[Cynnabar] printed reproduction of early 15th-century fabric

[Ann Asplund]

Hi!

But to which Queen Margareta did it belong? There is a discrepancy
between the carbon dating and the life of Margaretas - and we have a
lot of Margaretas to choose from :) Also the original dress and the
first reconstruction show a dress with a loose fitting, short bodice,
which flares out from below the breast, not fitted as in this
company`s reconstruction.

The first Margaret was born 1353, married 1363 to Hakon Magnusson,
king of Sweden and Norway, managed with some dealing, get her son the
Danish crown, and she basically ruled all three kingdoms. She died
1412.

The carbon dating states the cloth to have been made in1409-1439.

The latter Margareta is Margaret of Denmark and she married James III
of Scotland in 1469. The dress was attributed to her by Janet Arnold
in 1978. Below is an citation (in English) from an article by Arne
Danielsson, who works in the trophy collection, in which the dress was
kept, since it was stolen as a war trophy by swedish troops in 1569.

"Having established that both the pattern and the cut of the gown
indicate ca. 1470, it was not difficult to deduce who must have worn
it. In the summer of 1469, after negotiations that had begun nine
years earlier Margaret, then thirteen years old, only daughter of
Christian I of Denmark and Dorothea of Brandenburg, was married to
James III of Scotland. I have previously given an account of how this
royal child from the North was able to have her bridal gown made of
such magnificent and expensive cloth of gold,(2) but I find that an
extract from a letter from Dorothea to her sister Barbara, married to
Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, is worth repeating here as it is
relevant in this context: “... and as we conveyed to you in our last
letter, the wish that you should send us for this, our daughter, a
cloth of gold, brown or blue or of the colour that is available for a
sube,  we request you once more to attend to this."

The link for the article for which the citation is
from:http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=jour~content=a902082968

Attached is a picture of the first reconstruction, with real gold -
very shiny :) For those that want to se more pictures, check this page
out:

http://humanistportalen.konstvet.uu.se/artiklar/textilvetenskap/

The page leads to one of three original authors on the dress,
Margareta Nockert. The article is in Swedish, but there are pictures
of the actual dress. On the second page (at the bottom of the page
there are numerals) there are pictures of the dress from the
restoration. On the third is the first reconstruction (were it is worn
by a girl the same age and size as the queen) and on the fourth page
there is close up pictures of the seams and bodice - let me know if
you are interested in translations, since the text also tells about
what happened to the dress - for example, while it was in the church
in Denmark in the burial chapel, visitors and pilgrims removed
souvenir pieces - one piece was actually found in another museum in
Sweden, and has been re-attached.


Have fun with the Margaretas! Be easy on the tequila...
Ann
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MargaretasGylleneKjortel001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 996797 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.cynnabar.org/pipermail/barony/attachments/20100511/b4e4c26c/attachment-0001.jpg