"Vikings, how popular was purple?" Topic

I read that red, green and blue were favourite viking colours, but I'm currently painting GB's fantastic Jomsvikings and I had gone for some splashes of purple for something different thinking perhaps they may have had influence with their dress from Eastern Europe such as Constantinople what with the Varangian Guard link and so on (noting the figures in the colour plates of the Osprey book here). I know these things are open to interpretation in different ways where knowledge is limited, but how accurate would purple be? Does anyone know?

I would think true purple would be rare and expensive, but mercenaries might be wealthy or possibly had served with the Varangian Guard so might have access to purple cloth. Vikings might also make cheaper purple or violet cloth out of local materials. There is no way of knowing for sure.

Mixing red and blue dyes available then would not produce a very good purple – more of a brown with a purple tint.

Some sources of Indigo produced a deep blue/violet though.

Tyrian purple was traded to the North if I remember correctly though it would be very expensive.

Accordiong to my textile industry wife purple was indeed very rare and very coveted. In many areas it was by written or unwritten law limited to royalty or the most wealthy – it was the Rolex and Lexus of the times. I suspect that anyone not wealthy enough to protect themselves would not keep their purple duds long.

wasnt the comment from Rome "wearing the Purple" refering to the imperial family due to its expense?
so anyone with acess to it would have had more than just a couple of quid in there pocket.

I thought one source for old organic purple was from sea creatures. If those were found in the Scandinavian region,then it could have more availableyou might think.
No firm statement but just some fuel for thought.

I have been doing a lot of research on how the Native American tribes produced organic colors for their use.

The purple in the Mediterranean was from a shellfish. Supposedly the Phoenicians had a monopoly on the process that made the deepest purples. Later purples were thought to be an inferior shade. Also IIRC this shellfish is mostly found along the coast of Lebanon.

Tyrian purple comes from a type of sea snail (Bolinus brandaris, formerly Murex brandaris) that lives in the central and western Med. Anyone who has ever eaten scungilli knows what they taste like.

LT

This site link is pretty handy for Viking dye.
A purple could be obtained from a type of lichen. It was pretty fast against washing but faded fairly rapidly to light. It has been found, according to the above site, in a lot of samples from Ireland. Do an image search for 'orchil' and it gives some samples.

I'd heard of Orchil dyes being used in Ireland but they were described as 'pink' rather than 'purple' and were very difficult to make practically fast.

That's a good link Swampster – some interesting work done.

I think one has to differentiate between what might have been available to a 9/10th C Viking and a 13th C one. A lot had moved on in the region between those dates and trade though Germany had brought many new ideas and techniques north from Italy to supplement the trade routes through Russia from Byzantium and by sea from North Africa.

Thanks for all the information guys. I remembered studiotomahawks forum after posting this so went and joined up and there are some very interesting photos of wool dyed from natural sources a la Viking on there, purple of a sort being one of the colours but mainly erring toward pink. I suggest you venture on there for a look, there's about 4 pages of useful stuff.I knew that purple was reserved for Emperors in Roman times, but thought the Jomsvikings would be more travelled in Eastern parts and might have acquired cloth of that colour by way of trade perhaps. Anyway I've left my warlord suitably clothed in a purple cloak (thus probably turning him into an arrow magnet), the rest have had a repaint, all bar one anyway. He might turn a shade of blue yet.

I gave one of my Viking warlords a purple cloak, complete with an unfaded spot where the previous owner had his cross sewn onto it.

Just another quick thought. A read that Vikings were very fashion conscious and kept very clean, washing clothes regularly. This would be at odds slightly with a warband at sea for days on end or marching across enemy territory seeking battle I would think, so how many of you leave your figures pristine, and how many opt for a wash such as devlan mud to just tone them down a wee bit?