Description
Most of the northern European tribes were not naval powers, but there were still able seafarers to be found amongst them. Shipbuilding techniques were well understood, so while many vessels were small leather-skinned boats for inland and inshore use, bigger sea-going vessels were also made. Shipwrights used heavy planking for hulls, stitched together and then fastened to a wooden skeleton to create sturdy craft able to cope with Atlantic conditions. Julius Caesar was surprised at the quality of the enemy ships when his fleet clashed with the Veneti from modern-day Brittany. The Veneti vessels had flat bottoms to cope with shallows, but were also of heavy oak construction to cope with rough seas. This made them tough opposition for Roman galleys, and capable of shrugging off a ramming attack. Caesar said that the enemy ships "...were constructed of planks a foot in breadth, fastened by iron spikes the thickness of a man's thumb; the anchors were secured fast by iron chains instead of cables”. When the Romans were forced to board, they faced fearsome warriors used to close-quarters fighting at sea.
The painted warriors of Britain were recognisable thanks to the blue designs adorning their skin and made famous by Julius Caesar’s 'De Bello Gallico'. Their bravery and savagery is evident from his commentaries. Fighting unarmoured, and sometimes naked in the style of the Gaulish Gaesatae or the northern Picts, the painted ones relied on their skills with the Celtic longsword, a weapon designed to slash and hack rather than stab, and their tall shields, which could also be used as a weapon in its own right. Their tattoos generally took the form of curlicue lines, dashes and circles, which mirrored abstracted animal and natural forms. Frightening to behold, these designs probably held religious significance, uniting the warriors with their gods, their lands and their tribes. Whether woad was the source of the blue dye or some mixture of copper and iron that Caesar referred to as 'vitrum' is not entirely clear. Woad, however, does make a better candidate as it has slightly antiseptic properties.
