Viking Clothing
Skins and furs did much service, as well as textiles; undressed sheep-skins, in particular, were often used, especially among the humble. But the material most generally worn by the population…
From Social Scandinavia in the Viking Age by Mary Wilhelmine Williams, 1920.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
The materials used for clothing varied according to whether they were intended for the use of the rich or the poor; for every-day wear, or for special social gatherings.
Skins and furs did much service, as well as textiles; undressed sheep-skins, in particular, were often used, especially among the humble. But the material most generally worn by the population as a whole was wadmal (vaᵭmál), a coarse, home-woven woolen cloth. This was comparatively cheap, and easily obtained, for most families owned a sheep or two. As the spinning-wheel was not yet known, all thread was made by hand by means of the distaff and the spinning whorl of bone or pottery; and from the thread thus produced the Scandinavian housewife and her servants made the cloth upon simple looms closely resembling those employed in recent times by the population of the Faroes.
Most of the wadmal seems to have been worn in the natural colors of the original wool, plain white or brown, or the two colors combined in stripes. The plainer and cheaper the cloth, the plainer the color, seems to have been the rule; but the coarsest of wadmal was also dyed, sometimes in bright shades. For the most part, vegetable coloring was used; blue, yellow, black, brown, and green, especially, were easily obtained from certain weeds and flowers and from the barks of trees. The heavy threads from which the woolen goods were fashioned were also sometimes dyed before being worked up, after which they were wrought into brightly striped or checked material, or into more elaborate patterns composed of raised figures in different colors.
The native weavers also made distinctly finer qualities of cloth from the best of the native wool; and in this brighter colors were displayed, and more attention given to fancy designs and patterns. Still another home-woven fabric was produced by simple under-and-over weaving, between the threads of which hair was worked, thus producing a kind of plush.
Cotton was not yet grown in Southern Europe to any appreciable degree, but the Scandinavians imported a little of it into their homeland from the Orient. It was so expensive, however, that it could be worn only by the rich. The same was true of linen, which was spun and woven from domestic flax, as well as purchased from abroad; but the price was three or four times as great as that of wool, which, in the form of cloth of a finer and thinner quality than the native product, was imported for the use of the wealthy, as were also ready-made woolen garments.
The foreign fabrics were usually of gayer color than the Northern weaves, bright reds, blues, and purples being favorite shades; for the colors worn by the men were as gay as those of the women. These imported stuffs sometimes displayed patterns woven of silk, and designs worked into the wool in gold and silver thread.
Native merchants also brought home some silk from the Orient, secured in trade; but this fabric in the form of hangings and clerical robes, stolen by the vikings from the Christian monasteries and churches to the south, also found its way into Scandinavia, to be used by the pagan natives for their adornment. Silk was, however, to a greater degree than the best imported woolen goods, inaccessible to all except those having plenty of money; for it sold for about twice the price of the latter, which, in turn, was much more expensive than the domestic wool product.
Garment-making, as well as the ornamentation of the garments by means of embroidery and other decorative means, was entirely the work of the women.
All women doubtless could sew to some extent, and it is likely that every large household included at least one woman who was well skilled in the art of garment-making and could direct the work of the rest in providing clothing for all. The garment-maker employed a pair of primitive shears of bronze or iron, and probably cut free hand, without a pattern, after being sure of measurements, for garments were less complex then than in modern times, and fitted less snugly; but it is quite possible that for the more difficult garments she used old worn articles of the same style for patterns, or made special ones of cheap or old cloth; for, obviously, no paper was to be had in Europe at the time.
As steel needles did not come into use until many centuries after the period in question, the seamstresses were dependent upon ones made from bone, bronze, iron or silver. Though used to some extent for fastening garments, as well as for ornamentation, buttons were not at the time so indispensable as later, for their place was supplied by strings, belts, brooches, and buckles.
Naturally, the garments of the poor were simpler in style than those worn by the rich or the better-to-do; and they were also more conservative, showing less the influence of foreign fashions.
The slave—his face shaven and his hair close cropped, as a badge of servitude—was clad in plain garments of coarse white wadmal, with perhaps a cap and coat of undressed sheep-skin. And the clothing of the humble cottier was almost as poor and simple—homespun, in white or sober colors.
The undergarments of the common people, were, like the outer ones, of woolen homespun; but the rich of both sexes wore linen next to the person, though at times cotton, or even silk, took its place.
In this period, there were no special night clothes; hence, upon retiring, only the outer garments were removed, the under ones being retained and worn in bed.
The outer dress of the women showed various styles, but perhaps the tunic or kirtle was the most usual garment, and was worn by rich and poor alike. It was made in one piece, and cut narrow or wide, with high or low neck and long or short sleeves. If the garment was loose at the waist, because of its fullness, it was held in place by a belt or girdle, sometimes of the same material as the gown, often hand-embroidered, but occasionally wrought from links of silver or gold.
From the belt the housewife suspended a bag for trinkets and her bunch of keys. Sometimes a separate bodice and somewhat full skirt took the place of the kirtle. If the dress was cut low at the neck, the women often wore a kerchief of fine wool, linen, or silk around their shoulders.
While at work about the house, their heads were generally covered with woolen or linen caps or kerchiefs, of which there were various styles, plain or embroidered; and when traveling the headgear was practically the same, except during cold weather, when the women substituted caps or hoods of fur or wool.
Knit woolen stockings were the rule. The shoes worn by both men and women resembled moccasins, in that they were generally made from one piece of leather; but they were of higher cut, and came well above the ankle. Undressed sheep- or calf -skin or cow's hide were used for the more common footwear, but tanned and finely dressed skins were worked up into a more elegant variety. Such dress shoes were decorated in various ways, sometimes with embroidery, and the strings fastening them to the feet ended in tassels or metal ornaments.
Gloves or mittens of wool or skin, often lined with fur for winter wear, protected the hands. The usual wrap for women was a cape or sleeveless coat, held in place upon the breast by a large brooch or buckle.
The favorite colors for this garment were red or blue, and woolen cloth was the most common material employed in its making; but lamb and sheep pelts served the poor for heavy winter wraps, and costly and beautiful furs were displayed by the rich. If the cape was of cloth, it was often richly ornamented. In fact, it seems to have been a show garment, and was most elaborately decorated of all.
The most usual form of ornamentation was embroidery in gay colors, sometimes stitched with gold and silver thread (Fig. 1), and studded with jewels. Fancy woven bands, edgings of fur, or fringes of wool or metal were also employed to embellish this wrap.
Massiveness characterized the jewelry, some of which was imported, but many of the finest examples were of native manufacture, though showing foreign influence. Bronze, gilded or plain, gold, and silver, were the usual metals; and silver was, during the viking period, much more general than gold, though in earlier centuries the latter appears to have been more commonly seen in jewelry. The ornaments included almost every known sort: earrings, arm-rings, ankle-rings, bracelets, stick pins, ornamental brooches and buckles, necklaces, finger rings, and diadems, or other hair ornaments, receive frequent mention in the contemporary literature, or have been found in the tombs.
Earrings, however, do not seem to have been common, and were perhaps largely limited to Swedish Scandinavia. Such samples of this jewel as have been found are, for the most part, large and in the form of pendants. Judging from the unusual size of the ear-loop, these ornaments were worn by being hung over the ear, rather than suspended by means of a perforation in the ear lobe. Ankle rings were found only in Swedish Russia, where Oriental influence was strong, and here perhaps only in the southern part, along the Volga.
The brooch was the most common ornament, and was worn by both rich and poor. Two general styles prevailed, though many other patterns appeared; the one was round and cup-shaped, the other, oval, and deep like the shell of a tortoise. Both were ornamented very richly with interesting and often grotesque designs, frequently inlaid with enamel, and occasionally set with semi-precious or precious stones.
Finger rings, bracelets, and arm rings, often showed spiral patterns, and were fashioned from plaited or twisted wires as well as from flat bands, wrought ornamentally.
The greatest variety was found in the neck ornaments. Some of these were in the shape of chains bearing pendants of Thor's hammers (Fig. 3), foreign coins, or bracteates modeled after these coins, combining on the same surface the faces of Roman emperors, original Northern designs, and runic inscriptions. Other decorations for the neck were in the form of broad collars of one piece of metal, or of gold or silver links. Sometimes they were of heavy wire twisted into rope-like bands. But the most common neck jewelry was a string of beads of colored glass, amber, stones—such as agate or carnelian—mosaic work, bronze, silver, or gold.
For a time, strings of green beads were very much the fad among women in Swedish Russia, where unusual fondness for neck ornamentation prevailed, presumably in imitation of Oriental styles; and here also in the ninth century there was a fashion of indicating a man's wealth—and, hence to some extent his social standing—by the number of neck chains displayed by his wife. When he acquired a certain minimum amount of money, he bought her one chain; when this sum was doubled, she was given another; and so on. The wife of the successful merchant was often quite loaded down by these tokens of her husband's prosperity...
Among the wealthier classes, the clothes of the men seem to have been more varied in style than those of the women; and it is probable that the former were also dressier than the latter. On the upper part of the body, over the ''sark," or undershirt, the men wore either a shirt of wooI, linen, or silk, tucked into the trousers, or a tunic or kirtle—generally of heavier material than the shirt—which was worn outside the trousers and reached about to the knees.
The lower limbs were, for more common occasions, clad in ordinary trousers of knee length, and long stockings, but for dressy wear there were close-fitting garments of wool or soft leather, resembling very long stockings, which reached as far as the loins. The dandies of the time had these cut quite tight, in order better to display their figures.
To hold the tunic and trousers in position belts of leather or wool were used, and if these were on the outside so that they could be seen, they were generally ornamented by embroidery or cut work. In some cases, the men, like the women, wore costly belts made from links of gold or silver. From the belt hung the sword, carried by every Northman of any standing, and a purse or pouch. Frequently the short knife, which was carried by chieftain and slave alike, and corresponded to the clasp- or pocket-knife of the present, was also suspended from the belt; but sometimes it was hung from the neck by a chain.
The men's shoes were generally of stronger and tougher leather than those of the women, and for walking on slippery ground the soles were reinforced and spiked.
The men had a great variety of jackets, coats, and wraps of many kinds from which to choose. If a shirt was worn instead of a kirtle, a short jacket drawn over it supplied the necessary warmth, particularly in Denmark. Another style of wrap, common especially among the highest classes, was a long ornamental tunic, much decorated, which extended to the feet. This was occasionally trimmed with gold, or jeweled, buttons from top to hem.
The kápa was an ordinary sort of great coat,—made quite long, with sleeves, and belted at the waist,—which was worn especially on journeys. The materials were heavy wool, leather, or fur—or combinations of these. There were other wraps of the nature of capes, and some like shawls. The feldr appears to have been of this latter type, and was used by travelers as a gar- ment in the daytime and as a blanket at night. These wraps were at times lined with fur and made from fine wool, colored with costly dyes; but Iceland exported a gray feldr, evidently of coarse wool. The size of this determined the price, which was fixed by law, the standard dimensions being about three feet by six.
Upon their heads the men wore hoods and caps, and also a variety of hats. These different types of head-gear were of wool, felt, sheep-skin, leather, or fur; sometimes, though rarely, of silk. It is very much to be doubted whether even the felt hats possessed brims, and hence it is a question whether they were hats in the present sense of the term. Perhaps the article of commerce from Denmark, called höttr, was merely a cowl or cap, resembling the hood attached to the kápa, or common overcoat; and it seems likely that the so-called Russian or Gerzkr hat imported into Norway was rather a gorgeous Oriental turban, probably of silk. The separate cap of wool, leather, sheep-skin, or fur, was the usual head covering; but in winter travelers often substituted the cowl already referred to, as it provided better protection from the weather.
Williams, Mary Wilhelmine. Social Scandinavia in the Viking Age, The Macmillan Company, 1920.
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