Joannes Richter

Dyeing Purple in the Middle Age

Fig. 1: Purple for Adam & Eve

‘Pourpre excellent pour vestir le Grand Roy’. (1519)

From ‘Chants Royaux sur la conception couronnée’ -
Bibliothèque Nationale, Parijs.
2
 Joannes Richter

Dyeing Purple
in the Middle Age
A short History of medieval Dyeing

Published by Lulu

-2009-

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© 2009 by Joannes Richter
Published by Lulu
www.lulu.com
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: xxx-x-xxxx-xxxx-x

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Contents
Introduction..............................................................................7
The Red- and Blue-Dyers........................................................9
Textile Dyers in Ypres............................................................12
Favourite colours...............................................................12
Yellow and Green..............................................................12
Leading export sites..........................................................14
blue-dyers and red-dyers...................................................14
Textile Dyers in Nuremberg...................................................16
Favourite Colours..............................................................16
Textile Dyers in Roermond....................................................18
Favourite Colours..............................................................18
Fire....................................................................................18
A red Adam and a blue Eve ...................................................19
Etymology of the word Paars ................................................22
An alchemical Wedding.....................................................23
Weaving red & blue ..........................................................25
Creator Gods ....................................................................26
The tomb of the count of Gelre........................................28
Conclusion.............................................................................31
Appendix: Medieval dyes......................................................32
Woad (or glastum - Isatis tinctoria)...................................32
Madder (Rubia tinctorum )................................................32
Weld (Reseda luteola) ......................................................32
Shellfish as a source for purple dye..................................33

5
List of Figures and Photographs
Fig. 1: Purple for Adam & Eve..................................................1
Fig. 2: Purple for the royals.......................................................9
Fig. 3: Kiss of Judas (1336).....................................................13
Fig. 4: Red-Dyer......................................................................15
Fig. 5: Adam (red) and Eve (blue)...........................................19
Fig. 6: Adam & Eve (purple)...................................................19
Fig. 7: Nuptiae Chymicae.......................................................24
Fig. 8: Dante's Divina Commedia............................................25
Fig. 9: Creation Phase-Wenzel Bible......................................26
Fig. 10: Creation of Eve in Eberler Bible (1464).....................27
Fig. 11: Tomb in the Munsterkerk at Roermond (NL).............28
Fig. 12: pedestal of the tomb in red & blue............................29
Fig. 13: Lower part of the garments in red, blue and golden...30
Fig. 14: Pillow of the grave's tomb in gold, red & blue...........30

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Introduction
In the Middle Age manufacturing textiles and processing dyes
has been a revolutionary export business, bringing wealth to
the textile traders. Starting in the 10th century in northern
France and Flanders the manufacturers gradually also spread to
Germany (in the 14th century) and later (in the 16th century) to
England. The medieval success story ended with the invention
of new machines and alternative dyes, which caused a shift in
the markets and ruined the ancient trading positions.
Traditionally the dyeing technology and weaving may have
been related to religious symbolism. In fact all successful
technologies such as dyeing, weaving, forging and masonry
had their own impact on alchemy. Masons, forges and dyers
were respected persons, who succeeded to manage their
environment. In the Middle Age success was to be seen as a
divine signal and successful manufacturing may have been
caused by following the creation-methods of the Lord.
This essay analyses the dyeing methods for religious
symbolism. Between the 11th and 16th century the dyers have
been split into two different guilds, named red-dyers and blue-
dyers. The market for dyed textiles seems to have been rather
fluctuating. In the Middle Age bright colours for wealthy
customers varied from purple to red, white and blue. Green
may have been popular in local areas of Germany. Yellow
generally has been despised by Christians as a vicious symbol,
but may have been exported to non-Christian areas in the
Middle East or Far East.

7
Of course these medieval symbols and parameters may also be
traced back to the published illustrations in medieval books and
paintings. The analysis may help us to understand the medieval
symbols in colours and alchemical methods, which for
economical and political reasons have been kept a secret for
centuries.
The analysis will describe the success-story for three medieval
towns Ypres, Nuremberg and Roermond between the 10 th and
the 15th - 16th century. Their historical impact has been quite
different in the textiles' quality and marketing profile, but these
differences may be particular helpful to interpret the
symbolism.

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The Red- and Blue-Dyers

Fig. 2: Purple for the royals

In this 500 year old painting1 the devil prepares the black sheep
whereas Jesus is processing the purple or pink coloured sheep.
A couple (undressed like a reddish Adam and white, but red-
haired Eve) is waiting to be clothed by the ladies dressed in
black, red & blue, who are preparing the white wool for further
processing.

1:
created 1519

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The wool has not been provided by the black and purple sheep.
Instead Adam and Eve will be dressed in woollen clothes like
sheep, which will be painted black (evil) by the devil
respectively purple (good) by Jesus. Obviously the painting is
an allegory describing the symbolism in medieval religion.
The involved colours (purple, red, blue, black and white) seem
to correlate to the main colours which will also be reported
from three representative medieval cities (Ypres in Flanders,
Nuremberg in Germany and Roermond in the Netherlands) for
textile trading.
Although most of the written documents in dye processing
have been lost we may analyse and extract some interesting
details from available historical records.
Popular medieval dyes2 for garments have been woad (blue),
madder (red) and weld (yellow), which in the Middle Age all
had been found in the neighbourhood of the manufacturing
towns. The market for these dyes and the manufacturing of
textiles itself however had to be protected by several laws and
strict rules for quality control and taxes. After the discovery of
America and various sea-routes these local dyes have been
replaced by others, which required other manufacturing
methods. New dyes however could not be introduced
immediately. Sometimes it took decades to remove the
mercantile restrictions, but as soon as the old manufacturing
methods had vanished the symbolism for the medieval dyes
had been lost as well. In most cases this occurred in the 16th-
17th century.

2:
The details for these dyes will be described in the appendix.

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Additionally to dyes several chemicals were needed as fixers.
The most important chemical substance has been recorded as
alum. This agent has been used as a dye-fixer (mordant) for
wool, the value of which increased significantly if dyed.
Most of these chemicals were rather aggressive, either to the
skin or to the human sense of smell. As an important
discriminating factor we must discern manufacturing methods
and dyes requiring aggressive chemical agents from those
methods which did not. Madder (red) and weld (yellow)
required the application of aggressive agents, but woad (blue)
did not. This will definitely group the dyers into antipodes
represented by the primary colours red (including yellow) and
blue.
In the Middle Age wool was one of England's primary
industries. Dyeing and weaving started at the continent just
across the Channel in northern France and Flanders, where
initially the raw woollen material from England had been
considered as the best quality. In the 17 th century England
however learned to protect the market for wool and installed
the technology to cover the full line of manufacturing, which
along with the introduction of alternative dyes ruined the
concurrent producers. These factors will restrict the
observation period for this study between the 10th and 17th
century.

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Textile Dyers in Ypres3

Favourite colours
In the Middle Age bright colours had been restricted for the
expensive textiles reserved for higher class people. The lower
classes used simple, uncoloured textiles or pale coloured dyes.
As a rule the rural population manufactured simple textiles by
themselves.
Initially (before the 13th century) the favourite colours in the
Ypres textile industries have been the primary colours white,
red, yellow and blue. In contrast green, beige, ochre, grey and
brown were despised for their negative symbolism.
At the beginning of the 13nd century a religious movement also
abolished the use of bright colours red and green, which ruined
the red-dyers. Black and blue were to be promoted to the
popular dyes.

Yellow and Green

As a remarkable fact yellow has been named as an important
dye. This is quite unusual as yellow has been considered as a
negative symbol in the Middle Age. Early Christianity
considered yellow as a marker for death, illness, disbelief,
traitors (Judas) and envy. This idea may have been derived
from the Apocalyptic fourth rider who is riding a pale horse.
Yellow had been declared as a signal for decent citizens against
bad influences from executioners, whores and heretics.

3:
Information from Brochure Verfgoed (pdf – in Dutch language) and De
lakennijverheid in het Westkwartier (in Dutch)

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The following painting depicts Judas4 in yellow and green,
whereas Jesus is dressed in purple, red and blue.

Fig. 3: Kiss of Judas (1336)

4:
Reference: Yellow for Judas

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Of course yellow could not be sold to decent Christian citizens.
However there may have been an export market to non-
Christian countries in the Near or Far East.
In this context the reported rejection of green as a negative
symbol however is strange. Compared to yellow the green
textiles must have been an even more interesting export item
for the Islamic markets.

Leading export sites

Strict quality control ensured the trading position of the famous
Flemish cities of Ypres, Wervik, Bruges en Ghent which were
the leading export sites for medieval textiles between the 11 th
and the 14th - 15th century.
The manufacturing had been organized in several guilds for
processing steps. The processing of the three dyes depended on
the raw materials and resulted in two different professions:
• the blue-dyers (who did not use aggressive agents)
• the red-dyers (who were also allowed to apply yellow
dyes)

blue-dyers and red-dyers

The blue-dyers and red-dyers had been strictly separated as
they were using quite different chemicals and methods. The
blue-dyers were not allowed to process red dyes and vice-
versa.
Professional dyers were wealthy although the required amount
of water and aggressive chemicals banned the manufactures to
the low-level districts and outskirts of the towns.

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The processes needed plenty of water, which had to be flushed
into the river and polluted the streams. Even the tolerant
medieval population avoided to use the coloured stream as a
source for potable and or washing water.

Fig. 4: Red-Dyer

‘Red-dyer’ by Bartholomeo Anglicus,

‘De Proprietatibus Rerum’ (1482) - British Library, Londen

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Textile Dyers in Nuremberg5
At the end of the 15th century Cologne, Strasbourg and Nurem-
berg have been the most important 6 German manufactures for
textiles. The quality of the German textiles did not quite meet
or equal the standards at Flanders.
In Germany trading textiles had been reported as early as
1298/1299 for grey textiles. Dyeing has been reported from
1313. Explosive growth of the manufacturers may have
occurred as early as 1350. At that the time production capacity
had to be controlled by limiting the number of looms for each
dyer: two looms from 1358, one loom from 1363.

Favourite Colours
From 1407 additionally the “Cologne-type” of textiles has been
introduced, which restricted the dyes to the colour patterns
blue, green and red. As a remarkable fact the colour green
does not seem to be considered as negative as in Ypres. Instead
yellow does not belong to the “Cologne-type” of textiles.
From 1480 the dyers in Nuremberg were allowed to use lower
qualities of wool and any kind of colour for dyeing.
Substantial modifications have been reported in the
organisation of processes. From 1475 the dyers obviously
reduced their internal manufacturing processes to blue dyed
textiles, whereas the other colours were being outsourced.
From 1496 the rules explicitly allow dyers to use yellow dyes,
which obviously may have been “lost” in the course of years.
5:
Tuchproduktion in Nürnberg by André Henning (written 15 April 2009)
6:
Production in 1377-97 in Cologne 290.000 mtrs, in Nuremberg 68.500
mtrs.

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In medieval Nuremberg woad has been the main dye (used for
blue, black and green colours), which mainly has been
imported from Thuringia7 located east of Nuremberg. In
Nuremberg the monopoly for woad trading ends in the 16 th
century. From the 17th century indigo replaces the woad dye,
ruining the monopoly-position.

7:
Erfurt, Gotha, Arnstadt, Langensalza bzw. Tennstedt

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Textile Dyers in Roermond8
Manufacture of textiles probably has been the main factor in
the development of the medieval city of Roermond9. Textile
manufacturing already accelerated before 1295 by building a
“filler”-mill. The mill replaced 40 persons in the process of
“filling”10, which indicates a considerable activity in the 13th
century. In later eras several mills have been reported to be
active for the filling- and other processes. In 1440 Roermond
also joined the Hansa-union to export the textiles over large
areas.

Favourite Colours
Two dyes are reported to have been imported from
neighbouring areas: woad from Heinsberg and red madder
from West-Brabant and Zeeland. No yellow dyes have been
reported.

Fire
After a fire in 1554 the manufacturing of textiles quickly
degraded in Roermond. Probably the 16th century brought
comparable competition to all three cities Ypres, Nuremberg
and Roermond. Often a fire merely accelerated the process of
decay. The cities had to switch over to other economical or
administrative activities, which used the available
infrastructure to quickly grow into a new role.

8:
Tuchproduktion in Nürnberg by André Henning (written 15 April 2009)
9:
Ach Lieve Tijd – Acht eeuwen Roermond en de Roermondenaren.
10:
stomping the textiles into a the badly smelling fluids for hours...

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A red Adam and a blue Eve

Fig. 5: Adam (red) and Eve Fig. 6: Adam & Eve (purple)
(blue)

At elementary school in Eindhoven in 1954 a Catholic teacher

ordered11 the children to draw male persons (Jesus, Adam &
God) in red colours and female persons (Eve and the virgin
Mary) in blue.
After the Fall of Man the couple had to be drawn in purple. But
in fact the Fall of Man had nothing to do with the colouring
symbolism. The couple had to be drawn in purple as soon as
they had performed the matrimonial procedure which
transformed them into ONE being as the image of God.
Therefore purple is a sacred symbol and we should check the
symbolism in the dyeing procedures in the medieval textile
industries. Maybe some new insight is to be extracted from
these old procedures.
Making purple in textile manufacturing may be done in various
ways. The easiest way is to produce white textiles and to put
the immaculate tissues into purple dye.
11:
Reference in German at: Religionsunterricht 1954-1955 and in Dutch
language at: Godsdienstles 1954-1955.

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This however will not lead to high quality products and in fact
the method may even fail to correspond to the religious
symbolism.
Another method has been reported from the Celtic grave at
Hochdorf (500 b.C.), in which extremely fine threads coloured
in blue and red have been woven into textiles, which deliver a
fine impression of homogeneous purple colour, but in fact
consist of a fine woven pattern of red an blue.
Alternative methods to these extremely different processes are
the dyeing of threads in purple dye or the sequential dyeing of
textiles, respectively threads in two steps: first a colouring
phase for red subsequently the colouring phase for blue. Of
course the sequence of processing may also be alternated.
These rather alchemical technologies must have been
experimented and tried out in various locations. Having ranged
between most successful and complete failures the products
could only be sold if the quality did meet the market
conditions.
The production of black textiles has been reported to be the
most difficult of al dyeings. Black may be produced the easy
way in a single manufacturing process by dyeing the textile in
a bath of galls. These textiles however do not meet the required
standards and the quality offices denied any certificate for these
bad textiles. In Ypres the records required subsequent steps for
dyeing in red and blue to obtain black (and probably purple as
well).
Obviously this idea required a cooperation between two guilds,
which also needed procedures for fine tuning in economical
cases like pricing.

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Rigid quality control also needed rules to solve the problems
between two parties in case a compromise was needed. This
leads to the idea of a chymical matrimony between a red-dyer
and a blue-dyer.

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Etymology of the word Paars12
In order to produce several colours (especially black and
purple) the dyeing guilds were forced to cooperate. Especially
the colour purple may have been a rather important royal and
divine symbol, which had to meet the highest quality level.
A a remarkable etymological fact the colours purple may be
described in Dutch language by two different words:
• purper (equivalent to English: purple)
• paars (equivalent to English: purple)
In may seem strange, but there is no real equivalent word for
“paars” in any of the neighbouring languages (German,
English, French). Initially the word “paars” has been
introduced as a colour in 1294, which also marks the heydays
of the textile manufacturing at Ypres.
The main etymological database http://www.etymologie.nl/
reveals the following entries for medieval words around 1300
AD13:
paars Substantive (as a 'colour')
Mnl. perse 'purple (sheet)' [1294; VMNW], perse saye
'purple woolen sheets' [1296; VMNW],
peers bruxsch lakene ' purple sheets from Brugge'
[1343-44; MNW], groen of blaeu of root of paers [ca.
1475; MNW].

12:
Dutch for: “Purple”
13:
Reference: Another Etymology for Purple

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As an etymological detail the word is not a neuter (“het paars”)
as it would have been in the case of standard colours like
green, red, and blue. Instead it is a sort of dual, “de paars”,
which cannot be expressed in English language.
In fact “paars” may also express the idea of a “pair of guilds”
producing purple by processing the red- and blue-
manufacturing steps in a subsequent combination.
Although the invention of these manufacturing steps may have
occurred earlier in the Middle Age or even in the Celtic eras the
organisational structures of the guilds probably started in the
Middle Age. The main manufacturers have been located in
Dutch speaking areas in Flanders and that may have caused the
restriction of the word “paars” to Dutch language.

An alchemical Wedding
There is a strong correlation between red-dyers and blue-dyers
and chemical matrimony between both male (red) respectively
female (blue) partners. In the following painting the yellow-red
king (sun) meets the blue queen (the pale moon) in a chymical
wedding. There is no doubt the red-dyers (working with
aggressive media) identified themselves with the male king,
whereas the blue-dyers (working with weaker materials)
considered themselves as female partners. In a way the dyers
may have felt themselves as alchemists searching for the
"philosopher's stone", a legendary substance that was believed
to symbolize the acquisition of ultimate wisdom.

23
Fig. 7: Nuptiae Chymicae

24
Weaving red & blue
The weaving of red and blue to purple may also have been
symbolized in the illumination of manuscripts like the
following contemporary example of Dante's Divina Commedia:

Fig. 8: Dante's Divina

Commedia

Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321), was an Italian poet of the

Middle Ages. The displayed page of the Divine Comedy
displays the author in blue and red garments, surrounded by
blue and red text lines and initials.
- Vatican manuscript -
Reference: Blue and Red in Medieval Garments

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Creator Gods
In the book Genesis the Wenzel Bible (1390) depicts a Creator
God wearing garments combining red and blue colours and
resolving an adult Eve from Adam. In illuminated Bibles 14
most Creator Gods have been depicted in either red & blue, in
white or in purple garments.

Fig. 9: Creation Phase-Wenzel Bible

14:
Reference: The Sky-God Dyaeus and Secret Colour Codes in the Bible

26
Fig. 10: Creation of Eve in Eberler Bible (1464)

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The tomb of the count of Gelre
In fact there may even have been a relation between the colours
found in the tomb of the count of Gelre in Roermond, which
had been flourishing for trading and manufacturing red & blue
dyed textiles at the time of the burial ceremony (around 1224).

Fig. 11: Tomb in the Munsterkerk at Roermond (NL)

The famous monumental tomb in the ancient15 church for the

abbey at Roermond (Netherlands) is said to depict count
Gerard of Gelre and his wife Margaretha of Brabant. The
couple has been sculptured as semi-dormant.

15:
founded 1224 by count Gerard III of Gelre - see: Blue and Red in
Roermond

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The count is wearing a green overcoat and a blue robe over a
red garment covering a white under-dress. The countess is
wearing a brown overcoat and white garments. The count's
green overcoat will only be seen from the side of the
monument. All clothing have been decorated with golden
borders. The main colours are red, white and blue.
The tomb however does not restrict red and blue for the upper
part of the grave's body. The pedestal of the grave, the lower
part of the garments (for both the grave and his wife
Margaretha ) and the pedestal have been painted in red, blue
and golden as well.

Fig. 12: pedestal of the tomb in red & blue

29
 Fig. 13: Lower part of the garments in red, blue and
golden

Fig. 14: Pillow of the grave's tomb in gold, red & blue

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Conclusion
Between the 10th and the 15th century the red-dyers and blue-
dyers have been manufacturing precious textiles in Flanders
and the neighbouring countries. The chemical processes
required two separate guilds for these dyers. According to
medieval traditions the red-dyers and blue-dyers may have
considered themselves as male (symbolized by the sun's
symbolic colour ranging from red to orange-yellow)
respectively female (symbolized by the moon's symbolic
colour ranging from blue to blueish pale).
Manufacturing some of the most important coloured textiles
(purple and black) required a partnership between both
concurrent guilds for the red-dyers and blue-dyers, which may
have been compared to the alchemical matrimony between the
sun-king and the moon-queen.
The cooperation between red-dyers and blue-dyers may have
been symbolized in the medieval Dutch word “paars” as the
colour purple.
Most of the symbolism of red-dyers and blue-dyers has been
lost at the end of the Middle Age, ruining the manufacturing
sites by introducing new, alternative dyes and opened new
markets for the textile-trading.

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Appendix: Medieval dyes16

Woad (or glastum - Isatis tinctoria)

Woad has been the most popular dye in the Middle Age and has
been used to dye blue, black and green colours.
The first archaeological finds of woad seeds date to the
Neolithic and have been found in the French cave of l'Audoste,
Bouches du Rhone (France). Named Färberwaid (Isatis
tinctoria L.) or German Indigo of the plant family
(Brassicaceae), in the Iron Age settlement of the Heuneburg,
Germany, impressions of the seeds have been found on pottery.
The Hallstatt burials of Hochdorf and Hohmichele contained
textiles dyed with Färberwaid (dye woad).

Madder (Rubia tinctorum )

Rubia is a genus of the madder family Rubiaceae, which
contains about 60 species of perennial scrambling or climbing
herbs and sub-shrubs native to the Old World, Africa,
temperate Asia and America. The genus and its best known
species are also known as Madder, Rubia tinctorum (Common
Madder),

Weld (Reseda luteola)

Reseda luteola is a plant species in the genus Reseda. Common
names include dyer's rocket and weld. A native of Eurasia, the
plant can be found in North America as an introduced species
and common weed.
16:
Info in Dutch language from Infobrochure bij de tentoonstelling

32
While other resedas were used for the purpose, this species was
the most widely used source of the natural dye known as weld.
The plant is rich in luteolin, a flavonoid which produces a
bright yellow dye. The yellow could be mixed with the blue
from woad (Isatis tinctoria) to produce green.

Shellfish as a source for purple dye17

In the Royal episode, the very emblem of the British monarchy,
purple coronation robes, is said to have depended on the work
of the unfortunate lackeys who as Purple Dyers extracted
purple by “stomping up and down on rotting shellfish which
had been soaking in human urine. “

17:
From: The Worst Jobs In History - Royal (ABC1-Program transmitted
7:30pm Sunday, 05 Aug 2007 )

33