Weaving Connections: Sicilian Silk in the Medieval Mediterranean

Abstract

The production of silk was an important aspect of the economy of Islamic Sicily that the Norman count and then kings of Sicily worked to maintain. The production of silk survived along with other economic practices of Islamic Sicily, such as irrigation techniques and land use. Silk continued to move along the trade routes of the Central Mediterranean into the twelfth century. While those connections were disrupted by unrest and revolt at the end of the twelfth century, they survived in some form until the mid-thirteenth century. It was only the expulsion of Muslims from Sicily that ended these connections.