Title: sprang-chrono-art
Subject: A chronology of the art of sprang weaving by Medb ingen Dungaile.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, sprang, knit, history, chronology, timeline

sprang-chrono-art - 1/21/07

A chronology of the art of sprang weaving by Medb ingen Dungaile.

NOTE: See also the files: sprang-msg, sprang-bib, p-knitting-bib, knitting-msg, lace-msg, weaving-lnks, crochet-FAQ, Bobbin-Lace-art, P-Emb-Frames-art, naalbinding-msg.

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NOTICE -

This article was submitted to me by the author for inclusion in this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium. 

These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author.

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

Thank you,
Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous
stefan at florilegium.org
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SPRANG CHRONOLOGY
by Medb ingen Dungaile

(Items in Bold are additions or modifications)
Bulk taken from 
Collingwood, Peter.  The techniques of sprang: plaiting on stretched 
threads.  London : Faber and Faber, [1974]

New Stone Age
(300-1500 B.C.)

On the undersides of some Neolithic pots from Rietzmeck, Kreis Rosslau, E. Germany, there are impressions of the of the fabrics they stood on when drying.  If some of these are correctly interpreted as interlinked in structure, there still is no evidence that they were made by the sprang method (Collingwood)

Danish Bronze Age
(About 1400 B.B.

The Borum Eshöj Hair-net
Discovered in 1871, in a woman’s grave in Borum Esöjj, a burial mound near Aarhus, Denmark.  158 threads of fine 2-ply wool in warp.  Very skillfully made, using multiple twist interlinking and ridges (…).  Perhaps the only historical examples that can be considered as luxury fabrics are the early Danish finds.  As they came from graves in impressive barrows (Borum Esöj was over 120 feet across and nearly 20 feet high), they probably belonged to chiefs or even royalty.  This explains the expertise both in design and manual skill that went into these fabrics.  See the hair-net from Haraldskar bog and the Oseberg frame.
(Collingwood, Hald, Munksgaard)

The Skrydstrup Cap
Discovered in 1935 in a man’s grave in Skrydstrupfield, near Haderslev, Denmark.  Made from 2-ply wool, worked in a mixture of interlacing and interlinking.  Meeting line closed by two rows of chaining (…).
     A hair-net made from horsehair and with an intertwined structure was found in the same grave but there is no evidence it was a sprang fabric.
(Collingwood, Broholm, Hald)

Iron Age (Germany) | | Hairband from Windeby and hairnet from Damendorf (Schlabow)
1000 B.C. Tarim Basin, Central Asia | | Black sprang hairnet(s); “The Mummies of Ürümchi” (Barber)
Late Pre-ceramic, Peru (about 1100 B.C.E.) | | Cylindrical Bags and Fabrics Excavated in 1957 at Asia, central coast of Peru.  Interlinking and interlacing, cotton yarn. ? Meeting lines present. (Collingwood, Frame)

Hallstatt period
(800-500 B.C.E.)

Hair-net
Discovered in 1835 in the Haraldskar bog at Vejle, Denmark, but not recognized as sprang until a century later.  Sometimes called ‘Queen Gunhild’s Hair-net’ as she is known to have been drowned here.  Made of single-ply wool, using closely placed holes as the basic structure.  Incomplete, one edge sewn to a woven band, meeting line present (Collingwood, Hald 1980)

Woman’s Cap or Hood
Discovered in 1942 in a peat bog at Arden Denmark.  Well-preserved, Stripes of S- and Z-twist interlinking (Collingwood, Hald 1980)

5th century B.C.E. to 2nd century A.D.E. | | Fragment Found in the vicinity of Kertch in the eastern Crimea.  7 cm x 1.5 cm, 2-ply wool.  Simple interlinking with contrasting areas of open pattern. (Jenkins)
| | Possible looms on Greek pots (Clark)

Paracas Cavernas, Peru
(500-300 B.C.E.)

Two Pieces, possibly Head-dresses
Excavated in 1931 in Paracas Cavernas graves, Peru.  Both made from orange wool, one 52 inches x 22 inches.  Complex hole design depicting fish, birds, serpents, in all-over pattern.  Chained meeting line (Collingwood)

Nazca, Peru (300 B.C.E.-A.D.E. 500) | | Four Pieces Excavated in 1925 at Majoro and Cacatilla, near Nazca, Peru.  They show intertwining but it is not clear whether they are sprang or not.  Woolen (Collingwood)

Neck Coverings
Also from Nazca come the very elaborate woolen neck coverings using double, and sometimes quadruple, intertwined sprang (…).  Very complex construction.  All-over linear designs.  Simple interlaced bags also found (Collingwood,)

La Tène Period (500-50 B.C.E.) | | A collection of charred textiles, ropes and wooden tablets found in a Spanish grave.  One fragment shows interlinking ? sprang (Collingwood)
200-100 B.C.E. Peru | | Paracas “Hoods” Many examples, some of wool, some of cotton, often with extensive use of openwork sprang to create patterns (King)
Roman Iron Age | | A fragment of simple interlinking found in a grave at Blidegn, Denmark, ? sprang (Collingwood)

York Stocking
(previously assumed to be Viking)
Excavated in 1838 at Micklegate Bar, York, England.  Worked with 2-ply wool in stripes of S- and Z-twist interlinking.  Selvages sewn together to form a tube which tapers slightly, so like the Tegle stocking it has no foot.  No meeting line. (Collingwood, Henshall, Wyatt)

Cimbric Female Bonnet
Made of wool-yarn (Koch)

3rd-5th C Norway

Woolen Stocking
Found in a bog at Tegle, Jaeren, the earliest Norwegian find of sprang.  Consists of a tubular fabric with interlocking triangle design done in S- and Z-twist interlinking.  Top and bottom edge finished with tablet-woven band, no meeting line (Collingwood, Hoffman, Hoffman and Tratteberg)

A.D. 100 | | ? Hair-net Found in rubbish dump at Vindonissa, Switzerland.  Fine wool worked with triple twist interlinking.  Incomplete, but meeting line present (Collingwood, Wild 1970)

A.D. 400-700

Coptic Sprang Fabrics
Discovered from the 1880s onwards, in Coptic graves in Upper Egypt, chiefly at Achmin.  Made of un-dyed linen or dyed wool.  Some are pointed and called caps, some are rectangular with drawstrings and called bags (…), also turbans and other garments.  Techniques include hole designs, S- and S-twist, extra twining threads, 2/2 and 4/4 interlinking and double interlinked sprang.  Very accomplished workmanship. Mentioned and illustrated in catalogues of all main textile collections.  Technical analyses in Schinnerer, n.d., and Hald, 1950.
     By far the largest number of historical sprang fabrics come from the Coptic burial grounds and for two reasons.  Firstly, there is the Coptic habit of burying their dead fully clothed with everyday objects like carrying bags around them; secondly, there is the position of the graves, which were in dry sand, above the level of the Nile’s flood water and in a region with practically no rainfall.  So there was a profusion of textiles buried in conditions that prevented bacterial decay, with the result of that any textile collection has far more examples of Coptic sprang than of sprang fabrics of more recent date.
(Bazinet, Collingwood, Cook and Tullo, Harris, Information Pack, Janssen, Rutschoscaya, Stauffer, Whitworth Art Gallery, Wyatt)

Viking Period
(about A.D. 850)

Wooden Frame
A beech wood frame, 44 inches high x 30 inches wide, found in the ship-burial (? of Queen Asa), at Oseberg, Norway; may possibly have been used for sprang.  Lower beam adjusted by pegs fitting into the uprights; narrow rod fitting into a groove on underside of top beam; intended to be free-standing.  If used for sprang, then probably for circular warp method (Collingwood)

Impression inside Brooch
A tortoiseshell brooch, found in the Shetlands, Scotland, bears on its inside the impression of some type of diamond mesh thread work, ? interlinked sprang (…).
Small fragments of interlinking found in the graves at Birka, Sweden, ? sprang (Andersson, Collingwood, Geijer 1938)

9th Century | | Beige linen and red & ochre wool bonnet; origin unknown but presently in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan. (Zanni)

10th-12th Centuries

Fillet
Single-ply, S-twisted silk threads, made from alternate rows of 1/1 and 2/2 interlinking.   Found in Dublin, Ireland.  Finished width of 130mm, at one end some of the warp loops are preserved, the other end is torn and tied in a knot.  Earliest recorded piece of sprang to be made from silk thread. (Pritchard)

A.D. 1100-1300 | | Narrow Band Found at Mule Creek Cave, New Mexico, USA.  Made from 2-ply cotton, 10 inches long x 1 inch wide, worked in interlinking with hole designs.  No meeting line (Collingwood)
| | Fragment from the tomb of Guidotto in Messina Cathedral (Digilio)

A.D. 1300-1500

Shirt
Found at Tonto Monument, Arizona, USA.  Measures about 26 inches square, back largely missing, worked with elaborate hole designs.  Fringe at bottom edge, warp loops of front and back portion joined along the shoulders.  Front and back may be the upper and lower halves of a sprang fabric (Collingwood, Sprang Tunic, Webster)

13th Century | | Hungarian and German examples (Turnau)
C. 1450-1500 | | Border of Sprang From England, currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Bath)

15th century

White Linen Fabric
120 inches long x 30 inches wide, with complex hole designs some of which are embroidered with blue thread.  Made on a circular warp.  Probably from central Switzerland (Collingwood)

17th century | | Three Woman’s Caps Made of silk and gold thread, bequeathed to Austrian Museum by a woman from Transylvania (Collingwood)

Woman’s Girdle
Found in a church at Mediasch, Transylvania.  White, with simple hole designs and fringes at both ends.  Made on a circular warp (Collingwood)

Mid 17th century

Turkish Sashes
Found in one of the crypts of the Roman Catholic Church at Satospatak, Hungary.   Made of tightly spun red silk.  One is composed of diamond patterns, the other with trees and detailed creatures. (Gervers)

About 1700 | | Silk Mittens Norwegian; worked with hole designs (…).  These were also made in Holland and France. (Collingwood)

1707

White Linen Piece
Found by Edna Mygdal in a church at Hvalsoe, Jutland, Denmark, in 1916.  70 inches long x 18 inches wide, worked with hole designs, forming diamonds, but also the initials M K D and the date 1707.  Circular warp method (Collingwood,)

1700-1850

Military Sashes (…)
Ceremonial sashes made of silk and worn by army officers, each country having its own colour or striping.  Usually simple interlinking, sometimes with hole designs.  Up to 12 feet long x 30 inches wide, with long fringes.  Also used by officers of town guilds, sometimes being embroidered.  Made on circular warp. (Collingwood)

1797-1835

Collection of Sprang Fabrics
About a hundred pieces, many unfinished, such as bonnets, stockings, mittens, collars, cuffs.  All made by a woman from Bruges, Belgium, in intricate hole designs.  Now in Musée Royaux d’Art, Brussels, which also has a sprang fram (68 inches x 14 inches), with work still on it and a collection of wooden sticks, 10 inches long (Collingwood)

About 1850

Works of Christine Steeger
Many pieces survive made by Christine Steeger (1800-59), of Aalen, Württemberg, Germany.  These include complete jackets and skirts, but also smaller pieces. All worked with hole designs.  Sprang was called ‘krabbeln’, i.e., crawling like a crab, in Württemberg, probably from the way the right hand moves across the warp (Collingwood)

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Copyright 2004 by Jackie Wyatt, 704-15 Erskine Ave., Toronto, ON, Canada M4P 1Y5. <jkwyatt at alumni.uwo.ca>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited and receives a copy.

If this article is reprinted in a publication, I would appreciate a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.

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