The Burgundian Period
Tapestry was considered one of the most compliment-
ary gifts that could be offered to a royal personage,
or diplomatist ; and when it is remembered that every
nobleman of wealth was a collector, a present of this
nature had to be of rare quality and exceptional beauty.
The Dukes of Burgundy were fond of making gifts
from the looms they patronized.
For example, Philip the Bold sent several pieces
to Richard II in 1394 and 1395, and superb sets to
the Dukes of Lancaster and York. John the Fearless
gave the Earl of Pembroke, ambassador of Henry IV,
three handsome pieces, and to the Earl of Warwick,
ambassador of Henry V, in 1416, " a rich hanging covered
with various figures and numerous birds." In 1414, a
" chambre de tapisserie" was sent as a present to Robert,
Duke of Albany, who then governed Scotland.
The weavers of Liege boasted as high an antiquity
as those of Louvain. The Chronicle of St. Trond says
that the weavers in 1133 at St. Trond and Tongres,
and they were more independent and high-spirited, or,
to quote more exactly, " more forward and proud than
other artisans."
Brussels, which in after years eclipsed both Paris
and Arras in the manufacture of tapestries, possessed
one corporation only of tapestry-workers (tapitewevers)
in 1340. In 1448, these were reorganized under the
name of Legwerckers Ambacht (tapestry-weavers trade),
but there was no great interest in the Brussels looms
until 1466, when Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy,
bought in that city The History of Hannibal in six pieces
and a set of eight landscapes.

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