The Armour Archive

Hello everyone.

I'm trying to get information about period chainmail for Vikings in the 10th to 11th centuries. Some of the questions I have are:

1. Would the sleeves have continued the pattern from the body or used a 90 degree or 45 degree sleeve?

2. Would they have preferred ahuberk to bernies?

3. Square neck opening or round?

If anyone has any info, I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

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Stefan of Kiel

If you can't use finese, then make a mess.

While I'm not to up on "Viking" culture, I can tell you that by 1066, the time of the Norman Conquest, long sleeves were still an oddity. As were chausses (leggings). The coif was generally integral with the shirt, with a ventail that pulled across the face.

This would apply to England and Northern Europe at the least.

Steve

As far as I know, Vikings of that period would mostly wear a hauberk. Also, to my knowlege, there are no period( not just viking, but thu the whole time mail would be used) examples of sleeves done in any way but as a continuation of the weave. I believe the other ways to do them are a modern invention. Even if there are period examples, they are in such a minority, that it can still be assumed that continuing the weave would be the standard way to do it. I think the neck would be rounded.
I could be mistaken on these, but( without dragging out books to reference) I`m pretty sure I am not.
John

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"and the springfieldians heroicly slaughtered there enemys while they prayed for mercy!"

Well, I'm no expert on the period, but I have a copy of a picture of a Viking mail shirt, so I'll answer your questions based on that.
(I found the picture in "The Vikings: The Seafarers" by Robert Wernick)

In this particular example, there aren't any sleeves. There are, however, large sections missing, so it's possible that the sleeves just came off. If that's the case, based on what's still there, the sleeves were just continuations, like muttman said.

As far as the length goes, it's hard to judge with no reference in the picture, but it looks like it would have been pretty long...

The neck seems to be kind of like a hexagon... It might be a square and just look like a hexagon by how it's hanging, though. It is definitely not rounded, though.


This is based on just one example, which might well be some weird one that's completely different from all the other ones...
Hope that helps

Look up and research the Gjermundbu shirt. This shirt is from the late 9th Century. It is one of the few shirts found in scandinavia.

Brandr hinn Rusli