List of Medieval Textiles, Furs & Leather Fabric
Below you will find a list of medieval fabric of various kinds used to make clothes, curtains, accessories, etc. in the Middle Ages. I’ll be updating this list every few years so please let me know of any medieval fabrics I missed in the comments below.
A List of Fabric From the Middle Ages
Taffeta / Sendal
Crisp finely woven silk.
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Samite
Silk interwoven with silver and gold thread showing images.
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Brocade
Silk with raised patterns in gold and silver.
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Satin
Silk produced by a weave in which the threads of the warp are caught and looped by the weft at certain intervals.
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Velvet
Closely woven fabric of silk, linen or cotton with a short dense pile, giving it a soft feel.
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Damask
Linen, silk or cotton woven with flat patterns showing on both sides, often reddish in color.
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Tussah / Tussore / Tasar –
Coarse silk made from fiber produced by the larvae of the tussore moth.
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Pintado
Painted chintz from India, prized by Spanish traders.
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Calico
Plain-woven cotton fabric with an unfinished appearance, named after the trading town Calicut in India, prized by the Portuguese.
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Linsey-woolsey / Wincey
Tough homespun with a linen warp and a woolen weft.
Fustian
Thick, durable cotton or linen fabric.
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Cambric
Lightweight pure cotton textile, named after Cambrai in France.
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Tartan
Scottish plaid fabric of varying patterns.
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Muslin
Plain lightweight sheer to coarse cotton cloth.
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Sindon
Fine muslin-like linen.
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Serge
Strong twilled wool fabric with a pronounced diagonal rib.
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Marten
Fur of the marten, a small Eurasian mammal of the weasel family.
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SableÂ
Fur of the sable, an oriental marten.
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Ermine
Fur of the ermine, a short-tailed weasel with a white coat in winter.
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Stoat
Fur of the ermine when the coat is brown.
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Vair
Fur of various squirrels, used for garment trimming.
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Canvas
Durable fabric made from hemp, named after the Arabic word cannabis.
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Cerecloth / Waxcloth
Waterproof cloth infused with wax, used for wagon canopies, bandages and wrapping the dead.
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Hessian (known as burlap today)
Rough, tough fabric made from jute fibers, used for sacks.
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Cashmere
Soft wool fabric from the Kashmir goat.
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Cameline / Camlet
Twilled fabric made from camel hair.
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Worsted
Wool fabric made from worsted yarn.
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Bokeram (confused with buckram today)
Costly cotton cloth from Bukhara, an ancient city on the Silk Roads.
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Merino
Wool fabric from the Italian Merino goat, similar to cashmere.
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Budge / Buge / Bugee
Lambskin dressed with the wool facing outward, used for lining.
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Hodden
Coarse fabric of undyed wool, chiefly Scottish.
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Mohair
Fabric made by the silky hairs of the Angora goat from the city of Ankara in modern-day Turkey.
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Chamois
Pliant leather from the skin of a chamois, a goatlike bovid.
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Cordovan / Cordwain
Soft goatskin leather, especially from Córdoba in Spain.
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Once again, I was ecstatic when I saw this list. I also collect interesting Mediaeval terms/tidbits I come across in my research, but I selfishly keep them in Word documents–it’s so good of you to make these public for the benefit of others.
If you like Medieval words, get the Medieval Wordbook by Madeleine Cosman!
It’s my pleasure, Antipodeananthropoid. Call it an obsession but I have more lists on the way. I’m working on a list of medieval coins now. It’s such an honor to do this work and I’m glad it comes as a service to others with similar interests. By the way, it wouldn’t take much work to turn your Word Doc lists into blog posts for the benefit of your wonderful audience 🙂
I can’t seem to find what cloth made of silvers which would have been imported from the east would have been. The color described in the book was a rich twilight purple.