Wool is the natural fibrous covering of the sheep, and also of the llama, angora goat, and other animals. The domestic sheep provides the great bulk of the fibres used in commerce.
Human beings had been keeping sheep for 7,000 years before it occurred to anyone to use their wool.
One of the laws given to Moses and the Hebrews by God was that clothes of wool and linen must not be mixed. This may seem strange, but it is connected to the old fertility cult, which was widespread in the area they are conquering. The pagans believed that by mixing such things they were producing fertility. But this is just a superstition, God gives fertility and he is against superstition.
The Romans brought sheep into Spain, where long centuries of breeding produced the Merino sheep, which today produces most of the world's finest wool. The Romans also brought the craft of wool manufacture to Britain.
Women in Roman cities were encouraged to occupy their time working with wool. Their task was synonymous with being a virtuous wife and mother. In fact the Emperor Augustus was so eager to re-establish traditional Roman values that he wore woolen clothes made by his wife to encourage women to return to their looms.
The medieval English wool trade was one of the most important factors in the medieval British economy. By 1000 toll-records show German merchants buying raw wool in London.
In the mid-12th century, English wool trade was primarily with Flanders (where wool was made into cloth, primarily for sale via the Champagne fairs into the Mediterranean basin). German and Flemish merchants formed a London association (Hanse) and toured the English countryside for supplies of raw wool.
Edward I of England's frequent military campaigns put a great financial strain on the nation. The king was granted a half-mark (6s 8d) customs duty per sack on the export of wool by the Parliament of 1275. But more money needed to be raised and an unpopular additional duty on wool, dubbed the maltolt or "bad tax" (in Norman-French) was levied between 1294-7.
"Ba, Ba Black sheep" is traditionally believed to refer to the 1275 wool tax. In the nursery rhyme, the black sheep admits to having three bags of wool which will be divided between "the master, "the dame" and "the little boy" (the little boy presumably being the taxman).
The English textile trade grew during the 15th century, to the point where export of wool was discouraged. The smuggling of wool out of the country, known as owling, was at one time punishable by the cutting off of a hand.
Half the population of Calais in the fifteenth century worked for the British wool trade. (Calais was an English possession at the time).
William Shakespeare's father, John, who was prosperous at the time of William's birth, was prosecuted for participating in the black market in wool.
In the 16th century, England invited wool craftsmen from other countries to settle there, and for a time the country became the world's leading wool-textile producer. However, the quality of English wools was in decline, perhaps partly due to a switch in focus to meat production for domestic urban markets, and European supremacy in the production of fine-wool passed to the Iberian peninsula and its Merino sheep.
One of the earliest depictions of a Merino sheep was El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, ca. 1650 (see below)
A 1571 Statute in England ordered the wearing of a "cap of wool knit" to be worn by everybody over six years of age during holidays. This was to help out the ailing wool trade.
Sheep were brought to America by Spanish conquistador and explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1540.
Early American settlers brought sheep to Jamestown in Virginia, and wove their own woolens, called homespuns.
George Washington was one of the first American scientific farmers. He improved his breed of sheep and obtained more than double the average yield of wool.
In 1797 the Merino sheep was introduced into Australia, which has become the world's largest producer of Merino wool: South Africa and South America are also large producers.
A World War I-era poster sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture encouraged children to raise sheep to provide needed war supplies. (see below)
Since World War II blendings of wool with synthetic fibres have been developed.
In Britain there are today some 26 breeds of sheep, and the wool is classified as lustre.
Wools from crossbred sheep (usually a cross of one of the lustre class with a merino) are produced in New Zealand.
Wool absorbs and releases water vapour as humidity rises and falls, which is why it works so well as a natural insulator.
The word jersey originally meant any knitted item make from Jersey wool, especially stockings.
Peruvian alpaca wool comes in 22 natural colors, the most of any wool-producing animal.
Asbestos was originally believed to be the wool of the salamander.
Sources Daily Express, Compton's Encyclopedia
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HISTORY
Human beings had been keeping sheep for 7,000 years before it occurred to anyone to use their wool.
One of the laws given to Moses and the Hebrews by God was that clothes of wool and linen must not be mixed. This may seem strange, but it is connected to the old fertility cult, which was widespread in the area they are conquering. The pagans believed that by mixing such things they were producing fertility. But this is just a superstition, God gives fertility and he is against superstition.
The Romans brought sheep into Spain, where long centuries of breeding produced the Merino sheep, which today produces most of the world's finest wool. The Romans also brought the craft of wool manufacture to Britain.
Women in Roman cities were encouraged to occupy their time working with wool. Their task was synonymous with being a virtuous wife and mother. In fact the Emperor Augustus was so eager to re-establish traditional Roman values that he wore woolen clothes made by his wife to encourage women to return to their looms.
The medieval English wool trade was one of the most important factors in the medieval British economy. By 1000 toll-records show German merchants buying raw wool in London.
In the mid-12th century, English wool trade was primarily with Flanders (where wool was made into cloth, primarily for sale via the Champagne fairs into the Mediterranean basin). German and Flemish merchants formed a London association (Hanse) and toured the English countryside for supplies of raw wool.
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| English Sheep, shown here in in 1240s or 1250s |
Edward I of England's frequent military campaigns put a great financial strain on the nation. The king was granted a half-mark (6s 8d) customs duty per sack on the export of wool by the Parliament of 1275. But more money needed to be raised and an unpopular additional duty on wool, dubbed the maltolt or "bad tax" (in Norman-French) was levied between 1294-7.
"Ba, Ba Black sheep" is traditionally believed to refer to the 1275 wool tax. In the nursery rhyme, the black sheep admits to having three bags of wool which will be divided between "the master, "the dame" and "the little boy" (the little boy presumably being the taxman).
The English textile trade grew during the 15th century, to the point where export of wool was discouraged. The smuggling of wool out of the country, known as owling, was at one time punishable by the cutting off of a hand.
Half the population of Calais in the fifteenth century worked for the British wool trade. (Calais was an English possession at the time).
William Shakespeare's father, John, who was prosperous at the time of William's birth, was prosecuted for participating in the black market in wool.
In the 16th century, England invited wool craftsmen from other countries to settle there, and for a time the country became the world's leading wool-textile producer. However, the quality of English wools was in decline, perhaps partly due to a switch in focus to meat production for domestic urban markets, and European supremacy in the production of fine-wool passed to the Iberian peninsula and its Merino sheep.
One of the earliest depictions of a Merino sheep was El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, ca. 1650 (see below)
A 1571 Statute in England ordered the wearing of a "cap of wool knit" to be worn by everybody over six years of age during holidays. This was to help out the ailing wool trade.
Sheep were brought to America by Spanish conquistador and explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1540.
Early American settlers brought sheep to Jamestown in Virginia, and wove their own woolens, called homespuns.
George Washington was one of the first American scientific farmers. He improved his breed of sheep and obtained more than double the average yield of wool.
In 1797 the Merino sheep was introduced into Australia, which has become the world's largest producer of Merino wool: South Africa and South America are also large producers.
A World War I-era poster sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture encouraged children to raise sheep to provide needed war supplies. (see below)
Since World War II blendings of wool with synthetic fibres have been developed.
FUN WOOL FACTS
In Britain there are today some 26 breeds of sheep, and the wool is classified as lustre.
Wools from crossbred sheep (usually a cross of one of the lustre class with a merino) are produced in New Zealand.
Wool absorbs and releases water vapour as humidity rises and falls, which is why it works so well as a natural insulator.
The word jersey originally meant any knitted item make from Jersey wool, especially stockings.
Peruvian alpaca wool comes in 22 natural colors, the most of any wool-producing animal.
Asbestos was originally believed to be the wool of the salamander.
Sources Daily Express, Compton's Encyclopedia
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