User:Rowynnallo/Suaire de Saint-Josse

***Note to peer reviewer: This sandbox contains additions to the existing Wikipedia article: Suaire de Saint-Josse

*** added hyperlinks: Iran, France, textile, friezes, tiraz, Stephen of Blois

*** added citations: Blair, Sokoly, Hillenbrand, Knight, Jacoby

*** underlined the text I added

The Suaire de Saint-Josse, the "Shroud of Saint Josse" that is now conserved in the Musée du Louvre, is a rich silk velvet woven with gold thread samite saddle cloth that was woven in northeastern Iran, some time before 961 in the mid tenth century before 961 , when Abu Mansur Bukhtegin, the "camel-prince" for whom it was woven, was beheaded. It was brought back from the First Crusade by Étienne de Blois and dedicated as a votive gift at the Abbey of Saint-Josse, near Caen, Normandy, France where it became a reliquary. It has been described as "the major landmark in early Islamic silk weaving".

This fragmentary textile with elephants and camels woven into the design is the only known surviving example of a silk textile produced in Eastern Iran, in the royal workshops of the Samanid dynasty, probably at either Merv or Nishapur. It now exists in fragments due to the fragile nature of textiles making them unable to survive history as well as more durable items like ceramics. The "prince" referred to in the woven Kufic inscription, though decipherable in more than one way, is most likely to refer to the general and emir Bukhtegin, a Turkish military commander active in the service of 'Abd al-Malik I, the Samanid sultan of Khorasan, who ruled 954-61. Silks were common gifts for those in the entourage of rulers that would be given in a ceremonial setting to symbolize their honorific titles. An image of the Shroud of Saint Josse is available on the Louvre's museum website under their department of Islamic Arts.

Construction, design, and technique
The cloth is now in two fragments, which are regarded as comprising about half of the original piece. They are 52 x 94 cm and 24.5 x 62 cm respectively, the first measurement being the length. The design was somewhat like a carpet (not that any from this date survive), with a central field containing two pairs of confronted elephants, one above the other, of which one pair survive. There is evidence of other silk textiles with elephants depicted made in Islamic and Byzantine weaving workshops. There is then a thin border with geometric patterns, outside which the sides have friezes of repeated camels and at least the bottom (which survives) an inscription in Kufic script. The bands of inscriptions are called tiraz. Part of the inscription has been translated to read, "glory and prosperity to the qa'id Abu Mansur Bukhtegin, may God prolong (His favors to him?)" and "may his life be extended." In all, there are five zones of border between the elephants and the edge of the cloth.

Christian context
Cross-cultural interaction commonly took place in the form of diplomatic gift giving and stolen booty from war. Like many trophies of foreign adventure, both in the Middle Ages and in more modern times, in its new context, the rare textile was given new meaning, for it was used to wrap the bones of Saint Josse when he was reinterred in 1134. The shroud was a gift given to the Abbey of Saint-Josse by Stephen of Blois, the usurper of the English throne who ruled 1135-54 C.E. According to scholars, the use of this object in this context could be a way for the Abbey to symbolize triumph of Christianity over Islam with an exoticism appeal. The material value and high level of craftsmanship are part of the reason this object was used in a holy manner to wrap the relic of Saint-Josse.

It is not uncommon for objects from the Islamic world with high status and value to end up in Europe within a Christian context as is evidenced by the Heart Case of Abbot Roger de Norton from Saint Alban's Abbey in England. It, like the shroud, exists today not in its complete form but instead just as the incomplete lid to the box because it is so old and fragile. A lot of the information known about it is from documentary evidence by John of Amundesham from 1428 that described monuments and tombs in the abbey. There are also Arabic inscriptions that provide some knowledge but have been translated differently by different scholars. The heart case was used to hold the Abbot's heart after his death and buried in front of the Altar of the Four Tapers. This location of burial for the relic was honorable and significant because the Abbot founded that altar. Another similar example of an Islamic object in a Christian context is the twelfth-century ivory casket now also a reliquary in Saint Petroc.

Abbey of Saint-Josse
When the Abbey of Saint-Josse was secularized just before the French Revolution, the abbey church became the parish church of the French commune of Saint-Josse; the suaire was kept there until it was transferred to the Louvre almost 1,000 years later. In the Abbey the suaire would have been viewed by many visitors who were coming to see the relic of Saint Josse.