Spinning in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Spinning in the Middle Ages & Renaissance

Medieval & Renaissance illustrations and artifacts on spinning with a distaff & spindle, spinning with a spinning-wheel, and thread-winding.

See also these links on spinning and making distaffs & spindles.

DISTAFF & SPINDLE (See also Woman and the Distaff)

Eve spinning, The York Psalter, c. 1170
October, The Fécamp Psalter (KB 76 F 13, fol. 10v), c. 1180
Abû Zayd et al-Hârith arrive at a village, Maqâmât (BNF Arabe 5847), 1236-1237
Fols. 153r and 179r of a psalter (ÖNB 1898), c. 1265-1275
Eve spinning in a church wall-painting, Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, England, c. 1300
Woman with a distaff, the Ormesby Psalter (Douce 366, fol. 71v), c. 1300-1310
Two men speak with a woman, a book of trouvère poetry (Douce 308, fol. 239b r), 1st quarter of the 14th century
Fols. 30v, 32r, 34r, 64v, 70v, 113r, 114r, 114v, 133r, 133v, 140v, 190r, 195r, 216r, 242v, 259v, the Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17), 1st quarter of the 14th century
Detail from The Annunciation to St. Anne by Giotto, 1304-1306
Eve (fol. 4v) and Rebecca (fol. 13r), the Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Royal 2 B VII), c. 1310-1320
Border, bible (BNF Fr. 13096, fol. 25), 1313
St. Denis in front of Fescennius, The Life of St. Denis (BNF Fr. 2092, fol. 14v), 1317
Mural cycle showing the processing of silk and flax at the Kanonikerhaus in Constance, Germany, c. 1320: preparing flax for the distaff (?), and spinning
Fols. 48r, 74v, psalter (Douce 6), c. 1320-1330
Eve spinning (fol. 4v) and a woman (probably a descendant of Cain) spinning (fol. 6), The Holkham Bible (British Library MS Add. 47682, fol. 4v), c. 1320-1335
Fols. 30v, 60r, 116v, and 166v, the Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Lib. Add. 42130), c. 1325-1340
A pig holding a distaff and spindle (St John's College, MS B.9, fol. 1r), second quarter of the 14th century
Adam and Eve, the Taymouth Hours (British Library Yates Thompson 13, fol. 23v), second quarter of the 14th century
Adam and Eve, Speculum Humanae Salvationis (ÖNB s.n. 2612, fol. 5r), c. 1330-1340
Annunciation fresco at San Gimignano, c. 1333-1341
Renart chased by a peasant woman, Romance of Reynard the Fox and Isengrin (Douce 360, fol. 21r), 1339
Three queens spinning, weaving, and embroidering, Avis aus Roys (PML M.456, fol. 56r), c. 1340-1360
Fols. 2v, 35v, 42r, 84r, 113v, Voeux du paon (PML G.24) c. 1350
Solomon and the virtuous woman, Franciscan missal (Douce 313, fol. 291v), middle of the 14th century
Eve spinning, northern France, 15th century
Eve spinning, Speculum humanae salvationis (MMW 10 C 23, fol. 6r), 15th century
Labor in the city, Aristotle's Ethics, Politics, and Economics (BNF Fr. 22500, fol. 2), 15th century
Eve spinning in a church wall-painting, Broughton, Cambridgeshire, 15th century
Hercules spinning, De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 598, fol. 33), beginning of the 15th century
Hercules (fol. 24v) and Tanaquil (fol. 56), De mulieribus claris (British Library, Royal 16 G V), beginning of the 15th century
Tanaquil, De mulieribus claris (British Library, Royal 20 C V, fol. 75), beginning of the 15th century
Sardanapalus spinning, De casibus (BNF Fr. 226, fol. 46), first quarter of the 15th century
Signs of the Zodiac: Virgo, Liber Physiognomiae (Biblioteca Estense Alpha. W.8.20;Lat. 697), c. 1401-1450
The Virgin at the Spinning-Wheel, 1420-1430
Distaff-makers in the Mendel Hausbuch: Francz (c. 1425), Werenlein Reinmon (1457)
Sardanapalus spinning, De casibus (BNF Fr. 232, fol. 49), second quarter of the 15th century
Troilus and Aeneas with Hecuba and Helen, The Trojan War (ÖNB 2773, fol. 137r), c. 1445-1450
Eve spinning, Speculum humanae salvationis (MMW 10 B 34, fol. 3r), c. 1450
Sardanapalus spinning, The Fall of Princes (British Library Harley 1766, fol. 116), c. 1450-1460
St. Margaret keeping sheep, the book of hours of Étienne Chevalier, c. 1453-1460
Sardanapalus spinning, De casibus (BNF Fr. 233, fol. 46v), third quarter of the 15th century
Shepherdess spinning, book of hours (Rawl. liturg. f. 13, fol. 36v), third quarter of the 15th century
Sardanapalus spinning, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 288, fol. 232), second half of the 15th century
An ape spinning (fol. 46r) and a woman spinning (fol. 108v) in the borders of a book of hours (MMW 10 F 50), c. 1460
Gerard enters Cologne while a farmer tends to a windmill and a spinner tends a flock of geese, Roman de Girart de Nevers (Bibliothèque Royale Albert ler MS 73, fol. 43v), c. 1460
Conventionality lectures Comradery on love, Le Roman de la Rose (Douce 364, fol. 97r), c. 1460-1470
Adam and Eve at work, Speculum humanae salvationis (Douce f. 4, fol. 1r), c. 1460-1470
A seated woman with a distaff, Historia Alexandri Magni (Laud Misc. 751, fol. 173v), c. 1470-1480
Sardanapalus spinning with women, Les Fais et les Dis des Romains et de autres gens (British Library Harley 4375, fol. 179), c. 1473-1480
A group of virtuous women spinning, The City of God (MMW 10 A 11, fol. 69v), c. 1475-1480
A satirical coat of arms, c. 1485-1490
Eve spinning, Speculum humanae salvationis (British Library Harley 2838, fol. 5), c. 1485-1509
The family of the joiner, Les États de la société (BNF Fr. 2374, fol. 1v), end of the 15th century; see also the artisan or labor, the four states of society
Tarot of Charles VI: The Sun (BNF RESERVE KH-24-4 fol. 18), end of the 15th century
February in The Grimani Breviary, c. 1490-1510
Annunciation, c. 1495-1505
A house where husband and wife agree, Le roman de la rose (Douce 195, fol. 67v), end of the 15th century
Pamphile of Kos, De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 599, fol. 40), 15th-16th century
Marketplace frescoes at Issogne, late 15th-early 16th century (detail)
Annunciation to the Shepherds (fol. 56v) and St. Margaret and Olybrius (fol. 189v), Hours of Henry VIII (Morgan MS H.8), c. 1500
Hero laments, Héroïdes (BNF Fr. 874, fol. 132v), 1504
Tapestry: Scene from the legend of St. Margaret of Antioch, 16th century
An old woman spinning, 16th century
Jar with a woman and geese from Deruta or Montelupo, c. 1500-1525
November in a book of hours (Douce 72, fol. 6r), first quarter of the 16th century
Angel fortells the death of Mary, altarpiece at the Church of St. Agidius at Bardejov, 1505
Roundel with an allegorical figure, South Netherlandish, c. 1510-1515
Spinners in The Metamorphoses, 1518
June, book of hours (PML M.632, fol. 6r), c. 1520
Woman with distaff and spindle, The Tudor Pattern Book (Ashmole 1504, fol. 34r), c. 1520-1530
January in the Hennessey Hours, c. 1530-1540
Hercules at the Court of Omphale by Hans Cranach, 1537
Hercules with Omphale by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1537
Stained-glass design for a married couple by Hieronymus Lang, 1553
Interior of a household by Jacopo Bassano
Detail from Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Younger
Interior scene with an old man, a spinning woman, a sewing woman and a leaning man by Ottavio Leoni

SPINNING WHEELS

Savinian, Potentian and Modesta Window at Chartres Cathedral, c. 1215-1225
Woman using a spinning-wheel, Al-Maqâmât (BNF Arabe 5847, fol. 13v), Baghdad, 1237
Apes use spinning wheels on fols. 5r and 92r, the Maastricht Hours (Brit. Lib. Stowe 17), 1st quarter of the 14th century
A woman using a spinning wheel, the Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Lib. Add. 42130, fol. 193r), c. 1325-1340
Spinning wheels on fols. 137r, 139r, 142r, 146r, 147r, 147v, the Smithfield Decretals (Brit. Lib. Royal 10 E IV), c. 1340
Making snares and feeding dogs, Livre de la chasse (PML 1044, fol. 45), c. 1410
Spinning wheel from The Housebook, c. 1475-1485
Preparing the traps for hunting, Livre de la chasse (BNF Fr. 617, fol. 39), beginning of the 16th century
Portrait of a woman by Maarten van Heemskerck, 1529
Portrait of a lady spinning by Maerten van Heemskerck, c. 1531
The lady at the spinning wheel by Lucas van Leyden
A family of weavers by Jodocus van Winghe
Man and Woman by the Spinning Wheel by Pieter Pietersz, c. 1570
Interior of a household by Jacopo Bassano
Spinning and weaving by Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, c. 1594-1596
Spinning-wheel from a dollhouse, southern Germany, 17th-18th century

YARN-WINDERS

This section has moved to its own page.