History of silk

Silk began its epic in China 3 milleniums ago. For almost 30 centuries, Chinese exported silk clothes but kept sole in production technics. Thanks to merchants, other civilizations could finally learn those technics. European production started in the end of Middle-Age to reach a climax in the XIXth century with the first industrial revolution. Sericulture threatened with decline rapidly through silkworm illness(es) and through the asiatic production expansion.

Though silk is known and used since immemorial, it was still a mysterious attractive material. Silk, as spices, was the starting point of commercial and cultural exchanges and so gave birth to several legends.

For Confucius and the chinese tradition, sericulture invention takes place in the XXVIIth century before JC. A silkworm cocoon would have fallen into Si Ling Chi princess' cup of tea.

Taking it off, she would have accidentally started to uncoil  thread from the cocoon. She would have rapidly thought about weaving this thread.

After having observed the silkworm (way of life), she was able to teach the art of silkworm breeding, sericulture. Si Ling Chi remains known as the silk goddess in chinese mythology.

Silk finally migrated from China to India in the Ivth century before JC with a princess destined for wedding a Khotan (Turkistan) prince. The princess would have refused to manage without silk fabrics she was fond of and so would have infringed imperial law and smuggled silkworm eggs in her hair.

Until Aristote and Alexandre the Great conquests, Greeks used to believe silk was from vegetal origin. Romans (including Pline the Old), great silk lovers, thought Chinese were harvesting silk on trees. Silk, at this time, was also known as the « Tree wool » which make us think that the breeded worms were still wild.

Silk production and use mostly remained Chinese for almost 3 milleniums. The mullberry tree culture ans silkworm breeding were exclusive women occupation. The production was long reserved for imperial use. The workers weren't allowed to wear silk until the XVIIth century. Though silk trade was tolerated / authorized, Chinese were jealously keeping their secrets : they were protected by an imperial law so that any kind of exportation of the silk secrets (eggs, worms or technics) was punished by death.

As gold or other precious materials, silk became progressivly an exchange value and even a monetary standard.

Silk rapidly became a luxury material, very much appreciated by civilizations abroad. Its trade bears the stamp of global trade and existed long before the official chinese Silk Road opening : antique civilizations were calling the Chinese « Seres » (which meant the Silky people). Silk also bears the stamp of the fist ambassies. Alexandre the Great created greek trading posts at the China frontier to ensure silk providing.

Chinese officially opened Silk Road to the West, an Alexandre the Great's silk road re-entry, in the IInd century before JC.

The main road started from Beijing, south or north bypassed Taklamakan desert and finally crossed Pamir (Himalaya).

This road was used by caravans made of a 100 to 500 people with camels or yacks wearing each more than a 100 kilos of silk fabrics.

Caravans reached Antioche (Turkey) and Mediterranean coastline within a year.

Another road was also used, across south of China, through Yunnan, Myanmar and India before joining the North (main) road.

After the Romans conquered Egypt (30 before JC), a regular trade is setlled with Asia. Romans were so greedy for silk that Senate tried, in vain, to forbid it. Actually, silk importation provoked a massive flight of capital (gold amounts) abroad so that the wearing of silk clothes was thought immoral and decadent.

Roman Empire conquests made silk fabrics spread to « Barbarians » people.

Though silk was known since immemorial in Europe, Chinese had the monopoly in production.

In the IIIrd century before JC, thanks to chinese refugees exile, sericulture settled in Japan. Technics were more shared thanks to regular exchanges between the island and the mainland (continent) during the VIIth and VIIIth centuries.

The Byzantine emperor Justinian gave mission to Nestorian monks to bring back the silk secrets. The emperor received the first eggs in 552 (first industrial espionage case ever !). The Catholic Church and Byzantium state created the first imperial manufactures.

Chinese so lost their monopoly on the basic fabrics but were still ahead for high quality silks and went on massivly exporting it through the Silk Road.

At the same time, Persians, whom already had monopoly on trade (they imported threads and textiles from China to spread it in Europe), succeeded in silk production. Then with the Arab conquests and Islamization, breeding and weaving technics spread(ed) in other mediterranean sea banks.

Sericulture technics stretched to western Europe much later, along the crusades. In 1147, a Normand king plundered two imperial manufactures and (delocalize) workers in Sicilia. In 1204, ransacking of « Constantinople » by Crusaders buried the byzantine manufactures.

European production developed in Sicilia and spreaded in Italy, after the coming of Constantinople workers.

In 1350, Pope settled in Avignon. Their needs in light silk clothes at the least price possible led them to « import » italian weavers in Provence in order to teach this tough art. That's how a part of european silk production settled in France. Italian silks remained very appreciated for hangings and furnishing.

In 1466, Louis XI decided to rise a national sericultural production. He invited italian and greek craft shops to settle in Tours. In 1546, there were more than 8000 looms in Tours which made it the silk production leader, far before Lyon or Montpellier. Though it was not still enough to avoid it, this production reduced the flight of capitals due to silk importations.

In 1540, François Ist grants the silk production monopoly to Lyon. The city became the european capital for silks and was famous by its original crafts. Actually, silks remained under its origins' inspiration though Lyon's productions began to develop its own style and shades. Weaving was Lyon's main activity for thousand of workers (a third of the inhabitants were living from silk).

In the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries sericulture spreaded widely among Rhone valley, until the First World War. Mullberry tree plantations, reeling and silk operations were second job for lots of farmers.

Industrial Revolution came along with many reeling and weaving technic improvements. At the beginning of the XIXth century, mechanic looms made the weaving fully automatic.

Silk workers made famous riots (Canuts riots in 1831 and 1834) in Lyon because of those mechanic looms and the unemployement it made.

In 1845 appeared the first silkworm epidemics then there were the mullberry tree diseases. Pasteur was called in 1865 to find a solution to this issue. In 1870, he was able to reduce the epidemics.

The production remained for few years before it made a spectacular diving due to wine productions, peasants exodus, easier asian importation thanks to the Suez canal and synthetic fibres invention.

Though governement tried to encourage production in France in 1922, sericulture was buried after the Second World War. The last french reeling manufacture closed in 1968.

Some experiments tried to bring back sericulture in Cévennes in 1870 and allowed the creation of almost 60 breeders.

In 1986, Eurochrysalide, a vast project aimed to become a french silk technopole. The project failed because of too few openings regards to the investments.

Nowadays, there's no counting for french cocoon production. In the rest of the world, there are big producers speaking about quantity rather than speaking about quality.

China remains one of the most important producer. Its production is mostly sold as manufactured products. French industries import first choice chinese thread or Brasilian thread (since Japanese delocated their manufactures in Brasil, it became the 3rd silk producer in the world).

Though India is a big producer, it has to import threads due to its huge local use of silk.

We can see that craft shops are developing in touristics asian countries (Viet-Nam, Laos, Cambodge, ...).

Silkworm is so much sensitive to air pollution (growth lateners / blockers on mullberry leaves), cocoon production is getting more and more complicated. The cost of breeding and labour to transform silk make it uncompetitive in France.

Thanks to science improvement and genetical modifications, silkworm could produce other proteins (than sericine) such as insulin.

SOURCES :

Comic illustrations are taken from « Secret volé » (The stolen secret) by Crozus.