Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/589

 shed its saddening influence over the vessels of the Middle Ages, as it does almost invariably over those of our own time. Then its use was almost exclusively confined to the bearers of death or of other disastrous news. The galleys which conveyed to Manfred the intelligence of the death of his brother Conrad were painted black, and their sails and pendants of a similar colour. In 1525, when Francis I. was captured at the battle of Pavia and carried captive to Barcelona, the six galleys which conveyed the captive monarch and his suite were painted in that sombre colour, from the topmasts down to the water-lines. The sails, banners, pendants, awnings, and oars were all black, and the knights of St. Stephen adopted the same colour when one of their captains was made prisoner by the Turks, vowing never to wear any other until victory should restore him to their country.

Although the ships of the ancients were frequently adorned with purple and gold beyond the decorations to the hull already described, they were surpassed in display by those of the Middle Ages, and, especially, by the ships of the nobles of the Italian republics. Ornaments, emblems, devices, and allegorical subjects with armorial bearings were lavishly engraved or painted on the hulls; while alternate stripes or squares of variegated colours decorated the sails. In the case of the more ordinary vessels of the merchant or of the fisherman, the image of a saint, of the Virgin Mary, or of some sacramental or cabalistic charm, were common devices to ward off malignant influences.

Signals were made by means of figured and painted sails, streamers, or flags, and by the use of the ensigns.