Linen

Linen is a fabric created from the bast fibers of the flax plant. People have been making it for thousands of years, mainly for clothes and household goods. The material is notably strong and absorbent, and it dries more quickly than cotton, which makes linen garments feel comfortable in warm climates. However, it is prone to wrinkling. Linen textiles can be either woven or knitted from flax fibers. Harvesting and processing flax takes much longer than cotton, and it is also harder to weave. Because of these factors, linen is frequently promoted as a more environmentally friendly option compared to synthetic fibers or crops that require a lot of water, like cotton.

Some of the oldest known textiles in the world are linen; their history stretches back many millennia. Dyed flax fibers discovered in a cave in the Caucasus (in modern-day Georgia) indicate that woven fabrics from wild flax may have been used more than 30,000 years ago. Ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia and Egypt used linen, and it appears in the Bible. During the 18th century and later, the linen industry played a major role in the economies of several European countries and the American colonies. Even textiles made from cotton, hemp, or other non-flax fibers are sometimes loosely called "linen" if they are woven in a linen-style weave.

The word "linen" comes from West Germanic languages and is related to the Latin *linum* (the flax plant) and the earlier Greek *linón*. This etymology led to other English terms: "line," because a linen thread was used to mark a straight line; "lining," since linen was often used for the inner layer of clothing; and "lingerie," from French, which originally referred to underwear made of linen.

Archaeological sites have yielded many linen fragments, showing that people in different regions began weaving linen at least several thousand years ago. Dyed flax fibers from a cave in Southern Caucasus (modern Georgia), dated to 36,000 years ago, suggest ancient people used wild flax to create linen-like fabrics. Fragments of straw, seeds, fibers, yarns, and various fabrics—including linen—dating to about 8,000 BC have been found in Swiss lake dwellings. Linen was also recovered from Qumran Cave 1 near the Dead Sea. In ancient Mesopotamia, flax was domesticated and linen was produced, mainly used by wealthy individuals like priests. Woven flax fragments were found between an infant and child in a burial at Çatalhöyük, a large settlement from around 7,000 BC. A Sumerian poem about the courtship of Inanna mentions flax and linen. In ancient Egypt, linen was used for mummification and burial shrouds, and white linen was worn daily. The Tarkhan dress, one of the oldest known woven garments (dated between 3482 and 3102 BC), is made of linen. Plutarch wrote that priests of Isis wore linen for its purity. Egyptian mummies were wrapped in linen as a symbol of light, purity, and wealth. Some of these hand-spun fabrics were very fine for their time but are coarse by modern standards. The earliest written record of a linen industry comes from Linear B tablets in Pylos, Greece, and the Bible contains many references to linen.

By the Middle Ages, a thriving trade existed for German flax and linen, spreading through Germany by the 9th century and to Flanders and Brabant by the 11th. The Lower Rhine was a medieval linen-making center. Flax was cultivated and linen used for clothing in Ireland by the 11th century, and evidence suggests flax was grown and sold in Southern England in the 12th and 13th centuries. Textiles, mainly linen and wool, were produced in decentralized home weaving mills.

Linen remained valued for garments through the 16th century. Specimens of linen clothing worn by historical figures have survived, such as a linen cap worn by Emperor Charles V, preserved after his death in 1558. Ireland has a long history of linen production. After the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685, many Huguenots fled France and settled in the British Isles, bringing improved linen-making methods that boosted the Irish linen industry. Among them was Louis Crommelin, appointed overseer of the royal linen manufacture of Ireland. He settled in Lisburn, a major linen production center that became known as Linenopolis during the Victorian era, when most of the world's linen was produced there. Although the linen industry was already established in Ulster, Crommelin found ways to improve weaving. His success led the government to appoint him to develop the industry beyond Lisburn, resulting in the establishment of the Board of Trustees of the Linen Manufacturers of Ireland in 1711. Several grades were produced, including coarse lockram. The Living Linen Project, an oral archive of knowledge from the Irish linen industry, was set up in 1995 to preserve the expertise of those who had worked in the industry in Ulster. The linen industry became increasingly critical to European economies in the 18th and 19th centuries. In England and Germany, industrialization and machine production replaced manual work, moving production from homes to factories.