So, we know that the "Wendel period" in the history of Sweden (550-793) was the era of the end of the German Iron Age in Scandinavia, or, one might say, the era of the great migration of peoples. The center of all religious and political life was the Old Uppsala area in Uppland, central-eastern Sweden, where the sacred groves grew and the Royal Mounds were located. And this was a period of rather peaceful development, when the "people of the North" preferred to trade with Central Europe, rather than fight with it. What did they export there? Fur, slaves and amber. In return, they received art objects and learned new technologies. In particular, it was from Europe that stirrups came to Scandinavia.
Wendel helmets. Medium - "Wendel-14".
Archaeological excavations in Wendel and Valsgerd suggest that Uppland may well be identified with the kingdom of the Svei, repeatedly described in the sagas. The finds indicate that the Svei kings had at their disposal well-armed squads, including cavalry, as evidenced by stirrups found in burials, and ornaments for saddles made of gilded bronze with inlays.
The "Valsgard-8" helmet had a chain mail aventail along the entire perimeter, so it can be argued that chain mail in Scandinavia in the Wendel era was known and even very well. (State Historical Museum, Stockholm)
The 6th century Gothic historian Jordan also wrote that the Svei had very good horses, apart from the Thuringians. Yes, and in the sagas, though of a later time, local kings fight on horseback and have beautiful horses at their disposal. By the way, Odin, the supreme god of the Scandinavians, also rides Sleipnir (translated as "sliding" or "lively, agile, nimble") with an eight-legged horse, which emphasizes his swift-footedness.
Well, and any rider of that time, if he only had enough wealth for a horse, usually enough for everything else. That is, the warrior-horsemen of the Wendel time had helmets, chain mail, round shields with an umbon, swords, typical for the era of migration of peoples, and spears. And all this is found in ship burials, so here archaeologists, one might say, were lucky. Moreover, I was especially lucky with helmets, because, unlike the Viking Age, so many were found that they were assigned serial numbers - Wendel 1, 2, 3 … 14 - that is, the generally accepted names of these helmets correspond to the numbers of those burials in which they have been found.
Burial of a Noble Rus. Most likely, this is how the leaders were buried in the Wendel era. The era. Painting by G. I. Semiradsky
Most likely, Wendel-style helmets were used throughout the Scandinavian region, but most of them are found in the Uppland region and on the islands of Gotland. At least 12 helmets were found in Uppland, of which 8 were subsequently reconstructed and published. These are finds from the graves of Wendel and Valsgård, also found in other places. Let's consider them in more detail.
The earliest among all those found is the "helmet from Torsbjørg", which dates back to the 3rd century. AD Only it was found not in the Uppland region, but in the Torsbjørg swamp on the border between modern Denmark and Germany. This frame-type helmet does not have cutouts for the eyes, nor does it have a longitudinal ridge. The frame itself consists of a rather wide longitudinal strip connected to the crown of the helmet in front and behind, and a lattice of thin iron strips between them, fastened with rivets. All parts of this openwork construction are decorated with ornaments and silver plated.
It is interesting that with him was also a typically Roman silver mask with traces of gilding from a "sports" helmet of the 2nd - early 3rd century. But it was impossible to put on this helmet with this mask, she did not fit him, so one can assume that she was either worn separately or worn with another helmet, and she got into the swamp as a gift to the gods according to the principle “God take what it is useless for us."
Mask from the swamp in Torsbjørg. (Museum of the Gottorp Castle Palace, Schleswig, Germany)
Side view. And … it is understandable why it is impossible to wear it with a regular helmet.
Since there are many helmets found, the Swedish scientist G. Arvidsson managed to develop their classification, which is now used by everyone: in it, the first letter A denotes helmets without a crest, the letter - helmets with a crest, the second number 1 denotes plates that serve for additional protection - cheeks and back, and the number 2 - the presence of a chain mail aventail in the helmet. But the "Thorsbjörg helmet" completely falls out of this classification. However, it is not surprising. After all, he is the earliest of all.
Helmet "Wendel-14". (State Historical Museum, Stockholm)
Well, now let's look at the surviving examples of Wendel helmets from burials in Wendel, Valsgard and in some other places. For example, here is a helmet from the Wendel-14 burial. according to G. Arvidsson's classification, it clearly belongs to the A1 group, that is, it is a helmet without a comb, but with cheek pads and a back piece. Moreover, this is the earliest find among all the burials with helmets. It dates from the time from 520 to the beginning of the 7th century, that is, the catastrophe of 536 could have happened after this helmet was in the ground. It is made of iron, dome-shaped with shallow cutouts for the eyes. It is very corroded, but it can be seen that its frame consists of a crown, longitudinal and transverse stripes, and the space between them is filled with plates descending from the longitudinal strip to the crown.
"Wendel-14" is the only Swedish helmet that still has cheek pads with two cutouts: the upper one for the eyes and the lower one for the mouth. This shape is unusual and not typical for Wendel and Anglo-Saxon helmets. In combination with a large nose pad, such cheek pads form a very effective face protection and at the same time, all this does not hinder breathing. Somehow they resemble Roman imperial helmets, but only remind, nothing more.
The helmet is decorated with characteristic bronze gilded eyebrows with a pattern of dots and a stylized animal head, represented by its top view, that is, it is not voluminous. Similar heads, but smaller in size, adorn the ends of the brows. The surface of the helmet is covered with bronze decorative plates. But there is no convex ridge on it.
Helmet "Valsgard-5". (State Historical Museum, Stockholm)
This helmet, according to the classification of G. Arvidsson, belongs to the B1 group. It is also a frame, while its frame consists of a crown, a wide longitudinal strip and side stripes. But the space between them is filled very ingeniously: in front with two sub-triangular plates and a straight plate curved in the shape of the head in the middle part, and a "braid" of iron strips between them. That is, this helmet was "ventilated", although, most likely, it was worn with a comforter made of leather or fabric, the color of which was visible in the slots of the braid.
But this is its modern reconstruction. The "braid" with holes is clearly visible. Impressive, isn't it?
The back of this helmet is unusual, but characteristic of many Wendel helmets - made of metal strips suspended on hinges to the lower edge of the helmet. The face is protected by a simple half mask, and there are no cutouts for the eyes. The brows have no hatching, but end with the heads of animals, curved so that their long jaws touch the upper edge of the brows.
The crest of the helmet is high with a longitudinal ridge, decorated with animal heads on both sides. The body of the helmet, except for the openwork areas, is covered with bronze plates. The helmet dates back to the beginning of the 7th century.
The Valsgard 6 helmet belongs to the B2 group, and it is even more unusual in design than all the others. That is, it has both a half mask and a frame made of a standard crown, a longitudinal strip with a ridge and transverse stripes, but the way of filling the empty space between them is strikingly different from other helmets. Apparently, it was made by a master with a rich imagination, since he filled this space with an openwork structure of three rather narrow Y-shaped strips connected to each other (two large and four small and four openwork cruciform plates with a hole in the middle in pairs)!
A chainmail aventail, attached to the edge of the helmet and to the bottom of the half mask, was supposed to protect the neck and lower face. The ridge has a longitudinal ridge, which, like other helmets, is decorated at the ends with the heads of fantastic animals. The eyebrows are connected to it, the heads of the animals on which are located opposite each other and turned in profile. The frame of this helmet is covered with chased bronze plates.
Helmet of Ultuna. The crown is clearly visible from the basket-like intertwined metal strips. (State Historical Museum, Stockholm)
The Ultuna Helmet is so named because it was found in Ultuna near Uppsala. This is a B1 group helmet. Weight - 1, 8 kg, of which 452 g falls on the comb. The dome of the helmet is the same as that of many other helmets, in particular the Valsgard-5 without cutouts for the eyes and brows. It is unusual that both halves on both sides of the ridge are made in the form of a lattice of iron strips located diagonally. The neck and cheeks were to be covered by five iron strips suspended on hinges, of which only one has survived. The crest of a bronze tube with a D-shaped cross-section with a longitudinal ridge is traditionally decorated with animal heads at both ends. It has been noticed that similar crests were characteristic of Wendel helmets of the late 7th - first half of the 8th centuries.
Modern reconstruction of the Valsgard-7 helmet.
Many helmets were found on the island of Gotland, and not only the helmets themselves, but also parts from them. For example, these are iron eyebrows from helmets, inlaid with silver with animal heads; bronze brows inlaid with garnets and zoomorphic ornaments; as well as decorative bronze plates for helmets with embossed wicker ornaments. Moreover, it is interesting that the "helmet from Sutton Hoo", although it has a different design, is decorated in exactly the same way as the Vendl ones. All this suggests that the traditions of making helmets in England and Scandinavia were very similar, although not identical. That is, quite close trade and cultural contacts between Scandinavia and Britain already existed at that time, but there were no military until the end of the 8th century, since they are not reflected in any evidence. Most helmets are longer than wide, that is, they were made for dolichocephalic and it was they, therefore, who lived in Scandinavia during this era. As a result, it should also be noted that such helmets could serve as good protection against a chopping blow with a sword. The presence of lattice holes in this case hardly weakened their protective functions, but the owners of such helmets, most likely, should have been clearly afraid of spear strikes!
P. S. But this is a Wendel-type helmet, modeled after the "helmet from Ultuna", and of others similar to it, since there were no two identical ones in the burials. The material is cardboard and paper, and it was made for classes with children as part of a "knight shift" in one of the summer camps in our Penza. Such thematic sessions are organized by the Penza construction company "Rostum", which not only builds houses, but also has its own Academy, where they train children from one year to 17 years old. And just now she is conducting a historical and literary camp session "KNIGHTS OF THE MEDIEVAL" in a picturesque forest near Penza, where I will conduct both theoretical and practical classes. Full immersion in the role-playing game "Knights of the Middle Ages" through various activities: creative workshops, sports, musical hours, watching movies, quests, contests. The program includes the history of medieval chivalry, everyday life, costumes, customs, traditions, heraldry, weapons of knights. Living conditions are the most comfortable. Swimming pool every day.
At one of the next lessons we will make knight's helmets and this is a sample of one of them. I always believed that if you know something and know how, then you need to share it, and share the first thing with children. So I'm sharing!
