Wickipedia Encyclopedia reports:

"The first finds of woad seeds date to the Neolithic and have been found in the French cave of l'Audoste, Bouches du Rhone (France). 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 woad. Julius Caesar tells us (de Bello Gallico) that the Britanni used to dye their bodies with woad (vitrum), which made them look terrible in battle. The Picts got their name (Latin Picti which means painted folk or possibly tattooed folk) from their practice of going into battle naked except for decorations made with woad war paint. Yet others feel that woad was used as an astringent. It produces quite a bit of scar tissue, but heals very quickly, and no blue is left behind. It may have been used specifically for closing battle wounds."


It was the Picts, then; and if you can't believe Julius Caesar, man, who CAN you believe?? :D

But I retract my assertions about woad having anything to do with "blue blood". It appears it was a Spanish brag relating to the paleness of skin and blueness of vein in pure-bred aristos:

"A translation of the Spanish sangre azul attributed to some of the oldest and proudest families of Castile, who claimed never to have been contaminated by Moorish, Jewish, or other foreign admixture; the expression probably originated in the blueness of the veins of people of fair complexion as compared with those of dark skin; also, a person with blue blood; an aristocrat."

(From "Phrase", a UK etymology website).

Sorry. But I like my woad version better even if it is fecal! LOL

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