page_title: Tristan Quilt
section_title: Subjects
hierarchical_section_title: Tristan Quilt / Subjects
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the 14th century Tristan Quilt on display at the V&amp;A Museum.
context_page_description: The Tristan Quilt, sometimes called the Tristan and Isolde Quilt or the Guicciardini Quilt, is one of the earliest surviving quilts in the world. Depicting scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde, an influential romance and tragedy, it was made in Sicily during the second half of the 14th century. There are at least two extant sections of the quilt, one of which is displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum's Medieval and Renaissance Galleries, and the other in the Bargello in Florence. A third quilt, also depicting Tristan and Isolde, but not thought to be part of the V&A and Bargello examples, is held in private hands. The Tristan Quilts are the only known surviving examples of medieval quilts.
context_section_description: The imagery on the quilt resembles the narrative of chapters 17–19 of a 14th-century novella, La Tavola Rotonda o L'Istoria di Tristano, which describes the oppression of Cornwall by Languis of Ireland and his champion Amoroldo (a variation on "Morholt"), and the battle of Tristan on behalf of King Mark of Cornwall. The foliage on the quilt includes ivy and grape vines, a reference to the plants that grew and intertwined from the tombs of the doomed Tristan and Isolde. The scenes on the V&A quilt are not in their original order, having been re-arranged at some point. Each scene has a caption in the Sicilian language.
  There are six scenes in the central section of the V&A quilt, with a border of four-leaf clovers:
  1: Morholt, bearing a fleur-de-lis shield, is shown shooting with a bow whilst on horseback in a boat. A page rows the boat. Caption: COMU LU AMORODU FERIU: TRISTAINU A TRaDIMANTU ("How the Morholt wounded Tristan")
  2: A castle with a king and queen and a third person looking out, possibly Languis and Lotta and their daughter Isolde waiting for Morholt. Partial caption: ...SITA: IN AIRLANDIA ("...in Ireland")
  3: Tristan, with a three-horned shield, fights Morholt on an island. Caption: COMU: TRISTAINU FERIU LU AMOROLLDU In TESTA ("How Tristan wounded Morholt in the head")
  4: A page with a saddled horse. Caption: COMU:LU InNA (?) DELU AMOROLDU: ASPECTTAUA LU PATRUNU ("How the Morholt's page waited for his master")
  5: A ship being pushed away by Tristan's foot. Caption: COMU TRISTAINU BUCTA: LA VARCA: ARRETU: INTU ALLU MARU ("How Tristan struck his boat behind him into the sea")
  6: Tristan with his horse and shield. Caption: COMU: TRISTAINU: ASPECTA: LU AMOROLDU: ALLA ISOLA DI LU MARU: SANSA UINTURA ("How Tristan awaits Morholt on the isle Sanza Ventura in the sea")
  There are also eight scenes in the border. Along the lower edge are two scenes:
  7: Mark of Cornwall receives a letter from two kneeling ambassadors while Tristan stands behind them. Caption:COMU (li m) ISSAGIERI: SO UINNTI: AL (lu) RRE: MARGU: Per LU TRIBUTU DI SECTI ANNI ("How the ambassadors are come to King Mark for the tribute of seven years")
  8: The ambassadors, in a ship rowed by soldiers and bearing a fleur-de-lis banner. Caption: COMU: LU RRE: LANGUIs: MANDA: Per LU TRABUTU In CORNUALIA ("How Languis sent to Cornwall for the tribute")
  On the left side, from the top:
  9: A ship, bearing fleur-de-lis banners with a man blowing a boatswain's call in the poop deck. Caption: COMU: LU AMOROLDU: EUINUTU: IN CORNUALGIA: CUm XXXX GALS ("How Morholt came to Cornwall with forty galleys")
  10: Tristan giving his glove to Morholt. Caption: COMU: Tristainu DAI: LU GUAnTU ALLU AMOROLDU DELA BACTAGLIA ("How Tristan gives the glove of battle to Morholt")
  11: A Cornish noble paying money to seven of Morholt's men. Caption: COMU: LU AMOROLDU: SULDARI: LA GENTI ("How Morholt made the people pay")
  On the right side, from the top:
  12: A ship bearing a fleur-de-lis banner with Morholt in the poop deck with a man blowing a boatswain's call. Caption: COMU: LU AMOROLDU VAI: In CORNUALGIA ("How Morholt comes to Cornwall")
  13: King Languis, with three nobles behind him, gives a letter to two kneeling ambassadors, while Morholt stands behind them. Caption: COMU: LURRE: LANGUIS: CUMANDA: CHI VAIA: LO OSTI: CORNUAGLIA ("How King Languis ordered that the host should go to Cornwall")
  14: Morholt, with a mace, with a herald blowing a trumpet. Caption: COMO: LU AMOROLDU FAB ANDIRI: LU OSTI: In CORNUALGIA ("How Morholt made the host go to Cornwall")
  The Bargello quilt has eight scenes and is made from three longitudinal strips joined together. Some of the scenes on the Bargello quilt portray Tristan leaving his foster-father's court to go to Mark of Cornwall; the meeting of Tristan with Morholt for combat; and their fight on horseback.
  A third quilt in a private collection, thought to be from the same atelier but not actually part of these two quilts, includes a central medallion showing Tristan and Isolde on a field of fleur de lis.
caption: Detail of Tristan from scene 7
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