Glass vessel from grave 539 at Birka, SwedenLeather flask based on a bog find in Cloonclose, County Leitrim, IrelandSilver cup from Lejre, Sjælland, DenmarkGarter or Spur buckle after finds from Carlisle Cathedral and Lincolnshire.Pattern Welded Sword with a Bronze and Twisted Silver Wire Hilt, based on several finds from Denmark.
We recently performed at Cromford Mills, a UNESCO world heritage site beside the River Derwent in Derbyshire. Besides the photos of combat and living history (which you can see on our Instagram feed), member Þorunn got round to photograph some of the interesting reproduction early medieval objects that members have collected.
Glass Beaker
A Frankish style ‘grape’ beaker, named for the grape-like globs that decorate the surface. This is the original from a Grave find, Birka, Bj 539, Adelsö Parish, Uppland, Sweden and is in the Historiska museet, Stockholm. Image rights: Jens Mohr, Historiska museet/SHM (CC BY 4.0) Object number: 106815_HST
Arbman 1943 H. Arbman, Birka I. Die Gräber. Uppsala 1943 (2 Bde.)
Leather Flask
The leather flask or “flacket” is a 1/3rd scale reproduction based on the bog find at Cloonclose, County Leitrim, Ireland, which is now in the National Museum of Ireland. It’s dated between 6th-12th century.
A silver cup from a Viking-age hoard discovered in the 19th Century near Gammel Lejre, Sjælland, Denmark. It bears similarities to other silver cups from the period, such as the ‘pix’ from the Vale of York Hoard in the UK, though the winged creature might represent the Norse goddess Freya rather than being Christian iconography. The original is in the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.
These small copper-alloy buckles, used as a dress accessory or for spurs are found in several places around the UK, including in places associated with the Micel Here or ‘Great Army.’ Finds at Carlisle Cathedral and Lincolnshire.
Mccarthy, M. et al. (2014). A Post-Roman Sequence at Carlisle Cathedral. Archaeological Journal, 171(1), 185–257.
Sword
The sword is a based on a number of finds. It is classified as Geibig Blade Type 2 (750s-950s) with 3 bands of pattern welded rod visible, and a reverse twist reminiscent of the 8thC sword from Vehmaa, Lahdinko, Finland in Ian Pierce’s book Swords of the Viking Age.
It is paired with a Geibig Combination Type6/Petersen type O(1) hilt, based on one kept in the Museum of Archaeology, Gottorf Castle, Schleswig, Germany, close to the Viking-age emporia of Hedeby/Haithabu.
The hilt is cast in bronze with silver wire twist decoration. The Type O is a Scandinavian innovation of the largely Frankish Type K hilts. The O1 refers to a later classification of hollow cast bronze.
The idea is that it’s an older blade that has been rehilted at some point to a more ‘modern’ style.
This is a repost of our members guide to developing an impression of the Viking-age. An impression is the way in which we make, collect and combine reproduction clothing, objects and equipment to get a sense of what an early medieval person may have looked like and how they experienced the world.
We want to get the appropriate material culture1 that the people we represent to audiences would need or use for their role in society. It isn’t about accruing a stack of random, objects or bling.
We appreciate that a lot of people aren’t super nerdy and don’t want to develop an in-depth impression. They may just want to do battles, or go with the flow while they take in the historical vibes. That’s why we, and many other societies have a basic guide for costumes and objects! But, it’s such a worthwhile endeavour when you do get in to it, and it’s surprisingly easy to get started.
Reading books and making stuff!
Research and What to Read
Before you can effectively create an impression that’s unique to you, you need some basic knowledge of the period. Knowledge of any period, and of the people in it comes from reading. Sure, you can watch some TV documentaries, or be told some facts by elder reenactors, and you can regurgitate them at the audience, but you’ll never get beyond surface information. And when considering the kinds of things that Vikings did everyday – the things that really make an impression work – then information from this sort of media will be difficult turn into a good kit, let alone it being explainable to audiences.
The good news is, you don’t have to read really deeply to get a good handle on things. Popular history books and history magazines are a great entry point. But, there’s so much more out there – here’s the types of things you get get, and what they’ll help you with:
Popular History – PopHist are books that serve as overviews and reviews of current scholarly works in easy to digest prose. These are great for new readers of the period to give you broad strokes on subjects like chronology, language, daily life etc. Most re-enactors can get by by only reading PopHist, and that’s ok! These books are often reprinted as inexpensive trade paperbacks, or discounted eBooks. Get your own copies of the latest ones.
Eg. Neil Price’s Children of Ash and Elm, Eleanor Barraclough’s Embers of the Hands, Cat Jarman’s River Kings or Sally Crawford’s Daily Life in Anglo Saxon England to name a few.
Translations of period literary works – These are the things you want to read if you are interested in culture, status and the storytelling of the period. Get the most up to date, and get the ones with exhaustive notes. From the Icelandic sagas, to the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, to wills and charters, to psalters and gospels. They’re all good, depending on your interest. Prices vary, avoid the free Victorian translations you see online, except to compare. If you are a masochist and want to learn Old English, Old Norse, or another dead language, get an untranslated version….
Eg. Jackson Crawford’s Havamal, Larrington’s Poetic Edda, or Headley’s Beowulf.
Academic journals – These are a for more specialist reading where you find things like discussions and new arguments from topics ranging from studies of individual objects to broad cultural analyses. Often they’ll be summaries of, or contribute to work published in the academic press. Use the free tier or get a subscription to Jstor or Taylor and Francis etc., or scour Academia dot org for free stuff: but beware non-peer reviewed papers there (peer review is where other experts are invited to look over work before it’s published to check it for poorly formulated arguments). Many communities might host their own collection of papers – nerds look after nerds!
You probably dont need to own all the books, but they might get lonely on their own…
Academic press – This is where to find the most up to date thinking about a subject, but they are usually short run hardbacks by an academic/ university press and hard going for a layman. They’ll only do a few a year, expect to pay between £50-100 per volume. Get them while they’re hot. Or get a readers card at a university library. Sometimes these get released as fairly cheap eBooks. Really only buy these if you are really serious about researching things, or really need to know about a particular place/object/society.
Eg. Edinburgh Press Viking Age in Scotland or Oxford’s Anglo Saxon Farms and Farming, the Routledge Archaeologies of the Viking World series etc.
Archaeological monographs – A sub-category of the academic press, these focus on being a detailed study on one specialised subject. They are where the data lies and will include things like archaeological site reports, scientific analysis and discussion. If you want good pictures of finds, or good drawings of finds, and a discussion about that objects are, this is where they will be. These have very limited runs, older ones can be like rocking horse poo. But, quite a few are available for free on the Archaeological Data Service website, or as open access (ask your nerd community too!).
Eg. Dagfin Skyre’s Kaupang series, or YATs York Monographs
Trade history magazines – like Current Archaeology etc. are perfect for keeping up to date on latest stuff and they usually have inexpensive subscriptions.
Special Interest – There’s also a category in between popular history and academic books that are non-academic, but still quite niche. This is where books like Buried at Birka and Viking Dress Code live – resources that are great for re-enactors. Museum guides books that accompany exhibitions fit here as well I feel.
Eg. British Museums Viking: Life and Legend, the various ‘catalogue’ books edited by James Graham-Campbell etc.
Website – Websites can cover the gamut from Academic press to complete nonsense. We’ll cover how to ge the best out of web searches later in this post.
Historical Fiction – You’re not going to learn a lot of facts from these, but there’s nothing better than immersing yourself in the vibes of the period through dramatic retellings of stories, or characters wrapped up in historical events. If nothing else, they’ll remind you why you do this nerdy, silly stuff anyway!
Deciding on a Viking Impression
Who am I and what do I do?
The first step for developing an impression is using your basic knowledge of the Viking-age and thinking about what occupation the person you are representing would be working in. Perhaps you are a hunter, a potter, a fisherman, a smith — whatever. You don’t necessarily have to develop a craft, but you will want to think about what they would wear, what equipment they’d use, how they’d get about, and where they’d live. For female impressions, this might mean thinking about what kind of person you are married to, what the household would look like, and your status within the community. These will inform your purchasing or kit making decisions — your purchases should mirror your social status.
When am I from?
Fashion changed throughout the Viking-age, with new art styles, methods of construction, trade connections and political struggles that influenced everyday life. There are many movements within the 300-year span of the accepted Viking-Age, but for ease you can boil them down to three main ones:2
Maritoria: 750-850 – Traditionally the start of the Viking Age in Europe, where the pressure of migrating peoples in the east, the result of limited farmland and growing population, and polygyny spurring wife-less men to seek prosperity elsewhere. This period sees the founding of the earliest emporiums at Hedeby, Ribe, Birka and Staraya Ladoga, and a permanent Viking presence in places like Dubin and Noirmoutier in the 840s. This is the period where Sea-Kings carve out opportunities, often violently in raids and petty conquests, to take plundered goods to market. This period will be the raiders, and the people affected by it.
Hydrarchy: 850-950 – Vikings are here to stay. Great hosts — loose confederacies of lið under nominal leaders — make their winter camps permanent, and install puppet kings in conquered regions. The movement of large populations and wealth spur on trade through market kingdoms like Dublin, York, Ribe, Hedeby, Kaupang, Birka, Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev. Contact with many different peoples, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the streets of Baghdad, bring new art, language and politics back to the Viking homelands.
Diaspora: 950-1100 – Experiments in monarchy, and the conversion to Christianity cement the Vikings as part of European culture. The reaction to Viking raids and conquests has made new Kingdoms in England, in Ireland, and at home in Scandinavia. New worlds have been discovered, and safe access to Eastern trade mark the end of the Viking Age.
Where am I from?
Someone from the South of Denmark, where the Danevirke guards against the powerful European empires to the south would have a very different outlook to someone living on the isolated Faeroe Islands, or in the Norwegian Arctic Circle. They’d might have different styles of clothes and jewellery, specialisations restricted by the geography of their land, and perhaps opportunities based on their polity. Understanding where your impression begins, and where it might end up means you can narrow down the search for objects to specific places and assemble an outfit with all the trappings of your trade based on the styles of the people and places most important to them.
How do I decide on these things?!
The best thing to do is read some popular history, or even some historical fiction to get a sense of who the people where and why they did what they did. Or maybe there was an object in a museum you really liked and you have been inspired about who may have owned it. These things can spark the ideas and get the ball rolling. Thinking of a trade and making a list of all the things you might need is a good starting point, then narrow it down to what’s realistic and achievable.
Like any collecting hobby, scope and costs can quickly spiral out of control (and remember you need to be able to bring things to events!), so take your time and develop your impression incrementally over several years.
Example: Fisherman (fiskari)
What kind of fisherman would be determined by his place in the world. Would he wade or take a boat out into the river and catch fish in a net, with a trident or harpoon, or in wicker traps? Or does he live on the coast and fish for herring, oysters and crabs? Does he sell his surplus to townsfolk at the market? He would need warm, rugged clothing, headwear to protect him from the sun, and baskets to keep his catch. He might forgo trousers and wear breeches, or just cover his modesty with a long kyrtle. On his belt, he would need a knife and a hone. A leather or ceramic flask will keep him hydrated during the long hours on the water, and a wallet or sack will be useful to pack spare dry clothes, bait (in a pottery jar), or lunch (eg. dried meat, fruit). He’ll need nets, net-making shuttle, line and hook, floats, bait, fishing spears, eel traps and more.
Example: Dairymaid (deigja)
Some women were in charge of creating and storing food for the family. They tended and milked the animals, made skyr and churned butter, kept whey and cheese; they cooked, baked and brewed ale and mead. The fact that the woman of the house was in charge of these very important commodities gave them significant power. A milkmaid’s outfit might require warm, practical clothing, such a cap to keep hair out of the product, mittens to keep your hands warm on cold days, and a number of bits of household equipment: ceramic jars, cheesecloth, spoons, spurtle/tvare, butter churn, buckets and yoke to carry them, fire-lighting equipment (flint/steel/tinder and bark tinderbox), bowls, and wicker baskets. She might also have a set of clothes and accessories for best.
When we get a sense of the objects they need to dress and do their craft, then we can look for examples in the archaeological record from the time and region we have chosen.
Where to find information – The Sources for Viking Research
First! Costume Passport
Once you have thought about and explored an impression on paper, it’s time to buy or make your kit, appropriate to your chosen date, region and persona. For example, a fisherman from the east-Irish coast may have slightly different things than a fisherman from the gentle river flows of Wiltshire.
To do this, you will need to research items that will be appropriate for the impression: what shoes were available in that area, how did they fasten their cloak in place, were their fishing hooks different etc.?
You will also have to navigate the fact that there may be gaps in information and make an educated guess, using the expertise of scholars.
It’s a form you can fill out with information and pictures you collect, and gives others (for example, a society officer, or fellow nerd) a chance to look over it before you spend loads of money and end up disappointed when you’ve bought something that isn’t period appropriate!
I’m going to suggest that most people are going to Google what they want, and this is a good start for research, but when you Google things like ‘Viking costume’ or ‘what the Vikings wore’ or similar, you are going to have to do some pretty critical thinking. (I’ll cover Google searching later).
Once you get past the shopping links, AI generated slop, primary school curriculum nonsense and TV cosplay stuff, you might get more useful links to museums, blog posts by researchers or reenactors, or similar. But even then, you have to be careful.
What we need to find is authority and references: references to museum catalogue pages, references to published work, figures with detailed captions that includes references, and respected outlets known for research (authority) etc.
I would avoid using LLMs like ChatGPT for research because the way they work is by aggregating content based on predicting words. This strips any context or nuance from an author’s arguments or findings, things that are crucial to collecting together different object together in a coherent way. (LLMs also aren’t terribly picky about what sources they use as long as they sound good…)
Why is this important?
It’s so we can verify whether the information is accurate and appropriate, and that the author has done the legwork and not just copied someone elses homework. If there’s lots of references to authoritative work (by archaeologists, historians and specialists) then we are more likely looking at something that we can use. What we are looking for is:
Source Credibility: Are the sources used reliable and credible?
Evidence Quality: Does the evidence presented support the claims made?
Evidence Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the argument?
Counterarguments: Does the work acknowledge and address counterarguments?
Is the work presented within the appropriate context? (Ie. does the author discussing coins suddenly veer off into clothes – do they have authority in the subject you’re looking for?)
Let’s take a look at some popular websites with a search term about ‘what the vikings wore‘ and evaluate their usefulness.
Hurstwic is one of the top hits for this search term. Their article is well written and includes lots of pictures, including some that look like illustrations of archaeological finds. It’s perfect for general interest in the topic. However, there is no list of sources to back up their claims or authoritative language. The information may be accurate, but they leave it up to you to prove it. This might serve as a starting point for further Googling – knowing the names of items is a good start, but shouldn’t be used as a buying guide.
Viking Ship Museum in Denmark: https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/professions/education/viking-age-people
This is from the Viking Ship museum in Denmark, which should have a certain amount of authority, but there are also no sources included. This is where you need to discern the audience: it’s probably aimed at children and general interest rather than someone recreating clothing from archaeological evidence!
At first glance, the article on this online shop looks useful as it includes Norse terminology. But as you read there’s a worrying mix of hedging language and certainty that shows it’s pulled from two very different sources. And those sources are not listed, so you can’t check the information against them. Useful for people interested in fancy dress and learning somd terms, but not to the standard you’d probably expect for recreating historical clothing.
This page from our own blog has loads of information and uses specific terminology in an authoritative way, and includes a huge list of sources. However, the sources aren’t connected to the main body of the text, so it would take some real effort to verify every ‘fact.’ This kind of article is a good starting point, but not research in of itself. You shouldn’t just expect this to be accurate.3
Projekt Forlog: https://sagy.vikingove.cz/en/construction-of-early-medieval-tunics
This article from Projekt Forlog on the other hand has plenty of authoritative information with inline links to the sources used, so any claims or arguments they make can be checked against that work. Given the care they use, you can probably just expect this to be accurate – certainly enough for your dressing-up hobby!
This is a super blog by the Eoforwic Project, where someone is doing exactly what you are trying to do – creating impressions of the past. While being a personal blog, it includes inline references to the sources they use and their own reasoning, so you can check against the relevant literature if needed.
The point is not to discount every article because it doesn’t have academic quality referencing, it’s just that you should read from the critics point-of-view and think deeply about what you are looking at. These sorts of pages should lead you on to more specific web searches, or into papers and journals that details and discuss the things you want.
The same goes for information found in Facebook groups, forums or Discord channels – sniff out what looks like a good source and follow that thread to the object, or the interpretation by professionals in the field.4
Googling
Evaluating sites is important, but it’s actually really hard to find quality sites in the first place. Thanks to Pinterest, AI content farms, sponsored listings etc., etc., Google results aren’t what they used to be. Let’s start with a search for viking jewellery. Then, throw it away, because it’s a garbage search that’s far too broad. Consider what you’re looking for more carefully, and include that in the search.
Are you looking for reproductions/replicas to buy?
Are you looking for archaeological reports on something?
Are you looking for an overview of the styles in one area?
Looking for specific items found in one place?
Narrowing things down is awesome, and there’s a few methods, obviously the first is gonna be adding more keywords.
If we pretend I’m looking for glass beads from Birka, then glass beads from birka is a hell of a good start. However, this is going to come up with a lot of sites selling glass beads that may or may not have anything to do with Birka.
So we can start adding search operators, which are cool little bits that Google (and other search engines) uses to treat your search differently.
One of the very best ways is to add inurl:pdf or filetype:pdf at the end of your keywords as these will bring up results that are PDF files — typically press releases, archaeological reports etc., so that query would be glass beads from birka filetype:pdf.
To narrow results down, we can use quotation marks to force results that include the specific term.
“glass beads from birka” would ONLY return results with the exact phrase ‘glass beads from birka’ in that order, which is probably not that many.
“glass beads” from “birka” is a better option, which will return searches that include ‘glass beads’ AND ‘birka’.
So if we wanted to find PDF files that mention glass beads from Birka, “glass beads” “birka” inurl:pdf would be a good option.
We might then realise that quotation marks are so horribly specific that “glass bead” is different to “glass beads”.
So, we can use an OR operator: “glass beads” OR “glass bead” “birka” inurl:pdf.
glass beads from birka has 584,000 results. “glass beads” OR “glass bead” “birka” inurl:pdf has 2030 results.
We can further narrow this down by adding our most important keyword in an intitle operator: “glass beads”OR”glass bead” “birka” inurl:pdf intitle:birka has 8 results.
This query means the title of the PDF document must contain the word “birka”, and either the phrase “glass bead” or “glass beads” at least once.
Unfortunately, glass beads may only be mentioned once in the document but that’s where the human side comes in: Ctrl+F (cmd+f on Mac) is find within a page, get searching.
Other cool operators that are kind of useful:
viking glass beads -hedeby will bring up results without the word ‘hedeby’
viking glass beads -pinterest is basically essential: it removes pinterest results!
You can search on a particular site by using the site operator: site:website.com “clothing guide” filetype:pdf
If there’s an old broken link, you can use the cache operator: cache:website.com/linky.php (or use the Wayback Machine)
Also, consider using an alternative search engine like Duck Duck Go or Kagi for different results.
A lot of searches these days have an AI summary. These usually aggregate multiple sources together without context, producing a jumble of random content. Don’t trust these for anything more than basic information.
Using Academic Works
Internet research is great – there is so much stuff online. But the best stuff is peer-reviewed papers by experts working in the field. There are many online repositories that serve this kind of content: academia.org, Jstor, Taylor and Francis to name just a few. Many books and papers are open access, so you can get them for free, or they have free trials.
As with the quality of sources of websites, when you look at academic papers, you still need to look for: Source Credibility:
Are the sources used reliable and credible?
Evidence Quality: Does the evidence presented support the claims made?
Evidence Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the argument?
Counterarguments: Does the work acknowledge and address counterarguments?
Is the work presented within the appropriate context?
The main thing in academic papers is that the authors have already done the legwork for you: evaluating primary sources (ie. archaeological finds) and using secondary sources (books and previous works) to make their argument or frame the discussion.
They are generally far more trustworthy than some random internet blog, however well written (although not always – you still have to use your brain!)
Getting things made
The other part of building an impression is actually where to get stuff from. Many items are entirely within your skills, even if you don’t think so: sewing is remarkably easy to get into and to get good at. I started making a hat, a bag, a tunic, and since have made full sets of costume across a bunch of different historical periods. It’s worthwhile having a go!
But, I also appreciate not everyone is so inclined. So, who to buy from? If you join a group, they may have recommended traders, or people with the skills to make stuff for you. Finding traders is much the same as Googling for artefacts and you need to apply the same critical eye on traders as you do on sources:
What are they copying (place, find, museum entry)?
Is it made the same way, with the same materials?
Is it ‘in the style of’ rather than a copy?
If they don’t list the place, or properly reference what a reproduction is based on, I’d avoid. In the early days of my reenactment career (a spotty, skinny teenager), the amount of things that I bought because the trader claimed that it was ‘from Birka’ was ridiculous. Even if they do list details like grave number or museum reference etc., give it a Google, or compare to your researched images to corroborate.
What you may find is that there are traders who are just as invested in research as you are and will document their process from object to reproduction. These are the best!
Bringing it all together
Developing an impression isn’t about owning the most kit, spending the most money, or having every answer memorised. It’s about being curious and following a thread of interest. Whether that’s a warrior from Birka or a far travelled explorer from Iceland, or a particularly cool brooch you spotted in a museum: see where it leads you. Every book you read, every object you make, every paper you skim over with a cup of tea in hand helps build a richer picture of the people we’re trying to understand and represent.
Don’t feel pressured to get everything right immediately. None of us started with a perfectly researched impression, and most of us are still changing and refining ours years later as new discoveries are made and new ideas emerge. The joy is in the process: reading things, making things (buying things! 😅), asking questions, arguing about obscure details and occasionally discovering that the thing you’ve just spent six months making is actually from the wrong century!!
So pick a person, pick a place, pick a story, and start somewhere. Read a book. Visit a museum. Make a hat. Fall down a rabbit hole about lead weights or cheese-making or glass-bead production. Before long you’ll find that your impression has grown from a collection of clothes and objects into something much more interesting: a way of understanding how people lived, worked, travelled, worshipped, traded, fought, loved and endured over a thousand years ago.
And if all else fails, remember: every expert was once a newcomer with an oversized tunic, a borrowed knife, and absolutely no idea what they were doing.
Footnotes
Material culture can be described as any object that humans use to survive, define social relationships, represent facets of identity, or benefit peoples’ state of mind, social, or economic standing. It includes the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of objects as well as the behaviors, norms, and rituals that the objects create or take part in. For us, it’s the things we reproduce from archaeological evidence to present an impression of the past. ↩︎
As described in ‘Children of Ash and Elm’ by Neil Price. ↩︎
The process of casting a Thor’s hammer or Mjölnir pendant, demonstrated at a Vikings of Middle England event at Polesworth Abbey in July 2025.
The soapstone mould, made by Helg Reproductions aims to faithfully cast a copy of an original hammer from Skotrøa, Norway. The hammer would be cast in silver (we used pewter for the demonstration for cost!), then finished by drawing material out with a light hammer to form the full hammer shape and a shank, before punching or engraving ring-and-dot docatoration onto the surface.
This is just one of the Viking jewellery making processes that our smith demonstrates. Pop along to one of our events to see other crafts like wire knit, mould making and lost wax casting.
“Authenticity” is the term we use to describe the historical accuracy of the kit and equipment that we display at public events, and the verisimilitude – the truthiness – of our performances.
One of the main ways we do this is by representing the typical people of the Viking Age. The farmers, labourers, artisans and craftspeople. We have plenty of reproductions of extraordinary items of the Viking Age, but you won’t find a field of nobles and kings sitting around in our camp. Instead, you’ll see busy people making things and demonstrating important domestic crafts.
Research Active
We demand a very high standard from our participants, with clothing and items around our camp checked against the latest research and interpretations.
To facilitate this, we have a dedicated research team who, in an ongoing process, evaluate and re-evaluate all items of kit twice a year. For most items we have a 2-year turnaround to renew or replace reproductions made with out-of-date understanding.
Furthermore, members who want to create their own ‘impression’ of a Viking-Age person beyond our basic instruction are required to provide a dossier outlining and evidencing each item against original artefacts, which must also suite the status, geography and chronology of that character.
What you are getting with Vikings of Middle England is a truthful impression of history, to the best of our ability and knowledge, and nothing that is going to confuse an audience. We flat out ban fantasy items that might seem ‘Vikingy’ like those you might seen on TV shows like Vikings and The Last Kingdom.
Balancing Education and Entertainment
Some argue that if we are only entertaining the audience, and they don’t know the difference between (for example) a fantasy helmet and a Viking helmet, then it doesn’t matter if they are used together. To us, it does. Everything the audience sees is a tangential learning opportunity. Human beings have the extraordinary ability to make connections between what they see, hear, touch and smell, and things they have learned and forgot long ago.
That’s not to say there aren’t practical barriers to representing history as truthfully as possible. We use modern hygiene standards in food preparation, we camp in cotton canvas tents because they have to be waterproof to protect us from inclement weather over many years of use, and we take the safety of our members seriously. For example, combat safety equipment such as gloves are ‘in the style of’ Viking age things but aren’t themselves ‘authentic.’
Combat displays, beyond the costume and trappings of warfare, are completely for entertainment. However, even here, we can express historical narratives and tell stories that identify the cultural, economic and political struggles of our ancestors.
Our goal is always to be informative and entertaining, and to give an accurate impression of Viking-age life. We think we do it better than anyone else.
You can prepare Viking-age skyr as either a soft cheese or yogurt. The name skyr originates from the Old Norse word skera “to cut.” A fitting term that describes the coagulating protein, separating and cracking apart as the soured milk heats up.
Making skyr is relatively simple, even over an open fire. Although, temperature regulation can be tricky, you’ll have a passable soft cheese in a few hours. Depending on how long you drain the cheese determines whether you’ll have a runny yoghurty cheese, or a crumbly cottage cheese, and how acidic tasting it will be.
Ingredients for Skyr
Measurements are in metric/British Imperial units.
2L / 3 ½ pints of un-homogenised whole milk
300ml / 10 ½ fl oz crème fraîche
You can use either raw or pasteurised whole milk, but if using the latter make sure you buy un-homogenised. The fat is thicker and creamier and perfect for cheesemaking. Crème fraîche is basically soured cream that we can use to inject all the sourness and acidity we need.
Making Skyr
Step 1:
Sour your milk. If you use raw milk, you can leave the milk out at room temperature for 24 hours to sour on its own. For pasteurised milk, add a drop of lemon juice or vinegar or other edible acidic solution (we’ve used liquid from a pickle jar before!), it’ll be ready in minutes.
Step 2:
Mix the soured milk and crème fraîche together in a pot or saucepan. In our experiments using an open fire, we used a clay pot. On the stove, use a low heat.
Step 3:
Heat the mixture gently without stirring. On a fire, place the pot to the side and turn the pot regularly. You may want to cover it to stop ash getting into it.
Step 4:
When the mixture is at the right temperature, it will look yellowish and the curds will crack. If it starts frothing, it’s too hot – it’ll probably still work, but results will vary. Now it is time to drain the whey.
Take the pot from the heat and scoop the mixture into a cheesecloth. A loosely woven linen is most practical. Stick the cloth over a bowl while you do this: you can keep the whey to add to stocks or broth, or as a protein rich drink.
Drain for 6-12 hours depending on the consistency you’d like.
More On Skyr and Whey
Sheep’s milk appears to be the preferred cheese making diary product in Anglo-Saxon Britain. What’s more, sheep’s milk is richer in milk solids than cow’s milk, meaning more cheese can be made for the same quantity of milk. It probably no coincidence that the Month of May in the Anglo-Saxon Tiberius calendar shows a shepherd tending his sheep.
May: tending sheep, Cotton Tberius B. v, fo. 5r
Cheesemaking is important in Viking households too. The sagas suggest that it was a substantial part of women’s work, with some houses having their own dairy room (skyrbúr) for cheese, or even a separate out building for a serious operation.
Historically, the use of whey was important in food preservation, and adding much needed protein to food in lean months. Enormous coopered barrels have been discovered in Viking settlements such as Hedeby and in burials such as Oseberg. These may have been whey vats. A 13th century Norse saga describes a whey vat that is so vast that a grown man can hide in it.
In Anglo-Saxon Britain, food rents included cheese, and workers were allotted a portion of whey. The cheesemaker received an entitlement of “100 cheeses” provided she made the lord butter from the whey. Female slaves were paid a penny or whey in the summer.
Further Reading
A delicious accompaniment to early-medieval soft cheese or skyr are flat breads. We also made a tutorial on how to make them, check it out.
Banham, D. Faith, F. (2014). Anglo-Saxon Farms and Farming.
Fridriksdottir, J K. (2020). Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World
Hagen, A. (1992). A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption
This is a quick start guide on how to make Viking clothes. The guide covers the basic patterns and hand-sewing techniques needed to make clothing for most people who lived in north-western Europe in the Viking-age. This is a starting point for simple first impressions in Viking reenactment, or accurate costume for TV and film, cosplay etc.
The typical person in the Viking-age was a subsistence farmer, apprentice or labourer, and this guide reflects that reality. For a more generalised view of Viking-age clothing, see our article on Viking Clothing and Jewellery.
Courtesy British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. V, Part 1, f.6v. Calendar page for August. Six men harvesting; five with scythes, and one with pitchfork. 2nd Quarter of the 11th Century.
Table of Contents
Hand Sewing Techniques
Even the poorest people in the Viking-Age societies of Northern Europe were good tailors – they had to be. Most people lived in rural communities, and even if they lived in an urban area, they might not have the money or surplus goods to trade for completed garments. Because of this, I suggest plenty of practice at seaming and fitting. We’re not going for a ‘rustic’ look, but a quality garment. Old tea towels and bedsheets are good to practice on.
Viking age people had access to most of the same tools to make clothes as today, albeit somewhat cruder. Delicate fish-bone needles have been found along side chunkier iron and copper-alloy needles; scissors or shears retain the same long straight edges as today, but are made from iron; wooden, bone and copper-alloy pins came in all sorts of sizes; and there’s evidence of woollen and linen thread, alongside silk and metallic foil used in decorative bands and expensive accessories.
What you’ll need:
Sewing needles
Scissors or shears
Dress-making pins
Measuring tape
Tailors chalk or fabric marker (for drawing out patterns or making adjustments). You might also want to test your patterns on paper – something Viking-age people didn’t have access to, but useful if you don’t want to cut into expensive fabric straightaway, or want to reuse patterns later.
Thread: a good rule of thumb is to use linen thread on linen fabric and woollen thread on wool (and silk on silk etc.) One option is to pull threads from your fabric for truly invisible stitches. When you are practising, use a thread of a contrasting colour to the cloth.
TOP TIP
Run your thread through a beeswax block to stiffen the thread, prevent knots and to help waterproofing.
Stitches to Master
These are stitches discovered in archaeological excavations that show how viking clothes were made. They will serve as the base for seaming, felling, and hemming. Fully explaining them is beyond the scope of this article, but there are many comprehensive hand-sewing tutorials online.
Running Stitch
Running-stitch is a simple and common technique where you pass the needle in and out in a single line. It’s important to use as small a stitch as possible as it’s easy to pull them out.
Back Stitch
Back-stitch is a strong stitch best used on seams that experience a lot of pulling, such as side seams. The back stitch goes back along the line, making a short loop that is difficult to pull out.
Whip Stitch
Also called Overcast or Oversewing, whip-stitch is used to close two edges of fabric, either in seam treatments, felling or hemming. The technique makes a loop of diagonal stitches.
Blanket Stitch
Blanket or Buttonhole-stitch is used to finish raw or cut edges. It’s similar to the whip stitch, but you catch a loop (like making a knot) to lay the thread along the edge, protecting it from fraying. The closer together the ‘L’ shaped stitch, the more secure the cut edge will be.
Seams and Seam Treatments
The simplest seam when making Viking clothes is just two pieces of fabric layered together and sewn with a running- or back-stitch (called a butted– or bound seam). When it’s turned inside out and pressed, the seem will look smart on the outside, with stitching and excess fabric hidden on the inside of the garment. But, the raw or cut edge of the fabric is likely to unravel or fray during use, especially if using linen, or wool that has a loose weave. To combat this, we use a seam treatment. Make sure you leave enough excess seam allowance when you cut your fabric to be able to do these techniques.
Stand-up Seam
The stand-up seam is a common seam treatment and one of the easiest to make. Sew your seam together using a running or back stitch (as the explained above), then fold the cut edges inward towards the seam (press with an iron if it helps). On the join of the fold, use a whip stitch to catch all 4-layers and secure it. On thicker fabric, it may feel too bulky, so you could instead use a blanket stitch to secure the cut edge.
Felled Seam
A felled or spread-seam starts with a butted seam as explained above, but rather that folding the edge in as with a stand-up seam, we spread the edges away from the seam and whip-stitch the raw edges on one side, or both sides (optionally folding the edge in on itself). This makes the inside of the seam very comfortable, but you will have stitching visible on the outside, so be as neat as you can, using small stitches.
Lapped Seam
Lapped seams are similar to modern ‘flat-felled’ seams. You lay the edges over each other then either: whip-stitch the raw edges or; fold the edges under and lap them together, then whip-stitch the fold. It should look the same on the inside and outside of the garment.
Hems
The hem is where you treat an unjoined edge. Viking-age hems are almost always folded inward and then whip-stitched. On lighter material, such as fine linens or silk, the edge can be rolled in. On bulkier material, hems may have just been blanket-stitched. Occasionally we see the use of herringbone stitch on either the “right” or “wrong” side of the fabric.
Illustration of a rolled hem, whip-stitched.
Herringbone Stitch
Herringbone-stitch is like a double-row of back-stitch. This type of stitch has been found on Viking-age fabrics and may have been used on the inside or outside of the garment in a decorative way, especially on hems in the place of a simple whip-stitch.
Viking Clothing: What You Need
Through the examination of archaeological fragments, art, literature, and accounts from the pre and post Viking-Age, we can determine that there are a few distinct garments, depending on whether you dress as male or female.
Shirt or Serk/Skyrta
The serk or skyrta, we assume, is an under-garment. For male dress (skyrta), it appears to be just longer than waist-length, while the female version is a gown (serk) that is just slightly-shorter than ankle-length. They’re both shorter that the kyrtle, an over-garment, and are probably close fitting at the neck and wrist to allow the larger kyrtle to be comfortably worn over it.
There is evidence for both woollen and linen under-garments. A linen shirt from Viborg is made from two layers, with a tight neck-hole finished with a tie, and tapered to fit at the sleeves. A woollen shirt from Skjoldehamn in the north of Norway has multiple gussets and a stand up collar, and another from Guddal shows similar construction.
The neckline on the female serk may be pleated
Tunic or Kyrtle
The Kyrtle is a woollen outer-garment with a large skirt – it’s length is below the knee for men, and to the ankle for women. It could be hitched up at the waist with a belt. The sleeves, while still tapered to fit, can be slightly baggier so they can be rolled up.
It’s not clear from archaeology how Viking-Age people layered clothing exactly, but fragments adhered to the underside of metal brooches and buckles on the topmost layer sometimes have multiple fabrics. This indicates that, at least at the time of burial, people wore an under and outer layer.
Legwear
Another part of the underwear is the breeches and hose, or trousers. Again, much of our knowledge comes from pre and post Viking-Age finds, such as the Thorsberg trousers and Dätgen breeches, but there is some contemporary archaeology. There’s a fragment of woollen hose found in Hedeby, and fragments of an elaborately decorated pair of woollen trousers from Skjoldehamn.
Woollen leg wraps may have been worn to protect the trousers or the bare calf while working in the fields, and there are several fragments of coarse cloth that are candidates for belong to this garment, along with fasteners.
Accessories
Along with the main clothing, there is evidence for headwear such as caps, hats and religious garb such as wimples. There are complete mittens made from wool for cold hands, and one of the most interesting and complete finds from York is a woollen sock woven using a technique called Naalbinding. On top of that, any cold or wet weather is best survived with a large shawl or cloak, and sturdy leather shoes.
Male Costume
Serk: wool or linen, mid-thigh length. Kyrtle: wool, knee-length when hitched up with a belt. Trousers: wool, ankle-length. Leg Wraps: wool, enough to wrap your calves. Belt: leather with a iron or copper-alloy buckel. Hat: wool. Cloak: wool, fixed with a copper-alloy pin. Shoes: leather turnshoes.
Female Costume
Serk: wool or linen, above the ankle. Kyrtle: wool, ankle-length. Hose (optional): wool, fitted to your feet and to come above the knee. Leg Wraps (optional): wool, enough to wrap your calves Belt (optional): wool braid, leather depending on impression, though this seems to be rare. Cap or Wimple: wool or linen for the cap, linen for wimple. Cloak or Mantle: wool, fixed with a pin.
For more elaborate dress, specifically for Scandinavian female impressions, check out this great article on the Smokkr, a woollen over-garment fixed with beautiful oval brooches.
Making a Viking Kyrtle or Over-Tunic
As discussed above, the Kyrtle is the main outer-garment of the Viking-age person. It is made from a medium to thick wool, perfect for inclement weather protection, and to last as long as possible.
Textiles and Colours
Viking-age fabrics are commonly found woven in a Plain or Tabby Weave, or in a Twill Weave, usually 2/2 twill or 2/1 twill. To judge the fineness of a fabric, we use a measurement called sett. The sett is how many warp and weft threads there are per square centimetre (or inch, depending on where you are in the world). For wool, we also describe its hairiness. Hairy fabric has short curly fibres that are often coarse and scratchy, finer fabric has longer fibres that feel soft. For your kyrtle look for a medium-hairy fabric with a sett between 10 and 14 (ie. 10 to 14 threads per cm in both directions).
TOP TIP
Period fleece was prepared for spinning in a process called ‘combing,’ where the selected fleece is drawn through the teeth of large iron combs. This produces a ‘worsted’ yarn that is made of mainly long, straight fibres, giving a soft texture. Later medieval, and modern wool yarns are often made by ‘carding’ the fleece, which produces a ‘woollen’ yarn that is made of short, curly fibres, giving a ‘hairy’ texture.
There were plenty of ‘hairy’ textiles from the Viking-age, probably made by adding more teeth to the combs for speed of processing, but modern people don’t often like wearing it close to the skin! It can be hard to tell the difference via a photograph, so always try and handle the fabric to see if it is soft or hairy, or look at the product description carefully (or ask the manufacturer) before buying. Fulled fabrics are not common in the Viking-age, so avoid buying them (if you can’t see the weave, it’s probably fulled or felted).
Types of Weave
Tabby Weave or Plain Weave is the simplest type of woven fabric. The warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads cross at right angles, aligned so they form a simple criss-cross pattern.
In twill weaves, the weft is staggered to the right or the left, creating a diagonal effect. For a 2/2 Twill Weave the weft goes under two warp threads, then over two.
In 2/1 Twill Weave the weft goes under two warp threads, then over one the weft goes under two warp threads, then over one
Most woollen fabrics, especially those intended for hard days of manual labour were probably undyed. Undyed colours range from bleached greyish white to a muddy green-brown.
However, access to gardens with dyestuffs, or trade through urban centres meant that other colours were available. Wool takes dye pigments very well, and if a person had access to a lot of dyestuff, or a mordant to help fix the pigments to the fibres, colours could be quite vibrant. Madder and woad based dyes were the most abundant, giving a brick read and light/mid blue respectively. Other plants like tansy and weld give yellowish-green colours. More rarely, certain lichens give a pale purple/lilac colour.
Kyrtle Pattern
This pattern is based on interpretations of fragments found at Hedeby, and shares similarities with other finds, such as Skjoldehamn and Guddal, and medieval garments from Greenland. The period silhouette in art indicates a wide skirt, achieved by added 2 or more triangular inserts (gores).
The Hedeby fragments suggest an inset sleeve, contouring to the shoulder, and tapered at the wrist. One set of fragments from Hedeby also shows a pieced arm, perhaps to extend an otherwise tight fit.
Some interpretations suggest that the body of most early-medieval tunics are are ‘poncho cut.’ in other words, it’s made from one long piece of fabric and folded in half before cutting the neck hole.
To add a fuller skirt, you can add more gores. An interpretation from Hedeby has a separate skirt sewn to the body at the waist, in which case it can be made from many pieces.
Measurements
Measure whist wearing a thickish layer as this is outerwear. Add an extra 3-5cm for seam allowance. Medium sized people need about 2m x 1.5m of fabric.
Length: For men, from the shoulder, over the breast to the knee. For women, from the shoulder, over the breast to the ankle.
Arm length: From the point of the shoulder, over a bent elbow (teapot!), to the wrist.
Bicep: Around the thickest part.
Wrist: Around the thickest part of the hand.
Chest: Arm-pit to arm-pit over the breast.
Shoulder to Arm-Pit: From the point of your shoulder to under your arm-pit.
Gores: For men: waist, from the hip to the knee. For women: waist, over the hip to the ankle. The pattern above uses 2 gores in the sides for a simple Viking-age silhouette, but you can add 4 (or more), in the sides, front and back for a fuller skirt if you wish.
Neck: All around the lower part of the neck, then half the measurement.
Waist (Optional): You can make a more fitted garment by measuring your waist, wrap the tape around you, and halve it (allowing for seams).
TOP TIP
When cutting fabric, keep the bottom blade of your shears on the cutting surface. This will allow them to glide smoothly through the fabric. If you can, use clamps or weights to help the fabric move less when cutting or measuring. If you are cutting two or more layers at once, think about getting a rotary cutter.
Neckline
There are many necklines shown in period art work, and a few remain from the surviving fragments. The simplest neckline is a circle, just big enough to fit your head once hemmed. A nice variation of this is a circle just about the size of your neck with a split down front (keyhole), or offset to the side, where you can attach a thong, or use a bead as a fastener.
The ‘boat shape’ is common in art work, where the neckline is cut along the fold of the material and rounded off on the front and back to make it comfortable. The Kragelund tunic (left) has the boat shape over the front and back instead, giving it a distinct look.
The Skjoldeham tunic has a large ‘V’ neck, with decoration lining the cut.
V-NeckSide-SplitBoat-Shaped
Sewing
Sewing the kirtle is straightforward. Start by sewing the sleeves into the arm holes, then stitch from the under arm to the waist. Use back stitch for this. Sew up the sleeves, then add the gores. Finish off by hemming the sleeves, skirt and neck, and felling the seams.
Making a Viking Shirt
The shirt pattern is a simple rectangle design, but otherwise follows the same measurement/construction method as the Kyrtle. The main difference between the male and female pattern is the overall length, and the need to add gussets for the longer female serk. For men, it should be above the knee, for women, it can be longer. In both cases it is shorter than the kyrtle. Additionally, skyrta/serks are fairly well fitting underwear, especially around the neck.
Textile and Colours
The shirt is best made from linen, although if you find softer, long-fibred wool, it’s not a supper itchy experience, and it’s that much more authentic for lower-status folk.
Use a medium weight, undyed tabby (plain weave) linen, or light weight tabby wool. Get one with a sett of 15-20 threads per cm for linen. Most linens would have been undyed in the Viking-age. Flax fibres do not hold much pigment, so without expensive mordants as fixatives, the colour appears washed out, or quickly fades. As the garment sits close to the skin, it will get very apparent sweat marks without thorough washing, which will also fade the colour.
Shirt Pattern
This is a hugely simplified version of the Viborg shirt without the lining, and is also similar to the T-tunic of antiquity. You can either cut two wide rectangles, or fold the fabric over and cut just the neck hole like a poncho. Insert square gussets under the arms for extra space. The sleeves taper to the wrist, being quite close fitting. For a female variant, add in triangular side gores to fill out the skirt (see the kyrtle pattern above) use a circular neckline and use pleats/gathers to fit the neck-hole nice and tight – there’s fragments of pleated material from Hedeby, Pskov and Birka that suggests this was a style used.
Simple T-Tunic PatternViborg Short InterpretationA Note on the Viborg Short
The Viborg shirt is a much more complicated garment than the simple pattern above. it is made of two layers of linen in the body, sewn together with a running stitch. The arms are made from two pieces, rather than one tube. The skirt is made of two pieces, one wider than the other to form an overlap, but it doesn’t have side gussets. The double layered body means that the neck hole consists of two flaps that are tied through a loop on each side.
Measurements
Measurements are taken the same was as the Kyrtle above: around the chest, under the armpits, this will give you the width. Keep this garment more or less square, and slightly wider than the shoulder. Remember to leave allowances for seams, and refitting! Optionally, you can add in pieces to make a wider skirt, or add in a standing collar (best on wool shirts): this type of construction is seen on the Skjoldeham shirt.
Medium sized people need about 1.75m x 1.5m of fabric.
Sewing
Sewing the serk is broadly the same as the kyrtle, but if you use square gussets, attach them to the sleeves first, then set the sleeve in. For the longer serk or gown worn by women, you can include gussets in the sides for a fuller skirt.
Making Viking Trousers or Breeches
Besides the Skjoldehamn trousers, fragments of legwear from Hedeby and earlier Iron-Age footed-breeches indicate possible methods of construction.
The legs, however long, are cut as tubes with a single seam – either inside or outside. Trousers have a large seat, and some bagginess for the behind. A separate waist belt is attached and folded over to incorporate a drawstring, or additional loops are sewn on to accommodate a belt.
Textiles and Colours
As with the kyrtle, choose a medium-hairy woollen fabric of around 10-14 threads per cm. Twill woven wool works best as the fabric stretches well in the bias. Again, colours are best plain, or using the simple dyes available to early-medieval people.
Trousers Pattern
This pattern is based on a find from Migration Period Germany (Thorsberg) which are form fitting and comfortable, with durable seam placement.
Measurements
Add a 3-5cm seam allowance to each measurement.
Length: Waist to ankle, measuring down the side of your body. These should sit high on your waist, not low slung on your hips.
Hips: The widest part around your hips.
Waist: Around your waist, over your belly button.
Seat: From your belly button, between your legs, to your waistline on your back.
Thigh: Measure loosely the widest part of the circumference of your thigh.
Knee: Measure loosely the circumference of a bent knee.
Ankle: Measure loosely the circumference of your ankle (we will cut a split to get your foot in).
Seat Length: Measure from your waist at the back, to below your buttocks.
Crotch Length: Measure from your waist at the front, under your legs to below your buttocks.
Also, measure ankle to knee, ankle to thigh, thigh to waist.
Trousers are basically two tubes (legs) attached to two rectangular gussets (a large square for the bottom, narrow rectangle for the crotch). The Waist band is sewn on separately and can either be made as a tube for a drawstring, or you can sew on 6-8 belt loops.
Short breeches should fall just below the knee, long trousers should be fitted at the ankle. There is a small cut to allow the foot through, which is re-enforced with a blanket stitch.
Medium sized people need about 1.5m x 1.5m of fabric.
Sewing
Sewing the trousers can be a little more complex than the tunic or shirt, so take your time, and use pins or tack-stitches to get the right shape. Try them on a lot!
Pin the legs together along the curved edge from ankle to thigh, leaving 10cm at the bottom for the ankle slit. The garment will not sit perfectly flat or even at the ankle – this is ok, you’ll hem the ankle and tidy up later.
Tack stitch (long running stitch) the seam and try the leg on to make sure it fits, adjust where needed, then back stitch the seam. Repeat for the other leg (remember to mirror the fold as you’ll get two of the same legs!)
Pin the seat into the legs – start at the top and work down the curve from hip to thigh/crotch. You will not keep it perfectly square – this is good, you want a lot of stretch.
Pin in the crotch – it will connect to the seat, and the remaining parts of the legs. The leg seams will fall to the sides.
Tack together and fit, adjust as you need, then back stitch together.
If you find they are too tight in the thighs, add in triangular gores to the inside of the legs.
Waistband
Turn the trousers the proper way out (as if you are wearing them). On the outside, place your waistband so the edge of the waistband and top edge of the trousers meet (the widest part is at the back, the join is at the front – especially important if you use a drawstring!) Back stitch just below the edge, to the waistband is like a flap all around the waist.
Now fold the waistband up and over the edge and to the inside of the trousers. Roll the edge (so it is on the inside) and whip stitch it on.
Whip stitch the belt loops equally around the waist.
Making Viking Legwraps
Legwraps, sometimes called winingas or putees, are cloth strips that protect the lower leg. They need to be at least 2m long and are 10-20cm wide, whether they are woven as a single item, or cut and hemmed. A twill or herringbone wool is the best fabric as will be stretchier while you move around. Alternatively, a smaller tablet-woven band could be used.
Legwarps can be fasted with hooked tags, common throughout the Viking world, or tied with a band or thong. Project Forlog has a great page on the use of hooked-tags as clothes fasteners.
Cloaks and Shawls
A basic cloak is a simple rectangle of thick wool. The fabric is tabby woven or a simple twill. The edges are finished with a blanket stitch, or if woven as a single piece, finished plain or with twisted warp-ends. In terms of size, the length should be about the same as the wingspan of your outstretched arms, and wide enough to wrap around your torso.
Period artwork shows men pin the cloak on their right shoulder. Use a copper-alloy brooch or pin.
Icons of female figures show a sort of shawl, where the rectangular or square-woven cloth is wrapped around the body and fastened at the front. It might look something like this:
Most women’s caps found in the Viking age are a simple rectangle of cloth folded over and sewn on one side. Caps can be made from wool, linen or silk. The Jorvik cap is made of silk, and the hems are rolled. The rear corner has a line of stitches that follows the contour of the head.
Cap Pattern
The cap is a simple rectangular head covering with a tie under the chin. You can make it out of wool or linen. Cut a rectangle to the following dimensions:
Length: From your chin, to your right ear, over the crown of your head, down to your left ear and to your chin. (approx 60cm for medium sized head)
Width: From your forehead to the back of your skull, then half it. (approx 20cm for medium sized head)
Sewing
Fold in half
There are two methods to round the corner:
Pictured: Sew an arc from the middle of the fold to the back edge and continue to sew the back seam. Cut off the excess and treat the seam.
Sew the back edge, then pull the top in. Whip stitch the outside to create the curve.
Finish the back seam and hem the open edges
Optional: Add a tie – a loop of braid, or folded strips of linen.
Wimple Pattern
Alternatively, Christian women wear a wimple, a formal head scarf, in period artwork. The wimple is a a long semi-circle of cloth.
Length: is the length of out stretched arms
Width: at it’s thickest point is 1/4 to 1/3 the length. eg. If length is 100cm, with would be 25cm or 33cm.
You can use a bone, wooden or copper-alloy pin to secure, or use a tablet-woven band (sometimes called a fillet).
Making a Viking Hat
Several hats are present in the archaeological record or the Viking-Age. The two simplest to make are a 4-panel hat based on a find from Birka, Sewden, and a ‘pillbox’ hat from Leens, Netherlands. Other headgear also exists, such as hoods.
4-Panel Hat Pattern
To make the hat, first measure your head circumference from around your forehead, tops of ears and back. Divide by 4 to get the short edge size of the panel. Now measure from ear to ear and half the measurement for the height of the panel from the short edge to the point. Draw the long edges in towards the point. (Remember to add a few centimetres for seam allowance to each side.)
Sew all 4 pieces together, and hem the bottom edge.
Pillbox Hat Pattern
To make the hat, first measure your head circumference from around your forehead, tops of ears and back. This is the circumference of the circular crown panel, and the length of the rectangular headband panel. The height of the rectangular headband panel is about 11cm (not including seam allowance).
The Leens example is made of 3 pieces, with two semi-circles stitched together to form the crown. It is attached to the headband with a whip stitch. Th eseams are decorated on the outside with a herringbone stitch, and the hem is decorated with a visible running stitch, also on the outside.
Accessories
The accessories listed here are personal items that finish off a costume. These are key items for the fit of clothing – usually functional as well as decorative, and some essential for any work or trade.
Shoes
Shoes from the Viking-age are made of leather and are usually of the turnshoe construction. The upper is cut as one piece then stitched to the sole inside out around a last – it is then turned the right way out so that the stitching is on the inside.
Based on examples found in York. Asingle piece for the foot and ankle is sewn to a separate sole in most cases. There are variations with slightly taller uppers and 3 toggles, and those with shallow uppers that look like slippers.
Reproduction turnshoes
Knife and Sheath
A knife is of course a great utility. Made of iron, sometimes with a hard steel edge, the knife or seax could be anywhere from a couple of inches to the size of a machete. These smaller knives aren’t adapted for warfare. They are tools that are used around the house, or out in the fields and woods.
The handle would be of wood, some set with bone, sometimes with copper-alloy or iron fittings. Housing the knife is a leather sheath. Wet leather wrapped around the knife forms the sheath, where we cut to shape and stitch one seam. In some cases metal fittings protect the stitching.
Belt
Men wore a girdle around the waist, usually of leather. The strap is about 1/2 inch to 1 inch in width and tied (with split ends) or buckled. Belts are often made with two thin layers stitched together. Buckles are made from bone, iron, lead-alloy or copper-alloy. Buckles are sometimes accompanied by a strap-end (gesel) which protects the leather and provides extra decoration. Many metal items in the Viking-age were stamped with a ring and dot motif, or scored with ‘dogs teeth’ markings.
Socks
The best preserved sock is from York and made from wool with a technique called nalbinding. The knotted construction makes them extremely hard wearing, and quite waterproof. Then there’s simple sewn socks using normal woollen textiles, found at Skjoldeham in Norway.
Spindle
Spindle whorls are a common find in archaeological excavations, indicating the importance of spinning yarn from fleece at home. Spindles are made from bone, wood and clay and mounted on a wooden rod, the fleece is drawn into thin strands as it’s spun. Women spent a good portion of the year spinning yarn from fleece, so this is an essential item for female impressions.
For more information about textiles and clothing of the Viking-age, check out our article. We also have a summary of Viking Children’s clothing. Now ensconced on this blog, this page will be easier to edit and we intend to add pages covering other garments, such as the apron-dress or smokkr, the Klappenrock jacked, caftans and more.
Further Reading
This guide is for new reenactors starting out, and those putting together simple costumes of early-medieval/Viking-age people, rather than an academic work. However, if you are interested in finding out more about Viking-Age clothing and accoutrements, please find a selection of books and online articles below.
Bender Jorgensen, L (1993). North European Textiles until AD 1000.
Brandenburg, C.R (2010). Early medieval textile remains from settlements in the Netherlands. An evaluation of textile production. In Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries
It’s almost Christmas, the only time of year it’s socially acceptable to hibernate under a pile of blankets with a stack of books and mountains of mince pies. And there’s been some amazing books about Vikings and Saxons this year. So, in what has become a yearly tradition, here’s 10 books about Vikings to put on your Christmas list for 2023. So wrap yourself in a blanket, pour yourself a festive tipple, and enjoy!
“The Bone Chests” by Cat Jarman
The Bone Chests: Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons by Cat Jarman. Jarman’s book River Kings was our first recommendation back in 2021, and this is just as well written and intriguing. Instead of the mystery of Viking Leaders, here Cat explores ancient chests that survived the violence of the civil war to reveal their forgotten tales. It’s another phenomenal read that weaves the latest science and technology into a narrative about the people buried within the chests, and the keepers who sought to protect them over the centuries.
“Fury of the Vikings” by Dominic Sandbrook
Adventures in Time: Fury of The Vikings by Dominic Sandbrook. Here’s one for the Kids! A fantastic series of historical thrillers that tell the stories of the Viking Age: the gods and monsters, Viking raiders and adventurers, kings and warlords, and much more. It’s the kind of volume that I wish I had as a kid. A book about Vikings that captures the conflicting spirit of the age, of violence and dread, courage and romance. There’s not many non-fiction books that do this so well, or so well packaged for younger readers.
“Battle for the Island Kingdom” by Don Hollway
Battle for the Island Kingdom: England’s Destiny 1000-1066 by Don Hollway. Making it onto the list for two years in a row following The Last Viking in 2022. Switching from a focus on Harald Hardrada, Hollway instead turns his attention to the complex political landscape of England in the 11th Century, the invasions, machinations and betrayals that paved the way for the armies of Hardrada and William of Normandy to land in 1066. It’s just good stuff!
“A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain” by Tom Horne
A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain: Trade Networks and the Importation of a Southern Scandinavian Silver Bullion Economy by Tom Horne. A part of Routledge’s Archaeologies of the Viking World series, this a fantastic book for even amateur historians like us. Horne manages to explain the various theories of how Vikings moved their goods around their disparate and lengthy trade networks, and shows the importance of the York and Dublin trade hubs in the wider world, and why the Southern-Danish elite went to so much trouble for it. Also check out the author’s appearances on the Vikingology podcast!
“The Deorhord” by Hana Videen
The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary by Hana Videen. Another author on last year’s list that have released a book just in time for Christmas! Wordhord was a superb look at the lost, forgotten and ever changing words of the English language. It helped the reader understand the lens from which early English speakers viewed and categorised the world – this does book does much the same but with a focus on the creatures, both real and imagined, that made up the old English world.
“Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Ruling the World” by Louie Stowell
Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Ruling the World by Louie Stowell. The most import book about Viking gods ever written. At least according to my (nearly) 6-year old who absolutely loves this book. It asks the important questions like “what would happen if Odin made Loki pose as a mortal child and sent him to school?” Loki himself tells the story, with the help of his mostly aggravated diary. Tales of trying to be popular, beating Thor at football, and being the star in the play. But watch out for cursed jewellery.
“Vikings of the Steppe” by Csete Katona
Vikings of the Steppe: Scandinavians, Rus‘, and the Turkic World (c. 750-1050) by Csete Katona. A late contender for my “best book for Viking nerds” award in 2023! Vikings of the Steppe serves as a tremendous introduction to the history of the Vikings that journeyed east. As with other titles in this series, the book brings together the latest scholarship on the subject,. But more than that, the book aims to bridge the gaps in our current understanding of how the Vikings influenced the cultures they met, and how those encounters in turn changed them.
“Bede and the Theory of Everything” by Michelle P. Brown
Bede and the Theory of Everything by Michelle P. Brown. The story of the early English people is tied irrevocably to Bede and his writing. And while he was also being one of the most important scholars of the early middle ages in Europe, he never left his native Northumbria. Michelle Brown explores new finds regarding his scholarly work, while diving deeply into his life and work. It’s definitely one for the enthusiast, but it’s great value, covering his early life in Monkwearmouth to his legacy as the Venerable Bede in great detail.
“The Weaver and the Witch Queen” by Genevieve Gornichec
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec. Genevieve Gornichec once again makes our list with Norse-inspired fiction with this incredible adventure. The author pits oaths of loyalty against the need for power and useful alliances. Gornichec manages to pull the same trick she did the The Witch’s Heart in that she manages to distill the historical (or mythological) norse mentality into her work without making the actions of the characters totally alien. Yet, there will be times when your jaw will be on the floor from those actions. Brilliant.
“Beowulf” by Tom Shippey and Leonard Neidorf
Beowulf: Translation and Commentary by Tom Shippey and Leonard Neidorf. This book is a timely reminder that a) Beowulf is great and b) Anglo-Saxons aren’t the dour, boring, incompetent blowhards depicted in modern television series, but warrior-poets and absolute lads. This latest translation and commentary is fantastic with the translation itself being accessible, while keeping the tone and language infused with early medieval history.
A little reel of our living history activity at Repton Festival last weekend!
We presented a load of crafts at the weekend and made use of the fantastic clear skies! Our carpenters Beigan and Bjarni made planks and wood-nails for clinker-construction, while our blacksmith Yngvar made ships nails and roves to rivet them together. Solveig the Viking (aka Lucy the Tudor), Hrefna and Þorunn spun and weaved, and did nalbinding.
Throst made a “Traveller’s Porridge” based on “An Early Meal” by Daniel Serra, while Loðinn talked brewing. Members of the public worked hard grinding barley into flour.
Steinar, Kenelm and Snorri showed off arms and armour, Hrothgar talked about trade and showed off goods from around the Viking world. Kael cast jewellery, Hermish helped members of the public strike their own Viking coin, and Lofthaena made paint from red ochre and egg yolk. And there’s probably more we’ve forgotten!
Also at Repton Festival we did 5 combat displays (check out one on Facebook here), including weapons demonstrations, historical and for entertainment! We talked about the phases of a battle, how men were organised, our thoughts on “shield walls” and how dane axes could be used in a battle.
Textiles were an essential part of living in the Viking-Age. Every Viking household would need to be able to spin fleece, weave cloth and sew together their own clothing. There were no clothes stores as we have today, and even the very rich made the the most of ‘homespun.’ This article explores what the Vikings wore, and what clothes were worn by who. We also have an article on how to make Viking clothing.
This content was written to compliment Key Stage 2 history topic ‘The Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor.’
What do we know about Viking Clothes?
Textiles seldom survive in the earth when buried for a 1000 years. Archaeologists find small fragments of textiles though, sometimes adhered to metal items like brooches or buckles. Rarely, complete or almost complete garments are found where the soil is favourable to the longevity of the fibres, such as in bogs. These fragments help us piece together what the clothes looked like, what they were made of and how fine they were. Occasionally we can even find out what colour they were dyed.
We can also get an idea about what clothes looked like from art work. Painted manuscripts, engravings, carvings and embroideries can give clues to the fit and finish of a garment. Some people in the Viking-Age also wrote about what they wore in stories such as the Viking Sagas. We can find out information from wills and legal documents where precious clothing has been passed down after a death in the family. However, we have to be careful when looking at art or in literature as the artists and authors could be exaggerating or making things up to impress their audience, or they may be telling a story a long time after the event.
What were Viking clothes made from?
People of the Viking Age wore simple, well-fitted clothes. In the cold climates of Northern Europe, clothes were usually made out of wool. Fleece was spun and woven at home or bought from a weaver in budding market-towns. Many people kept livestock such as sheep and traded their fleeces. White sheep were the most prized as their fleeces could be dyed with natural pigments extracted from plants, herbs and mosses, such as madder, woad and lichen. Some dyes were very expensive but make bright colours. Crushed Kermes insects could produce a deep crimson for example, but access would be restricted to the wealthiest people.
Clothes could also be made from linen grown and then woven from the fibres of flax, and occasionally hemp. Linen is a hard-wearing but quite soft fabric. It’s best used for under-clothes, bedding, or as a lining to a more elaborate garment. Most linens would have been plain and undyed (as it’s much more difficult to get colour fastness with linen than wool), but perhaps bleached with wood ash (lye) and boiling water.
Silk textiles have also been found from the Viking-Age. Silk would have been a precious commodity. It was almost as expensive gram for gram as silver as it was imported from the east, usually via the powerful Byzantine Empire. One of the most common uses of silk was for decoration in braid or trim. Silk garments such as head coverings have been discovered, as well as fragments that possibly belonged to coats. Silks have been discovered woven with intricate patterns, and with brocade textures.
Who made clothes?
The women of a household were responsible for spinning the yarn from fibres, weaving the fabric (perhaps on a ‘warp-weighted loom’) and then sewing the garment. Most families would make their own clothes in this way. Spindle whorls are a common find in archaeological excavations, indicating the importance of spinning yarn from fleece at home. Spindles are made from bone, wood and clay. They’re mounted on a wooden rod and the fleece is drawn into thin strands as it’s spun.
Once the yarn is made, it can be dyed straight away, or woven into fabric on a loom. Yarn is secured in two directions: warp and weft. The weft thread is woven under and over the warp thread with a shuttle, and the yarn is then beaten to keep it straight and neat. For large fabrics like sail-cloth, beaters were sword-sized pieces of iron! Sewing needles look very similar to the kind you can buy today, but they were often much thicker and made of materials such as fish bones, iron or copper.
While home dying may have occurred, the amount of dyestuff required to get a solid colour may have been too costly for most folk to dye a whole garment, but they may have dyed yarns used in decorative braid. Most dyed garments were probably ‘washed out’ with pale earthy shades. In larger urban centres such as Jorvik (modern-day York), dying would have been a professional occupation. Yarns would be dyed with a variety of natural dyes and fixed with expensive mordants. Madder, which produces red and woad which produces blue was reasonably common in Anglo-Scandinavian dye-works.
What were other uses for textiles?
In addition to making decorative braids (with techniques such as tablet weaving), and embroideries, Viking-Age people also made domestic items. Textiles were used for sacking for grain and other commodities, and sails for ships. Linen can been used to transport food, herbs and spices in small bags and pouches. Waxed linen can be used to cover storage jars.
Leather and Skins
Leather was also an important material in the Viking-Age since it was both tough and, if properly treated, fairly waterproof. It was used for all sorts of everyday items such as shoes, belts and pouches, scabbards for swords and knives, and possibly clothing. Leather items, and evidence of leather workshops, have been found in the excavations of a number of Viking-Age towns. Animal skin and fur may have been used to line garments such as hats to provide an extra comfortable layer. Animal-fibre pelts has been found in graves in Cumbria ands associated with clothing.
It may also have been used as a cheaper and lighter alternative to metal armour. Soaking leather in hot melted beeswax and then drying it makes the leather extremely hard, and able to resist glancing blows from weapons. Although there is no firm evidence for the use of this sort of leather armour by the Vikings, the technique was used both before and after this period, and some archaeologists and historians now think it likely that the Vikings used it as well.
Leather items were often plain and functional, but they could also be highly decorated. An attractive raised effect could be obtained by carving a design into wet leather with a sharp knife, then working round the knife marks with punches. Among other uses, animal hides could be used to write on (parchment), or to strengthen shields (rawhide).
Male Viking Clothing
Male clothing consisted of a simple knee-length woollen dress called a kyrtle. This garment would be brought in at the waist with a leather belt. The belt could be used to hang useful items such as a knife or pouch. Men wore a pair of short woollen breeches (shorts) worn with hoses (leggings), or longer trousers that were tightly fitted at the calf and ankle so they could be worn with leg wraps. Leg wraps, or winingas, would protect the bottom of the trousers whilst travelling or working in the fields.
Shoes and ankle boots have also been discovered. They’re often made from one piece of leather with a separate sole stitched on (turnshoes), and fastened with a toggle. In cold weather, a long, thick woollen cloak or mantle would be worn, fastened with a pin or brooch. Unlike today’s clothes, a hood was a separate item – again made in wool. These would be very tight around the head so that they wouldn’t blow down in the wind. In the summer, it is possible people wore smaller hats of wool, or even a wide-brimmed hat made of straw.
Men dressed in simple clothes: kyrtle, trousers, leg wraps and leather shoes. Left wears a simple woollen shoulder-bag while the other carries a knife on his belt.Richer man wearing a brightly coloured kyrtle with elaborate embroidery and tablet weave decoration. He also wears a pouch, knife and belt decorated with copper-alloy fittings, and a silver arm-ring.
Richer people would wear similar clothes, but they may have been dyed a bright colour and made of finer fabrics with complex weaving patterns. Some kyrtles would have panels or gores in the skirt to make it much wider, showing off the extra fabric and colours that they could afford. In art, the king and his advisors are depicted wearing long gowns of bright colours, decorated with braid or embroidery at the sleeves and hems.
Jewellery made from copper-alloy, silver and occasionally gold was also worn. Pendants, elaborate belt fittings, bracelets, twisted-wire arm rings and finger-rings have all been discovered. Poorer people seem to have copied the fashions of the rich using less expensive materials. Clay, wood and bone rather than precious metals and stones.
Female Viking Clothing
Female clothing included a close-fitting, long woollen gown that would hang to the ankles. Unlike male clothing, it is rare to find evidence of a belt, so it is suggested that either women simply didn’t wear one, that it may have been a simple woven band, or that they wore a shoulder bag. Just like their male contemporaries, leather shoes were worn, as was head gear.
A simple head scarf, hood or wimple made of linen seemed to be common, especially amongst Christian women. Occasionally, the wimple would be fastened with a fillet – a woven band – or with pins. There are several finds of silk hoods, especially in Dublin, which alludes to the importance of this item of clothing. It’s quite likely that women wore their hair long, or in braids. There’s also some evidence of married women tying their hair into a knot, anchored with a pin.
Apron Dress, Hangerok, Smokkr
Some Scandinavian women wore a unique dress called a ‘smokkr’, ‘hangerok’ or apron dress. There is much discussion between academics about what this garment looked like. Was it a decorative overdress? Or was it an important accessory like an apron? What is clear is that two oval brooches were fixed at the shoulders, where hung a string which could hang useful items such as a chatelaine set (often with a tooth pick, tweezers and ear spoon), knife or shears. Richer finds see glass beads and silver pendants.
Christian women were often depicted in art wearing simple, long kyrtles. It was usually made of wool. There is evidence of a number of caps and scarves used as head wear, and depictions of veils and wimples.Scandinavian women who were pagan were buried wearing a pair of oval brooches – sometimes referred to as tortoise brooches. Beads that may have been worn on a necklace, or suspended from brooches are common in female burials.
Pagan grave finds in Scandinavia see a plethora of jewellery and accessories, far more so than in male graves. Glass beads, amber and other precious stones and silver all appear in one form or another. In one grave in Birka (Sweden) there was 136 beads, mostly on one necklace!
It is likely that women wore similar travel cloaks as men. But, there are depictions in art of large cowls which may have been worn as an alternative. Like male clothing, wool was the predominate fabric, but richer people would show off their wealth with silks and colours made from expensive dyestuffs.
Tablet Weaving: one way of decorating Viking Clothing
Tablet weaving is one of the oldest known weaving techniques, traceable back to at least the early Iron Age. The woven braid produced was used to decorate clothing as a trim, or to cover seams. It’s also possible that braid was used as belts or girdles for women.
The tablets are small flat squares, usually made of wood but bone and metal tablets have also been found. They have a hole in each corner through which yarn – wool, linen or silk – known as the warp is threaded.
The tablets are held in the hand similar to a pack of cards, laying parallel to the warp threads, and are then turned backward or forward by half or quarter turns. This action twists the four threads on each ‘tablet’ into a single strand, which is then held in place by the weft thread. The weft thread is then passed between the warp as it turns. By varying what colour the warp yarn is and the directions in which the tablets are turned, intricate warp patterns can be created. These patterns are called ‘threaded in’ patterns.
We don’t know exactly how the Vikings kept the warp threads under tension, but they may have fastened them to a frame. One such frame was found in the Oseburg ship burial.
The warp threads are threaded through tablets or cards and the weft is passed through them.Tablets or cards used in weaving can be made of wood, bone/antler or leather. The beater is used to press the weft thread as tight as possible into the weave.
Brocade
A technique called ‘brocading’ could further be used to enhance tablet weaving. This was achieved by using a second weft thread, which runs over some or all of the warp threads, creating a pattern on the surface of the braid. Brocaded tablet-weaves were usually of silk, using gold or silver foil for the brocaded pattern. This type of tablet-weave was very expensive. It was used to decorate expensive garments worn by the rich.
A further method of tablet weaving that could be used was the double face technique. With this method the cards are threaded with only two colours. This method is used to produce lettering and patterns which are the same on each side, but with the colours reversed.
Further Reading about Viking Clothing and Jewellery
Articles on this site are predominately aimed at children and teachers reading for their Key Stage 2 ‘the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor’ syllabus. However, we aim to make sure our articles are accurate and up to date. Below is a list of reading for any budding expert on the subject. If there are any queries about, or possible corrections, for any of our articles please contact editors@vikingsof.me.
Books
Bender Jorgensen, L (1993). North European Textiles until AD 1000 Cameron, E. Carlisle, I. Mould Q (1997). Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York Ewing, T (2006). Viking Clothing Heckett, E (2003). Viking Age Head-Coverings From Dublin Larsson, A (2008) Viking Age Textiles in Brink, S eds (2008) The Viking World Ostergaard, E (2004). Woven into the Earth: Textile Finds in Norse Greenland Owen-Crocker, G (2010). Dress in Anglo Saxon England Oye, I (2009). Textile-production Equipment in Skre, D eds (2009) Things from the Town: Artefacts and Inhabitants in Viking-Age Kaupang Rabiega, K (2019). Viking Dress Code: Textile and leather clothing in Scandinavia Walton-Rogers, P (1997). Textiles, Cordage and Raw Fibre from 16-22 Coppergate Walton-Rogers, P (1997). Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate
The ‘boat shape’ is common in art work, where the neckline is cut along the fold of the material and rounded off on the front and back to make it comfortable. The Kragelund tunic (left) has the boat shape over the front and back instead, giving it a distinct look. 
