The Vikings were assuredly masters of the sea, and their naval prowess made quite an impression on those who heard and witnessed it. A diagram in a 11th century folio from England, known as a Treatise on Astronomy, contains a picture of a Viking boat that tells us just how influenced future navigators and naval scholars were by the Vikings.
        From a manuscript made on parchment from the 12th century that was likely a copy of a 11th century prototype of the manuscript, the obvious illumination of a Viking ship can be seen.¹ The ship appears to be clinker built and have oars at the front, things both belonging to viking ships. Also, the inclusion of a sail helps us understand what style of viking ship might be the illustrator’s model. Viking’s boat-building prowess must have influenced other boat builders, and pictures such as this help illuminate what methods of shipbuilding might have most influenced them. It is also interesting that such a boat would be included in a medieval text from London on something un-related to history, but it suggests that the Viking influence on sea-worthiness had made quite an impression, especially with their navigational systems. The mark of what seems to be a star has bled through from the opposite page marks the idea of astronomy, and in conjunction with the boat, it is very plausible that this page from the treatise was describing viking methods of navigation by stars. This not only confirms previous ideas that the vikings used very rudimentary astronomy to navigate, but that they helped spread this idea of navigation so that it showed up in later manuscripts and cultures.²

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