This was the period when the _Roman_ was in full flower, and the tapestries naturally turned from Biblical to heroic stories. The artists and weavers now begin to devote their energies to the production of secular subjects. The stories of _Paris and Helen_, _Æneas_, and others from Grecian mythology, become as popular as those inspired by the Bible.
High-warp workers were established in Paris, Arras, Brussels and Tournay in the first half of the fourteenth century; but it is not until the reign of Charles V (1364–1380) that they are explicitly described in the inventories. The King was a collector of French and Flemish tapestries: he had more than 130 armorial tapestries and 33 “_tapis à images_” that decorated the walls.
The Dukes of Anjou, Orleans, Berry and Burgundy, had very valuable sets. Charles VI also had fine pieces. He bought from Nicholas Bataille, a Flemish worker, who calls himself a citizen of Paris in 1363, about 250 hangings. Bataille produced many superb pieces for the wealthy houses of the day, and many sets for Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. A fellow-worker, Jacques Dourdain, who died in 1407, made tapestries for the Duke of Burgundy, to whom he sent in 1389 _The Conquest of the King of Friesland by Aubri the Burgundian_, _The Story of Marionet_, _Ladies setting out for the Chase_, _The Wishes of Love_, _The Nine Amazons_, _The History of Bertrand Duguesclin_, and _A History of the Romance of the Rose_. The latter must have been very choice, as it was woven “in gold of Cyprus and Arras thread.” He also furnished this rich patron with other hangings, the greater number of which were cloth of gold.
The marriage of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, to the daughter and heir of the Count of Flanders, in 1369, greatly helped the Flemish tapestry-workers, who soon equalled those of Paris. For instance, the Duke gave an order to Michel Bernard of Arras for a fine piece, called _The Battle of Rosbeck_, of colossal dimensions. It measured 285 square yards, and cost 2,600 _francs d’or_. Other sets purchased from the Arras looms were: _The Coronation of Our Lady_, _The Seven Ages_, _Story of Doon de la Roche_, _History of King Pharaoh and the People of Moses_, _Life of St. Margaret_, _The Virtues and Vices_, _History of Froimont de Bordeaux_, _Story of St. George_, _Story of Shepherds and Shepherdesses_, _Life of St. Anne_, _Story of Percival the Gaul_, _Hunt of Guy of Romany_, _History of Amis and Amile_, _History of Octavius of Rome_, _History of King Clovis_, _History of King Alexander, and of Robert the Fusileer_, _History of William of Orange_, and a _Pastoral_.