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Dark Age Re-enactment
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"Ic bicge hyda ond fell, ond gearkie hig mid cræfte minon,
ond wyrce of him gescy mistlices cynnes, swyftleras ond sceos, leþerhosa ond butericas,
bridelþwancgas ond geræda, flaxan, pinnan ond higdifatu, spurleþera ond hælftra, pusan
ond fætelsas; ond nan eower nele oferwintran buton minon cræfte."
"I buy hides and skins and I prepare them by my craft, and I make
of them boots of various kinds, ankle-leathers, shoes, leather breeches,
bottles, bridle-thongs, flasks and budgets, leather neck-pieces,
spur-leathers, halters, bags and pouches, and nobody would wish
to go through the winter without my craft."
— Colloquy of Ælfric, Abbot of
Eynsham (10th century) |
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| Paul became interested in leatherwork after joining
The Vikings society about five years ago. It all started when a friend
helped him to make a pair of boots, and progressed from there. |
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Modern chemical tanning processes were unknown in the
first millenium, and leather was tanned by a number of methods, most
of which were extremely unpleasant! The leather we use today is vegetable-tanned;
it is fairly pale but takes tooling impressions well, and is the closest
to what our forebears would have used. |
Most of the leatherwork shown on this site was made
with modern tools, though the design of some of these hasn't changed
much down the years. All the leather is saddle-stitched using either
sinew, textured nylon (Nyltex) or linen thread. There's some debate
as to whether the Vikings had dyed leather or not - finds seem to
suggest that leather was embossed or painted. Where a design was embossed,
the leather was simply pressed, not cut first.
The following are various props and wearables we've made for use in
camp.
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Water Carriers
Water bottles are something of a speciality - both of us are involved
in this, though Sarah tends to do any embossing of patterns. We make
these in a range of sizes; from the little ones (measured at 16 fl.oz.)
up to the group-sized bottle which holds around 2 litres (nearly half
a gallon in old money!). The following are waterproofed by immersion
in hot beeswax, which also hardens them and gives them the distinctive
colour.
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These are all period up to about the 16th century,
when bottles started to be double-stitched and lined with pitch or
bitumen rather than wax. (It was also around that time that the barrel-shaped
costrel started to appear - see the example on the Current
Projects page.)
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It's a fairly simple process to make small cups, which
are waterproofed in a similar way to the water bottles. These will
hold any cold liquid with the exception of coke (because of its high
acidity) and very strong spirits. Recently Paul came across "thumb-cups"
- we're unsure of the authenticity, but they look good! The example
shown (to the right, unwaxed) holds just over a pint; we know because a pint glass will just
fit inside it.
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| The other water carrier that is specifically
a camp prop is the fire bucket. We're required by health and safety
to keep a source of water near any cooking fires, and waxed leather
fire buckets are durable, don't leak and are easy to carry and use.
The example shown here is basically a cylinder double-stiched to
a circular base, with a handle attached; it's shown in the 'raw
leather' state, before waxing. |
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Leather Wearables Back to top
There's little evidence for leather clothing during our time period; the
only thing really that have been found are capes made of oiled skins, used
by fishermen. There is, however, ample evidence for boots, shoes, belts and
scabbards. Construction of shoes and boots varied, but top seams at the front
or side of the shoe were common, and 'turn shoes' (made inside-out, then soaked
and turned right-way out) have also been found.
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Belts were used, not just to secure clothing, but
also to suspend knives and pouches, and to support sword scabbards.
Often, the buckle design was quite simple, the belt being secured
by an over-hand knot with a decorated belt-end hanging down. The
buckle and belt-end shown here are by Russell Scott, based on an
authentic find.
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There's more controversy over pouches, but simple draw-string
pouches would almost certainly have been used, and there is evidence
for some kind of belt-pouch from fittings, though the form this pouch
takes is currently under debate. It's in the nature of things for
kit guides to change with new archaeological finds, and the pouches
on this page followed kit guides when they were made.
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| Unfinished pouch showing initial design |
Pouch finished with painted design |
Pouch finished with embossed design |
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| Scabbards for swords were made of wood covered with
leather (shown right, unfinished), which was then often decorated
by embossing and/or painting. Sheaths for shorter knives were treated
differently, often made of a single piece of leather folded over
the blade and sewn against the sharp edge. Sometimes a decorative
metal edging was riveted to this side of the sheath. |
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| Basic knife sheath |
Made by a friend, based on a design in the British Museum |
The 'wrong side' of an unfinished scabbard, showing stitching |
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Miscellaneous bits and pieces Back to top
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Dice cups (left) have been found from the period, basically the construction
is the same as for the leather cup, but with an added lid. Needle cases (shown right;
9cm x 2cm, or 3.5" x 0.75") are similar in design, only obviously thinner and longer. This one has
decoration that was popular in Viking designs. |
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