In past and recent histories of the Normans of the South, the role and importance of luxury textiles has played a significant part in the study of Norman artistic patronage, particularly in the pageantry and ceremony associated with the court of Roger II in the twelfth century. The famous crimson mantle of Rogert II that survives in Vienna has been the subject of numerous interpretations: about its manufacture, intended function and the symbolism of the imagery embroidered on it (including William Tronzo’s interesting new thoughts on the textile presented in the second chapter of this volume). The many rich hangings that adorned the Palace and Palatine Chapel in Palermo are described by the cleric, Philagathos of Kerameōs, in his famous homily written for the consecration of the royal chapel on the Feast of the Holy Apostles, 29 June 1143, ‘A great many curtains are hung, [around the altar] the fabric of which is threads of silk, woven with gold and various dyes, that the Phoenicians have embroidered with wonderful skill and elaborate artistry’.

These lost chapel hangings and the remarkable survival of the Mantle of Roger II are just two examples of expensive and elaborately decorated textiles being used in twelfth-century Norman Sicily. Essential parts of courtly ceremonial and religious ritual, fine woven textiles were extremely important items in the medieval world. This was not only in the case of diplomacy and inter-court gift giving. Richly embroidered silks and linens also made up a significant element of the cargo carried across the Mediterranean Sea by merchants and traders from the Levant, the Iberian peninsula and the North African Coast. This chapter will focus on evidence that highlights the role of textile objects in the early decades of the Norman conquest, and how they help to expand our understanding of the part that such textiles played in early Norman art and patronage. This chapter will illustrate how, like the castles and church foundations laid out by Robert Guiscard and his contemporaries, Norman involvement in the procurement and gifting of luxury textiles helped to build and bolster Norman identity as the legitimate rulers of the Italian south. It is this identity that would be enshrined in the art and architecture of the court of Roger II and in his crimson silk mantle.