On Jan 15, 2008, at 9:05, Jenny De Angelis wrote:
I found a website from which I have cut and pasted a section here.
the site is http://biblia.com/christianity2/3b-england.htm
<< In 1560, lead by T. Cartwright, the "Puritans" or "Precisians",
thought the Anglicans were too Catholic, and the Church should be
"purified" of the old leaven of Catholicism, and reformed along
Calvinist lines in severe simplicity.
These are some of the "purifications" they wanted: Reform the
government of the Church of England, its worship, and teachings. Stop
the clerical dress, the kneeling at the Mass, the sign of the cross...
the ministers should be chosen by the people, and the office of the
bishop abolished; this amounted to a demand of the Presbyterian form
of church as Calvinism, in place of the Episcopalian way of
Anglicanism. >>
The "Calvinism" and its "severe simplicity" part rang a few bells, so I
did some googling...
Although Calvin was French, he's usually associated with Switzerland
and with the Zurich Reformation. His first and most important book --
Institutes of the Christian Religion -- came out in 1536.
1536 is an interesting year from the lace perspective as well. It's the
same year that -- according to R.M., the author of the Nüw Modelbuch --
bobbin laces had been "brought to Germany" (Switzerland was not an
independent country at the time, and the German language was used in
Zurich -- where RM lived, taught lacemaking, and where her book was
published). At which point, the Zurich Reformation (and the scaling
down of excesses) had already been in full swing for a while -- since
1522.
R.M. is writing in 1561; 25yrs after Calvin's seminal book, and nearly
40 after the Purist Protestants declared war on frills and furbelows
(or so we're told). Yet, according to her:
"Originally, these laces were used only for ornamenting shirts. Now,
they are sewn to necklines, collars, sleeves, caps, seams, belts,
aprons, handkerchiefs, coarse cloth, tablecloths and bedlinen, etc".
Please note that "originally" refers to 1536 -- the year Calvin
published his book. "Now" refers to 1561, by which time Calvin's
"extreme simplicity" ruled the day. Yet, lace seemed to be literally
everywhere...
And -- again according to her -- it's all to the good, because bobbin
lace is much faster to make than "quilting and raised work" and,
therefore, cheaper. It is also -- "since bobbin laces are entirely made
of flax thread" -- easier and cheaper to wash (ashes) than the earlier
era's "linen adorned with gold and silk", which required soap.
Her *single* complaint -- good Calvinist that she is -- is that the
laces are becoming debased:
"Unfortunately, there is nothing under the sun, however useful and
good, which might not be misused. Some laces have already become
luxuriant, being made of gold and silk richly interspersed with gold
spangles."
The horror! Doubtless, *soap* will have to be used again, to wash
those! :)
Devon has noted the general tendency towards the rules-relaxation that
even the strictest of philosophies seem to exhibit over time (something
that can be confirmed even within our own lifetimes: just compare the
"uniform" that the Chinese used to wear in the early days of the
"Cultural Revolution" to what they're wearing now)...
In the early days of Zurich Reformation, lace use was modest -- shirts
only. Within a few years, lace use exploded. I expect that, in the
early days of Calvinism being pushed onto England, lace would have been
seen as sinful and used sparingly, if at all. But, by the time Cromwell
died, I bet it was all over the place again, even among the so-called
Puritans. Perhaps not as "in your face" as the wide laces worn by the
Royalists, but there.
Likewise, while I'm sure that the American Pilgrims -- in search of
purity once again -- would have rolled back the excesses quite a bit
(possibly even back to zero), the trend wouldn't have lasted for very
long. If it had, then sumptuary laws -- telling people who could wear
what, when and where -- would not have been necessary. Sumptuary laws
(and similar measures) are -- have always been -- a way of controlling
the rampant, "uppity", tendencies of the populace, not something that's
announced on a whim, in a social vacuum...
Thankfully, lace is a strong enough fabric to weave its way back into
people's lives, one way or another, no matter how much stomping on it's
subjected to :)
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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