Retraso mental

Roldanus (1936).

From the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 until 1737 damask imports from the Low Countries had a mean equivalent length of some 4,900 ‘yds’.^^ During the same period the royal

household purchased a mean equivalent length of some 1,700 ‘yds’ representing more than a third of the total.^^ In 1737, a decision was made to buy all future supplies of damask and diaper for the royal household from Ireland, instead of from the Low Countries. This was reported in a notice that appeared in the Dublin Evening Post, 23-26 July 1737,

His Grace the Duke of Dorset, our late Lord Lieutenant, & now Steward of his Majesty’s Household, to shew his regard for the Interests & Welfare of this Kingdom, hath recommended to their Majesties the use of Irish Linen; & we hear that his Grace has sent Directions to this Kingdom, for the making of great Quantities of Table Cloths & Napkins, with their Majesties Arms in the Middle & and in the C o m e r s.^3

Clearly other customers followed the royal example as the imports of both damask and diaper from the Low Countries collapsed, never to recover (Fig. 4.6).

4 .S IMPORTS OF SLETIA DIAPER AND DAM ASK

In the English Merchants [Denizens] port books for 1588 and 1589 there were parcels of linen imported from Stade which included ‘course counterfett diaper for napkins’, and ‘broade diaper for tablinge’.^"^ The narrow diaper was valued at 6d. per ell and the broad at

16d per ell. The use of the term ‘counterfett’, the port of lading, and the valuations all indicate that these parcels contained the figured linens, that were subsequently classified in the 1604 Book of Rates as ‘Tabling’, and ‘Towelling & Napking Sletia making’, and valued at 18d. per yd and 6d. per yd respectively. Despite diaper and damask being woven in Saxony, as well as Silesia and subsequently in other parts of the German lands, it was generally referred to in English documents as ‘Sletia’, although ‘Silesia’ and ‘Sleasie’ were sometimes used.^^

By 1609 the imports of Sletia diaper were significant: the Merchant Strangers port book includes parcels with equivalent lengths totalling 39,200 ‘yds’ in comparison with Low Countries diaper totalling 23,400 ‘yds’ (see Fig. 4.8 and Appendices B4 & B2). Over the next ten years, although there were marked variations from one year to the next, the mean

61 For the 24 years, 1714-1737, total equivalent length was 116,970 ‘yds’, i.e. mean o f 4,874 ‘yds’. 6 2 For the 24 years, 1714-1737, total equivalent length was 40,719 ‘yds’, i.e. mean of 1,697 ‘yd s’. 6 3 The author is grateful to the late Ada Longfield for bringing this document to his attention.

6 4 E l 9 0 /8 /1 ,60v; E l 90/8/4, 38v, Between 1587 and 1598, Stade and Middelburg were the staple ports o f the Merchant Adventurers.

6 5 The port books invariably used the Book of Rates description ‘Sletia’. The inventory record shows more variety, e.g. 1672DAWES, ‘Silesia Linnen 12 tablecloths 14 dozen napkins’ and 1676 WHEAKE, 3 doz. ‘Sleazy Diaper napkins.’

quantities of Sletia diaper were 25 per cent greater than those of Low Countries diaper. With the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War in 1618, Sletia diaper imports fell behind those from the Low Countries, despite the reduction in the mean quantities of Low Countries diaper owing to the renewal of hostilities between the United Provinces and Spain in 1621. Unfortunately there is only one year, 1633, during the first half of the century when both the Strangers and Denizens port books survive, so the total quantities of Sletia diaper imports remain unclear. A rough approximation can be obtained by the addition of the mean annual values of the Strangers and Denizens imports. For the years between 1619 and 1648 these total 47,000 ‘yds’ of Sletia and 57,000 ‘yds’ of Low Countries diaper.^^

It seems that the potential for the expansion of the production of table linen in Saxony and Silesia was hamstrung by the Thirty Years War, as after its conclusion there was a very dramatic increase in Sletia diaper imports, both in actual quantity and in comparison with imports of diaper from the Low Countries. For the eleven years between 1672 and 1696 when both Strangers and Denizens port books survive, the mean annual quantity of Sletia diaper imported into London was 324,000 ‘yds’ compared with 24,000 ‘yds’ of Low Countries diaper. At the same time there was a similar ‘take-ofP in the imports of Sletia damask. During the first half of the seventeenth century a few small parcels had been imported, the earliest port book record being in 1611.^* The quantities remained small in the first years after the Restoration but in 1677, 3,000 ‘yds’ were imported. Subsequently there was a remarkable increase, with 81,000 ‘yds’ of Sletia damask in 1696 (Fig. 4.8) which was twenty times the quantity of ‘Holland’ damask imported in the same year.

For the first years of the eighteenth century, the Inspector General’s ledgers indicate that Sletia damask and diaper imports continued at similar levels (Appendix B5) but in 1706 during the Great Northern War, Charles XII of Sweden marched across Silesia into Saxony. D W Jones notes that.

From 1706 onwards German linen imports fell, so that by 1708-11 they stood some 23 per cent lower than in 1702-4. The explanation for this is probably to be found in the effects of the military operations which were increasingly to hit the great Silesian and Saxon centres of production from 1704 onwards.

6 6 Merchant Strangers port books survive for 8 of these 10 years, but two are for 6-month periods: Imports of Sletia diaper 161,669 -r 7 = annual mean o f 23,096 *yds*

Imports o f Low Countries diaper 128,644 -r 7 = annual mean of 18,378 ‘yds’

6 7 Between 1619 and 1648, twelve Merchant Stranger port books survive, with one being for a 6-month period:

Imports of Sletia diaper 66,597 -r 11.5= annual mean of 5,790 ‘yds’ Imports o f Low Countries diaper 158,469 -r 11.5 = annual mean of 13,780 ‘yds*

For the same period, seven Merchant Denizen port books survive, with one being for a 6-month period: Imports of Sletia diaper 266,192 4- 6.5 = annual mean o f 40,950 ‘yds’

Imports of Low Countries diaper 279,113 -r 6.5 = annual mean of 42,940 ‘yds’ 6 8 E190/16/5, 37 yds Sletia damask tabling, 75 yds napkining.

For the same years Sletia diaper and damask imports stood some 48 per cent lower. This supports the explanation posited by Jones, for whereas most German figured table linen was woven in Silesia and Saxony, the overall imports of German linen included many plain linens which were woven in provinces to the west less affected by the war, such as

Westphalia, Munster and Osnabruck. These events seem to have been a watershed: prior to 1706 some 20 per cent of the figured table linen imported from Germany was of damask, whereas after this time it more than doubled (Table 4.4). This signal increase coincided with an observable change in weaving structure of the better quality damasks to satin of 8 from satin of 5, and the use of finer and more regularly spun thread.^®

TABLE 4.4 PROPORTION OF SLETIA DAM ASK IMPORTS, 1697-1760» Five-year means of equivalent length in ‘000s ‘yds’

PERIOD