The monopoly of the silk manufactures was confined to the area of the
imperial palace of Constantinople, but the cultivation of the worm
gradually spread over Greece, Asia Minor, and India.

The first allusion to the use of silk in the Christian Church is by
Gregory Nazianzen (A.D. 370), "Ad Hellenium pro Monarchis Carmen:"
"Silver and gold some bring to God, or the fine thread by Seres
spun."[251] Basil illustrates the idea of the resurrection by the
birth of the butterfly from the cocoon.[252]

Paul the Silentiary (A.D. 562) alludes to the frequent use of silk in
the priests' vestments at the Church of St. Sophia at Constantinople.

Bede relates that the first Abbot of Wearmouth went to Rome for the
fifth time in A.D. 685, and brought back with him two scarves or palls
of incomparable workmanship, and entirely of silk, with which he
purchased land of three families at the mouth of the Wear. Bede's own
remains were wrapped in silk.

Auberville gives us, in his "Tissus," specimens of Roman silks between
the first and seventh centuries, but he cannot fix their exact
date.[253]

The finest webs of Holosericum from the imperial looms were generally
bestowed upon the Church, and thus consecrated, the earliest
ascertained specimens that have survived have been preserved; and of
these, most have been found in the tombs of saints, bishops, and kings
who were buried in priestly as well as in royal garments.[254]

Among the silk and satin fabrics, the tissue called "Imperial" is
mentioned by several early English authors. Roger de Wendover and
Matthew Paris describe the apparition of King John as clad in "royal
robes of Imperial."[255] William de Magna Villa brought from Greece,
in 1170, a stuff called Imperial, "marbled" or variegated, and covered
with lions woven in gold.

In the Eastern Empire, this industry after a time fell into the hands
of the Jews; and in 1161, Benjamin of Tudela says the city of Thebes
contained about 2000 Jewish silk-weavers.

The breeding of the worm in Europe seems to have been confined to
Greece from the time of Justinian to the twelfth century; but in 1148,
Roger, King of Sicily, brought as prisoners of war, from Corinth,
Thebes, and Athens, many silk-weavers, and settled them at Palermo.
"Then might be seen Corinthians and Thebans of both sexes, employed in
weaving velvet stoles interwoven with gold, and serving like the
Eretrians of old among the Persians."[256]

Hugh Falcandus[257