Viking Age Cloth Fragments Decorated with Bronze Rings

The Viking Age, c. 793-1066AD, Scandinavia.

Magnificent and extremely rare set of Viking Age cloth fragments decorated with bronze rings. The Viking Age was the period during the Middle Ages when Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. Just like men and women today, the Vikings dressed according to sex, age and economic status. While variations did exist, throughout the Viking era and across the Viking lands, clothing styles were remarkably consistent. The men wore a trousers and tunic that was tight fitting across the chest with a broad skirt, whilst the women wore a long shift with a suspended overdress. Both men and women wore a long cloak or a jacket to provide warmth and protection in harsh weather. Ordinary Viking textiles were mainly made from locally available raw materials, in Scandinavia these were: wool, nettle, hemp and flax, woven by the women. The Vikings supplemented their attire with jewellery and furs from different animals. Men and women from all layers of society wore jewellery, in the form of necklaces, bracelets, finger and toe rings, armrings, amulets and pendants, armbands, beads, and brooches. Some of the jewellery was ornamental and it could also indicate wealth. Other items, such as brooches, often had a practical function as well, to fasten clothes. 

Small-sized, coarse tabby woven hemp and flax textile fragments are in moderate condition. Fragile. Age-related heavy wear. Corrosion, dirt and soil. Encrusted green patina. Size approx. 21,5cm x 7,0cm x 0,3cm. Sell as a set.

Provenance: Danish private collection.

References and further reading:

Clothing in the Viking Age, Hurstwic, William R. Shor, 1999-2023 (https://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/clothing.htm)

Tracing Textile Production from the Viking Age to the Middle Ages: Tools, Textiles, Texts and Contexts, Ingvild Øye, Oxbow Books, 2022. (https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2mm1xqj.)

Textiles in a Viking Age hoard: Identifying ephemeral traces of textiles in metal corrosion products, Mary Davis & Susanna Harris, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 48, 2023. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103796.)

Viking and Early Middle Ages Northern Scandinavian Textiles Proven to be made with Hemp, G. Skoglund, M. Nockert & B. Holst, Sci Rep 3, 2686 (2013). (https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02686)