Linen cloth

Cloth woven from linen thread spun from flax. It was lighter and smoother than wool and could be bleached nearly white by repeated washing and drying in the sun. In twelfth-century England, linen was used mainly for shirts, shifts, underclothes, head-coverings, sheets, towels and church cloths, while outer clothing was usually wool. Finer linens were also imported, some probably from the Rhineland and Low Countries.

Sources: collections.yorkarchaeologicaltrust.co.uk