law, and art began to crystallize; and
when, under Egbert, one kingdom was formed out of the heptarchy, order
and a sense of beauty were in the course of development. Then came the
invasion of the Danes (ninth century), who robbed, destroyed, and
arrested all artistic improvement, till Alfred got rid of them for a
time. Early in the seventh century the women of England had attained
great perfection in needlework. This appears from a passage in a poem
by Adhelme, Bishop of Sherborne. He speaks of their shuttles, "filled
not with purple only, but with various colours, moved here and there
among the thick spreading threads."[564] He had himself a robe "of a
most delicate thread of purple, adorned with black circles and
peacocks." This may or may not have been woven in England, but at that
time weaving, as well as needlework, was the delight and occupation of
the ladies of the court and of the cloistered nuns.[565] The thralls
(slaves or serfs) were employed in weaving in the houses of the
nobles, probably they embroidered also.

Mrs. Lawrence sees reason to believe that in the seventh century, silk
and fine linen were the materials for altar decorations, vestments,
and dress; whereas the hangings of the house were of coarse canvas
adorned with embroidery in thick worsted.[566] She says the term
"broiderie" was reserved for the delicate works on fine grounds, in
silk and gold and silver thread, and enrichments in metal work.
Precious stones and pearls had already been introduced into the
Byzantine and Romanesque designs imported from Greece and Rome.

The English Dominican Friar, Th. Stubbs, writing in the thirteenth
century, describes in his notice of St. Oswald a chasuble of
Anglo-Saxon work, which exactly resembles that of Aix.[567] This is
splendidly engraved in Von Bock's "Kleinodien" amongst the coronation
robes of the Emperors of Germany, and is adorned with the richest
golden orphreys, imitating jewellers' work, enriched with pearls and
silver bells.

There is an Icelandic Saga of the thirteenth century which relates the
history of Thorgunna, a woman from the Hebrides, who was taken to
Iceland on the first settlement of the country by Norway, A.D. 1000.
She employed witchery in her needlework, and her embroidered hangings
were coveted by, and proved fatal to, many persons after her death,
till one of her inheritors burned them.[568]

[Illustration: Pl. 71.
One of the ends of the Stole of St. Cuthbert at D