Meede (madder)

Madder (Rubia tinctorum L.) is a local product to the low countries and well known since the early middle ages. The local madder industry starts to take off around Bruges and Zeeland in the fourteenth century. However, Bruges’ madder was preferred until the first half of the sixteenth century because of sulphur and iron contamination of the Zeeland madder that affected the brightness of the red. This sulphur was present because peat around Zeeland originally grew in sulphurous clay, a practice stopped by the end of the fifteenth century.

During this period several qualities of madder were on the market in the Low Countries, Crap (5+ year old madder rhizome 1—2 % earth); Onberoofde medecrap (rhizome + roots  2—4 % earth); Gemeene mede (madder roots 4—7 % earth); Corte meede(smaller roots 7—10 % earth) and Mull (hairy roots and 10—16% earth). ‘Crap’ is mentioned for red dyeing, ‘onberoofde meedecrap’ for dyeing purple, and ‘Mull’ for dyeing black castor blacks and both Meede for overdyeing black.( De Nie, De ontwikkeling der Noord-Nederlandsche textielververij, 135)