Embroidery has always been a popular art in England, and records show that from Anglo-Saxon times the English were skilled in the craft. The earliest surviving examples are all ecclesiastical. Portions of a magnificent stole and maniple (Plate 1 in this book), dating from about A.D. 915, were found in the tomb of St. Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral, and are now preserved in the Cathedral library. The stole and maniple are embroidered in coloured silks and gold thread, and bear inscriptions stating that they were made for Friedestan, Bishop of Winchester, by order of Queen Aelfflaeda, the wife of Edward the Elder. This is the only English embroidery dating from before the Norman conquest that has been preserved and apart from the Bayeux Tapestry very little work of a date earlier than the middle of the 13th century is now extant. This and many other examples of early English embroidery are displayed in this book.
