Material richly woven with silk and gold thread (known as olosericum) of the 14c and the 15c; a freestanding cover or canopy over the altar; also the canopy used at the most solemn moment during the coronation of an English monarch, as a protection against the mystical instant of the anointing with holy oil being witnessed by ordinary mortals, and used as such in 1953 during the coronation of Elizabeth II to exclude the television cameras; also, an elaborate cover of stone and wrought metal fixed to the roof or supported by the columns of tomb or niche; it reached a pinnacle of elaborate ornamentation during the Baroque, 17-18c. [?< Baldacco = Italian form of Baghdad]
Cf. Armil
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.