(slide 46) Textiles manufactured in Muslim or Arab workshops were highly prized by Christians, both in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. During the early centuries of Islamic hegemony, the production of the highest quality of textiles had been carefully controlled by the Muslim rulers, both in Andalusia and throughout other regions of the Muslim world. The granting of ceremonial robes as gifts by Muslim rulers was a special practice. When a Muslim ruler wanted to honor a courtier or a poet who had pleased him, he would gift this person with such a robe in a special ceremony. Textiles were also important objects of trade in the Middle Ages and were often used as currency. Christian society valued Muslim textiles, and the most important Andalusian Islamic textiles surviving in museum collections today were taken from Christian tombs. Proof of the value placed on Islamic textiles by Christian society in the 12th and 13th centuries can be found in this bishop's cape seen in slide 46. The cape was worn for the most formal and important ceremonial occasions. Back to slides