Searchable Lemmata: rai (AF), raia (L), raius (L), reia (L), raie (ME), raye (OScots), ray (MdE).
Alternate Forms: raiȜe, raye, ree, rei, rayo, raies, rays, rayis, rayys, reias.
1(n.)
Decoration;
stripe, line or panel; decorative stripe, streak or panel on a garment or cloth. Also, a decorative thread [AND1 citations do not appear in specific cloth & clothing contexts, but cf. the following sense].(ante 1135 still in current use)
1. de uno fussello, quem manu tenebat, cepit per cineres foci quasi reias facere; et ... de ipso fussello ... commiscuit reias quas in cineribus fecerat
[DMLBS BR Will. I (18) ante 1135]
2. [65] ... Pro lacys et hemlacys, emptis pro vestimentis ... Willelmo Barnham, pro 2 capis de rubeo cerico, cum rayys de auro ... [66] ... Item, solut' Radulfo vestmentmakere pro 2 pectoral' et 2 amitt'
Accounts.
[MED Acc.Met.Col.in Archaeol.J.6 (65-66) 1422/1424]
4. [116] ... ij custos of Sylk wt blew Ray ... Item, A purse of gold with ymages for a corpas; Item, iiij corpas with vi pursys pertenyng to the hye Auter ... ij Reredose of Sylk for an Autern palyd wt yelow & grene ... [117] ... Item, a white weyle for the croce in lent tyme And a noyr white weyle to be hongyng in the Chauncell be for the hye autr in lentyn tyme.
Accounts.
[MED Acc.St.Mary Thame in BBOAJ 11 (116-117) 1447]
5. [13] ... Item, ij Redells of Rede Sylk wt rays to the saide auter ... F'yrst a sute of Blew imbroudyd with gold with Antlopp & byrdes of gold, the orffrayes with crownys and sterres of gold ... a cope of Rede Sylk with the grond with white flowers & skalabes of gold ... [14] ... Orfrayes of grene welwet with buddys of gold pouder & blak & rede ... A sute of white damask clothe ... wt a hole corporas of the same ... Item, a frontell of blew & grene baudkyn ... to heng under ye same frontell wt a reredose of yesame to henth abow the Auteer wt a crucifyx
Accounts.
[MED Acc.St.Mary Thame in BBOAJ 12 (13-14) 1448]
6. [38] ... j vestment of blewe chamlet enbraudet with whyte Roses, with stole, fanon, aube, amys, and alle þat longe for a preste. ... Item, j chesebyll of Ray wt a grene orfray ... [39] ... Item, j auter clothe playne Contenyng v yardis wt vij Rayes at euery ende ... j frontell for the fonte of blewe lynnen clothe frenchid with white, grene and Rede ... [42] ... Item, j lytyll clothe for weddynges, pauyd [read: panyd] wt rede and yollowe for to knele þeron ... [44] ... j Rode clothe ... j sudary of sylke and wt rays ouer thwerte ... j sudary of perpyll sylke wt iiij knoppys of syluer ouer gyldyd for þe Coupe.
Accounts.
[MED Rec.St.Stephen in Archaeol.50 (38-44) 1466]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
2(n.)
Textile;
kind of striped or panelled cloth; also (attributively), of ray.
Initially ray had warp (lengthwise) stripes but in the late 13th century a new weave with weft (widthwise stripes) was created and the name came to be applied to that [Walton (1991), 341]. Subsequently ray was typically a tabby-woven woollen cloth with weft-faced bands in up to five different colours, which were beaten more closely than the rest of the web, completely concealing the warp. It was produced in Flanders, Northern France and Brabant as well as England in the late Middle Ages [Crowfoot, E., F. Pritchard and K. Staniland (2000), 52].(ante 1230 - circa 1850 ?)
3. 44. XXXIV. Item, par la ou ordeine estoit au darrein parlement certeines assises des drapse de raies et colours de longure et leaure, par quel estatut les aliens ne volent estre roulez: et contre ceo, l'auneour se medle des ascuns drapse qe ne sont pas compris en la dite ordinance, issint qe ceux qi soleint faire drapse en Engleterre pur doute de forfaiture ne osent riens overer, a grant damage de tut la commune; prie la dite commune, qe remedie ent soit fait, issint qe le dit estatut poet estre repellez en cest point. Et qe l'aunage ne se tiegne mye forsqe des draps faitz pardela. Endroit des draps faitz pardela qe sont trovez en mains des Engleys, l'aunage cesse tantqe a preschein parlement.
Legal.
[LexP PROME (Ed. III: Parl. of Jan. 1342, item 44) 1352]
4. Les draps de Ray & de colour affairs & a ouvriers a Bristuyt ... soient de la mesure autrefoitz ordeignez par estatut fait a Westm[inster] ... de la longure de xxviij auns ... & cynk quarters de laeure
Legal.
[MED Statutes Realm (2.60) 1388]
7. [213] ... (c1407) He wyll that Sche haue half hys bedclothys that longyth to hys bed. ... [216/6] ... (1411) Y be-queþe to William Begelon a grene Gowne and a hoyd percyd wyth Ray, of the cordywynerys leueray ... [217/19] ... (1413) Richard Roos, Glouer, & Jon man, Corwaner ... [219] ... (c1419) Þis ys my wylle..that Anneys Tukkysworthe have þe beste bedber.
Wills.
[MED Will in Bk.Lond.E (213-219) circa 1407/1419]
8. [266]:
Fyn d’assent: Item, receu de Johan Middeltoun pur ceo q’il ne port poynt de ray – iiii s. vii d.
...
Aournementz des auters: Item, paié pur teille et overaigne de les auterclothes depeyntez contrefaitz une drap d’or ynde et blanke, vidz. front, reredos, deux cortynes, depeyntez d’ambes partz touz costes – iii li. ii s. ii d.
[268]:
Item, paié pur teille et overaigne de les auterclothes et une chesible contrefaitz une drap d’or ynde et blanke, vidz. front, reredos, deux cortines, depeyntez d’ambes partz, une chesible del suite ové l’albe, et un ymage remuable pur quaresme appellé Pité – en tout – liii s. ii d.
Accounts.
[LexP Mercers' Accounts (I.266-268) 1413/1414]
10. [56] Besechen mekely all the communes of this reaume: that howe by a statuit made in the parlement of Kyng Richard the .ij.[de], the yere of his reigne .xvij. it was ordined þat every man of his reaume myght make as wele clothes of kerseys, as other clothes, of soche lenght and brede as it liked hem, and the same clothes selle, paying the awnage and subsidie, and oþere duetes after the rate, that is to seme, of every clothe and ych pece of cloth after the rate, ony estatuit, ordenaunce, proclamation or defence to the contrarie made natwithstondyng; and þat the saide clothes shold be mesured by the awnours, as in the same statuit pleinly it appereth.
And after þat, in the parlement of Kyng Henry the .iiij.[te] at Westmynstre þe first day of Marche the yeere of his reigne þe .vij. hit was ordeigned and stabled, that clothe of colour shold conteigne in lenght .xxviij. yerdes, mette by the crest, and in brede .vi. quarters di', as in the said statuit it is conteigned. And if the makers of clothes made her clothes of lesse lenght or brede, that the clothes shold be forfayted to the kyng, as in the same statuit it appereth; and also in the parliament of the said Kyng Henry the .iiij.[te], the yere of his reigne .xi. hit was ordined þat proclamation shold be made þurghoute the roialme, þat no persone makyng soche manere cloth and doseins withine the said reaume, þe same clothes or doseins ne shall nat takke ne plyte, afore the awnour have duely made his serche and oversight of soche clothes and doseins, that thei holde her lenght and brede, by the said last estatut ordeigned, up peine of forfaiture of the same; upon which estatutes made in tyme of the said Kyng Henry, diverses oppinions by divers justices and barons of the eschequer been hold, þat no clothe shold be made but of the lenght and brede aforeseid, except soche clothes as been comprehended in the same statutes, as kerseys and rayes, which shold be grete hynderyng and utter destruction to the seid communes þat erne used to make clothes called streytes of tyme oute of mynde. ...
Legal.
[LexP PROME (Hen. VI: Parl. of July 1433, item 56 (part 1)) 1433]
11. [632] ... in iij pannis integris blodei mellide ... [633] ... item in lxxij rayis pro valectis ... item pro xxvj rayis pro garniamento W. senescalli ... prioris
Accounts.
[DMLBS Ac. Durh. (632-633) circa 1450]
12. [38] ... j vestment of blewe chamlet enbraudet with whyte Roses, with stole, fanon, aube, amys, and alle þat longe for a preste. ... Item, j chesebyll of Ray wt a grene orfray ... [39] ... Item, j auter clothe playne Contenyng v yardis wt vij Rayes at euery ende ... j frontell for the fonte of blewe lynnen clothe frenchid with white, grene and Rede ... [42] ... Item, j lytyll clothe for weddynges, pauyd [read: panyd] wt rede and yollowe for to knele þeron ... [44] ... j Rode clothe ... j sudary of sylke and wt rays ouer thwerte ... j sudary of perpyll sylke wt iiij knoppys of syluer ouer gyldyd for þe Coupe.
Accounts.
[MED Rec.St.Stephen in Archaeol.50 (38-44) 1466]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
