We go strict
Forward in formation
Without chain mail, With a blue sword.
Helmets shine
And I am without a helmet.
Lies in the rooks
Armament.
We boldly climb into the clang
Bloody crush ice floe
Under the shields.
So after all, Trud ordered the ribbons.
(Harald the Harsh. Hangs of joy. Poetry of the Skalds. Translation by S. Petrov)
An interesting epigraph, isn't it? The Vikings are going somewhere and obviously not for a walk, because they are walking in helmets and with swords. But without chain mail, which is, but … lie in the boats. And one, the author of the visy, goes even without a helmet. Moreover, she does not just walk, but remembers something important - a certain Labor, it is not known who she is - a wife, a bride or a heartfelt sweetheart, ordered to bring the ribbons. And they can, firstly, be obtained, but there is always little hope for this, because haberdashery shops at that time the Vikings rarely came across. And secondly - to buy. But only for this it was necessary to seize the loot in order to exchange it for silver, say - the same Arab dirhams. And the author of the visy boldly climbs into battle, brandishing his sword and hiding behind a shield, like everyone else. That is, apparently, it happened in the summer, in the heat, and the enemy was not perceived as serious. The helmet and shield were enough to "go boldly into battle."
Viking Age clothing and jewelry, including the “Jarl of Mammen” clothing and a silver treasure from Terslev. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
Clothes of the "Jarl from Mammen" recreated from the finds. The deceased wore long pants, a tunic and a cloak. The material is wool, with silk details stitched with gold and silver thread. The cloak was also embroidered and lined with marmot fur. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
Ordinary Vikings dressed in much the same way as their leaders. But it is clear that their clothes were poorer. The Vikings were also familiar with waterproof clothing. It was made from leather treated with beeswax to make it soft and impregnated with fish oil to make it waterproof. But it was, of course, a kind of work clothes. It is unlikely that it was customary for the Vikings to go to war dressed in their best clothes. Sea voyages involve a rational approach to the choice of a military suit. But it can be considered undoubted that for the holidays the nobility had clothes made of expensive fabrics stored in chests and richly embroidered with gold and silver.
The Vikings combed their hair constantly, and then carried combs with them. But often they were courted in this way by their wives, sisters … beloved. (Shot from the movie "And trees grow on the stones")
This can be judged by finds in Danish burials dated to the year 900. After studying them, it becomes clear that the upper class of the Vikings had close contacts with Byzantium, and was guided by its cultural traditions and fashion, as a result of which silk was very popular among the Scandinavians. Silk was inextricably linked with prestige. The fact is that Byzantium maintained a monopoly on silk production in Europe. Therefore, people dressed in silk were perceived among the Vikings as the obvious elite. Well, of course, men and women of all walks of life wore jewelry in the form of rings, necklaces and brooches. Some of the decorations were purely decorative, and this could also indicate the wealth of the owner. Others, such as brooches, had the practical function of securing clothing. In addition, jewelry with symbolic value, such as Thor's hammers, was very popular among the Vikings. Glass, amber, bronze and gold were used to make jewelry.
Gold collar, V century Found in Wastergotland. Although he does not belong to the Viking era, it is significant that the people who lived in Denmark have long mastered the skill of processing precious metals. That is, the entire metalworking technology was well known here. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
Artistic and applied metal products that used to be among the Vikings (Historical Museum, Oslo)
As for the daily clothes of a Viking man, it consisted of a woolen or linen tunic, above or below the knees, with long sleeves and trousers of various styles: tight, like modern leggings, straight unskinned, baggy at the top, pulled at the knees and narrowed at the bottom and a kind of breeches. Some of the pants were knee length; and below, to the ankles, they wore windings similar to the soldier's used in the last century, and fastened with straps crosswise. Shoes were made of soft leather, but sometimes they were made with wooden soles, and in winter they were also lined with fur. They also wore similar boots made of rough bovine or sealskin, with the fur on the outside. A short cloak or a long cloak pinned on the right shoulder usually completed the Viking outfit. It was customary to sew cloaks from expensive fabrics and trim them with fur. One of the varieties of such a cloak with the unpronounceable name roggvarfeldr was worn in Iceland, and then thanks to the king with the speaking name Gray Cloak, it became fashionable in Norway.
Many types of clothing and hats were truly international in nature. For example, here are such conical hats that we see on the head of the carver, in Europe who just did not wear, and for centuries! Rice. Angus McBride.
The Vikings loved bright colors - red, scarlet, red-brown, brown, blue and green. Colors such as white, black and gray were also used, but the most expensive were fabrics dyed in red, green and blue. The color of the pants could be any, except perhaps scarlet, usually with vertical stripes. For example, in The Nyala Saga, one of the warriors had blue stripes on his pants. It was customary to sew on tunics patches made of small pieces of enchanted fabric, on which a pattern of colored silk and metal threads was embroidered. Enchanted embroidered headbands could also be tied on the head.
In this drawing by Angus McBride, we see three types of pants at once worn by the Vikings. The figure on the left is typical trousers, behind him are breeches with windings, and the two subjects on the far right are wearing tight-fitting leggings. Also, the warrior on the far right is dressed in a quilted leather jacket.
The Vikings were very attentive people in relation to their appearance and changed their clothes regularly. Men almost always wore a beard as a sign of their masculinity, with some even braiding it in a braid or walking with a forked beard. The hair was usually also long, up to the neck or even longer (very long hair was tucked into the belt in battle), but in this case they were also braided in braids. But their hair color could be very different: from light and red to black (moreover, Danes were usually always distinguished by black hair).
"Eastern Vikings X-XI centuries." Drawing by Angus McBride. Unfortunately, even very good artists tend to make mistakes. It is unclear, for example, from what sources this shield of such a strange shape was taken. The most interesting thing is that next to this image, both in the English version and in the Russian translation of Ian Heath's book "Vikings", there is a description of Prince Svyatoslav, so one might in principle think that this is what he is. But … only here Prince Svyatoslav could not wear chain mail. It is known that in the battle of Dorostol, he was thrown to the ground by a blow of the spear of a Byzantine horseman "in the very humerus." In principle, no chain mail will protect against such a blow. However, the very next day Svyatoslav rowed in a boat along with others. Obviously, the armor on him was plate, since only they in this case could save his life.
As for the military equipment of the Viking Age Scandinavians, it was perhaps the most rational among all other peoples. Most of the Viking helmets were of the simplest conical shape, and only a few were hemispherical with decorated eyebrow arches and a nosepiece. Before the battle, they were often painted, and a kind of identification mark was applied to the front. The Vikings called chain mail armor or "a shirt of rings". Although there were many purely poetic names used by the Skalds. At first, only representatives of the nobility could afford chain mail. But then ordinary soldiers began to wear them. Quite a lot of chain mail fragments have survived to this day, and this is what is interesting: the rings on them are closed, and although their ends overlap each other, their edges are not fastened to each other in any way. Earlier chain mail also had shorter sleeves, and only reached the hips or knees, which was due to the fact that they were worn by rowers. But in the XI century. chain mail lengthened. For example, Harald Hardrad's chain mail was mid-calf length and had such a high strength that no weapon could damage it (by the way, for some reason she bore the female name Emma).
Illustration by Angus McBride depicting the battle of King Olaf in the Long Serpent with Eric Hakosson from The Saga of King Olaf. King Olaf is depicted wearing a long-length chain mail and a "Wendel helmet", which he apparently inherited.
Therefore, we can even assume that the Viking of the XI century. its weapons differed from those Anglo-Danish housecarls, which are depicted on the tapestry from Bayeux. Moreover, the heavy protective equipment of the Vikings was called "annoying and hot for battle." That this was indeed the case is confirmed by the fact that the Norwegians took off their chain mail during the battle at Stamford Bridge in 1066. Prior to this, King Magnus the Good "threw off his chain mail" before the battle in 1043. The least wealthy replaced chain mail with leather quilts. It is also known that when 12 quilts made of reindeer skins were brought from Lapland in 1029, "no weapon could break them like chain mail."
