How silkworms have influenced trade and agriculture throughout the world in a story spanning millennia.
Like today, silk has always been an expensive commodity. In the Middle Ages, its production involved a large number of workers, especially farmers, established across the Eurasian continent. They planted white mulberry trees, the only tree whose leaves can feed silkworms. Once the worms had formed a cocoon, they were boiled and their silk extracted. The precious threads were shipped to marketplaces or to weaving centres in all regions of the then known world.
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The oldest evidence of manmade silk was discovered in 2016 in three tombs in Henan Province, central China, which were degraded silk proteins dating back 8,500 years. For centuries, China kept secret the mysteries of silk production. But, at the opening of the Middle Ages, sericulture was attested in Byzantium. From there, it spread in all directions. Silk production had become, by the central Middle Ages, a common occupation for Asian, Middle-Eastern, North-African and South-European farmers.
Sericulture in the Late Antiquity
In the Late Antiquity, the silk trade was blossoming. Through maritime and terrestrial roads, China exported raw and woven silk to south-east Asia, India, the greater Iran region and the Eastern Roman Empire (modern Greece and Turkey). From there, the silk was dispatched to Western and Northern Europe.
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Although workshops throughout these regions could weave the raw silk, the highest quality fabrics came from China. The Persian textiles, with their intricate patterns, came a close second, while the Roman silk paled in comparison.
The Roman imperial power had established in the third century CE a monopoly on silk weaving. Imported silk was funnelled through an imperial officer who redistributed the material to imperial workshops, though expertise was lacking. The textile was of cheaper making, coarser and lacking the lustre of the others. But this also made it far less expensive. The Roman elite kept importing the best products from China and Persia.
Fragment of Woven Silk from 13th century China – image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art
At the time, China still exerted a strict monopoly on sericulture, or the rearing of silkworms. All silk produced and traded in the world had to come from their silkworms. This was about to change.
Monopoly in Byzantium
In the fourth century CE, silkworms and silk eggs were smuggled to Japan. There, and eventually in India, sericulture developed and China lost its jealous hold. A century later, evidence suggests that Byzantine-Syrian farmers had started to “cattle” their own silkworms. And, in the sixth century, Emperor Justinian began actively promoting the production of silk.
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A famous legend tells how sericulture began in the Eastern Mediterranean. As the story goes, sometime in the early 550s, Persian Christian monks travelled to “the land of the Seres”—the Western nickname for China, with “seres” meaning silk—and returned to Byzantium with silkworm eggs hidden in a hollow walking stick.
Although charming, the story is certainly untrue. Silkworm eggs would not have survived such a long trip. It is more likely that sericulture slowly emerged in Byzantine Syria through a gradual spread from India. Emperor Justinian contributed to the establishment of silkworm farming by financing the planting of mulberry orchards. The emperor may have hoped to break the Chinese monopoly on raw silk.
In Byzantium, sericulture, like silk-weaving before, was strictly controlled by the imperial government. Such activities were forbidden to individual entrepreneurs or farmers. This strict control of the industry meant that the Byzantine Empire was never able to produce enough silk to meet its own demand. There simply weren’t enough farmers allowed to practice sericulture in the empire. The Byzantines thus continued to import large quantities of raw silk.
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The Thriving Sericulture of the Islamic Empire
In contrast to the Byzantines’ difficulties, the neighbouring Caliphate was much more successful. At its apex, the Islamic empire stretched from the Indus River to Spain and Portugal. It comprised the silk-producing regions of Syria, conquered from Byzantium, and controlled trade routes from the east. Their silk industry exploded and expanded at a rapid pace.
The secret to their success was the light control that the central powers exercised on sericulture. This opened the industry to all people and enabled its broad practice. Some Byzantine workers even left Byzantium to establish themselves as sericulturists in Muslim lands or to work there as silk weavers.
From Syria, sericulture spread northward into the mountains of Lebanon, which became another important region for silk production. Mulberries were planted in Northern Iran, as well as in Baghdad (Irak). Everywhere where the climate allowed, families of farmers planted mulberry trees and tended to the precious worms. They sold the raw silk at a good price.
Soon, enough silk was produced to export the raw material in weaving centres established in Central Asia and in the Greater Iran region. The silk was sold in the Empire and beyond, in Europe. Sericulture also began in Egypt, from where it spread to North Africa. In the ninth century, silkworms arrived in Al-Andalus (Portugal and Spain under Islamic rule).
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A 13th century riding coat made of silk, probably made in Iran. Image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Iberian Silk
In Iberia, the Sierra Nevada Mountains offered the best environment for the mulberry trees. There, silkworm farming thrived. Sophisticated irrigation techniques, imported from Persia and Central Asia, enabled the Muslim rulers to establish silk farms wherever possible. Soon, Spanish raw silk and textiles were sold throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. In the mid-twelfth century, author Al-Idrisi wrote that there were 3,000 silkworm farms in the region of Jaén alone, where sericulture had first been introduced.
Farms were also established in the eleventh century in the northern Christian kingdoms of Castile and Léon. Production was entrusted to knowledgeable Mozarab workers—former Muslim individuals to had converted to Christianity. But, if the so-called “Reconquista” had no detrimental impact on production, it inflicted a hard blow on the farmers themselves. During the slow Christian conquest of Al-Andalus, Muslims who refused to convert were persecuted and fled. Christian workers took over the farms to keep production going.
At the time, demand for silk was rising in Europe. But the collapse of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century cut off most of the European supply of raw silk. Now that Chinese silk had become a rarity, the Italian city-states stepped in.
The Silkworm in Italy
Tuscany, the Po river valley and the southern Calabria region provided hospitable environments for the mulberry tree and the silkworm. By the thirteenth century, five Italian cities had established a thriving silk industry: Venice, Florence, Genoa, Bologna and Lucca. In Lucca, the industry employed tens of thousands of workers, from farmers to spinners, from weavers to dyers.
By the fifteenth century, a dozen Italian cities had followed suit and become important centres of silk production. Local legislation strongly encouraged the planting of mulberry trees. In Modena, for instance, a law required landowners to plant a minimum of three mulberries on their estates. A similar ordinance was issued in mid-fifteenth century Florence, asking all farmers to plant from five to 50 trees a year on their lands.
But these measures were not enough to produce raw silk in sufficient quantities. Italy, like the rest of Europe, still relied on imported raw silk to meet the production demand.
Outside of Italy and Spain, farmers tried planting Mulberries and producing silkworms. Southern France began its production in the fifteenth century. But the climate did not allow the precious trees and worms to survive at higher latitudes. Only in the seventeenth century was England able to start its own production.
An image from a 14th century Italian manuscript – note the silkworms on the heraldic shields – Wikimedia Commons
Throughout history, silk has been an expensive and sought-after commodity. Its production involved a long chain of workers, sometimes spanning continents. At the bottom were the farmers. From China to Spain, an army of medieval farmers tended to their white mulberries and fed their leaves to the hungry silkworm-caterpillar. The cocoons were reeled in rural settings, before the silk was shipped to urban centres for spinning, weaving and further adornments.
The history of the silkworm’s travels does not end with the medieval era. Mulberries and silkworm eggs were successfully imported to the newly settled lands of America, first to Mexico in the sixteenth century, then to New England in the seventeenth century. Although farmers received several incentives to start production, the industry remained of modest size. Still today, China is the main provider of raw silk worldwide.
By Lucie Laumonier
How silkworms have influenced trade and agriculture throughout the world in a story spanning millennia.
Like today, silk has always been an expensive commodity. In the Middle Ages, its production involved a large number of workers, especially farmers, established across the Eurasian continent. They planted white mulberry trees, the only tree whose leaves can feed silkworms. Once the worms had formed a cocoon, they were boiled and their silk extracted. The precious threads were shipped to marketplaces or to weaving centres in all regions of the then known world.
The oldest evidence of manmade silk was discovered in 2016 in three tombs in Henan Province, central China, which were degraded silk proteins dating back 8,500 years. For centuries, China kept secret the mysteries of silk production. But, at the opening of the Middle Ages, sericulture was attested in Byzantium. From there, it spread in all directions. Silk production had become, by the central Middle Ages, a common occupation for Asian, Middle-Eastern, North-African and South-European farmers.
Sericulture in the Late Antiquity
In the Late Antiquity, the silk trade was blossoming. Through maritime and terrestrial roads, China exported raw and woven silk to south-east Asia, India, the greater Iran region and the Eastern Roman Empire (modern Greece and Turkey). From there, the silk was dispatched to Western and Northern Europe.
Although workshops throughout these regions could weave the raw silk, the highest quality fabrics came from China. The Persian textiles, with their intricate patterns, came a close second, while the Roman silk paled in comparison.
The Roman imperial power had established in the third century CE a monopoly on silk weaving. Imported silk was funnelled through an imperial officer who redistributed the material to imperial workshops, though expertise was lacking. The textile was of cheaper making, coarser and lacking the lustre of the others. But this also made it far less expensive. The Roman elite kept importing the best products from China and Persia.
At the time, China still exerted a strict monopoly on sericulture, or the rearing of silkworms. All silk produced and traded in the world had to come from their silkworms. This was about to change.
Monopoly in Byzantium
In the fourth century CE, silkworms and silk eggs were smuggled to Japan. There, and eventually in India, sericulture developed and China lost its jealous hold. A century later, evidence suggests that Byzantine-Syrian farmers had started to “cattle” their own silkworms. And, in the sixth century, Emperor Justinian began actively promoting the production of silk.
A famous legend tells how sericulture began in the Eastern Mediterranean. As the story goes, sometime in the early 550s, Persian Christian monks travelled to “the land of the Seres”—the Western nickname for China, with “seres” meaning silk—and returned to Byzantium with silkworm eggs hidden in a hollow walking stick.
Although charming, the story is certainly untrue. Silkworm eggs would not have survived such a long trip. It is more likely that sericulture slowly emerged in Byzantine Syria through a gradual spread from India. Emperor Justinian contributed to the establishment of silkworm farming by financing the planting of mulberry orchards. The emperor may have hoped to break the Chinese monopoly on raw silk.
In Byzantium, sericulture, like silk-weaving before, was strictly controlled by the imperial government. Such activities were forbidden to individual entrepreneurs or farmers. This strict control of the industry meant that the Byzantine Empire was never able to produce enough silk to meet its own demand. There simply weren’t enough farmers allowed to practice sericulture in the empire. The Byzantines thus continued to import large quantities of raw silk.
The Thriving Sericulture of the Islamic Empire
In contrast to the Byzantines’ difficulties, the neighbouring Caliphate was much more successful. At its apex, the Islamic empire stretched from the Indus River to Spain and Portugal. It comprised the silk-producing regions of Syria, conquered from Byzantium, and controlled trade routes from the east. Their silk industry exploded and expanded at a rapid pace.
The secret to their success was the light control that the central powers exercised on sericulture. This opened the industry to all people and enabled its broad practice. Some Byzantine workers even left Byzantium to establish themselves as sericulturists in Muslim lands or to work there as silk weavers.
From Syria, sericulture spread northward into the mountains of Lebanon, which became another important region for silk production. Mulberries were planted in Northern Iran, as well as in Baghdad (Irak). Everywhere where the climate allowed, families of farmers planted mulberry trees and tended to the precious worms. They sold the raw silk at a good price.
Soon, enough silk was produced to export the raw material in weaving centres established in Central Asia and in the Greater Iran region. The silk was sold in the Empire and beyond, in Europe. Sericulture also began in Egypt, from where it spread to North Africa. In the ninth century, silkworms arrived in Al-Andalus (Portugal and Spain under Islamic rule).
Iberian Silk
In Iberia, the Sierra Nevada Mountains offered the best environment for the mulberry trees. There, silkworm farming thrived. Sophisticated irrigation techniques, imported from Persia and Central Asia, enabled the Muslim rulers to establish silk farms wherever possible. Soon, Spanish raw silk and textiles were sold throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. In the mid-twelfth century, author Al-Idrisi wrote that there were 3,000 silkworm farms in the region of Jaén alone, where sericulture had first been introduced.
Farms were also established in the eleventh century in the northern Christian kingdoms of Castile and Léon. Production was entrusted to knowledgeable Mozarab workers—former Muslim individuals to had converted to Christianity. But, if the so-called “Reconquista” had no detrimental impact on production, it inflicted a hard blow on the farmers themselves. During the slow Christian conquest of Al-Andalus, Muslims who refused to convert were persecuted and fled. Christian workers took over the farms to keep production going.
At the time, demand for silk was rising in Europe. But the collapse of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century cut off most of the European supply of raw silk. Now that Chinese silk had become a rarity, the Italian city-states stepped in.
The Silkworm in Italy
Tuscany, the Po river valley and the southern Calabria region provided hospitable environments for the mulberry tree and the silkworm. By the thirteenth century, five Italian cities had established a thriving silk industry: Venice, Florence, Genoa, Bologna and Lucca. In Lucca, the industry employed tens of thousands of workers, from farmers to spinners, from weavers to dyers.
By the fifteenth century, a dozen Italian cities had followed suit and become important centres of silk production. Local legislation strongly encouraged the planting of mulberry trees. In Modena, for instance, a law required landowners to plant a minimum of three mulberries on their estates. A similar ordinance was issued in mid-fifteenth century Florence, asking all farmers to plant from five to 50 trees a year on their lands.
But these measures were not enough to produce raw silk in sufficient quantities. Italy, like the rest of Europe, still relied on imported raw silk to meet the production demand.
Outside of Italy and Spain, farmers tried planting Mulberries and producing silkworms. Southern France began its production in the fifteenth century. But the climate did not allow the precious trees and worms to survive at higher latitudes. Only in the seventeenth century was England able to start its own production.
Throughout history, silk has been an expensive and sought-after commodity. Its production involved a long chain of workers, sometimes spanning continents. At the bottom were the farmers. From China to Spain, an army of medieval farmers tended to their white mulberries and fed their leaves to the hungry silkworm-caterpillar. The cocoons were reeled in rural settings, before the silk was shipped to urban centres for spinning, weaving and further adornments.
The history of the silkworm’s travels does not end with the medieval era. Mulberries and silkworm eggs were successfully imported to the newly settled lands of America, first to Mexico in the sixteenth century, then to New England in the seventeenth century. Although farmers received several incentives to start production, the industry remained of modest size. Still today, China is the main provider of raw silk worldwide.
Lucie Laumonier is an Affiliate assistant professor at Concordia University. Click here to view her Academia.edu page or follow her on Instagram at The French Medievalist.
Further Reading:
Luca Molà, The Silk Industry of Renaissance Venice (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000)
Anna Muthesius, Studies in Byzantine, Islamic and Near Eastern Silk Weaving (Pindar Press, 2008)
Click here to read more articles from Lucie Laumonier
Top Image: Silk being woven on a loom, from Sericulture by Liang Kai, created in the 13th century.
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