www.AmericanFolkArts.com and www.OvertheMoonDesigns.com