Dyes in the Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, the growth of the textile industry soon became one of the main economic engines of Europe. The industry was propelled by a number of dyer-artisans into an exhaustive search for new products and techniques that would result in brighter and more durable colors. Once imported from the Orient, textile fabrics in sumptuous colors soon became the pride of local artisans who split into two distinctive guilds, one for "master" dyers whose task was to treat quality textiles intended for rich bourgeois and royalty. The other for "ordinary" dyers who looked after a clientele that could not afford high quality textiles, but who were just as important in terms of sheer numbers.

Thus, one could easily distinguish the rich from the less fortunate, not only by the tailoring of their garments, but also by their coloring. Peasants and craftsmen were dressed in dull, colorless, faded or undyed garb while important merchants and royalty strutted around in bright, strong colors.

The evolution of dyeing techniques led to changes in the value and popularity of colors. Blue overtook red as the dominant color when new techniques allowed dyers to create a richer, more stable shade of blue that had been impossible to get before.

This evolution gave rise to a number of conflicts among dyers who all wanted to control a monopoly in the preparation of fashionable colors. Regulations were enacted that clearly specified what coloring agents could be used by each guild. Likewise the use of water was regulated to ensure that each guild, in turn, could have access to clean water in which to rinse its textiles.

François Delamare et Bernard Guineau ; Les matériaux de la couleur ; collection Découvertes Gallimard Techniques, 1999; pp. 39-44.