Several months ago I taught a class on finger loop braiding to my local SCA chapter. In preparing that class I relied heavily on the work of several excellent websites. On one of them I came across a reference to some medieval instructions (in Middle English) for making these braids. Curious, I searched out and found a copy of this reference (“Directions for Making Many Sorts of Laces,” by E. G. Stanley, in Chaucer and Middle English Studies in Honour of Rossoll Hope Robbins, edited by B. Rowland, pp. 89-103. Kent State University, 1974), a collection of articles on writings in Middle English. I didn’t get the book in time for the class, but I been reading it recently. The author of the article has transliterated the script, but not translated it. Having taken courses in college on Chaucer and the history of the English language, this has not hindered me overmuch. I have worked my way through several of the five loop (bowe in the text) braids. In rereading the introductory section, which I have to confess that I only kinda skimmed when I first got the book (I was way too eager to dive into the hands on stuff :), I found that the manuscript in question is located in the British Library. Past research has led me to appreciate how lucky I am to be an amateur historian in this day and age. Many of the larger museums, including the British museum, the Victoria and Albert, the French National Library, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, have large sections of their collections online, including many pieces not generally on display. The British Library and the National Library of France in particular have large collections of digitized manuscripts. And indeed, the manuscript transliterated in this article can be found here. The manuscript itself if I understand it correctly was part of a private library and contains several folios on diverse topics bound together for the use of the owner. I would guess that they were primarily for the lady of the house as one of the other sections deals with medical recipes for mothers. Other sections contain calendars and texts on prognostication, not altogether unlike a medieval version of a farmers almanac. According to the libraries description the dates of the sections range from the 15th to the 17th centuries. The calendar appears to be in a different script from the article on laces (think shoe lace, not trim lace), but the first two prognostications are in the same hand. Language experts put this portion in the first quarter of the 15th century, and the high collared houppelande worn by the lady at the beginning of the text on laces bears this out. Check out Hope Greenburg’s portfolio of images on the evolution of the houppelande. More recent manuscripts on the techniques can be found at the Victoria and Albert Museum. These are from the middle of the 17th century and include samples of the braids worked in silk and stitched to the pages.

Before I begin my translations, and show you my samplers, I need to define some terms. In the direction, each finger on the hand is given a different name, shown in the image on the right. The hands are held in basically this position while working the braid. For a five bowe braid (which all of the ones I am showing you today are) five loops of equal length are created. Just under a yard is the maximum length that one person can work. (You have to be able to tighten the braid, which means that two loops have to be less in length than your arm span.) The loops can be knotted together or they can be strung onto a leader string which is then attached to something immobile. Loops are placed over the designated fingers. When a loop is placed on a finger, one strand of the loop is above the finger, closer to the ceiling, and one loop is below the finger, closer to the floor. This orientation is important. The directions will tell the braider to take a loop either “reversed” or “unreversed”. When taking a loop unreversed, you are not changing its orientation. The top strand stays above the new finger, just as it ran on top of the previous finger. When taking a loop reversed, you are changing the orientation of the strands. I am sure that there is some slight difference in texture of the final braid if you twist the loop clockwise vs counterclockwise when reversing it, but it does not make a difference in the pattern. There is a really excellent You Tube tutorial here if you are having difficulty following my instructions. The pattern Kyle is demonstrating is identical to the first pattern I am presenting.

Here are the samplers. You can see from the two photos that the braids are double sided, that is they present a different pattern on each side.

Now for the translations:

In the manner of making laces you shall understand that the first finger next to the thumb shall be called “A”, the second finger “B”, third “C”, and fourth “D”. Also some time you shall take your bowes reversed and sometimes unreversed. When you shall take the bowe reversed you shall take with your one hand the bowe of the other hand from without, so that the side that was beneath on your one hand before the taking will be above on the other hand after the taking. When you are bid to take unreversed you shall take with your one hand the bowe of the other hand from within so that the side that was above on the one hand before the taking is above on the other hand after the taking.

And some time you shall reverse the bowes upward and some times downward. When you are bid to reverse the bowes you shall take your lower side of the bowes and set it above, and they side that was above set below. And when you are told to reverse your bowes upward if that bowe stands on “B” you shall take the under side of the boews and set it above on A, and the side that was between “A” and “B” shall dwell still in this place. And when you are bit to reverse the bowes downward, if ther is a bowe on “A” you shall take the[outer/other?] side of the bowes and set it beneath on “B”, and the side that was between “A” and “B” shall be still. And some time you shall turn the bowes. When you shall turn the bowes you shall reverse the bowes twice, so that the side that was above before te taking is above after the taking. And some time you shall raise the bowes and some time you shall lower them. When you shall rais them you shall take the bowe “B” and set it on “A”, and the bowe “C” set on “B”, and the bowe “D” set on “C”. And when you shall lower them you shall take the bowe “C” and set it on “D” and the bowe “B” set on “C”, and the bowe “A” set on “B”.

For to make a broad lace of five bowes: Set two bowes on “B” and “C” right, and three bowes on “A”, “B”, “C” left. Then shall “A” right take through the bowe “B” of the same hand the bowe “C” of the left hand reversed. Then lower the left bowes. Then shall “A” left take through “B” of the same hand, the bowe “C” of the right hand reversed. Then lower the right bowes and begin again.

This makes a flat, double faced braid. For this braid, to show the structure a little better, I used two different colors. One of the bowes was green and the rest were white. Next time I post I plan on demonstrating the effects of using different ratios of colors on the end pattern.

 

 

 

 

For to make a round lace of five bowes: Do five bowes on the fingers as you did in the broad lace. Then shall “A” right take through “B” and “C” of the same hand the bowe “C” of the left hand reversed. Then lower the left bowes. Then shall “A” left take through “B” and “C” of the same hand the bowe “C” of the right hand reversed. Then lower the right bowes and begin again.

This pattern makes a square braid. Opposing sides are offset versions of the same pattern, and the pattern from 90 degrees is different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For to make a thin lace of five bowes: Set a bowe on “A” left hand and two other bowes on “B” left hand, a bowe on “C” left hand and a bowe on “B” right hand. Then shall “A” right take through “B” of the same hand the bowe “C” of the left hand reversed; and “B”right shall take the rear bowe of “B” through the bowe that stands before on “B” left unreversed. Then shall “C” right take the bowe that remains on “B” left hand unreversed. Lower the bowe of “A” left onto “B” left. Then shall “A” left take through the bowe “B” of the same hand the bower “C” of the right hand unreversed; and “B” left shall go through the front bowe of “B” right and take the bowe that stands within on “B” right unreversed. [**] Then lower the bowe of “A” right onto “B” right and begin again.

If you follow these directions as written you end up with a problem. It does not return you to your starting position. The step that returns the remaining loop on “B” right to “C” left is missing. It seems fairly easy, you just need to insert a step to do that where I have marked the ** in the pattern. But here is conundrum. Do you reverse or not? The pattern already has an asymmetrical step, emphasized by me with an underline in the above passage. To try to figure this out, I tried it both ways. If you insert the step, “Then shall “C” left take the bower that remains on “B” right hand unreversed.” you get a flat, single sided braid like the one below. Remember that our other braids have all been double faced. It has a tendency to curl as you work it, but once you have finished it, it can be flattened out to reveal its pattern.

If instead, you insert, “”Then shall “C” left take the bower that remains on “B” right hand reversed.” you get two very narrow braids. If worked from the beginning this will create two narrow braids simultaneously. If alternated with another of the braids in this post, as I have done here, you can create an eyelet or buttonhole.

I hope that you have enjoyed what I hope will be the first installment of my adventures in fingerloop braiding. I bet right about now you’re wondering about the first image in the post. Just for fun, I am going to leave you with some fingerloop braids done in an alternative medium. A friend of mine took a class last year on Kumihimo in wire. Kumihimo is very similar in structure to fingerloop braids, so I figured… What the heck! The first two below are the broad lace done in 24 gauge brass and 28 gauge craft wire respectively. The last braid which is a close up of the piece that led this post is the round braid worked in the 24 gauge brass.