<P> The history of Medieval European clothing and textiles has inspired a good deal of scholarly interest in the 21st century . Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland authored Textiles and Clothing: Medieval Finds from Excavations in London, c. 1150 - c. 1450 (Boydell Press, 2001). The topic is also the subject of an annual series, Medieval Clothing and Textiles (Boydell Press), edited by Robin Netherton and Gale R. Owen - Crocker, Emeritus Professor of Anglo - Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester . </P> <P> The Byzantines made and exported very richly patterned cloth, woven and embroidered for the upper classes, and resist - dyed and printed for the lower . By Justinian's time the Roman toga had been replaced by the tunica, or long chiton, for both sexes, over which the upper classes wore various other garments, like a dalmatica (dalmatic), a heavier and shorter type of tunica; short and long cloaks were fastened on the right shoulder . </P> <P> Leggings and hose were often worn, but are not prominent in depictions of the wealthy; they were associated with barbarians, whether European or Persian . </P> <P> European dress changed gradually in the years 400 to 1100 . People in many countries dressed differently depending on whether they identified with the old Romanised population, or the new invading populations such as Franks, Anglo - Saxons, and Visigoths . Men of the invading peoples generally wore short tunics, with belts, and visible trousers, hose or leggings . The Romanised populations, and the Church, remained faithful to the longer tunics of Roman formal costume . </P>

The most important invention in the spinning of textiles into cloth was which of these