In the depiction of William the Conqueror's fleet (roughly in the middle of the tapestry) there are several ships that appear to have sails decorated with vertical stripes. As you probably know this tapestry shows several Norman and Anglo-Saxon ships which have a very close genetic relationship to Viking Ships even when we can't confidently call them Scandinavian.
I am talking of course about the Bayeux Tapestry. Our primary pictorial source for Viking Age shipbuilding is not Viking at all. Woolen sails have to be treated with fat to make them impermeable to wind and it would be relatively easy to mix colours into that: 3 Colouring different strips of cloth differently is the next logical step (and was practised as we can see from the Gokstad ship and point 3). If one wants to make a sail for a large ship on a vertical loom such as the ones used in the Viking Age one has no choice but to weave several strips of cloth the breadth of the loom and sow them together. Keeping in mind that the rigging is also usually shown in a diamond pattern it's safe to assume that these are mostly reefing lines. 2 We are not quite sure whether these are supposed to be decorations, structural components or a pictorial convention but it has to be kept in mind that a diamond pattern is rather hard to achieve when a sail is made as point 2 will show. Typically their sails are shown with a diamond pattern on them. Many of them, especially the ones raised in the Viking Age show pictures of ships. Gotlandic picturestones are a type of monument found on Gotland (Sweden) in the Iron Age and the Viking Age. There's several pictorial, archaeological and textual sources for that: There is little doubt however, that vertical stripes were used in decoration. The question of the colour of Viking ships is a hard one to answer because practically no examples of sails survive. This doesn't mean that all Scandinavian ships of the period or even all longships were decorated thusly, though. 1 Here's a (half-scale) reconstruction showing the sail. As has been mentioned in this thread the Gokstad ship's sail seems to have had that colour and that is undoubtetly where this popular image comes from. Yes, sails with red and white stripes did exist. Previous AMAs | Previous Roundtables Featuresįeature posts are posted weekly. May 25th | Panel AMA with /r/AskBibleScholars Please Subscribe to our Google Calendar for Upcoming AMAs and Events To nominate someone else as a Quality Contributor, message the mods. Our flaired users have detailed knowledge of their historical specialty and a proven record of excellent contributions to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read and Understand the Rules Before Contributing. Report Comments That Break Reddiquette or the Subreddit Rules. Serious On-Topic Comments Only: No Jokes, Anecdotes, Clutter, or other Digressions. Provide Primary and Secondary Sources If Asked. Write Original, In-Depth and Comprehensive Answers, Using Good Historical Practices. Questions should be clear and specific in what they ask, and should be able to get detailed answers from historians whose expertise is likely to be in particular times and places. Nothing Less Than 20 Years Old, and Don't Soapbox. Be Nice: No Racism, Bigotry, or Offensive Behavior.
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