"There is so much silk here that it is a wonder": Visions of the East in Medieval Europe - lectures

Maria Ludovica Rosati

The legend of the East goes back a long way. In the eyes of medieval Europe, mysterious Asia was the lair of monsters but it was also a treasure chest with endless riches, silk being the rarest of them all. Through the words of travellers and eye-witnesses of the time, we'll be learning how the fantastic equation East = Silk came into being, and exploring the role that this precious yarn played in Western imagination.