#The Tapestry of History

[world-v-you-blog]

The Tapestry of History, 12 – The Rise of the West, 7 – The Reformation, 3

(Image credit – Wikipedia – St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Paris 1572 – by François Dubois) The Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century is one of the pivotal events of Western History, and thereby of World History. The geopolitical state of the world in the 21st Century is, in part, attributable to the consequences of the division of Europe into Roman Catholic and Protestant nation-states…

[lionofchaeronea]

Adoration of the Magi, tapestry by Edward Burne-Jones (with details by William Morris and Henry Dearle). Designed 1888, woven 1894. 258 cm (101.1 in) high x 384 cm (151.3 in) wide. Now at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, England, UK.

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

Alexander the Great kissing Hephaestion

Tapestry at Hampton Court Palace, London.

[virgocurator]

La Bête de la Mer / Tapisserie de l’Apocalypse (Tapestry of the Apocalypse)

Medieval tapestry of the Ignatius of Antioch (Christian saint and martyr)

[degenderates]

from “All Transsexuals are Not Alike” by James Green, published in the summer 1994 issue of TV/TS Tapestry

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Six lords and ladies with fabulous beasts, fragment of a wall hanging.

Place of origin: Basle, Switzerland

Date: ca. 1410-1420

Medium: Wool tapestry

[germanpostwarmodern]

Sonia Delaunay, Hommage à Tristan Tzara, 1956 (executed in 1967), Kunsthalle Emden. Photo from September 2023.

[garadinervi]

'On this land', Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian National Poet "على هذه الأرض ما يستحق الحياة" [The Palestinian History Tapestry. Source of image and Design: Ibrahim Muhtadi (Al Quds), Gaza, Palestine; Embroidery: Hekmat Ashour (Gaza), Gaza, Palestine]

«"We have on this land that which makes this life worth living" ― Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian National Poet.»

[ofhoovesandheart]

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

nobleman on horseback, flowers in hand - source

[kradogsrats]

Okay, so new day; new insane lore history theory.

Looking at the tapestry from ToX again more closely, after my very quick scan this morning, there are actually five distinct types of soldiers shown:

Based on careful examination of the contemporary armor/uniforms used by the Pentarchy armies, I landed on this breakdown:

I could explain in great detail how I made those distinctions, but honestly it doesn't matter and people don't care. Just trust me, I thought hard about it.

Originally I misidentified there as only being three types of soldiers, because the Katolis/Evenere and Neolandia/Del Bar designs are very similar. Also because the tapestry shows three cities:

Katolis is obvious, and I still think the other two are Berylgarten and Neolandia. The map helpfully tells us there are five known cities in the human kingdoms, complete with little pictures:

I've left out Hinterpeak because it's very obvious none of the tapestry cities is Hinterpeak, Hinterpeak is literally inside a mountain. Del Bar's secondary city, Serpentongue, looks like a candidate based on its map drawing, but ToX tells us that Serpentongue actually looks like this, which is... less representative of what the tapestry shows:

We see Berylgarten briefly in s2 during Viren's flashback sections, where it's a sort of tiered city with towers around a central dome:

I think that's closer to the top tapestry city than Serpentongue is, though it's still fairly abstracted. It also makes more sense for the "capital" city of a kingdom to be represented.

Finally, we have Eboreus, which is a bit of a problem child because we have no long-distance views of Eboreus that I can recall... there are depictions of the inside of the city, but nothing that would characterize its silhouette for us. However, ToX does have another piece of "old" artwork, meant to be probably some kind of fresco, depicting the founding of Neolandia and Eboreus:

(This is the latter, Eboreus half, the right half just shows the people migrating from the east and going through a nomadic tent-based civilization period.)

It doesn't help a ton, except that construction of the city wall is given a pretty dramatic place in the visual narrative. I would definitely assume, from this, that Eboreus is a walled city similar to the bottom tapestry city. Combined with the many-spired depiction on the map, I feel okay about that identification.

It's interesting that they geographically represent only three of the five kingdoms, but if the tapestry pre-dates parts of the kingdoms' formations... well, the kingdom that's a swamp infested with magical megagators and the kingdom where they still choose the next monarch by having a literal melee free-for-all are honestly the ones I'd say probably took the longest to establish like... actual government.

However, something to keep in mind is that while I've been talking about this tapestry like it's a super-old historical document within the setting, it may actually not be from all that far in the past. All we really know is that it shows a conflict between humans and elves, divided by the Border, and that's not exactly a historically unique scenario. The main things that suggest it's showing an earlier time than "now" are that it includes only three cities, and that it clearly depicts mages being heavily involved in warfare. If that was something that was expected at series time, a lot of things would be very different. I could, however, see it being a thing as late as, say, the time of the Orphan Queen. I mention all of this because the tapestry is one of several "old"-looking art pieces in Tales of Xadia, but we have to keep in mind that one of those literally depicts Harrow killing Avizandum, so. It could be very old, it could be not-very old. (I mean, 300 years is still pretty old, in the scope of known human history.)

Really, though, what I wanted to talk about is this:

We have our "Katolian" soldier, but the heraldry on their shield is not the Katolis uneven towers, even though that's already a distinguishing feature of the kingdom (as seen in the city depictions). Instead, it's a layered uh... thing. But it's a thing we've seen before:

The guards at Allhaven Hill have their own heraldry, presumably because they're supposed to be neutral regardless of their kingdom of origin... but it's almost exactly the same overlapping geometric design as we see in the tapestry.

We also have Blondie McKatolis, in the flashback scenes during Zubeia's account of Aaravos's imprisonment, strongly implying that we are seeing representatives of the human kingdoms at the time of the Orphan Queen:

We pretty clearly also have Neolandia, Del Bar, and Evenere at this table. Also Duren, I just always get confused by her since they gave her those purple-y pink accents instead of blue. Why? No idea. What is this, Sleeping Beauty?

Anyway, Blondie up there also does not use the modern Katolian uneven-towers heraldry, nor the crown that matches it. Depending on how long the Aaravos bullshit had been going on, it's not surprising that the Orphan Queen would try for a clean slate when taking the throne. Having just averted devastation on both sides of the Border by working together with Xadia, "finding strength in our differences" is a pretty good choice for new logo inspiration. (I don't actually know how you adopt/change heraldry. But I do know logo design and branding strategy!)

Given that all five kingdoms technically appear in the tapestry, the "Pentarchy" heraldry could already be a united human kingdoms symbol... except then why isn't it on any of the other soldiers? Some of them have shields almost exactly the same as the Katolian soldiers, but no heraldry.

So here's a thought: what if it actually is the Katolian heraldry of the time, or a symbol of the kingdoms united under Katolis?

Katolis is one of the older and larger kingdoms, it's implied to have had a larger and more organized military for a long time (holding most of the Border), and Blondie is the one with Aaravos whispering in his ear. It wouldn't be super weird if Katolis at one point held a higher position than the other kingdoms, whether as "first among equals" or an actual system of vassals with a "high king" or whatever. The center, frontmost piece of the overlapping geometry, so to speak.

We have occasionally gotten weird little hints/implications that the current era of peace between the human kingdoms, even the entire concept of the Pentarchy, is fairly recent. What if that's not because they were all squabbling amongst themselves even after the mage wars wound down, but that prior to the Orphan Queen, they were all varying degrees of vassal states to Katolis? If part of what the Orphan Queen did was reset the human kingdoms as equals, doing a "this symbol now belongs to all of us, not just Katolis, and Katolis will adopt new heraldry" could be a nice gesture.

But yeah, that's how my brain has been spinning today.

[world-v-you-blog]

The Tapestry of History, 11 – The Rise of the West, 6 – The Reformation, 2

(Image – Martin Luther in 1528, painted by Lukas Cranach – Wikipedia) All revolutions and great uprisings begin with a catalyst, something setting off the accumulated explosive energy. When the events burst forth with enough power and impetus, setting off a chain-reaction of social and political consequences which spread themselves widely, revolution may be in the making. On October 31, 1517,…

[lionofchaeronea]

The Failure of Sir Gawaine: Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine at the Ruined Chapel (Holy Grail Tapestries, #4), woven for Lawrence Hodson of Compton Hall, 1895-96. Overall design and figures by Sir Edward Burne-Jones; overall design and execution by William Morris; flowers and decorative details by John Henry Dearle. Now in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England, UK.

[estudandoarte]

Flora (tapestry)

William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, 1885

[molkolsdal]

Textile panel associated with prayers

Goat hair (pashmina) twill tapestry with embroidered label

Kashmir, last quarter of the 19th century (?)

The size and niche design suggest it was intended to serve as a prayer textile at home. The design was woven in the same labour-intensive technique as coveted Kashmir shawls, twill tapestry. The prominent embroidered text on the left are the manufacturer's markings. This exquisite textile was made with superior workmanship, design, and colours.

[virgocurator]

Lady and the Unicorn

Created in the late 15th century, is one of the most iconic works of art from the Middle Ages. This masterpiece features a series of six tapestries that depict a noblewoman and a unicorn in various scenes, surrounded by a lush background of plants and animals. The tapestries are believed to have been created for the wealthy Le Viste family in France and are now on display at the Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris.

[sardosycserokyric]

The Passing of Venus, Edward Burne-Jones, 1898, gouache and metallic paint on cardboard. Preliminary study for a tapestry for Morris & Company.