Re: King and Canvas

[edh@ascc01.ascc.att.com (Alfredo el Bufon)]

Eoghan mac Ailpein wrote

> I have a question Dafydd ap Gwystl.  OK canvas is medieval, cotton canvas is
> not.  So from what materials (fibers) would they have made the canvas?

to which Dafydd replied

> It would have been linen canvas.  Wool (the only other option) stretches
> when it gets wet.  Unless you felt it, but that technique was not used for
> tents in Western Europe.  Silk and Cotton were both rare and expensive in
> the renaissance, and Cotton was essentially non-existent before that.

Whereupon Branwynn Ottersby wrote

> I would hazard hemp or linen -- fabric scholars, what say ye?

Prompting Evan to opine

> Most likely hemp. Canvas, the fabric, from cannabis, the plant....

I was just about to make the same etymological deduction.

On a recent episode of "Homicide: Life On The Streets" they
expounded a belief that marijuana was made illegal partly by
a conspiracy of makers of certain alternatives to hempen rope
and canvas.

-- Alfredo el Bufon
Elvegast, Windmaster's Hill, Atlantia
edh@ascc01.ascc.att.com

(BTW, notice that the _Laurel_ wreath is the symbol of an
organization that started in the _Bay_ area.  Coincidence?)
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