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not a speck of light is showing

“Theres no earthly way of knowing
Which direction they are going!
Theres no knowing where theyre rowing,
Or which way the rivers flowing!
Not a speck of light is showing,
So the danger must be growing,
For the rowers keep on rowing,
And theyre certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing. . . .”

—Willie Wonka, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, 1964.

Abbot Sugers theory of light

“Abbot Sugers theory of light . . . argued that man could come to a closer understanding of the light of God through the light of material objects in the physical world. This accounts for Sugers interest in magnificent liturgical vessels of gold and silver and also for the extraordinary set of stained-glass windows with which he adorned the radiating chapels of the chevert of St. Denis. He understood that stained glass had three basic properties: it was a bearer of holy images, an intrinsically rich material resembling precious stones, and a mystery, because it glowed without fire.”

—Robert Branner, from Gothic Architecture, 1965.

white as a lily, redder than a rose

“White as a lily, redder than a rose,
More splendid than a ruby oriental,
Your beauty I regard; no equal shows
White as a lily, redder than a rose.”

Guillaume de Machaut (c. 12951377), master musician of the middle ages, from the rondeaux Blanche com lys, plus que rose vermeille. From the anthology Lyrics of the Middle Ages, edited by James J. Wilhelm, 1990.

Diana

“When Diana with lamp of glass
Arises in the evening skies
Soft and glowly pinkly as
Her brothers fires round her die,
Zephyrs gentle breezes often
Force the clouds on high to soften,
Then steal away. . . .”

Anonymous, from the poem Dum Diana vitrea, part of the Carmina Burana, a collection of poems written down in the late thirteenth century which resurfaced in the early 1800s in Bavaria, not far from Munich. From the anthology Lyrics of the Middle Ages, edited by James J. Wilhelm, 1990.
Diana is the moon.

genus Rubia, family Rubiaceae, order Rubiales

“The madder rootdried and ground into dyers powderwas carried by Phoenician traders and mentioned in Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Greek historian-wanderer Herodotus noted that it produced the striking vermilion shades on the goatskin cloaks of Libyas most elegant women. The Bible refers to madder as puah, which some scholars believe was also a lullaby sound used to calm crying infants. To the Romans, it was rubia, which has endured as its scientific name. Pliny the Elder believed the most bountiful madder flourished in gardens near Rome.

Genus Rubia, family Rubiaceae, order Rubiales. The linguistic lineage fans out in many direction: ruby, rubric, rubella.”

—Brian Murphy, from The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing the History, Mystery, and Lore of the Persian Carpet, 2005.

the purple lichen archil

“Madder is the most widespread natural source of reds, but it is not the only one. Perhaps the most unexpected rivals throughout history have been bugs.

The best known is cochineal, a scale insect that lives on certain species of cacti in Central and South America. Native inhabitants as far back as 1000 B.C. knew how to extract bluish red dye from the dried remains of the female cochineal, collected when she was swollen with eggs. Spanish traders in the 1500s introduced the so-called scarlet grain to Europe. Some cacti were transplanted to places such as the Canary Islands and Java. Cochineal is still widely used as a food coloring.

Another red dye comes from an insect that infests oak trees and other plants in southern Europe and the Middle East. The scarlet obtained from the dried shells of the female shield louse was used by dyers in ancient Rome. Cochineal almost completely eneded the dyers interest in these insects in the 1600s.

A red also can be obtained from the bodies of the gum-lac scale insects from China, south Asia, and parts of Africa. The same bug is also a sourceof the resin used in shellac.

Red purple dyestuffs with unreliable staying power include red ocher from soil rich in iron oxide; henna; the purple lichen archil; and Brazilwood trees.

There are hundreds of natural sources for other colors with varying degrees of fastness and durability. Some of those used in carpet production include:

Yellow: weld, pomegranate, chamomile, onion skin

Blue: indigo

Brown: walnut

Black: acorn cups, oak bark

Primary colors are mixed to create greens, oranges, and other shades.”

—Brian Murphy, from The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing the History, Mystery, and Lore of the Persian Carpet, 2005.

the Grail

“The Holy Grail . . . [is] one of the most enigmatic creations of the Middle Ages; a thing of such supreme power and importance that only the bravest and most chivalrous should attempt the search. For what, though There is no shortage of theories about the Grail, possibly from the Old French word graal, meaning dish or salver, but many other derivations are suggested. Its most commonly described as the vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper and later used to collect his sweat and blood during his final hours. Others describe it as something akin to the Holy Spirit and able to bestow wisdom and revelation. Perhaps, as some suggest, it is not an object at all, but unshakable faith in sanctity and its power. The Grail, in other words, could be all things to all seekers.”

—Brian Murphy, from The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing the History, Mystery, and Lore of the Persian Carpet, 2005.

Pink Floyd

“We were playing, as the Tea Set, out at an RAF base . . . when, lo and behold, we found that, extraordinarily, there was another band called the Tea Set booked to appear. . . . We rapidly had to come up with an alternative. Syd [Barrett] produced, with little further ado, the name the Pink Floyd Sound, using the first names of two venerable blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. . . . It was very much Syds idea. And it stuck.”

—Nick Mason, from Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, 2004. Now we know.

the Four Directions

“Just how far back into the past the history of playing cards goes, no one can say with certainty. But . . . Mr. Stewart Culin, Director of the Brooklyn Museum . . . believes that both chess and cards are derived fom the divinatory use of the arrow, and that they represent the two principal methods of arrow divination. The basis of the divinatory systems from which games have arisen is the classification of all things according to the Four Directions. This method is universal among all primitive peoples in Asia and America. In order to classify objects and events which did not in themselves reveal their proper assignment, resort was had to magic. Our present games are the suvivals of these magical processes.”

Catherine Perry Hargrave, from A History of Playing Cards, first published in 1930, and still published unabridged by Dover.

hexachromatic

respect the Chromatic scale