Although tapestry was made in larger quantities during the Renaissance, the mediaeval designs are better adapted to the material.

The royal chambers of the Kings of England were hung with tapestry, and it was the designated duty of the Chamberlain to see to such adornment.  In 1294 there is mention of a special artist in tapestry, who lived near Winchester; his name was Sewald, and he was further known as “le tapenyr,” which, according to M. G. Thomson, signifies tapestrier.

One is led to believe that tapestries were used as church adornments before they were introduced into dwellings; for it was said, when Queen Eleanor of Castile had her bedroom hung with tapestries, that “it was like a church.”  At Westminster, a writer of 1631 alludes to the “cloths of Arras which adorn the choir.”

Sets of tapestries to hang entire apartments were known as “Hallings.”  Among the tapestries which belonged to Charles V. was one “worked with towers, fallow bucks and does, to put over the King’s boat.”  Among early recorded tapestries are those mentioned in the inventory of Philip the Bold, in 1404, while that of Philip the Good tells of his specimens, in 1420.  Nothing can well be imagined more charming than the description of a tapestried chamber in 1418; the room being finished in white was decorated with paroquets and damsels playing harps.  This work was accomplished for the Duchess of Bavaria by the tapestry maker, Jean of Florence.

Flanders tapestry was famous in the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.  Arras particularly was the town celebrated for the beauty of its work.  This famous manufactory was founded prior to 1350, as there is mention of work of that period.  Before the town became known as Arras, while it still retained its original name, Nomenticum, the weavers were famous who worked there.  In 282 A. D. the woven cloaks of Nomenticum were spoken of by Flavius Vopiscus.

The earliest record of genuine Arras tapestry occurs in an order from the Countess of Artois in 1313, when she directs her receiver “de faire faire six tapis a Arras.”  Among the craftsmen at Arras in 1389 was a Saracen, named Jehan de Croisetes, and in 1378 there was a worker by the name of Huwart Wallois.  Several of its workmen emigrated to Lille, in the fifteenth century, among them one Simon Lamoury and another, Jehan de Rausart.  In 1419 the Council Chamber of Ypres was ornamented with splendid tapestries by Francois de Wechter, who designed them, and had them executed by Arras workmen.  The Van Eycks and Memlinc also designed tapestries, and there is no doubt that the art would have continued to show a more consistent regard for the demands of the material if Raphael had never executed his brilliant cartoons.  The effort to be Raphaelesque ruined the effect of many a noble piece of technique, after that.

In 1302 a body of ten craftsmen formed a Corporation in Paris.  The names of several workmen at Lille have been handed down to us.  In 1318 Jehan Orghet is recorded, and in 1368, Willaume, a high-warp worker.  Penalties for false work were extreme.  One of the best known workers in France was Bataille, who was closely followed by one Dourdain.