Wefts and Worms: The Spread of Sericulture and Silk Weaving in the West before 1300

Silk has historically been associated with wealth, power, authority, social status, diplomacy, religion, exoticism, and comfort. Silk itself seems mysterious and almost magical—a textile produced by an insect larva, capable of being dyed brilliant colors, strong enough to be used in warfare, smooth and light enough for the most diaphanous garment. In antiquity the peoples of Western Europe believed silk came from the distant land of Seres, somewhere in the East, where it grew on trees. It was traded from east to west along the long, difficult trans-Eurasian overland trade routes, later romantically named the Silk Road. Eventually some peoples in the Levant and the Mediterranean began to produce their own silk textiles, using raw silk or thread imported from the East. However, the expense of the silk thread and frequent disruptions of trade led them to search for a way to produce the raw material locally. Sericulture—raising silkworms and harvesting the filaments from their cocoons to produce thread—would provide them with that raw material. The white mulberry tree, needed to produce the best silk, could not grow everywhere, so evidence of silk weaving in a particular area does not mean that silk fiber was produced locally.