Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1901-10-31
ANCIENT UMBRELLAS.
THEY FIGURED IN CHURCHES IN THE
EARLY CHRISTIAN DAYS.

EARLY CHRISTIAN DAYS.
When First Adopted by the Public,
They Seem to Have Been Utilized
Solely as SUN Protectors-Once An
Attribute of Dignity.
In the early Christian churches a
large umbrella usually hung over the
priest, and it 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 annunciation.
Michael Morosini was the first Vene-
tan layman to carry an umbrella,
which consisted of small, fiat square
Of green stuff, over which was cop
per spiral. Soon after the umbrella
was adopted by fashionable Venetian
danes. According to Coryat's ''Crudi-
ties" (161D, the Italian umbrella was
a 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
50 that they should minister shadow
unto them for shelter against the
scorching SUM-"
In the Harleian manuscripts, now in
the British museum, there is in manu-
script No. 608 crude 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 Draper's Die
t1onary, asserts that at the time that
Stephen usurped the crown Of England
(tweffth century, umbrellas were in
common use among the English. The
first mention of the umbrella In Eng
Hsh literature is In Florio's world Of
Wonders" Q59S), where it is described
as kind of round fan or shadowing
that they use to ride with in summer
In Italy; 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
zone of the wonders Of the ark"
In the church of Cartmell, in I.anca-
shire, England, there was preserved
until 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: Umbrella. fashion Of
round and broad fans, wherewith the
Indians (and from them our great iones)
preserve themselves from the heat of
the sun, and hence any little shadow,
fan or other thing wherewith the wom-
en- guard their faces from the SUM-"
The second runs: "Umbrello, screen
aHainst the SUMS heat. used chiefly by
the Spaniards, among whom It is known
by the name quitasoler
The imaginative Dean Swift In the
tale Of Tub" (1696) depicts Jack, an
ever resourcetul type, making use Of a
parchment copy Of his fathers win as
q nightcap when he went to bed and as
an umbrella in rainy weather. Did
the worthy Hanway take his cue from
this or from Kersey, according to whom
the umbrella was broad fan OF
screen commonly used by women to
shelter them from rain?" The last ref
erence, made in 1909, is the first men,
ton Of It as protector from the rain
Later Bailey, who in his dictionary
Q730 called it parasol, defined it as
"a sort of small canopy to keep of the
RAIN
Small, light umbrellas came into
fashion among the ladies OF the French
court in 1875, and these were carried
by attendants. Richelet tells us that
they were made of oilcloth or leather
and had ribs of whalebone. A century
later they found favor with the men,
who carried red umbrellas. with edges
fringed with gold lace.
The precise date when Jonas Han
way, who died in 1856, introduced the
umbrella into England is not recorded
IN any Of the encyclopedias have at
hand, but they all state that he was
popularity known as it's introducer.
With the Dutch, as with the Indian
grandees, the umbrella was first an at
tribute OF dignity, and well 1t might
be, for the prices paid for them at The
Hague in 1850 ranged from $75 to 1920
each. The Dutch colonists who settled
at the Cape Of Good Hope were not
slow to insist on preserving the dignity
Of the umbrella, for Ryk van Tulbagh,
governor Of Cape Colony in 1852, en-
acted that mo one less in rank than
junior merchant or those among the
citizens Of equal rank, and the wives
and daughters only Of those who are or
have been members of any council
shall venture to use, umbrellas, and
those who are less in rank than mer-
chants shall not enter the castle in fine
weather with an open umbrella" -
Frank 81. Vizetelly in New York
Times.
A. NoneoIfer's Opinion of Golf.