CFD

Colours

Contrary to popular belief Dark-Age people were not drab and colourless. Their clothing was a good indicator of wealth and status and vibrant personalities were reflected in vibrantly coloured clothes. From the beginning of society, where colours are used on fabrics or fibres, elements of a social scale creep in, with different colours indicating higher or lower levels of society. This is shown partly through the evidence from dye-stuffs identified on fabrics and fibres in burials; and partly through an understanding of the processes needed to produce certain colours. Clothing production took a long time and as seen in later periods, those with time on their hands - the rich, who could afford servants to do the work for them - had time to dye or could pay someone to do it for them. Also, if you are working all day in the fields you won't be wearing your best clothes (or your most colourful ones - unless they're old!).

Natural Colours
These are the least costly to obtain and so very common.

'One-Step' Colours
These are colours that you can get from one dye-stuff without a mordant

a substance or combination of substances that facilitates the fixing of a dye to a fibre. A mordant enables the production of a more permamnent colour and sometimes changes the colour by 'brightening', 'saddening', etc.

or any other processing.
   Yellow is an easy colour to produce as many plants will give this colour in the dye-bath.
  Red comes from a selection of plants in a particular family. For the Vikings red clothes were uncommon and indicative of high status (see Madder below), for the Anglo-Saxons red was relatively common.
   Pink can be produced from Birch Bark.
Purple and red from Lichen were commonly used.

'Two-Step' Colours
These are colours produced with a mordant or by 'over-dyeing' one colour over another..
   Very dark green is produced by mordanting with Copper, then dyeing with Nettles.
   Orange can be produced by dyeing with yellow then with red. (Madder with Tin gives a browny orange.)
   Purple can be achieved by over-dyeing red and blue.

Others
   Blue comes from Woad - quite a complicated process is required to get the blue dye out of the plant. The majority of Scandinavian dyed cloth was this colour and it denoted moderate wealth.
   A very expensive purple dye was available from Whelks.
   Green can be produced by dyeing with yellow then with blue and was popular with the Vikings.

You could also lighten or darken the colour of a dye by dyeing lighter or darker shades of natural wool - for example Weld on white gives yellow, but on grey it gives an olive green. The type of pot used would also alter the colour, as iron was known to 'sadden' colours and dyeing in an iron pot would achieve the same result - a certain amount of iron getting into the water and acting as a mordant.

Natural Colours Natural colours are obviously the easiest and cheapest to obtain as nothing needs to be done with the yarn or cloth prior to clothing manufacture.
Wool Due to the variety of sheep reared in the Dark-Ages, natural wool could be a range of colours, including brown, grey and cream.	Linen Natural linen is a yellow-brown colour.
Cloth could also be dyed brown. The same plants that produce yellow dye yield brown colours if the cloth is left in the dye-bath for longer.

Red

Madder
The roots of madder (Rubia tinctorum) were commonly used for red, not a bright red, more a slightly rusty shade.
Wild madder (Rubia peregrina) grows in southern and western Britain and cultivated madder was introduced before the Norman conquest.

madder or kermes and possibly one other dye-stuff has been identified on the braids from Morning Thorpe, Norfolk (5th/6th century AD)
identified at Sutton Hoo (AD625)
Coppergate, York (8th-10th century AD)
London (9th century AD)
identified on Viking-age (AD789-1100) imported silk.

Notes:
Madder was grown in France and England, but not in Scandinavia. Madder was traded in the markets of ninth-century Quentovic and Paris, and could have been brought to Scandinavia for use in dyeing, but the rare finds of madder-dyed textile probably arrived as ready-dyed cloth. Madder-red cloth in Scandinavian burials is always associated with wealth and imported goods; all examples are from high-status contexts, the most notable being those from Oseberg, Norway, and Mammen, Denmark. ‘í litklæðum’ – Coloured Clothes in Medieval Scandinavian Literature and Archaeology. Thor Ewing.

Rubiaceae
Many plants in this family give a red dye. Notable examples are:

Dyer's Woodruff (Asperula tinctoria aka Galium triandrum)
- seeds found in oven/hearth ash deposits at Well Court, City of London (10th or early 11th century AD)
Crosswort (Cruciata laevipes aka Galium cruciata) native to Britain and known as wræt in Old English medical documents
Goosegrass (Galium aparine) found at:-
- Anglo-Saxon Winchester
- Beverley, Humberside (AD750)
- St. Neots, Cambridgeshire (AD850-1000)
- Norwich Castle Bailey (AD1075)
- Oxford (AD1000-1100).
False Cleavers (Galium spurium aka Galium vaillantii)
Ladies bedstraw (Galium verum) and Northern bedstraw (Galium boreale) have been identified as a red dye on ancient textiles.
- seeds found in large pits at Abbots Worthy, near Winchester, Hampshire (middle Saxon)

Madder is also in this family.

Insect Dyes
Kermes dye comes from the dried bodies of a kind of scale insect (Kermes vermilio) which lives on the Kermes Oak (Quercus coccifera). This evergreen oak grows only in southern Europe.

identified in Viking silks, and it might also have been used in imported woollen cloth
used to dye a tunic from the Migration-era burial at Evebø, Norway (5th century AD)
Kermes or madder and possibly one other dye-stuff has been identified on the braids from Morning Thorpe, Norfolk (5th/6th century AD)

The cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus) is native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico. It lives on cacti from the genus Opuntia, and produces carminic acid to deter predation by other insects. It is this carminic acid that can be extracted from the insect's body and eggs to make the dye. Cochineal has been identified in Viking silks.

Lichen
Lichen-dyed cloth is particularly common from Viking Dublin. A variety of lichens can be used, but the Scandinavian world probably favoured Lichen tartareus, known in Icelandic as litunarmosi, ‘dyeing lichen’, and in Færoese as korkji, a word which is probably derived from Old Irish corcur meaning ‘purple’.

Others
Birchbark (Silver Birch - Betula pendula aka Betula alba, Betula alba pendula, Betula verrucosa or Downy Birch - Betula pubescens aka Betula alba) produces a pale red and is found throughout the archaeological record.

redy-purple dye visible on patterned braid in wrist-clasps from Morning Thorpe, Norfolk (5th/6th century)

Notes:
For the Vikings red clothes were uncommon and indicative of high status.

Aldhelm, in the prose version of his De Virginitate composed between 650 and 710 AD, writes of tunica coccinea sive iacintina - tunic scarlet-dyed or [amethyst; hyacinth-colored/violet/blue/sapphire/purple]

The 'Monk of St. Gall' wrote in his 9th century AD De Carolo Magno (Life of Charlemagne) about fasciolae crurales vermiculatae (grub-like shin bands) in the (male) costume of the Old Franks. The word vermiculatae is derived from Latin vermis 'worm', which could mean 'worm-like shin bands wriggling up the leg' or it could be refering to the kermes dye. Other translators give it the meaning 'red'.

Orange
Madder With alum (contained in clubmoss), Madder produces a reddy orange; with tin (cassiterite/tin ore from Cornwall and Devon) it produces a browny orange.
Others This colour could also be achieved by first dyeing with yellow, then with red.

Yellow
Weld Weld (Reseda luteola) gives a sound yellow colour and it's seeds have been discovered at Dyers Lane, Beverley, Humberside (AD750); York and Bristol. Weld dye has been identified on Viking-age imported silk.
Walnut Walnut (Juglans regia) has been identified at the Viking-age sites of Hedeby and Oseberg - the green husks produce a yellow dye. Waterlogged seeds/nuts have also been identified at these sites: Eastgate, Beverley, Humberside (AD750) Lurk Lane, Beverley, Humberside (AD800-900) Whitefriars Street, Norwich, Norfolk (AD830-1200) Lloyds Bank, 6-8 Pavement, York (AD900-1100) General Accident, 24-30 Tanner Road, York (AD1000-1200)
Others Dyers green-weed (Genista tinctoria) gives a yellow which can be dyed over woad to give green and has been found at: Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian) - flowers, leaves, stems and pods General Accident, 24-30 Tanner Road, York (AD1000-1200) - leaves and stems Bog Myrtle/Sweet Gale (Myrica gale) also gives a good yellow and has been found at: Beverley, Humberside (AD750) - seeds Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian) - leaves and seeds The flowering tops of Ladies bedstraw (Galium verum) give a yellow dye Heather (Calluna vulgaris) was also very popular and has been identified in the archaeology of many sites, including West Stow (5th-7th century), Beverley, Humberside (8th c), Durham, (10th century), York (10th/11th c) Norwich (11th c) an unidentified yellow dye was visible on Z-spun threads in both warp and weft from textile found on the front of a large cruciform brooch at the front of the body and on a wrist-clasp - interpreted as being from a cloak. Sewerby, East Yorkshire (5th/6th century).

Green

Green could be achieved by dyeing with yellow first and then over-dying with blue.
Weld on dark wool will often give an olive-green colour.

blueish-green visible on vegetable fibre (linen or hemp) braid found attached to a belt end at St. John's Cricket Field, Cambridge (7th-9th century)

Blue
Woad (Isatis tinctoria) is the only plant that produces a really good blue dye. This is achieved using quite an unpleasant process. The leaves have to be crushed and soaked in water and urine or lye for several weeks, first. Then the cloth or thread has to be put in very carefully and left to soak. It is only on contact with the air that the liquid turns blue and fixes the dye to the cloth. The longer the fabric is left the richer the blue. For navy blue, the cloth would be dyed several times. Woad appears to have been grown in Scandinavia from Roman times and was also found in the Oseberg burial, locked up in the queen’s chest and the blue serkr worn by the noblewoman, Moðir, in Rígsþula, would probably have been made of dyed linen. Woad dye has been identified at Sutton Hoo (7th century), in late Saxon London and Viking York on wool textiles and on Viking-age imported silk.
blue dye visible on patterned braid in wrist-clasps from Morning Thorpe, Norfolk (5th/6th century) indigo visible on vegetable fibre (linen or hemp) braid found attached to a belt end at St. John's Cricket Field, Cambridge (7th-9th century) indigotin identified on textiles from 9th century London

Brown
Madder With iron Madder produces a reddy brown colour.
Weld With iron Weld produces a yellowy brown colour.
Walnut Walnut (Juglans regia) has been identified at the Viking-age sites of Hedeby and Oseberg - the leaves and husks produce a brown dye, the catkins in early summer produce a golden brown dye (both need no mordant). See Yellow for find sites.

Purple
Lichen Many species of lichen produce brown-purple colours, such as crottle (Parmelia omphalodes) and archil (Rocella tinctoria). They need no mordant but have to be fermented like woad to release the colourant. Rocella tinctoris has been identified on Viking-age imported silk. Lichen purple has been identified on textiles from 9th century London
Clubmoss Stems of Scandinavian clubmoss (Diphasium complanatum) has been found at Coppergate, York which could give browny-purple; it is also known as Lycopodium complanatum (Ground pine) and may have been used as a mordant because it has a high alum content.
Whelks Interestingly, the common dog whelk (Purpura lapillus aka Nucella lapillus) found off British shores yields a colourless fluid, which when processed also produces a purple colour. Bede mentions at the beginning of his Ecclesiastical History (finished in 731 AD) that Britain was known for its shellfish dye, but apart from this reference it has never been heard of again. Perhaps dog whelks were too hard to catch in significant numbers, or else it was too labour-intensive for the British to process. In Ireland, on the island of Inishkea North, Co. Mayo, archaeologists found a whelk-dyeing workshop, dated to the 7th century AD, complete with a small, presumed vat, and a pile of broken-open dog-whelk shells (Henry, 1952). Unfortunately, no such workshop is known from Britain for the Early Medieval period. However, a double-checked trace of bromine, indicating the presence of whelk-dye, has been found on one page of an Anglo-Saxon book known as the Barberini Gospels (Porter, Chiari and Cavallo, 2002). This manuscript dates to the late 8th or early 9th century AD, and the whelk dye occurs as a background panel to white lettering at the beginning of St John’s gospel.
Others This colour was also achieved cheaply by using woad over-dyed with madder. red-purple dye visible on patterned braid in wrist-clasps from Morning Thorpe, Norfolk (5th/6th century)

Black
It is possible that black wool could have come from black sheep, but this may have been more of a very dark brown than an actual black. There are some suggestions that red, blue and yellow together were used to make black.
Others Gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus) gives a black dye. Though it has not been identified on any textiles, waterlogged seeds have been found at:- Hockwold-cum-wilton, Norfolk (AD200-500) Beverley, Humberside (AD750) Hamwih, Southampton, Hampshire (AD700-900) Lloyds Bank, York (AD900-1100) Thetford, Norfolk (AD900-1050) London Exeter, Devon (AD900-1300) Oxford (AD900-1000) Coppergate, York (Anglo-Scandinavian)
Walnut Walnut (Juglans regia) has been identified at the Viking-age sites of Hedeby and Oseberg - the leaves and husks produce a black dye with iron. See Yellow for find sites.

White
White could be achieved by soaking un-dyed fabric in urine or lye and then leaving it in the sun to bleach. It would take quite a long time to get the cloth reasonably white, so this colour may have only been available to the wealthy. Usually it was linen that was bleached.