During the 1st millennium AD, silk became the most desirable fibre in the Mediterranean region. While the expansion of silk production and consumption is widely acknowledged, specific features of the industry’s development are more difficult to discern. Chroniclers had little reason to document silk manufacturing processes, and producers were not inclined to record or publicise their trade secrets. Historical knowledge of silk comes mainly from accounts of its consumption in a variety of forms and contexts. For the middle Byzantine period (AD 843-1204), the two most elaborated sources associated with silk date from the 10th century. The Book of the Eparch (BOE) (911/12) is a collection of regulations applied to guilds under the supervision of the eparch of Constantinople. The Book of Ceremonies (BOC), attributed to Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (945-959), is a compilation of 5th- to 10th-century protocols used by court officials to stage imperial rituals. Together, these sources have shaped much of the existing Byzantine scholarship pertaining to silk. The conventional interpretation is that for much of the middle Byzantine period, silk was an imperial prerogative confined to the most elite members of society. However, close reading of the larger body of source evidence shows that the prevailing Byzantine silk narrative has numerous shortcomings and limited value in the study of historic processes. From the standpoint of contemporary scholarship, the role of silk in the middle Byzantine period requires reconsideration through application of current research methods. To provide a more secure historical basis for silk research, other types of writing should be considered including histories, chronicles, and testamentary documents. A survey of Byzantine and other contemporary sources dated between the 6th and 13th centuries reveals a large number of textual ‘mentions’ describing textiles. Many mentions contain only partial information, but include terms associated with silk such as production ...