Viking Workshop September, October, November 2000 THL Lêofsige Õ Caoimh called Lyssa [email protected]

Introduction............................................................................................................................ 2 Viking Life .............................................................................................................................. 2 Men’s Clothing ...................................................................................................................... 3 Aesthetics................................................................................................................................. 3 Trousers................................................................................................................................... 4 Under tunics or Smocks............................................................................................................ 4 Overtunics................................................................................................................................ 5 Coats........................................................................................................................................ 6 Cloaks...................................................................................................................................... 6 Other Garments........................................................................................................................ 7 Accessories............................................................................................................................... 7 Men’s Hairstyles ...................................................................................................................... 8 Women’s Clothing................................................................................................................ 9 Under dress.............................................................................................................................. 9 Viking Apron ......................................................................................................................... 10 Coat, Caftan, Shawl................................................................................................................ 10 Headcoverings........................................................................................................................ 10 Women’s Headwear ............................................................................................................... 11 Women's Hairstyles................................................................................................................ 12 Garments ............................................................................................................................... 12 Mediterranean Tunic.............................................................................................................. 12 Thorsbjerg Tunic.................................................................................................................... 12 Evebø, Norway ....................................................................................................................... 13 Birca, Sweden - 9th and 10th Centuries................................................................................... 13 Hedeby Harbor - 10th and 11th Centuries............................................................................... 14 Jorvik, England - 11th Century............................................................................................... 14 Viborg Søndersø, Denmark - 11th Century.............................................................................. 14 Apron Dress .......................................................................................................................... 15 Fabrics ................................................................................................................................... 15 Seam, Edge Treatments, and Trimmings .................................................................... 16 Embroidery Stitches ........................................................................................................... 17 Nälbinding ............................................................................................................................ 19 Braid Weaving ..................................................................................................................... 20 Shoes ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 22

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Introduction This hands-on class starts with the “basics” Research and design your garb; Select appropriate fabrics; Design your own patterns to fit you! Don’t panic! Early period construction is not complicated. Next, you’ll purchase your fabric, pre-wash it, then on to cutting, sewing, fit and decoration. The goal will be to have you outfitted in fine Viking style by Caerthan Twelfth Night! The first meeting will be on September 11 from 7pm 9pm. The evening may change but we’ll meet weekly after that. Participants are encouraged to bring their own scissors, pins and a measuring tape. Bring a sewing machine if possible. Sonic loaner equipment will be available. For more information and the location of classes contact: —

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THL Lêofsige Õ Caoimh know as Lyssa Phone Number: 637-9047 E-Mail: [email protected]

Viking Life Excerpted from “Viking Life and Dress” and “Women in Viking Society” Crystal R. Miller -

According to the eddaic poem, Rispula, which dates from approximately the tenth century, the Vikings had three social classes: slaves, free farmers, and warlords. Taking this in mind, the appearance of the Viking would have been reflective of their social class. Archaeological finds tend to indicate that the Vikings were very well groomed. Among some of the common toilet items that have been found are: decorated combs, ear-scoops, tweezers, and washing bowels. On examination of the bodies of the deceased, wear on the teeth seems to indicate that some form of a toothpick was being utilized. These things were not just common to the nobility, but common to all of Viking society. A Spanish Arab who visited Hedeby during the tenth century wrote that both men and women used eye make-up. The English chronicler, John of Wallingford, used older sources to assess that Vikings were favorable among the women because they took a bath on Saturdays and combed their hair. However, contrary to the above, an Arabic emissary named Ibn Fadhlan in the 920’s met a group of Vikings on the Volga River, and recorded that, “they are the filthiest of Allah’s creatures: they do not wash after shitting or peeing, nor after sexual intercourse, and do not wash after eating. They are like wayward donkeys.” He further records that the Vikings did wash every morning but used the same water. To a Muslim, these habits would be considered vulgar a typical religious Muslim would wash everyday before each of the five prayers. -

The typical Viking male dress varied considerably in materials, cut, and design. Typical dress might include narrow ankle-length trousers, bell-bottom like trousers, or large plus-fours which would have been tied below the knee. These would have all been made of wool and woven in two colors. Trousers such as these were held up by a strap around the waist or long bands tied around the legs. Another type of trousers were shorter, and were usually accompanied by stockings. Also worn would be a tunic or shirt, which might have been accompanied by an undershirt of some type. The tunic would have been trimmed with some form of ornamentation, and a belt might also have been worn with this. The cloak would have been fastened over the right shoulder by a large brooch or tie. The standard dress of the Viking woman was a dress made of linen or wool, with an overdress resembling a pinafore that was placed over the top. This would overdress would have straps that would have been longer in the back that in the front, and in the front would be attached very large, usually trefoil-shaped or rectangular,

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brooches over the straps. A chain of beads could be attached between the brooches, and such items as a small knife, scissors, a needle-case, or a key could be attached to that chain. A woman might also typically choose to wear a shawl or a cloak which would be fastened in front with a brooch as well. Men and women would often display their wealth in the form of neck and arm rings. Most of the arm and neck rings are made from dirkhem which are Arabic coins made of silver. Ibn Fadhlan records in the 920’s when he met a group of Vikings on the Volga River, “Round the neck they have ornaments of gold or silver. Each husbandman who owns 10,000 dirkhems has one such ornament made for his wife; if he has 20,000 he has two made, and each 10,000 means a new ornament for his wife. Often a woman has many such ornaments.” Women in Viking society played a very important role as maintainers of the estate. Their importance in Viking society is revealed by the offering of a bride-price which was paid to the bride’s family when she was married. Although women tended to only marry others of the same level of society, these marriages were often for the mutual benefit of both families. Vikings did not marry for love, but their feelings concerning potential marriage partners were important. The Viking woman had a special role in the family, and that was the maintenance of the household and the estate. No one, including her husband, would dare to contradict her in these matters. If her husband died, she was given the estate. If the wife died, the estate was given to the eldest son, and if there was no son it would be given to the daughter. The Viking woman, unlike woman in other parts of Europe, was not a piece of property that could be bartered for gaining political foothold. She had a role in society, and in the household. In May, when her husband left her to go raiding or trading, she remained to maintain the estate and make things such as cloth and embroidery. In Iceland, Viking females could take up other duties. She was even able to preside as the speaker in court, something which was not possible on the continent. Viking women served as an important member of society. In some extreme cases, women are noted as even having gone into battle. She was not an object of political positioning between families, but instead a rather valuable member of society and a source of children.

Men’s Clothing Excerpted from “Viking Men’s Clothing” Carolyn Priest-Dorman. þóra’s Viking Resources -

Aesthetics Many textiles in the Viking Age were made of worsted wool in twill patterns. These wools were carefully woven, supple, attractively textured, and often dyed in bright colors. It’s a very poor Viking indeed—one who not only didn’t have an armring to his name but also didn’t have a decent weaver in the entire extended family!-who would have had to make do with the horrible, scratchy, coarse wools we SCA Vikings are led to believe are the only ones “period for Vikings.” Oddly enough, as time went on and the warp-weighted loom was supplanted by the horizontal loom beginning near the end of the tenth century, later period Viking wool fabrics became coarser, fuzzier, and thicker than earlier period ones. This is because the process of extensive fulling and napping was reintroduced to the textile industry, and that’s the tip of a textile production history iceberg that you can run up against some other time. For now, suffice it to say that a great many Viking Age wool garments, particularly the fancy ones, were of fine, soft, bright, and well-made wool fabrics. Certain areas also had ready access to linen, such as England, which produced it, and Sweden, which imported it; as fragile and rare as linen remains are, there is nevertheless much more archaeological evidence for the use of linen in those areas. Silk was available all over the Viking world by the ninth century, and it was liberally used by some of the people buried at Birka in the mid- to late-tenth century. Although there is no evidence of cotton yet from Viking graves, it is known that in the tenth century the Byzantine army issued a cotton padding garment, the bambakion, as part of its outfit (Teall 1977, 204). Varangians, at the very least, would likely have experienced this garment. Some fabrics, such as linen and some naturally pigmented wools, were most often used undyed. Many wools, however, were dyed in attractive colors, and there are a few examples of woad- or madder-dyed linens. The most common colors which have been found in dye analyses of Viking Age fabrics are red, mostly from madder; blue,

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from woad; yellow, from weld and an unidentified yellow dye, possibly either broom or a tannin-based dye such as onion skins; purples and violets, from lichens or from over dyeing with some combination of lichens/madder/woad; and greens, from over dyeing with an unidentified yellow dye plus woad (Walton 1988, 17- 18). Some evidence of brown from walnut shells has also been found, as well as one or two pieces that were intentionally dyed very dark brownish-black with walnut shells and iron (Hägg 1984, 289). The chemical evidence seems to point to a preponderance of particular colors appearing in particular areas: reds in the Danelaw, purples in Ireland, and blues and greens in Scandinavia proper (Walton 1988, 18). Although it is carefully hedged, there is a hypothesis in the scientific world that this might possibly reflect regional color preferences rather than archaeochemical factors; feel free to use this Viking heraldry if you like the idea. At any rate, it is helpful to make friends with a natural dyer and find out more about the appearance of the colors produced from these dyestuffs. They’ll be gratified and encouraged by your interest in their art form, and you’ll learn a lot about the Viking aesthetic.

Trousers Iconographic evidence in such forms as the Gotlandic picture stones and the Oseberg tapestry suggests that the Vikings wore at least two types of leg coverings: a wide, knee-length, baggy type and a narrow, full-length, more fitted type. Unfortunately, not many finds are clearly identifiable as trousers, and in most cases the cut of the garment is not obvious from the remains. That said, on to the evidence. Several finds of trousers dating to the Migration Era (between the fall of Rome and the official Viking Age) serve to demonstrate that Scandinavian use of trousers in at least the narrow form goes back a fairly long way. The trousers found mo re or less intact at Thorsbjerg Mose in Denmark (Hald 1980, 329), with their sophisticated Migration Era cut requiring three separate pieces for the crotch gusset alone, by themselves can serve to disprove any claims that early period garments are simple and untailored. At the ends of the legs, the Thorsbjerg trousers extended into foot coverings, just like children’s pajamas. The remains of a Migration Era man buried in a mound at Evebø farm in Gloppen, western Norway, provide proof that multicolored plaid was not unknown in the Scandinavian world. This man wore trousers in a pattern of l5xl5cm plaid, in at least three colors--red, green, and blue (Magnus 1982, 69). Because the wool from which the trousers were made is not creased or pleated, it is more likely that these trousers too were of the narrow variety. The tenth-century caulking rags excavated from Hedeby harbor yielded some garment fragments believed to be the remnants of the crotch of a pair of baggy men’s trousers, also known as “knickers,” “plus fours,” or Pumphose. (In the East Kingdom these are also widely known as “balloon” or “Viking funny” pants.) The fragments from Hedeby were of fine wool tabby in a crepe weave. They suggest that the pair of trousers were of two colors: some of the fragments are dyed yellowish, others red. The similarity between the Hedeby fragments and the crotch cut of the Thorsbjerg trousers is what allows for their identification as trousers (Hägg 1984, 31-2). Unfortunately, not much can be deduced about the overall shape of these pants from the fragments that remain. The remains of one pair of trousers found at Birka were probably of the short and baggy variety. The trousers were of linen (or lined with linen) with little metal eyes set into their lower edges; the stockings were wool, with little hooks sewn onto them. The stockings were hooked to the lower edges of the trousers just below the knees. These little hooks used to connect the trousers and stockings, called “garter hooks” in most of the literature, show up all over Northern Europe in early period, from Birka to Winchester (Owen-Crocker 1986, 93) and even in Jorvik (Hall 1984, 121); they seem to have been most consistently used in Saxon areas. It is not always certain how they were used, however; often they were used not on trousers but on the garters that cinched them. This undisturbed and unusual example of their use is one of the things that makes the Birka find so valuable.

Under tunics or Smocks A fair amount of information is available on the cut of the smock layer during the Viking Age. Most of the smocks found have been of wool, although many women’s smocks made of linen were found at Birka. It is likely

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that smocks in the Danelaw and Ireland could have been made of linen. Many fragments of linen garments have been found at ninth- and tenth-century Jorvik, most with flat-felled seams which, as Penelope Walton says, are suitable for undergarments (Walton 1989, 408). The Migration Era jarl at Evebø wore two tunics, one over the other. His knee-length, red wool undertunic was trimmed at neck, wrists, and hem with complex wool tablet weaving patterned with beasts of various descriptions in yellow, red, and black (Magnus 1982, 68-69). The cuffs were secured with bronze wrist clasps, a feature not uncommon to early Anglian graves in the same period (Crowfoot 1952, 91). Unfortunately, not enough of his tunic survives for us to be able to reconstruct its cut. The smocks worn at Hedeby seem to be of two basic types. Both types share the elements of rounded neckline, rounded armholes for set-in sleeves, and separate front and back panels sewn together at the shoulders (Hägg 1984, 171). They differ in the construction of their side-seams: one type has narrow, slit sides, and the other has wider construction with inserted gores for fullness at the hem. Most were wool, and some were dyed (Hägg 1984, 289). Sleeves tapered in width at the lower arm, so that they fit fairly snugly at the wrists, and they could also be cut in more than one piece to achieve a more complicated taper. There is less to go on with the Birka smocks, but a few facts are evident. Some of the Birka smocks seem to have had keyhole necklines rather than rounded ones. The front and back panels were cut in one piece and not sewn together with shoulder seams (Hägg 1974, 108). This construction makes them much closer in design to the current SCA conception of the T-tunic than the Hedeby smocks are; however, judging from earlier Scandinavian finds of tunics, they probably had separate sleeves sewn to the body of the smock.

Overtunics In general, it is probably safe to extrapolate from the information available on smocks in order to get some idea of how tunics and coats could have been cut in the same times and places. As is the case with the smock/undertunic, both wool and linen overtunics are represented in the finds. The Evebø jarl’s overtunic was wool, possibly blue, decorated at the neck with tablet-woven wool bands patterned with animals in two colors. Somewhere on this tunic some silver clasps were attached, but, due to the slightly irregular procedures followed in this excavation, it is unknown whether they were cuff clasps or clasps for front of the tunic (Magnus 1982, 68). Because the red undertunic was so elaborate, with its tablet-woven trims, the blue overtunic may not have been an overtunic (i.e., a pullover garment) at all but rather a coat (i.e., something that opens down the front): then the silver clasps would have been used to clasp it together on the chest. At Jorvik in the ninth and tenth centuries, strips of plain tabby-woven silk in bright colours were used to edge over garments (Walton 1989, 369), much the same way as one might use bias tape today except that the silk was cut along the grain, not diagonally across it. There is ample evidence for usage of figured silk samite strips as edgings at Viking Age Dublin (Pritchard 1988, 158). The Mammen grave revealed a similar use of samite strips (Hald 1980, 110-Ill). The fashion is also represented at ninth- and tenth-century Birka, where several overtunics, both men’s and women’s, were ornamented with strips of this type of samite plus, in several cases, metalbrocaded tablet-woven bands on the chest and arm areas. Grave 735 at Birka, dating to the mid-tenth century, revealed a unique ornamental overlay in a combination of samite and many strips of silver-brocaded tablet weaving (Geijer 1938, 165-6). The overlay consisted of eight parallel bands sewn horizontally on a rectangle of silk. This particular man’s grave is the find which has inspired drawings of men in Rus riding coats in many Viking picture books, including Almgren and the cover of the Osprey Elite Series book on the Vikings. However, as is often the case in secondary works, the illustrators got it all wrong. The man buried in Grave 735 was not wearing a buttoned coat; he was wearing a closed-front overtunic of bluish-green wool with the elaborate overlay appliquéd on the chest (Geijer 1938, 166). Although the shape of the finished overlay is not entirely clear from the reconstruction, Hägg suggests that additional strips of silk and tablet weaving ran up his arms (Hägg 1986, 69) as well as around the arms of the tunic.

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Another tenth-century Birka overtunic was of linen decorated with long vertical strips of brocaded tabletweaving from shoulders to calves (Hägg 1986, 69), which must have looked somewhat like Byzantine clavii. It was also trimmed with Chinese self-patterned damask silk (Geijer 1983, 86); at the time the man was buried, the silk would have been several hundred years old!

Coats There are two basic manifestations of the coat layer in Viking archaeological contexts. For ease of differentiation I call them the “jacket” and the “coat.” The jacket wraps around without a fastening device, while the coat is buttoned. It is possible that they simply represent variations of the same garment; they do not appear to have been worn together. The jacket is found in several spots in the Viking world, and it seems to have a very old tradition. An early defining example of the type is the human figures depicted on the Sutton Hoo helmet, who are dressed in what look like bathrobes. This garment consisted of a short tunic open all down the front with diagonal, overlapping flaps. There is supporting evidence from Saxon graves in both Europe and England for a clothing layer of this type, ornamented on the lapel and down the front with gold-brocaded tablet weaving. It is thought that the garment may have had some military or ritual significance (Owen-Crocker 1986, 114-115). The jacket fragments found at Hedeby were made of plain 2/2 twill. The complete garment is thought to have been hip-length and trimmed with fake fur made of wool along the hem and down the front edges (Hägg 1984, 204). The coat, also known as the “caftan” or “Rus riding coat,” may have been an explicitly eastern (Swedish/Rus) phenomenon. We have solid evidence of it only at Birka in the ninth and tenth centuries. It is a long coat like over garment, buttoned from neck to waist and decorated with specialized and elaborate metal trimmings. The remains of five such coats were found, each with a row of cast metal shank-buttons; several other coats were identified which, while they had the right sort of elaborate trimmings, had no associated buttons. Wood or bone buttons, however, would leave little or no trace in a burial, and it is likely that these coats were also buttoned (Hägg 1986, 68). It is thought that this garment was borrowed or adapted from the Byzantine skaramangion, which was the standard day garment for the Emperor and his court (Geijer 1983, 99). Our old friend, the man in the coat on the cover of the Osprey Elite book, makes another appearance here to warn you about misunderstanding the coat layer at Birka. The trimmed lapel/collar this man is wearing is an artist’s misinterpretation of the Reverskragen, or lapel, which was found in some of the other graves at Birka. The Reverskragen probably belongs on a jacket, not a coat. Also, the archaeological evidence from Birka does not support the conclusion that the coat was ornamented with crosswise bands on the chest, as many illustrators depict it: the overlays are found in one piece on the breast, which could not happen if the garment they decorated were a coat that buttoned. However, coats were frequently decorated with strips of metal knotwork mounted on strips of silk samite; tiny metal studs held the silk to the garment (Hägg 1986, 57).

Cloaks The basic elements of the Viking cloak ensemble are a rectangular cloak and a cloak pin. Cloak pins can be of the pennannular type or of the ring-headed pin type. Cloaks come in a variety of weights and weaves, from lightweight patterned twills to the heavy napped “fake-fur” types known as rogvarfeldr. The Evebø jarl was wrapped in an elaborate lightweight rectangular cloak with fringed edges. It was red plaid with blue and yellow stripes in a l2xl2cm repeat. At the edges were tablet-woven bands of either blue or green with beasts in either yellow or red (Magnus 1982, 68). No cloak pin was found.

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Fragments of red and undyed tufted wool, possibly from fake-fur cloaks, were found at Jorvik (Walton 1989, 319). Also, Grave 750 at Birka revealed the remnants of a heavy cloak with blue and red pile as long as a thumb (Geijer 1938, 132). The wool cloak found in the Mammen burial included fancy embroidery in two colors of stem stitching. The motifs included two different versions of repeating human faces and hands in a variation of the “gripping beast” style, as well as a scrolling leafy motif that looks very Saxon (Hald 1980, 104-5). The cloak was also strewn with gold foil paillettes or spangles (Hald 1980, 102). The men’s burials at Birka included cloaks worn to the grave or deposited near the body. These cloaks were most frequently thick, heavy blue ones (Hägg 1986, 68) worn pinned at either the shoulder or the hip. Several burials included a cloak deposited near the body. Of the five men’s burials dating securely to the ninth century, all wore cloakpins at the shoulder (Hägg 1986, 66). Several cloaks from the tenth century were found pinned at the hip rather than the shoulder, and some were deposited next to the body instead. Hägg thinks that the practice of burying the cloak elsewhere in the grave than on the body might have arisen because clothing the body in the cloak would obscure the man’s burial finery worn underneath it (Hägg 1986, 68). However, this hypothesis assumes that Birkan finery in the tenth century would have had to be somewhat more glitzy than in the ninth, which is not necessarily the case. Additionally, this practice is not unknown in earlier times: the Sutton Hoo burial also included a cloak deposited separately.

Other Garments Indications of other garments in use during this period are few and far between, but they do exist. The caulking rags from Hedeby included some remnants thought to be a man’s vest. They were made of thick, napped wool; the vest would have been hip-length and fitted fairly close to the body (Hägg 1986, 204). Cross-gartering in the Frankish and Saxon sense is not generally believed to have been practiced in Viking dress. However, strips of fabric widely agreed to be leg-wrappers have turned up in various locations around the Viking world. At Hedeby several strips were found which had been woven to a 10cm width (i.e., not cut out of a wider fabric); they were woven in various twill techniques, with a purple herringbone twill as the finest example. Similar strips have also been found at many north European sites (Hägg 1986, 159-60). These leg-wrappers would have been worn by spirally wrapping the strip around the calf starting just below the kneecap and finishing at the ankle, where the excess can be tucked into a shoe.

Accessories Hats and Headwear At Birka three classes of headwear have been identified. At least two types definitely correlate to a specific other garment: the Types A and B hats are found in graves where the coat, whether with or without metal buttons, is also found. Type A, found in both ninth and tenth centuries, is a peaked hat, at least partly made of silk, with either metal knotwork running up the center front of the peak or a silver, funnel-shaped ornament at the top of the peak and silver mesh balls dangling from the pointed end. Type B Birka is a more sedate tenth-century innovation also worn with the coat; it seems to be a closer-fitting, round low wool cap decorated around the circumference of the head with one or more strips of metal knotwork or braided spiral wire. A relationship between the hat and coat is frequently emphasized by the use of similar knotted trim to decorate both the hat and the coat. Type C headwear at Birka consists of a metal-brocaded, tablet-woven fillet or headband--perhaps the hlad mentioned in the sagas (Hägg 1986, 70). Of all three styles, Type C is the only one that appears in graves without the coat layer. A really unusual piece of headwear was found with the Mammen burial. It has been reconstructed as a padded circlet of tabby silk decorated with brocaded tablet weaving. Rising from the circlet are two triangular silk "pennons," with gold-wire mesh in the center of each. The headwear also has slivers of whalebone in it, probably to help it stand up straight (Hald 1980, 106-108). It might have looked somewhat like a bishop’s mitre in

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silhouette. This burial also yielded bracelets of brocaded tablet weaving on a ground of padded silk (Hald 1980, 106), possibly also in imitation of ecclesiastical garb. In the Orkney Islands off Scotland a complete wool hood was found which has been tentatively dated to the Viking Age. Its one-piece cut it is more simple than the hoods of the Middle Ages; the hood section is squansh with no tail, and the cowl is small and conical. It was made of herringbone twill trimmed with deep bands of textured tablet weaving in two colors, and it had twisted fringing a foot long (Henshall 1954, 10).

Belts While the leather itself may not have survived, there is plenty of evidence for metal harness-mounts on leather straps in Viking Age burials. Similarly, belt buckles, strap-ends, and belt-slides are also common finds in Viking men’s graves, even if the leather upon which they were mounted has disintegrated. Viking Age belt buckles do not appear to have been as elaborate as the Sutton Hoo buckle or the other famous early Saxon buckles. Most were simple bronze ovals with a protruding tongue and a flat plate to rivet to the leather; they would not look particularly out of place on a modern belt. Some buckles were carved of bone (Waterman 1959, 91). Various types of belts were found at Birka. Some leather belts were mounted all along their length with wide flat metal plaques; the one in Grave 1074 had two hanging ends, also with mounts (Geijer 1938, Taf. 40). These belts were worn mostly by the men who had cast-metal buttons on their coats. A couple of elegant belts found at Birka were made out of silk samite decorated with a hanging fringe of silver-wire knotwork. Again, they seem to have been worn by some of the men buried wearing the coats with metal buttons. Since only fragments survive, it is difficult to know what the completed appearance of such a belt would have been; they seem to have been about 6cm wide, with knotwork on the short edge (Geijer 1938, Taf. 28). Perhaps the belt was tied at the waist and the two ends hung loosely; the knotted edging may have functioned in place of strap-ends, weighing down only on the hanging ends of the belt. Remnants of belts were not found in graves of men who wore overtunics at Birka (Hägg 1986, 69); it is impossible to know whether these men did wear belts, or from what materials they might have been made.

Shoes Both “soled” shoes (made with separate soles stitched to the uppers) and “hide” shoes (upper and sole cut in one piece and then stitched to itself) were known in the Viking Age. Most shoes were either half-boots or anlde shoes; some were slip-ons, some tied with leather lacing, and some used lappets with cylindrical leather buttons. A few examples of half-boots exist from Hedeby close by means of three wide lappets (Groenman-van Waateringe 1984, Abb. 39). Goatskin was often used for shoes, as was deerskin, calf, sheep, and cowhide.

Personal Ornamentation According to Grälslund, Viking men did not commonly wear neck ornaments (Roesdahl and Wilson 1992, 191). I do not think she means to exclude the famous twisted neckrings that occur in so many Viking hoards; I think she means the elaborate necklaces, composed of many different kinds of beads and pendants, that women in this period wore. Amulets, of course, are a different matter altogether. Thor s hammers, for instance, are found all over the Viking world. They must have been worn even on raids: one of the Viking warriors buried at Repton, Derbyshire, a casualty of the campaign of 873/4, wore a simple silver Thor’s hammer between two unmatched glass beads around his neck (Biddle and Kjolbye-Biddle 1992, 49).

Men’s Hairstyles Excerpted from “Grooming and Hairstyles of the Viking People” - Christie Ward

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There is no one “Viking man’s hairstyle”. The Viking Age peoples had a wide variety of hairstyles, just as we do today. Some may have been most common in a particular region, or profession may have dictated hairstyle. Usually only thralls (slaves) wore very short hair. Probably the average man wore his hair about collar or shoulder length, and his beard as long as was comfortable for him. A professional warrior might make other choices for hairstyle to minimize the hazard of having hair or beard grabbed in combat. The Arabic observer Ibn Fadlan noted that men of the Rus bleached their beards to a saffron yellow. Some scholars therefore believe that it is likely that they bleached their hair as well. This bleaching was accomplished using a soft, strongly basic soap, where the excess lye in the mixt ure provided the bleaching action. Pliny the Elder noted this practice among the Germanic tribes, and states that men were more likely to bleach their hair than women: Prodest et sapo, Galliarum hoc inventum rutilandis capillis. Fit er sebo et cinere, optimus fagino et caprino, duobuss modis, spissus ac liquidus, uterque apud Germanos maiore in usu viris quam feminis. Soap is the invention of the Gauls and this is used to redden the hair. It is made from fat and ashes -- the best is beech wood ash and goat fat, the two combined, thick and clear. Many among the Germans use it, the men more than the women. (Pliny the Elder Historia Naturalis)

Women’s Clothing Excerpted from “‘But That’s How They Look in the Book!”: Viking Women’s Garb in Art and Archaeology’ - Carolyn Priest-Dorman. Þóra’s Viking Resources A good deal of SCA Viking garb inspiration comes from drawings in large format picture books. However, one of the really good Viking picture books was published during the 1960s, before much of the careful archaeological work on the reconstruction of Viking women’s garb had even been begun. Another influential work, Elisabeth Munksgaard’s Oldtidsdragter, was published in 1974; it offered some useful information based on early work with the Birka and Gotland finds but is hard to find in North America. Many of the subsequent works were published around 1980, the time of the big Viking exhibition that toured Europe. But during the 1980s a number of technical works were published that brought our knowledge of clothing during the Viking Age into much clearer focus. That generation’s worth of Viking garb scholarship currently goes largely unrepresented in English works. As an example of this problem, this article contains a brief critique of some of the garb information represented in one of the most comprehensive Viking picture books in English, The Viking, by Bertil Almgren et al. (sometimes listed as by Tre Tryckare). This book, although more carefully documented than most others of its kind when it comes to women’s garb, still presents a good deal of misinformation. Let’s start with the undergarment and work our way outward.

Under dress Most of the women drawn in this book are wearing pleated under dresses; indeed, the authors say on page 199 that “the Viking Age petticoat was rather smart: it was pleated.” Yet this style of smock has only been discovered in one century and one location: tenth-century Birka (Sweden). The smock layer actually differed in cut from one site to another and from one period to another; the ninth-century Norwegian unpleated smock could be cut with wide oval or “boat” neckline in the T-tunic fashion (Ingstad 1982, 92). In addition, the tenth-century unpleated smocks from Hedeby (Denmark) included such refinements as set-in sleeves, shoulder seams, and gores (Hägg 1984, 171). These finds alone are sufficient to disprove the assertion on page 200 that “tailoring in the modern sense was unknown in the making of women’s clothes.” Still, the use of gores, darts, and pieced construction can be demonstrated at several Viking Age sites, in various different women’s garments.

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Even at Birka, the pleated smocks were not “drawn close at the neck with a ribbon or draw-string” (page 199); the keyhole neckline was often closed at the base of the throat with a one-inch round brooch (Hägg 1983, 344). Further, pleated smocks were not generally worn directly under the apron-dress, as in these pictures. At Birka, in the same period as the pleated smock, smooth smocks of wool or linen were the type more likely to be worn directly under the apron-dress. The long-sleeved, pleated smocks worn by some women at Birka in the tenth century were made of lightweight undyed linen and most often covered by another full-length gown over which the apron-dress (see below) was pinned (Hägg 1986, 71; see Abb. 8:9 for a chart linking the different elements of women’s dress at Birka). This tunic-like gown was full-length, with long sleeves. Much care was lavished on the ornamentation of the sleeves and torso of this layer of clothing in the form of embroidery, appliqué, silk trimming, and tablet-woven bands.

Viking Apron Over the smock or gown was worn the so-called “Viking apron.” This garment was not a typical apron, but a complete over garment, so “apron-dress” is a more descriptive name for such a garment. The Viking apron-dress was worn suspended over the shoulders by paired brooches hooked through narrow looped straps. The description of apron-dresses as “rectangular sheets” (page 200) is misleading, as it only represents one of the styles worn during the Viking Age. Recent archaeological evidence (see, for example, the discussion in Hägg 1984, 168-69) suggests that the shape of the apron-dress may have evolved over the course of several centuries, from the peplos phase in the late Iron Age through a tube-shaped phase and then a wrapped flat sheet phase to a tenth-century garment cut and pieced together. The apron-dresses found at Hedeby and dated to the tenth century demonstrated several sophisticated tailoring techniques--including tucks, darts, and pieced construction (Hägg 1984, 169-70). The popular interpretation of a “Viking apron”--one towel-shaped panel in front, one in back, connected by straps--is not only wildly impractical for women in an active outdoorsy culture, but it is also never included in discussions of the archaeological evidence for the overdress layer. Not even the book under consideration here, for all its faults, attempts to perpetuate this myth.

Coat, Caftan, Shawl Page 201 refers to “the shawl--in later times a garment for the poor--[which] seems to have been very fashionable.” Yet most evidence for the shawl or mantle comes from the seventh and eighth centuries (Hägg 1983, 334). In the ninth century women at some locations such as Birka and Hedeby wore a long-sleeved long coat or caftan (Hägg 1986, 650; this is the garment which was actually held together by the shawl” brooches mentioned in The Viking. The caftan does not appear in the same graves as the later gown layer; it appears to have been abandoned by many in the tenth century in favor of the pleated smock and the gown. Many caftans were lined with linen or silk and/or trimmed with fur, silk bands, metal knotwork, or brocaded tablet weaving.

Headcoverings Another overstatement is the final sentence of page 201, “in those days a married woman had to cover her hair.” There is no evidence of the legal force implied behind that statement in burial customs. Many of the ninth and tenth century women’s burials at Birka reveal no headcoverings at all, let alone graves in some other locations, although finds of headwear are more common in Christianized areas like Dublin and Jorvik. Sufficient evidence exists of a plurality of headwear styles--from none at all through brocaded bands worn fillet-style to coif-like caps--that no generalization can be made about Viking women’s headwear. The kerchief as understood and worn in the SCA is conspicuous by its absence from the archaeological debate about Viking women’s headwear. Certainly the “knotted head scarf’ mentioned on page 201 and depicted in most of the drawings is not backed up by enough archaeological evidence to justify its ubiquity or even its authenticity.

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Women’s Headwear Excerpted from “Grooming and Hairstyles of the Viking People” - Christie Ward There were several types of headwear worn by women during the Viking Age: Types of Viking Headdresses from Coppergate and Lincoln (after Gail Owen-Crocker) Anglo-Viking women apparently wore a variety of hairstyles. Two hogback stones from Lowther, Cumbria depict women with their hair worn in two braids, tailing to either side of the head beside the cheeks. It is thought that early Anglo-Viking women probably did not wear a headdress, but by the end of the period were adopting fashions from the neighboring Christian Anglo-Saxon women, for instance, the tenth century silk hood with linen ties recovered at the Coppergate excavation (see Jorvik Hood below, as well as the two illustrations on the left, above, showing the same hood tied under the chin, or tied behind the neck under the hair). A slightly different style of cap or hood was recovered from Lincoln (see the illustration on the right, above). The basic types of headdress worn by Viking women included: Fillet The fillet was a fabric band worn around the head, much like a coronet. This might be worn alone, or with a scarf or veil pinned to it. The fillet was often of metal-brocaded tablet-woven silk. Fillets of this type were worn by women of the Franks, Anglo-Saxons, Alamans, Bavaria, Lombardy, and Visigothic Spain (later 6th and 7th centuries), as well as by Swedish Vikings. Scarves Some small textiles have been recovered in the Viking excavations at Dublin which are thought to have been worn as scarves. The extant examples are dyed purple and have fringe. Jorvik Hood The Jorvik hood was a type of hood formed from a rectangle of cloth with a rounded upper, and which fell in the back to cover the head and neck. Examples of this type of hood have been recovered from the Viking finds at Jorvik (Viking York). This type of headgear was equipped with ties to secure it under the chin Surviving examples are in silk, with linen ties. Dublin Hood The Dublin hood was similar to the Jorvik hood, but made of wool, more rectangular, and having a point at the back of the head. When head coverings were worn, whether to indicate the married status of a woman, as a decorative costume accent, or for warmth, the details of the headgear varied by place and date throughout the Viking Age, as shown in the table below:

Western Scandinavia (Norway, Iceland, British Isles) Eastern Scandinavia (Sweden and eastern colonies)

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Ninth Century a fillet and possibly a veil pinned to the fillet brocaded fillet

Tenth Century Jorvik hoods or Dublin hoods brocaded fillet hood with brocaded trim

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Women's Hairstyles Excerpted from “Grooming and Hairstyles of the Viking People” Christie Ward -

Women’s hairstyles seem to have been more limited during the Viking Age than men’s hairstyles, based on the surviving evidence. One scholar suggests that blonde hair was most prized, and the brunette women could bleach their hair, using the same method known to the Celts, in which a strongly basic soap was made and applied to the hair, with the bleaching action provided by the lye resulting in a red or red-gold hair color. Thrall women, as with their male counterparts, were required to wear their hair cropped short as a sign of their servitude. Unmarried girls would wear their hair long and loose, or they might confine their hair with a circlet or kransen, especially on formal occasions. At times they may have worn their hair in braids instead. Married women usually wore their hair gathered up into a knot at the back of the head, or coiled atop their head in some arrangement and often covered their hair with a cap, veil (hustrulinet) or headdress. Several sources indicate that it was mandatory that Norse women who were married wear a head covering, however the actual archaeology doesn’t seem to support this belief: “Many of the ninth and tenth century women’s burials at Birka reveal no head coverings at all, let alone graves in some other locations, although finds of headwear are more common in Christianized areas like Dublin and Jorvik”.

Garments Excerpted from “Viking Tunic Construction” Carolyn Priest-Dorman. Þóra’s Viking Resources -

Mediterranean Tunic The Mediterranean-style “cross” tunic, woven or cut in one piece seems not to have been a northern European design. One author (Hald 1980, 338) suggests that the colder northern climate requires that clothing fit more closely than in the sunny south. Certainly, the evidence from as far back as the Bronze Age is that northern Europeans were fashioning garments cut and sewn in several pieces for a close fit rather than the loose blousy fit of a cross tunic.

Thorsbjerg Tunic The Thorsbjerg tunic is a well-preserved tunic found in a bog in SchleswigHolstein, Germany, in an area that was part of Denmark during the Viking Age. It dates to the period just before the Viking Age, and for the purpose of this pamphlet it is regarded as a suitable early example of pre-Viking tunic construction. It was made in four pieces: separate rectangular front and back panels sewn together at the shoulders plus two sleeves. The neckline was made by simply not sewing the middle section of the two panels together, giving the effect of a boat neck. A pucker was put at the back of each sleeve, 7cm below the shoulder seam, to give a slightly more fitted effect at the sleeve-to-body seam. Each sleeve was tapered toward the wrist not by cutting the sleeves with a taper but by folding and seaming the lower half of the sleeve more narrowly than the upper half. The sleeves were overly long with narrow wrist openings; the visual effect of wearing such a sleeve might be like the one so frequently encountered in manuscript illuminations of the period—small folds encircling the arm just above a tightly fitting wrist. According to the measurements given in Hald (1980, 339), the tunic would come to about mid-thigh on someone 5’7” tall, and the boat neckline would extend out to approximately the collarbones on each side of the neck. The wrists and the bottom of the tunic were trimmed with tablet weaving. Although it isn’t specifically mentioned in either Hald, who describes the tunic in detail, or in OwenCrocker, who cites only Hald in the text but also includes both a plate and a drawing of the piece, there may also be tablet weaving around the neckline.

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Evebø, Norway The garments of the fifth-century jam buried at Evebø, Norway, are too fragmentary to determine the way they were made. The remains are mainly useful for what they reveal about tunic length, decoration, and layering. The two wool garments were found in situ with one worn over the other. The red under tunic had elaborate tabletwoven wool trim at the neck, wrists, and hem, with bronze wrist clasps; it came down as far as the knee. The over tunic had a different type of tablet-woven wool trim at the neck, plus silver clasps in some undetermined location (Magnus 1982, 68-69). Given the existence of the silver clasps, as well as the striking appearance of the under tunic, the over garment may well have been some sort of a coat designed to augment, rather than cover, the under tunic; the clasps might have held it together on the chest.

Birca, Sweden - 9th and 10th Centuries The excavations at Birka, Sweden, cover the ninth and tenth centuries and did not include entire garments. However, the pieces of clothing that were found there yielded quite a bit of information on different types of tunic-type garments, including smocks, tunics, and coats. There is plenty of evidence for linen smocks, wool tunics, wool and linen coats, and even one possibly Byzantine-style linen long tunic. Construction details common to them all include front and back panels cut in one piece, rather than two-piece construction with shoulder seams, and small round or keyhole necklines. Triangular gores were added for additional width in the skirt area of many garments. Unique to Birka is evidence for the woman’s pleated smock from the tenth century; this style of undergarment would not have required gores for widening. Also unique to Birka is the men’s sleeved “riding” coat closed on the chest with small cast bronze buttons running from neck to waist; it is thought to be influenced by Persian riding coats by way of Byzantium and the Rus lands. Some Birka women wore a similar over garment, but instead of bronze buttons this coat was held together by a fancy brooch pinned through two small loops that were sewn to the two sides of the garment at the mid-chest. it is not known how long the women’s were, but clearly if they were meant to be protective over coats garments they would need to be rather long—and require more than one closure point in front! Here are suggested composite styles for a Birka tunic and coat. Note especially the dotted fold lines at the shoulders of both garments and the choice of two necklines offered on the drawing of the tunic garment.

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Hedeby Harbor - 10th and 11th Centuries The tenth-century finds from Hedeby harbor offer sharp contrast to the Birka style. Here are found wool garment pieces that display rounded armholes for fitted sleeves, two-piece body construction with shoulder seams, and scoop-style necklines (Hägg 1984, 171). Evidence for torso styles includes both a narrow style with skirt slit at the sides, suitable for undergarments, and a wider style with closed skirt and gores for more flair, suitable for over garments. Here is a suggested composite Hedebystyle tunic. Also found at Hedeby is late tenth- or early eleventhcentury evidence for a short bathrobe-style jacket with overlapping front panels. Similar garments are known from earlier Saxon graves on the Continent and believed by some to have had s ome military or ritual significance (Owen-Crocker 1986, 114-115); they are also depicted in Migration Era artwork such as the Sutton Hoo helmet plates. The remains of one jacket from Hedeby had a trimming made of madder-dyed fake fur, which was a strip of woven wool with tufts of unspun wool inserted into the weave. Here is one possible reconstruction of such a jacket with its trimming of fake fur.

Jorvik, England - 11th Century At Jorvik (York, England) several early eleventh- century pieces came to light that are thought to have belonged to a young child’s linen smock. They comprise two sleeves, a side, and part of an underarm gusset assembly (Walton 1989, 348).

Viborg Søndersø, Denmark - 11th Century The last of the Viking Age garments to be lis ted here is the Viborg linen smock dating to the eleventh century that was found at Viborg Søndersø, Denmark. Although many of the pieces had come apart, much of the shirt was recovered. This smock has the split sides of a type of Viking Age garment defined by Hägg (1984, 177) as an undergarment; it is also unusual for having a clear waist seam on both front and back panels. The rear shirttail flap on this garment wraps around the front flap slightly, just below the waist. The sleeves are cut in two pieces each and also include square underarm gussets. The illustration is of the reconstructed smock, which is most remarkable for having the first clearly identifiable cinch-style neckline (and square neck hole) of any Viking Age garment. (In fact, I don’t know of another extent garment or piece of garment with this type of neckline, let alone a square neck hole, in any early period northern European context!) The original shirt was two layers thick; and the front and back chest panels were “quilted” together with running stitches. The detail illustrated here shows both the pattern of the “quilting” and the

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functioning of the neckline. There is a slit on the outer layer of the garment, at the right side of the wearer’s neckline where the two layers of the garment overlap; the functioning of the drawstring depends on this overlapping section. The square neck hole was cut all on the front panel and edged with a raised strip which becomes a sliding drawstring at the front corners of the neckhole.

Apron Dress Trägerrock pattern for Apron Dress from Carolyn Priest-Dorman. Þóra’s Viking Resources

Fabrics Excerpted from “Viking Tunic Construction” Carolyn Priest-Dorman. Þóra’s Viking Resources -

Some garments, particularly undergarments, were made of linen, hemp, or nettle cloth: many such smocks and the occasional coat have been found. Although other finds of linen weaving were known at the time, the archaeological evidence indicates that almost all of these materials were in tabby weave. Linen, ramie cotton, or cotton-linen blends in tabby weave are easy to find and make very appropriate choices for smocks, gowns, and lightweight coats.

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Wool gowns, tunics, jackets, coats, and lower-class smocks (that is, body garments for people who couldn’t afford linen) were woven in 2/2 twill most commonly, although some examples exist of broken chevron (herringbone) twill, broken lozenge twill, plain broken twill (Kreuzkoper), repp, and tabby. In the later Viking Age (tenth and eleventh centuries) 2/1 twills became common. Also in the later Viking Age, some over garments were thick and fuzzy with less of a prominent twill texture. Of these weaves, 2/1 twills and herringbones are the easiest to locate commercially. The silk textiles used in the Viking Age were of roughly two types: plain tabby-woven and samite, or silk twill. Plain tabby-woven silk is fairly easy to come by; although “raw silk,” or silk noil, is very unlike Viking Age silk tabbies in texture, its thread count is quite appropriate. Silk gabardine makes a good approximation of unpatterned samite, while rayon challis in a suitable solid color makes a good substitute for plain samite; it has the right kind of softness, sheen, and twill texture. Unfortunately, good substitutes for patterned samite are wildly expensive and/or rare. No doubt a whole host of dyestuffs were used about which we know nothing now. The following dyestuffs are known to have been used on Viking Age textiles: reds from madder (and kermes, on imported silks); yellows from broom (and weld, on imported silks); blues from woad; purples from the lichen Rocella tinctorzs; browns from walnut husks; black derived from walnut shells and iron (Hägg 1984,289). Over dyeing also achieved greens and a large variety of violets and purples. Evidence for the use of particular colors is strong in particular areas: reds are most often found in the Danelaw, purples in Ireland, and blues and greens in Scandinavia proper (Walton 1988, 18). Although it is carefully hedged, there is a hypothesis in the scientific world that this might possibly reflect regional color preferences rather than archaeochemical factors; feel free to use this Viking heraldry if you like the idea. Naturally pigmented wool was used also, so off-whites, grays, blacks, and browns are all appropriate. Some evidence for woad- and madder-dyed linens exists, but most linens were undyed, which means that “natural” through bleached white colors are also appropriate for linens.

Seam, Edge Treatments, and Trimmings Excerpted from “Viking Tunic Construction” Carolyn Priest-Dorman. Þôra’s Viking Resources -

The main thing to remember when sewing a Viking tunic is that the Vikings were much more relaxed about letting a seam show on the outside of a garment than we are. Indeed, some seams were even sewn in contrasting thread, quite possibly with the intention of adding decorative flourishes to a garment. Seams were also decorated in some cases with narrow braids or cords (about 1mm wide): the braids were sewn down on the outside of the garment over the line of the seam. Seam treatments used in the Viking Age usually involve both a running stitch and an overcast stitch. These seams include several variations on the idea of flat felling; a running stitch holds the two pieces of fabric together, then the seam allowances are folded in one of a variety of ways and tacked down with one of a variety of overcast techniques. The seam frequently shows on both sides of the fabric. Another interesting technique shows up in late tenth-century Hedeby: the seam is sewn with a running stitch on the inside of the garment, and the two raw edges are folded in and overcast together, giving the effect of a French seam. Hems came in a variety of styles, usually depending on the weight of the fabric; lightweight silk hems were usually rolled; linen, lightweight wool, and heavy silk ones were double-folded; and heavy wool ones were single-folded. Sometimes hems were sewn with contrasting color thread or in small groups of upright stitches for decorative effect. For more information on seams, hems, and seam finishing, see the drawings in Walton 1989 and Hägg 1984. Hand-sewn Viking garments are of course preferable, as authenticity of technique usually is when it’s not dangerous; however, it’s usually an unrealistic expectation that people will hand-sew their garb. In such cases, practical adaptation of these sewing techniques to a machine-sewn garment is fairly simple. Flat-felled seams work well on smocks; the material for such an undergarment is light enough that it is not difficult to flat-fell a seam, and the machine stitching will not show if the appropriate over garment is worn. However, flat-felling is less appropriate for outer layer garments such as tunics, coats, jackets, pants, apron-dresses, and gowns; this is true not because visible stitching is inappropriate to Viking garments but because the kind of overstitching

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performed by a machine does not look like the kind of overstitching performed by a Viking hand. In such a case, French seams work very well and make the garment much more durable than a less careful seam finish would. Edge treatments show an interesting similarity across the entire Viking world. If the edges are hemmed, then the hems are most commonly left unadorned, although one or two decorated ones, such as the tablet-woven hem on the tunic of the Evebø jarl, have been found. But a large number of edges, especially at wrists, jacket flaps, and necks, were ornamented by strips of silk samite. Samite was a product of Byzantium, thick, rich, silk twill that was woven in patterns that were often elaborate and multicolored. The strips cut from samite and used to decorate Viking garments did not follow the directions of a pattern; some surviving strips seem to have been cut by someone with a healthy disdain for the weaver’s intentions! Once cut into strips, sometimes the silk was treated like bias tape (i.e., enclosing the raw edge of the garment material), and sometimes the edges of the samite strip were folded under neatly and the whole piece sewn down (i.e., like trim) on top of the garment material. This is probably the single most common element in Viking Age garment decoration. Two definite examples of embroidery on the tunic garment have been uncovered: the Oseberg women both had embroidery on their upper gowns. Sable, marten, and squirrel fur was also used as a trimming and possibly a lining on some of the Birka coats. Much more common than embroidery or fur, however, was the use of metalbrocaded tablet-woven bands; they were applied directly to tunics, gowns, and coats, or sewn to strips of samite that were then applied to the garments as described above. These bands were usually a centimeter or less in width and involved a single bright color brocaded with silver; isolated examples of gold brocading, and of the use of more than one color of background, also exist. A form of decoration unique to Birka was the solid or spiral-wrapped silver wire that was worked into knot work, little figures, or mesh patterns; it too was often sewn to samite before being used on men’s coats and their matching hats. Some of the interesting trimmings from Birka have been misinterpreted in several mainstream books on Vikings. One particularly blatant instance of this is the horizontal overlay from Birka Grave 735. Dating to the mid-tenth century, it consisted of strips of silver brocaded tablet weaving sewn horizontally across a rectangle of samite, which was then sewn down to the chest of a man’s wool tunic (Geijer 1938, 165-6). Additional strips of silk and tablet weaving ran up his arms (Hägg 1986, 69) as well as around the arms of the tunic. This is the find that has inspired the drawings of men in Rus riding coats in many Viking picture books, including Almgren and the cover of the Osprey Elite Series book on the Vikings. Those drawings are wrong; no coat garment is known to have been decorated in such a fashion. The man in the coat on the cover of the Osprey Elite book is also wearing an artist’s misinterpretation of the Reverskragen, or lapel, which was found in some of the other graves at Birka. The Reverskragen probably belongs on a jacket, not a coat. One tenth-century Birka over tunic was decorated with long vertical strips of brocaded tablet weaving from shoulders to calves (Hägg 1986, 69), which must have looked somewhat like Byzantine clavii. It was also trimmed with Chinese self- patterned damask silk (Geijer 1983, 86); at the time the man was buried, the silk would have been several hundred years old!

Embroidery Stitches Excerpted from “Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs” Carolyn Priest-Dorman. Þóra’s Viking Resources -

Excellence in leather tailoring and other works of the needle dates back to the Stone Age in Scandinavia. However, the adoption of textile weaving techniques in Scandinavia only occurred in the Bronze Age, relatively late in the scheme of human development (Bender Jzrgensen, 116). Nevertheless, as is evident in the remains from Migration and Viking Age burials, the art caught hold rapidly and took many elaborate forms. Possibly because of the late onset of textile weaving in Scandinavia, the tradition of decorative textile embroidery seems also to have been established late. Judging from what remains of Scandinavian textiles, at the beginning of the Viking Age only faltering steps had been taken toward decorative textile embroidery. The C/aid (hanging) and refii (a figured frieze like the Bayeux Tapestry) of the Viking Age were composed not of embroidery but of wool-on-linen tapestry weaves accented by soumak (GrenanderNyberg, 122). The same is true

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for household furnishings such as pillowcases, cushion covers, and tablecloths; all the evidence points to a strong tradition of decorative polycbrome mixed-fiber weaving rather than one of needle-worked surface ornamentation. Embroidery as we in the SCA understand it wasn’t really adopted by the Vikings until the first half of the ninth century. At that point the pervasive influence of the foreign cultures with which the Vikings intermingled so freely began to assert itself in both technological and art-historical ways. In textile and clothing ornamentation, the Vikings began half-heartedly to imitate their neighbors at that time. Two distinctive embroidery styles emerged, a style influenced by the lands to the west (represented mostly by finds at Bjerringboj and Jorvik) and a style influenced by the lands to the east (represented by finds at Birka and Valsg~rde). The western-influenced style might have been learned from the Anglo-Saxons. It was most often composed of fiber-on-fiber stitchery and involved stitches that are known in the modern world, such as stem stitch, couching, chain stitch, and raised herringbone stitch. One of the earliest finds of such embroidery from a clearly Viking context is on the gowns of the two women in the Oseberg ship burial in Norway, which has been recently and securely dated to 834 (Bonde and Christensen, 581). Unfortunately, the information available so far on the textiles from this find is scanty and tantalizingly vague in many respects. It is therefore hard to classify the embroidery as “eastern” or ~~western” in influence, but judging from what little else we know--that there was silk appliqué and embroidery on the queen’s gown and some sort of freehand fiber-to-textile embroidery in the form of animal masks on the servant’s (Ingstad, 96)--it seems to fit the “western” model more completely than the eastern. Also in the ninth century, the eastern-influenced style of embroidery was on the rise. This style, represented at Birka in Sweden, was more likely Kievan Rus, Byzantine, or Slavic in origin. Like other forms of eastern Viking ornament, it depended heavily on silver wire or thread for its decorative effect. In fact, eastern Viking embroidery (more properly, “textile surface decoration”) involved only one or two techniques which are likely to have been worked with a needle, i.e., stem stitch, surface couching, and possibly some forms of Osenstich (mesh stitch), of which several varieties have been identified. However, properly understood, Osenstich is not primarily a needle technique, even though it makes use of the same topology as some common embroidery stitches. It is much simpler to work with the wire by itself instead of going to the trouble of threading it through a needle first (Jensen, passim). Briefly described, Osenstich requires using a wire approximating a 26-gauge beading wire to work rows of closely-spaced mesh stitch into strips of tubing, flattened metallic trimming, or three-dimensional shapes such as teardrops. The finished wire constructions were sometimes sewn to garments as ornaments. The most common of the Osenstich variants were worked somewhat like a Vandyke stitch; see below for a redrawing or the diagrams in Geijer (p. 110) for more information. But from the perspective of an SCA embroiderer, Viking embroidery did not really catch on until the tenth century, the period of the find from Bjerringhzj (Mammen parish, Denmark), the same find that yielded up the “Mammen axe.” The late tenth-century man’s grave there yielded a quantity of the kind of finds we would be most likely to consider “true” embroidery: the remains of two wool 2/I twill textiles, possibly from a cloak or other garment(s), with several different motifs embroidered in stem stitch. The cloth fragments are dark brown now, but they may once have been brightly coloured; similarly, the two shades of brown wool floss may originally have been two completely different colours. Some of the remaining motifs are executed in outline form only; however, the scrolling leaf motif is outlined in threads of the light shade and filled in selectively with the darker shade. Munksgaard notes that there is evidence that the base cloth is “tightly covered with needle holes,” indicating the previous presence of some other embroidery, now decayed. Based on the survival in the grave of both wool and silk textiles, she concludes that the cloth was additionally embroidered with linen thread (166), which is especially prone to decay in burials. At least three of the Viking period graves at ValsgIrde in Sweden yielded examples of spun silver-thread metallic embroidery, possibly influenced by Byzantine fashion. Information on some of the Valsgarde graves was recently published for the first time, in sketchy but informative detail, by Lise Bender Jzrgensen. Several different pieces of silver-thread embroidery on silk have been found in Graves 10, 12, and 15. Three were surface

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couched--two onto silk tabby weave grounds and one onto silk twill (samite)— and some are simply reported as “embroidered,” all worked on samite. All the embroidered pieces appear to be garment trimmings. All three graves date to the tenth century (Bender Jzrgensen, 2630, which coincides with the suggested dating for some fragmentary gold-thread embroideries from the western Viking culture (Ingstad, 1440. One of the finds from Grave 15 is pictured in Graham-Campbell (Plate 356a, page 276). The “World of the Vikings” CD-ROM also illustrates this piece extensively (Reference numbers 2363, 2365,2367, 2369, 2371, 2373, 2375, and 2377). It is hard to determine the exact technique used in the piece, but the photos seem to indicate that it is composed of closely packed stem-stitching, or possibly some sort of couching. Bender Jzrgensen does report the presence of couching work on some of the Valsgilrde p ieces, but the description of the piece that is pictured in GrahamCampbell does not mention couching. That piece is considered to be a “collar.” The other illustrated pieces are called “cuffs” in the “World of the Vikings”; although in a different motif from the “collar,” they appear to have been executed in the same stitch (Reference numbers 2379, 2381, 2383, and 2385). Known examples of stem stitch occur in five graves from Birka (Sweden), belonging to both men and women; all date to the tenth century (Geijer, 1080. Materials used include wool floss on wool fabric, silk floss on silk fabric, and gold thread on an unknown and now-decayed background. One instance was of silk floss used to apply a decorative silk samite strip over a linen ground on a man’s garment (Geijer, 170); one was of decorative wool stem stitching used to strengthen two layers of wool in some sort of garment edging (Geijer, 109). The stitching seems to have been planned to economize on thread; stitches on the wrong side of the fabric are short, and those on the right side of the fabric are long, especially when gold thread is being used (Geijer, 108). Only one example of embroidery on textile has appeared in the Danelaw, from the Viking period at Jorvik (York, England). It was found on a small, clumsy bag dating to the late tenth or early eleventh century. The outer cover of the bag is red silk samite imported from Byzantium; it is decorated with a crude silk cross in what appears to be chain stitch (Walton, 369). The bag may have been a reliquary. One additional type of embroidery that seems to have been practiced even before the Viking Age was the ornamentation of seams. This practice occurred in an earlier related context, on a seam from a seventh-century pillow cover from the Sutton Hoo textiles (Crowfoot, 422), possibly indicating a tradition of some antiquity in north Europe. In the ninth century, one of the Oseberg garment seams are over sewn in some sort of loop stitch with a thread used double (Ingstad, 92). In similar fashion, some of the ninth- and tenth century Hedeby and Birka finds display corded or braided thread appliqué over the seams (Hägg 1984, 169). The tenth-century Mammen grave contained a wool cushion with embroidery over a seam (Hald, 282). The stitches used on the Sutton Hoo and Mammen finds are similar: both yield a thick, wide strip with a plaited appearance. But whereas the stitch used on the Sutton Hoo pillow was a complex interlaced variant of Vandyke stitch (see the left figure, redrawn from Crowfoot), the stitch used on the Mammen cushion was simpler, a closely-worked variant of herringbone (see the right figure, redrawn from Hald).

Nälbinding Excerpted from “Basic Nälbinding” Philia’s Page, http://www.duke.edu/—scg3/basicnaal.htrnl -

This is a very basic introduction to nälbinding, using the simplest possible stitch. Unfortunately, nälbinding is very hard to learn from a written description, even with lots of pictures. If you can, find someone who knows the technique to demonstrate. Once you learn, it is very simple. (Note: I learned from a book, so it is possible.) Materials: A large needle. The best nälbinding needles are made of antler or bone, but a large tapestry blunt will work. Unlike knitting, nälbinding can only be done with short lengths of yarn (about 18 inches), which are joined together as the work progresses. Wool singles are commonly used because they can be joined easily, but I have used plied yarn as well. The basic stitch: Start by making a loop in the yarn. The red arrow marks the end of the yarn

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where the needle is. Hold this loop flat as shown above. Then put the needle through the loop from the bottom, over the lower part of the loop, under the upper part of the loop and over the loose end of the yarn. When the needle is through the previous loop, tighten it around the needle. The size needle used determines the gauge of the stitches. This picture shows a loose row of these stitches. The most recent one is on the right trace it through the previous loop to see its overunder-over course. This stitch can be described more concisely as O/UO. The / shows the point in the overunder-over path where the yarn switches from moving deeper into the previous stitches to moving back out towards the edge of the work. Stitches of greater comple xity are made by going through more than one of the previous loops and in different paths. -

Since a single row of stitches isn’t very useful, the next step is to learn how to work in the round. Start by making a loop just like that in the first illustration, but larger than the one you used for starting a row of stitches. This will be the foundation for working a circle of stitches. Now work a stitch just as you did previously, but this time go through the foundation loop from the front before working the rest of the stitch. Continue to work stitches through the foundation loop and through the previous stitch. The needle goes over then under the foundation loop, then over & under the previous stitch, and finally over the loop of the new stitch. After you have a number of stitches worked into the foundation loop, pull the end to tighten this loop. Then continue working around the circle of stitches you have already made, but instead of going through the foundation loop, go through a stitch of the previous row in exactly the same way. Increases are made by working two stitches into one stitch from the previous row, and decreases are made by working two stitches together.

Braid Weaving Excerpted from “Anglo Saxon and Viking Crafts Braid Weaving” Regia Anglorum Publications. -

-

There were many ways of weaving narrow fabrics for girdles, leg bindings, borders, and decorative braids. We can say little about the looms, for if their warp was stretched between the weaver’s belt and a tree or table leg there would be no archaeological trace. Two devices can be recognized for opening the shed on a narrow warp: the rigid heddle and weaving tablets. The rigid heddle of bone or wood was a flat frame with alternating slots and slats, with holes in through which the warp threads passed. By raising or depressing the heddle, two different sheds could be opened, one above, the other below the general level of the warp. The first datable rigid heddle is Roman, although its use carried on throughout the Medieval period. However, there are no definite rigid heddles from the Viking Age. Tablet weaving is one of the oldest European textile techniques, traceable at least to the early Iron Age. The tablets are small flat squares, usually of bone or wood, with a hole in each corner through which a warp thread is passed. The tablets are held in the hand

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like a pack of cards, parallel to the warp, and turned back or forward by half or quarter turns. This action twists the four warp threads (controlled by each tablet) into a cord that can be locked into position by a weft thread inserted between the turns. By varying the colours of the warp yarn and the direction of the turn of the tablets, intricate warp patterns can be created. Tablet weaving could be further enhanced by ‘brocading’. This brocading was achieved by using a second weft thread, which ran over some of the warp threads, creating a pattern on the surface of the thread. Brocaded tablet-weaves were usually of silk, using gold or silver thread for the brocaded pattern. This type of braid was a very high status item, and was usually used to decorate expensive garments. Another method by which braids could have been produced is inkle weaving. Although the origin of the word is unknown, an inkle is a coloured tape or braid similar to the braids produced in tablet weaving. Like tablet weaving inkle weaving is restricted to narrow widths, although as it is woven on a loom it is much quicker and easier. Unfortunately the pattern variations are not as numerous as in tablet weaving. On an inkle -weaving loom alternate warp threads are leashed to a peg whilst the others are left free this creates the shed. The shed is opened and closed by raising and lowering the free threads. These narrow braids could also be woven on a small vertical loom similar to those used for weaving wider fabrics. Braids have been found made from wool, linen, and silk. Some have been enhanced by floating (brocaded) gold thread. -

Shoes Excerpted from “Footware of the Middle Ages” I. Marc Carlson -

This is a pattern for a shoe of the kind found in Jorvik, England. The large piece in the middle of the diagram is for a one-piece upper, most often made from a pliable leather while the sole (on the left in the diagram) is made from extra thick leather. The warriors in the society often have studded soles on their shoes and boots to increase safety on the battlefield although this is waxed linen thread, usually with a saddle stitch. not authentic. Seams are sew together with Other stitches can be used, but saddle stitch is done using two threads passing both ways through the same hole which strengthens the seam. The upper part is curved round so that A meets B and sewn to a soft piece cut to the sole pattern. The resulting shape is then turned inside out and the thick sole attached to it. The sole (and possibly the upper too) is pre-holed to allow greater ease when sewing and making a groove close to the edge of the sole where the stitches will go protects the thread from wearing through too soon. The fastening shown here is made by rolling a strip of leather to produce the toggle which fastens through a leather loop. The toggle could also be made from bone or wood. The shoe shown is just one of several designs from the period, including one or two designs for boots. -

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Bibliography -----, 1992. “Textilene i Osebergskipet,” pp. 176- 208Oseberg-Dronningens Grav: Vår arkeologiske nasjonalskatt i nytt lys, ed. Arne Emil Christensen, Anne Stine Ingstad, and Bjørn Myhre. Oslo: Scbibsted. -----, 1998. “Basic Naalbinding”. Philia’s Page, available on line from http://www.duke.edu/-scg3/basicnaal.html, August 2000. --—-, 1999. “Anglo Saxon and Viking Crafts - Braid Weaving”. Regia Anglorum Publications, available on line from http://www.regia.org/index.html, August 2000. Almgren, Bertil, ed. 1966. The Viking. Stockholm: Tre Tryckare, Cagner & Co. Bender Jørgensen, Lise. 1992. North European Textiles before 1000 A.D. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press. Bonde, Niels, and Arne Emil Christensen. 1993. “Dendrochronological dating of the Viking Age Ship Burials at Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune, Norway.” Antiquity, 67, no. 256 (September 1993), pp. 575-83. Carlson, I. Marc. 1995. “Footwear of the Middle Ages” available on line from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/9loo/shoes.hnn, August 2000. Dal, Marieke van de [Christina Krupp]. 1992. “New Sources for Viking Men’s Garb,” Pikestaff Arts and Sciences Supplement, pp. 21-23. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., December 1992. Fentz, Mytte. “An 11th Century Linen Shirt from Viborg Sondersø, Denmark,” Archaeological Textiles in Northern Europe, pp. 83-92, ed. Lise Bender Jorgensen and Elisabeth Munksgaard. Tidens Tand 5. Copenhagen: Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, 1992. Geijer, Agnes. 1938. Die Textilfunde aus den Gräbern. Birka: Untersuchungen und Studien III. Uppsala: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akadamien, 1938. Geijer, Agnes. 1983. “The Textile Finds from Birka,” in Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe, ed. N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting, pp. 80-99. London: Heinemann. Graham-Campbell, James, and Kidd, Da1~’dd. 1980. The Vikings. London: Tabard Press and The Trustees of the British Museum. Graham-Campbell, James. 1980. Viking Artefacts: A Select Catalogue. London: British Museum Publications, Ltd. Grenander-Nyberg, Gertrud. 1992. “Soumak Technique in Swedish Medieval Textiles.” Archaeological Textiles in Northern Europe: Report from the 4th NESAT Symposium 1.-S. May 1990 in Copenhagen, ed. Lise Bender Jørgensen and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 117-127. Tidens Tand 5. Copenhagen: Det Konglige Danske Kunstakademi. Hägg, Inga. 1974. Kvinnodrakten i Birka: Livplaggens Rekonstruktion pa Grundval av det Arkaeologiska Materialet. Uppsala: Archaeological Institute. Hägg, Inga. 1983. “Viking Women’s Dress at Birka: A Reconstruction by Archaeological Methods.: Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe, ed N.B. Harte and K.G. Ponting, pp. 316-50. London: Heinemann. Hägg, Inga. 1984. Die Textilfunde aus dem Hafen on Haithabu. Berichte über die Ausgrabunge in Haithabu, 20. Neumünster: Karl Wacbholtz Verlag. Hägg, Inga. 1986. “Die Tracht.” Chapter 8 of Systematische Analysen der Gräberfunde, ed. Greta Arwidsson. Birka: Untersuchungen und Studien, vol.2, no. 2, pp. 5 1-72. Hald, Margrethe. 1980. Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials, trans. Jean Olsen. Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark. Heath, Ian. 1985. The Vikings. Osprey Elite Series 3. London: Osprey Publishing Ltd. Ingstad, Anne Stine. 1982. “The Functional Textiles from the Oseberg Ship.” Textilsymposium Neumünster: Archäologische Textilfunde, 6.5. - 8.5.1 981., ed. Lise Bender Jorgensen and Klaus Tidow, pp. 85-96. Neumünster: Textilmuseum Neumünster. Ingstad, Anne Stine. 1988. “Textiles from Oseberg, Gokstad and Kaupang.” Archaeological Textiles: Report from the Second NESAT Symposium, 1-4 May1984., ed. Lise Bender Jorgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 133149. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Køhnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, Købnhavns Universitet. Jensen, Jørn V. 1990. Vikingesmykker: Elegante Smykker i Kobber - og Solvtråd med Vikingeteknik og enkelt Vœktøj. Haarlev, Denmark: Privately published. Krupp, Christina, and Priest-Dorman, Carolyn. 1992. “Women’s Garb in Northern Europe, 450-100 C.E.: Frisians, Angles, Franks, Baits, Vikings, and Finns.” Compleat Anachronist 59 (January 1992). Milpitas, California: The Society for Creative Anachronism. Magnus, Bente. 1982. “A Chieftain’s Costume: New Light on an Old Grave Find from West Norway.” Textilsymposium Neumünster: Archäologische Textilfunde, 6.5- 8.5.1981., ed. Lisa Bender Jørgensen and Klaus Tidow, pp. 63-73. Neumünster: Textilmuseum Neumünster. Miller, Crystal. 1997. “Viking Life and Dress” Available on line from http://www.witchhaven.com/shadowdrake/dress.htmI, August 2000. Munksgaard, Elisabeth. 1984. “The Embroideries from Bjerringhøj, Mammen.” Festskrift til Thorlejf Sjøvold på 70årsdagen, ed. Mari Høgestøl et al. Universitetets Oldsaksamlings Skrifter Ny rekke 5. Oslo: Universitetets Oldsaksamling. Owen-Crocker, Gale R. 1986. Dress in Anglo-Saxon England. Wolfeboro, NH: Manchester University Press. Priest-Dorman, Carolyn. 1993, 1997. Þóra’s Viking Resources, available on line from http://www.cs.vassar.edukcapriest/vikresource.html, August2000.

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Pritchard, Frances. 1988. “Silk Braids and Textiles of the Viking Age from Dublin,” in Archaeological Textiles: Report from the Second NESAT Symposium, 1-4 May 1984., ad. Lisa Bender Jørgensen, Bente Magnus, and Elisabeth Munksgaard, pp. 149-61. Arkaeologiske Skrifter 2. Købnhavn: Arkaeologisk Institut, Købnhavns Universitet. Roesdahl, Else, and Wilson, David M. 1992. From Viking to Crusader. New York: Rizzoli International Publications Ltd. Roesdahl, Else, and Wilson, David M., ads. 1992. From Viking to Crusader: The Scandinavians and Europe 800-1200. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Roesdahl, Else. 1982. Viking Age Denmark, trans. Susan Margeson and Kirsten Williams. London: British Museum Publications, Ltd. Walton, Penelope. 1988. “Dyes of the Viking Age: A Summary of Recent Work,” in Dyes in History and Archaeology 7,pp. 14-19. Walton, Penelope. 1989. Textiles, Cordage and Fiber from 16-22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York, Vol. 17: The Small Finds, Fascicule 5. Dorchester: The Council for British Archaeology and The Dorset Press. Ward, Christie. 1998. “Grooming and Hairstyles of the Viking People”. The Viking Answer Lady, available on line at http://www.realtime.com/~gunnora/hairstyl.htm, August 2000. Wilson, David, and Ole Klindt-Jensen. Viking Art, second edition. The Nordic Series, 6. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980.

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