Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-10-30
ANCIENT UMBRELLAS
fHEY FiGuRgD IN cHuRCHEsslh THE
EARLY CHRISTIAN DAYS.

f EARLY CHRISTIAN DAYS.
when First Adopted. by the Public,
a They Seem to Have Been Utilized
4 Solely}as, SUN Protectors-onces IN
): Attribute OF Dignity. Has Ills "
In the early Christian churches q
large umbrella usually hung over the
tprieseg, and 1t Is said that from this
custom it became one Of the attributes
Of cardinals appointed from |basilican
churches. For years the doges of
Venice carried umbrellas Of state, and
In 1888, Pope Alexander III. declared
that these should be surmounted by
golden .statuettes of the a~nnunciation.r
Michael Morosini was the first Vene-
tan layman to carry an umbrella,
which consisted of a small, fat square
of green stuff, over. which was a cop
per spiral. Soon, after the umbrella
was adopted by fashionable Venetian
danes. According to Coryats "Crudi-
ties" Q611), the Italian umbrella was
q small canopy and was made Of leath-
er extended by a. series Of wooden
hoops. He says umbrellas were used
by horsemen, who, resting the handles
ON the thigh as they rode, bore them
SO that they should minister shadow
unto them for shelter against the
scorching sum-"
In the HNrleian manuscripts, now in
the British museum, there is in manu-
corirf No coo a 1r,16o Illustration
showing the figure of a yoeman hold
ing an umbrella over his lord, which
leads me to infer that umbrellas were
known in England even in the early
Anglo-Saxon period.
Beck, as quoted In the Diapers Die
tionary, asserts that at the time that
Stephen usurped the crown Of England
twelfth century, umbrellas were in
common use among the English. The
| first mention of the umbrella in Eng
lish literature is in Florio's "World Of
Wonders" Q59S), where it Is described
az a "kind Of round fan or shadowing
that they use to ride with in summer
in Italy; a little shade"
In 1856 an umbrella was exhibited in
| the Museum Tradescantianum; or,
Collection Of Rarities Preserved at
South Lambeth, Near London, by John
Tradescant," which was known as
"one of the wonders Of the ark"
In the church Of Cartmell, in Lanca-
shire, England, there vas preserved
until a few years ago an umbrella said
to be over 300 years old, which was
used chiefly to protect the host.
References to the umbrella are to be
found also in Blount's "Glossographia'
Q674) and Phillips "New Worlde OF
Words" Q67S). In the first the refer
ence reads: "Umbrello, a fashion Of
round and broad fans, wherewith thu
Indians (and from them our great ones
preserve themselves from the heat Of
the sun, and hence any little shadow
fan or other thing wherewith the WON
en- guard their faces from the sun.
The second runs: "Umbrello, a scree1
against the suns heat, used chiefly by
the Spaniards, among whom it is know
by the name q~uitasole."
The imaginative Dean Swift in tn
"Tale Of a Tub" 1696) depicts Jack, al
ever resourceful type, making use Of {
parchment copy Of his fathers will a!
nightcap when he went to bed and az
an umbrella in rainy weather. Die
the worthy Hanway take his cue from
this or from Kersey, according to whom
the umbrella was a broad fan OF
screen commonly used by. women tt
shelter them from rainY' The last ref
erence. made in 1909, is the first men
ton Of 1t as q protector from the rain
Later Bailey, who in his dictionary
(173D called it a parasol, defined it a.
"a sort Of small canopy to keep off thu
rain"
Small, light umbrellas came int
fashion among the ladies of the French
court in 1875, and these were carried
by attendants. Richelet tells Ut tina
they were made Of oilcloth or leathe'
and had ribs Of whalebone. A century
later they found favor with the men
who carried red umbrellas, with edge
fringed with gold lace.
The precise date when Jonas Han
way, who died in 1886, introduced tn
umbrella into England is not recorde,
In any Of the encyclopedias I have a