How did trade and cultural exchange influence Anglo-Saxon embroidery designs and techniques?

Trade and cultural exchange significantly impacted the designs and techniques used in Anglo-Saxon embroidery. The book highlights that creative influences, including embroidery, moved with people, and design, fashion, materials, and working techniques spread throughout the countries.

The presence of silk, a material not native to the British Isles, in embroideries such as the Cuthbert embroideries at Durham, demonstrates trade and cultural exchange with regions to the east and south, like Byzantium and the Middle East. These connections facilitated the movement of design ideas as well as materials. Specifically, it discusses the potential for traded silk to be used for both ground fabrics and embroidery threads (Lester-Makin, 2019, p. 47). Furthermore, the silver "pulled wire" found in the Ingleby embroidery shows the influence of Scandinavian trade and contacts, potentially linking to the Sami people in northern Sweden, who were known to work with metal wire (Lester-Makin, 2019, p. 87).

Moreover, the author mentions how new styles evolved due to new people. For example, "Creative influences, including embroidery, move with people. Design, fashion, materials and working techniques would have spread throughout the countries that make up the archipelagos, moving and morphing as they were encountered by different populations" (Lester-Makin, 2019, p. 3). These influences are evident in the Kempston fragment's design, which draws inspiration from a version of Style II from the continent (Lester-Makin, 2019, pp. 72–73). This demonstrates how influences from different cultures were assimilated and adapted to create unique Anglo-Saxon embroidery.