A Stitcher’s Alphabet
Part 7: O and P
Opus Anglicanum This literally means “English work” and is used to describe English embroidery worked from around AD 900-1500. English Embroidery has never reached a higher peak of excellence than it did at this time, so much so that it wasn’t necessary to specify the type of work being referred to - Engish work meant the highlyprized and luxurious embroideries made in England of silk and gold and silver thread, teeming with elaborate imagery. It is an accident of survival that most existing examples of Opus Anglicanum are religious vestments. Medieval bishops were buried in their very best robes: when their tombs were opened centuries later, the well-preserved fabric often still had its glorious original colours. Gold and crimson and sapphire blue embroideries that were found clinging to ancient skeletons are today meticulously conserved. Though there must also have been a large amount of non-religious embroidery worked, this has practically all disappeared.
