⭐️⭐️⭐️ CORRECTION COMMENT: Woad does _not_ require a mordant! It was a luxury dye as it was a pain to get the colour in the period due to its requiring lye and an anaerobic environment to get the indigotin out of the stuff, and you need a _ton_ of woad to get a decent deep blue, and agitation of the vat can (and will) mess the evenness of the dye out, but as it’s a vat dye it doesn’t require a mordant for fixing! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What always gets me is they put peasants in black. Blacks is the most expensive colour to dye. Even though black sheep exist they are really rusty brown and the sun fades it quickly. Your lower classes are wearing pink, and light blue and faded brown and yellow. I have a nice faded purple apron dress and coif for my viking outfit as part of the kids household. Alternatively i am glitzy Byzantine or Persian.
My wife just reminded me that when we were LARPing in the 80s, out in all weathers, people soon stopped wearing fancy stuff and it all became very practical - everyone wore cloaks,
One important thing about this part of history that people often forget is that back then, they cared more about the amount of coloured clothes you could afford, and not really about if the colours clashed or not. “More colours = better”! It seems to be a sort of rule about humans in general that we’ll always try and decorate the things around us. So there’s always an option to add a fancy trim, some contrasting stitching, all sorts of things like that. Final idea: a bit of wear and tear always helps to add some character to an outfit. How would this specific character mend their clothing? Have they noticed that there’s a bit that needs mending? What did they mend it with, and when?
This - because they *will* mend stuff, not just discard it. Especially poorer people - they might be in hand-me-downs, they may not have had enough of one piece of fabric to make a whole tunic/kirtle (all together now, Piecing Is Period). What you wouldn't be doing is wearing something with raggedy hems - your clothes are important to protect your body from the cold, and to maintain your social status. Fabric took *A LOT* of work to make. It wasn't cheap. People took care of clothing, and made things last.
Honestly yes tho! You'll look better. You'll feel better. You get to play with colors and wear clothes tailored to you if you do living reenactment stuff! And wool feels just the best, especially finer wool, ESPECIALLY in winter! But all wool, even coarse wool, will be breathable and also insulating; you can basically sweat in it without the fabric absorbing it much, which lets you generate massive heat during harsh winters without your clothes freezing from sweat. And historical colors were usually brighter than we are used to now. But bright colors are just pleasing you can get really vivid greens from certain plantdyes and yellow was a very popular color. As was red, as Jimmy says! Super faded blues weren't too uncommon, but rich blues were, again, rich. That still allows for quite a lot of variety when playing with character creation ideas, and if you make an OC that's historically accurate, you can invest in actually recreating your character irl:)
You can tell half a life story with just the string of beads and assorted objects between the brooches, that could be quite a "pieces of eight" thing. I'd personally never leave off the needle case, because needle cases are COOL.
The eight inches of armour bit made me imagine the kid in A Christmas Story, but all covered in armour, lol. Here's hoping you can dangle that silver plaque from a tree next time!
Getting Shakespearian at 15:58 - Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars and say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’ I really appreciate your enthusiasm and depth of knowledge, Hearing you review the possibilities, literally, from the ground up, I'm convinced you're one the best "well informed laymen" there is.(no expert? My Great Aunt! sez I) Here and your previous work show you truly understand the period because you know how much there is to learn and how much we still don't know.
For the writers out there, there’s an interesting thing about the Viking era leather shoes: The soles are so thin that they let you feel the bumps and larger pieces of gravel on the road as you’re walking.
my family and I have been playing in the SCA for 21 years. of course the husband and kids all have norse personas. The wool tunics and coats I make them are all trimmed in silk. Luckily old silk saris make the best viking/norse trim.
Perfect timing. I just joined a Viking group. I was looking at my old stuff from my old viking days (2002) and I said to myself "man, I was so farby back then" Still had wool everything, but the trim was horrendous. Took it all off and need some nice tablet woven bands.
My costume consists of a blue wool vest, scarlet tunic, with a yellow and grey woven tablet band for a belt. And of course a 29in round shield made of poplar planks faced with painted linen. My next plan is sewing some baggy trousers with plaid linen I found! A lot of my costume is based on stuff found around Sweden like my pendant and neck chain and leather belt fittings as well as the oodles of silver trinkets I wear on my neck and wrists. I have been however considering making a medieval Irish costume.
Oh I should've included. Mother's side of the family is heavily Swedish hence the primarily Swedish inspiration. My OC (Randulf son of Bjornulf) is a sailor from Gotland who works escorting merchant ships between Sweden, Eastern Europe, and Constantinople.
My advice for a startup Viking character is to keep it simple. Start as a “grunt” simple homespun tunic and undied undershirt. Maybe a little coloured embroidery at the neck . Wool on wool. A good shield. (Learn how to use and carry it) and the most authentic spear that you can make or find. Perhaps a small axe. And a short sax, decent sized dagger. That is all that most Norse warriors would have had, certainly to start with. If they survived their first few fights they would acquire other bits of kit, often liberated from their victims. Sorry enemies! Swords, mail, and any jewellery,other than the most basic and functional, was for successful and experienced warriors in the good books of their lord. Remember nothing looks more daft than a collection of chiefs and no Indians!🥴 The same for women. Start simple and build. Get the basics right. There are lots of interesting, attractive, and functional items, with which you can bedeck yourself. The wonderful tortoise brooches and strings of beads were the Norse version of diamonds, or a tiara, a sign of great wealth or aristocracy, a special wedding gift or heirloom. One fine bead on a thong is a good start. A nice piece of amber or rock crystal, or perhaps a single beautiful lamp-work bead from Byzantium. Less is more. And less expensive!! All this is just my thoughts on the subject. Who am I? A nobody. A nobody who loves these nuanced talks!!😘
Are you kidding me? I've been using "You smell like piss and woad" as an insult forever, since I found out that woad smells terrible. I just like medieval themed insults. I didn't know it was actually processed with urine, though. I love being historically accurate. I should have figured though, they used urine for everything. It was really the organic apple cider vinegar of its day.
@@cocobutter3175 A urine vat is rather simple. Collect a lot of urine, add woad pigment (or indigo pigment) and let it sit. It is best to pack the pigment in a small bag (some ppl use socks) and rub a little bit of the pigment into the vat daily. Add your wool and let it sit. remove the wool daily to let it air (oxidize) and place it back into the vat. Do this until the wool got the colour depth you want. The beauty of a urine vat is not only its simplicity but it brings with itself the bacteria to break the urine down to ammoniac and reduce the oxygen for the indigo/woad to work. While the bacteria are breaking down the urin, you also have a lot of protein in the vat which protects the wool from an otherwise very detrimental high pH environment. (This is why traditionally early thiox/sodium dithionite vat users added pearl glue to the vat, to protect the wool.) It does have the disadvantage of the smell, though. And personally, I can't stand it. I only used it for experimental purposes in small quantities. And you have to be sure that the person(s) you get the urine from are not on antibiotics or allopurinol which will kill the bacteria and the vat won't work.
Anything you want to post regarding garb, I'll be on it like an ant on a sugar cube. 😁 I'm working on a wardrobe of tunics, peplos', apron dresses, cyclas' and earlyish sleeveless kirtles, so I can shift about 800 years and a couple of cultures, as my mood suits.
My D&D character is kind of Anglo-Norse, and I think it would be fun to make her a bit more historically accurate. I'm doing part of the worldbuilding for this world and I'm going for fantasy leaning towards historical accuracy, not a complete historical recreation. So far I have made one tunic based on your video. It probably has to be classified as a mockup due to the technicalities that it is made of part of a cottonish curtain I dyed with logwood, which yields blue. My character is not very rich, so that will have to change. I have some orangey-reddish linen that looks reasonably like it was dyed with madder. Where I live, the weather is a lot warmer than England and Scandinavia. Do I have to make all my stuff out of wool, or would it be reasonable to make more of it out of linen? I love the idea of collaboration and what I'm going to do with it. I need to get sewing, and I do have time now that the semester is over.
If I remember right, the fashion was to have your tunic done up instead of wearing in an open "V" with loose ties. (I could swear I heard Jackson Crawford say this at one point)
If remember my research correctly men with deep open tunics were considered "unmanly" plus it's freaking cold in Iceland, Sweden ,Denmark and Norway! Why would any one want to be cold on their chests?! The only reason I see for a deep v is breastfeeding. Otherwise I'd want my chest covered!
@TheWelshViking Yes - a man being 'ergi' (effeminate) being grounds for divorce. I like to speculate on what that means, conversely, for women's clothing- we're keyhole neckline cut lower? I suspect they were, because I suspect they needed to be for nursing mothers (specialist maternity wear likely wasn't a thing).
I don’t know if i missed it but just in case: linnen. Especially as ”underwear” ( such as a female ”shift”, shirts etc ). New research indicates that linnen was used for outer wear as well together with wool.
I get Norway vibes from the location you filmed this in... Since my son recently became an official member of Kongshirden 1260 in Bergen I've been meaning to look into Viking/ Medieval battle/training clothes for him. This emerged at the perfect time!
"In an undisclosed location" .... "autumn leaves strewn around this lovely park" AHA! You're in a park! I want my cool points now :) My characters in my novel aren't viking, but I do try to make their "fantasy" setting at least somewhat mid-to-late medieval accurate. You mention that wool is the material for basically everything but boots, but I vaguely recall in past videos you've also mentioned linen. I know it would have been expensive but now I'm questioning my live choices lol
I have even seen some archaeological finds from the Late Middle Ages and the leather of both the sole and the upper were SO THIN, like maybe 1 to 1,5 millimeter. Now, because they would have walked mostly on grass, dirt and maybe wood (and also sometimes wore pattens to protect from the moisture), even in cities, the soles would not have worn so quickly as on modern tarmac or stone. But still they would wear a lot (mud is really lethal to your turnshoes) and in some noble households, personnel would receive a new pair of shoes every month (and maybe use the old pair for dirtier jobs). So my guess is Medieval shoemakery was big business!
Happy New Year. My goals for 2025 are learning and doing more natural dying and Nålebinding. Thanks to your videos. And once and for all, conquering my spinning wheel.
I also wanted to mention another thing to keep in mind when creating a Norse character: Their names. Specifically, their lastnames and such. Look up how patronyms worked. Look up how bynames worked. I would link a website that is specialized for nordic names and their origins and meanings, it even has a viking name section, but something tells me that's what got my entire comment filtered away when I reloaded this page, which - fair. See if you can find it yourself. Also yeah, this bit about getting something as basic as the name right should be obvious, but I've seen what completely unresearched viking names end up sounding like. So I still thought it was worth bringing up.
important thing for artists and writers is to know if you are going for "Viking inspired" or "Viking" and to be clear about that when talking about your creation. If you label something as "this is a Viking character" then the expectation and the responsible thing to do is to try and stick to styles found in archaeological record things you can find in museums and referenced in papers - yes you can have some creativity in the exact pattern on a broach and the trim, the colours you choose etc, but it still holds pretty close to what we know from actual evidence. If you want to be more creative, and include things that aren't strictly in the archaeological record, that are more your own creation or inspired by other sources then great go for it! it's fun, but at that point you are creating Viking Inspired. The distinction helps people understand what you are doing and why and what they can take away from it. A third point, which I've seen people do with costume, is that they set out saying they want to do Viking inspired costume, but actually the majority of things they end up being inspired by and referencing are from an entirely different culture, say Byzantine. This can just make things confusing for the viewer/audience but also runs the risk of making you look like you don't know what you're talking about. I heartily encourage people to change their mind and be open about it and not to stick too much to labels. "I was starting with Viking but then I loved the Byzantine collection in the museum so now the character is really more Byzantine inspired". (of course if you are designing to a brief or prompt, and find yourself going off in a different direction sometimes the best plan is to just drop those ideas, and go back to the start. you can pick up your Byzantine inspo for a future character, rather than trying to force your inspiration into the brief and it all just looking off)
9:16 "There was a sinister lurker" with no further explanation is 😨 but also funny. I'm just incapable of talking to strangers often (literally trying to get a neurodivergency diagnosis) so now I wonder if people have thought of me like that lol
Thank you for the great summary! Have you heard about the new treasure from the era that was recently found? It was on the news here in Sweden a day or two ago. It was unfortunately discovered with a metal detector (and not handed in right away either since they were being a bit bad about it). We don't have much of any significant archeological information apart from some basics because of that. It's mostly made of Arabic silver coins and some jewellery.
Great video Jimmy! As far as jewelry goes i wear period bronze jewelry based on finds. During the period would silver jewelry be worth more than bronze jewelry?
I would also like to point out for people who are interested in doing something Pre-Viking age and Arthurian, there is some evidence that Brooches in different styles and males were indicative of loyalties or almost like a badge of office in some parts of Britain in the 5th century. So if you want to be from a specific region of Britain you should look at the archeological evidence for that particular part. If you are wanting to be creative and inspired by the past, consider the meaning of the jewelry and metal objects you design. It might not all be simply because it’s pretty. This was all likely done in imitation of the Roman’s both on the part of the Romano-British and the Germanic immigrants. (Stuart Laycock’s book which name currently escapes me, does a pretty good job of making his ideas of what brooches were from what regions pretty accessible) Ultimately my advice comes to this, understanding the real or fictional cultural and social context for your decisions about your character can add a lot of depth.
Are non-whites allowed to do viking reenactment? I mean people from sub-saharan Africa, India, China etc. I am facinated by viking and mideval history, but as a non-white, would I be thrown in the fire together with a cotton tunic and buckled soled knee-boots if I showed up at an event?
Mate, come reenacting! It’s a hobby - open to all! Only Actual racists would have an issue and we certainly don’t allow racists to play with us in our society and have people of many ethnicities involved! If you’re UK based I may be able to help more, feel free to email if so, otherwise find a group and I hope they’re as cool as all the ones I play with :)
1) as said, any reenactment is a hobby and should be open to everyone. In my (admittedly white) opinion, any group that would reject a member for being the 'wrong' ethnicity for their time period is a sh*tty racist one that you don't want to be involved with anyway 2) I'm not an expert, but the Vikings got around quite a lot, so there's a chance any of the ethnicities you mention could have encountered them
@@TheWelshViking african decent as in north africa or subsaharan africa? There is no doubt there was an interface between scandi and medeteranian peoples at the time, but how common were zulu's homesteading in Birka or chinese in hedeby?
Commenting to help the channel. Thanks for helping everyone dress appropriately in these troubled times. What about animal fur lined clothing for when it's not warm.
@@TheWelshViking Ah ok, so a guige with arm straps if mounted and a guige with boss grip if on foot, got it. Would leaving the shield plain or maybe colored with one kind of paint be also fine If I don't want any kind of design on it? I'm shooting for an impression of a 10th century frankish cavalrymen/early-knight, don't know if it'd be inaccurate.
And for the Viking Age: armour and fancy weapons were pretty elite. A simple farmer or footsoldier might have a spear, a shield, a longsaex (a long knife) and an axe, and maaaybe a leather or otherwise hardened cap. They really relied on the shield (and your skill with it). Swords, helmets and mail shirts were for rich people.
There are for instance some rope skullcaps (made of spiraling rope sewn together) that would at least protect somewhat against downward blows from swords. Still wouldn't prevent a concussion but at least your skull isn't split open.
@@TheWelshViking I think yootoob will auto block links. But googling "tiktaalik dreaming conan exiles mod should show the 2. Hopefully. I also really need to update the pics. lol
Great video (as always)!! Would you mind doing a video about the “Hybrno Norse”; I know I most likely butchered the spelling. You mentioned it in a vid a long while back and I was just curious. Thank you for all that you do!! Have a great one!! -John from Detroit, Michigan USA. 🤘🏻
I was hoping to see your OC as you were talking about it, but then maybe you've made that video. I am not an enthusiast, but I like to listen to what you have to say...maybe my ancestors were these people. I want to know more about them.
Helooo im planning to write a fictional book that would feature the horse fights that I heard Vikings held, I’ve planned next to nothing about it yet & I hardly know anything about the horse fights: I’d love some insight on it or even a vid 😁love da vids (I’m gonna watch this in a lil just wanted to ask this soon tysm! 😃) Edit - I actually watched the whole thing nvm 😂
Pretty sure they would have used Fjord horse/ponies (they are on the borderline as they are short, but very strong!) They are an ancient breed and normally shown with a "roached" (clipped) mane. They are normally a gold color, though some are more grey or pale, almost white. They should have dorsal stripe markings, and some have faint 'zebra' markings on their lower legs. These are considered a mark of a "primitive" breed. That's a start for you ! Look online for more. They are still popular in Europe & decent #'s North America. (P.s. some more "sport" minded folks are breeding for longer/leaner sport horses versus the stocky shorter type.)
Thank you for this video! This would have come extremely in handy back when I was designing most of my Norse OCs (the vampire in my icon being one of them. haha), but instead I just furiously took notes from your older videos (as well as various other sources like museums and such, of course). Your channel has a lot of good information! Thank you for existing on the internet. Also yes. Hollywood needs to take notes. Their "viking" costumes are usually atrocious.
Now in winter times wool is great. I have a nice woolen tunic here (from a merchant which I know has not the best reputation in the 'scene' and shall therefore not be named). My only question is: What about the summer? Especially because they will get warmer. Has anyone some ideas? Is wool still a good idea? Linen?
Lightweight wool. Its important to remember also we're talking about a cold region in time where the average temperature was colder than it is now. They also had less issues just going shirtless and hiking up their pants if they had to work in the field and it was a scorcher out
when it's really warm, probably just the undertunic made of linen (which is a bit of a luxury as it takes more manhours to go from a flax crop to a tunic than wool, but boy it's MUCH nicer against the skin than even fine wool).
@@codycarter9906 Yeah, I know that part. I live near Haithabu/Hedeby and want to strike a balance between authenticity and, well, not dying by dehydration, because I tend to sweat a lot.^^ What do you consider "lightweight"? Mine is ca. 350 g/m²
@@kalamir93 There can be much lighter-weight wool. No idea what is authentic. But wool gauze IS a thing, so, technically, you can have much lighterweight wool. It's just hard to come by these days because the modern world has decided wool = winter clothes.
Your humble claim to not be an expert is well founded. However compared to the vast number of your followers your skill set and knowledge base does give you quite a bit of expertise in those areas hence we can consider you to be an Expert. It’s all relative and you History Jimmy in my opinion (no one else’s matter to me anyway) are an expert even though you don’t consider yourself to be one. So there Expert Jimmy! Hail haha.
Linen flax. If they had trade with the Mediterranean they may have gotten cotton. There are finds of silk but rarely , and only for the wealthy. But as some one said maybe nettles
I became alergict to 925 silver in my 20s, other cheep metals as a kid. Stirling and 925 silver usually have a 5% alloy of something, usually nickle to increase strength according to my jeweler and that's what I'm alergict to. I usually buy titanium. There are many lovely sellers on etsy who sell titanium and shined up it can look like silver. But I usually wear lots of non metal jewelry like: Jade, lapis, laramar onyx, and pearls. I got some glass beads too.there are many non metal options out there!
@@HosCreatesYou could also sew small patches of fabric to the inside of your garments where pins pass through to protect your skin, as an option. Pin through the garment but don't pierce the patch.
There’s got to be more BS about ‘Vikings’ than just about any other historical group. So refreshing to see some good, solid, evidence based advice on the real article. The sad thing is that it’s not a great mystery, there’s a fair amount of available artefacts to study, it just gets swept away by the fantasy crap from the TV shows and movies. I grew up in York BTW, I remember the Coppergate dig , and the Yorvik display is great.
While there's a _lot_ of BS about Vikings out there, I think there's more absolute drivel & misinformation about Native Americans by far, or the Celts. Both groups have been exploited & romanticized in unbelievably stupid ways.
@@DrachenGothik666 That's exactly what I immediately thought of. Native Americans, specifically. The fact that media tends to forget there actually were / are hundreds if not thousands of different cultures in the Americas, in particular.
My OC in my reenactment group is an Anglo Saxon farmboy whose home was piliged and raided by a viking warband and, my OC was taken as a slave and eventually fought and earned his freedom, and then became a respected and feared warrior in the same warband. So my kit it a mix of Anglo Saxon and Viking. But all based of hisrotical finds, evidence from the period and items and pieces from archaeological digs. My clothing is natural hues of light greens, browns, beige and un-dyed wools and linens. All of similar materials & colours the vikings/anglo saxons would've used to make clothing during the period. But my green outer tunic has some red and yellow brading to signify a bit of wealth and prestige, with me being a warrior. And a brown and beige under-tunic, I'm also having a pair of red and beige herringbone twill wool trousers made for my cloths too. A pair of brown legwraps with green ties, some simple leather lace turnshoes (which were purchased at Yorvik viking fest) an anglo saxon styled leather belt with adorning buckle and belt end. And leather pouches big and small, plus a leather tassle & loop satchel and deerskin, A brown cloak & penanular broaches And brown pillbox cap & brown and yellow style nailbind wool hat. Leather/ woolen mittens for the cold too. Plus some viking & anglo saxon related neckalces repros of similar ones from digs done in Norway and England, Anglo saxon sword & viking sword. A 9th century style fighting axe, anglo saxon short and long fighting spears, a round shield too plus Naselhelm with chainmail/leather neck guard. Plus padded leather gloves & repurposed leather greaves from GDFB and I've reused them as leather vambraces. (planning to get a anglo saxon klappenrock wrap around "coat" in the future for combat armour). But I'm always still changing, updating and adding new additions & pieces to my kit and equipment, even though I've been doing reenactment for 6 years now, I'm always seeing and looking at new things to add or aquire to make my kit even more historically correct for combat or living history.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️ CORRECTION COMMENT: Woad does _not_ require a mordant! It was a luxury dye as it was a pain to get the colour in the period due to its requiring lye and an anaerobic environment to get the indigotin out of the stuff, and you need a _ton_ of woad to get a decent deep blue, and agitation of the vat can (and will) mess the evenness of the dye out, but as it’s a vat dye it doesn’t require a mordant for fixing! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What always gets me is they put peasants in black. Blacks is the most expensive colour to dye. Even though black sheep exist they are really rusty brown and the sun fades it quickly. Your lower classes are wearing pink, and light blue and faded brown and yellow.
I have a nice faded purple apron dress and coif for my viking outfit as part of the kids household. Alternatively i am glitzy Byzantine or Persian.
My wife just reminded me that when we were LARPing in the 80s, out in all weathers, people soon stopped wearing fancy stuff and it all became very practical - everyone wore cloaks,
just jimmy being an absolut icon and removing his boot to show it
also, love the purple accent
"Loosing bodkins at you."
I just imagined Bernadette Banner throwing sewing notions at her opponents. 😂
She would surely weild her distaff should she need it. Ya know, in case she loses her sword and massive scissors.
rofl
I nearly spat my coffee over the screen at the furry leg-warmers!
One important thing about this part of history that people often forget is that back then, they cared more about the amount of coloured clothes you could afford, and not really about if the colours clashed or not. “More colours = better”!
It seems to be a sort of rule about humans in general that we’ll always try and decorate the things around us. So there’s always an option to add a fancy trim, some contrasting stitching, all sorts of things like that.
Final idea: a bit of wear and tear always helps to add some character to an outfit. How would this specific character mend their clothing? Have they noticed that there’s a bit that needs mending? What did they mend it with, and when?
Yup. When dressing for mediaeval events, roll dice.
This - because they *will* mend stuff, not just discard it. Especially poorer people - they might be in hand-me-downs, they may not have had enough of one piece of fabric to make a whole tunic/kirtle (all together now, Piecing Is Period). What you wouldn't be doing is wearing something with raggedy hems - your clothes are important to protect your body from the cold, and to maintain your social status. Fabric took *A LOT* of work to make. It wasn't cheap. People took care of clothing, and made things last.
There’s a marvelous book called Color by Victoria Finlay. She discusses dyes and pigments throughout the world and history.
I think he mentioned it, or it was mentioned on another channel that I follow, a while ago. Still bears repeating, so thank you for the reminder.
I'm hoping to see a new era of colourful vikings in media
When in doubt, wool for all the clothes.
So never dress like television Vikings 😊
You got it in one!
100%
Honestly yes tho! You'll look better. You'll feel better. You get to play with colors and wear clothes tailored to you if you do living reenactment stuff! And wool feels just the best, especially finer wool, ESPECIALLY in winter! But all wool, even coarse wool, will be breathable and also insulating; you can basically sweat in it without the fabric absorbing it much, which lets you generate massive heat during harsh winters without your clothes freezing from sweat.
And historical colors were usually brighter than we are used to now. But bright colors are just pleasing you can get really vivid greens from certain plantdyes and yellow was a very popular color. As was red, as Jimmy says! Super faded blues weren't too uncommon, but rich blues were, again, rich.
That still allows for quite a lot of variety when playing with character creation ideas, and if you make an OC that's historically accurate, you can invest in actually recreating your character irl:)
Unless your partner asks you to for private occasions ☺️
It might be ok if one is doing a fantasy LARP but otherwise no. 😂
I confess my "wool" tunic is actually a cotton flannel that happens to be in herringbone weave 😂
Use what you have!
@@TheWelshViking thanks! Most importantly it passes the 10 foot rule 😂
Would love to see more holed ‘exotic’ coins worn as pendants, between tortoise brooches for women.
That’s a great shout
You can tell half a life story with just the string of beads and assorted objects between the brooches, that could be quite a "pieces of eight" thing. I'd personally never leave off the needle case, because needle cases are COOL.
The eight inches of armour bit made me imagine the kid in A Christmas Story, but all covered in armour, lol. Here's hoping you can dangle that silver plaque from a tree next time!
Somehow this made me think of the book 'stepping through time' by goubitz, on footware. And his book ' purses in pieces'.
Getting Shakespearian at 15:58 - Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars and say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’ I really appreciate your enthusiasm and depth of knowledge, Hearing you review the possibilities, literally, from the ground up, I'm convinced you're one the best "well informed laymen" there is.(no expert? My Great Aunt! sez I) Here and your previous work show you truly understand the period because you know how much there is to learn and how much we still don't know.
I love the little things you can learn in each episode. Alum tanning makes for lighter coloured leather. Didn't know that before.
How much of a nerd am I that I immediately recognised the tablet woven band at 9:42 as the Seydisfjord band that was recently discovered?
If you're a nerd, you're in good company! 😁
I know where you are Jimmy.
... You're outside! :D
😂😂😂
For the writers out there, there’s an interesting thing about the Viking era leather shoes:
The soles are so thin that they let you feel the bumps and larger pieces of gravel on the road as you’re walking.
Like moccasins and slippers. Unless you've wrapped wool cloth around your feet cos snow.
Hot tip: wool felt insoles. Makes wearing turn shoes positively comfy
This is contrary to research done by Nille Glaesel who details soles of the shoes being made from half-tan leather which provides a very hard sole.
Love the points about shoes! Gives me more ideas, as shoes are the one thing I can't do very easily so it's my bugbear.
I was watching this with my partner in the room and he said “get nerdy with it!”
I don't think I've ever clicked a Welsh Viking video so fast.
my family and I have been playing in the SCA for 21 years. of course the husband and kids all have norse personas. The wool tunics and coats I make them are all trimmed in silk. Luckily old silk saris make the best viking/norse trim.
I'm sewing some trim on my tunic while watching this.
I loved this video and would happily watch more like it, or a review of people's OCs
Perfect timing. I just joined a Viking group. I was looking at my old stuff from my old viking days (2002) and I said to myself "man, I was so farby back then" Still had wool everything, but the trim was horrendous. Took it all off and need some nice tablet woven bands.
My costume consists of a blue wool vest, scarlet tunic, with a yellow and grey woven tablet band for a belt. And of course a 29in round shield made of poplar planks faced with painted linen.
My next plan is sewing some baggy trousers with plaid linen I found!
A lot of my costume is based on stuff found around Sweden like my pendant and neck chain and leather belt fittings as well as the oodles of silver trinkets I wear on my neck and wrists.
I have been however considering making a medieval Irish costume.
Oh I should've included. Mother's side of the family is heavily Swedish hence the primarily Swedish inspiration. My OC (Randulf son of Bjornulf) is a sailor from Gotland who works escorting merchant ships between Sweden, Eastern Europe, and Constantinople.
4:36 or bright yellow, you can get a nice yellow dye from so many different plants and it’s so easy to do, yay you said yellow!
My advice for a startup Viking character is to keep it simple. Start as a “grunt” simple homespun tunic and undied undershirt. Maybe a little coloured embroidery at the neck . Wool on wool. A good shield. (Learn how to use and carry it) and the most authentic spear that you can make or find. Perhaps a small axe. And a short sax, decent sized dagger. That is all that most Norse warriors would have had, certainly to start with. If they survived their first few fights they would acquire other bits of kit, often liberated from their victims. Sorry enemies! Swords, mail, and any jewellery,other than the most basic and functional, was for successful and experienced warriors in the good books of their lord.
Remember nothing looks more daft than a collection of chiefs and no Indians!🥴
The same for women. Start simple and build. Get the basics right. There are lots of interesting, attractive, and functional items, with which you can bedeck yourself. The wonderful tortoise brooches and strings of beads were the Norse version of diamonds, or a tiara, a sign of great wealth or aristocracy, a special wedding gift or heirloom. One fine bead on a thong is a good start. A nice piece of amber or rock crystal, or perhaps a single beautiful lamp-work bead from Byzantium. Less is more. And less expensive!!
All this is just my thoughts on the subject. Who am I? A nobody.
A nobody who loves these nuanced talks!!😘
In the woods! 1,000 cool points to me 😊
ALL the points!
very nice video! would be very good if you included subtitles when you mention specific objects or civilizations, so we could search for them!
Thank you for the shoutout to the Danish National Museum!♥️👍 Lovely place, I think always worth a visit if people have the time!😁
WHAT A MIRACLE IVE BEEN TRYING TO MAKE A VIKING OC FOR AGES AND THIS POPS UP AT THE PERFECT TIME THANK YOU
Woad does not need a mordant. You need a vat, it's a redox reaction. The vat would have been made with urine. Simple and well working vat for woad.
Are you kidding me? I've been using "You smell like piss and woad" as an insult forever, since I found out that woad smells terrible. I just like medieval themed insults. I didn't know it was actually processed with urine, though. I love being historically accurate. I should have figured though, they used urine for everything. It was really the organic apple cider vinegar of its day.
@@cocobutter3175 A urine vat is rather simple. Collect a lot of urine, add woad pigment (or indigo pigment) and let it sit. It is best to pack the pigment in a small bag (some ppl use socks) and rub a little bit of the pigment into the vat daily.
Add your wool and let it sit. remove the wool daily to let it air (oxidize) and place it back into the vat. Do this until the wool got the colour depth you want.
The beauty of a urine vat is not only its simplicity but it brings with itself the bacteria to break the urine down to ammoniac and reduce the oxygen for the indigo/woad to work. While the bacteria are breaking down the urin, you also have a lot of protein in the vat which protects the wool from an otherwise very detrimental high pH environment. (This is why traditionally early thiox/sodium dithionite vat users added pearl glue to the vat, to protect the wool.)
It does have the disadvantage of the smell, though. And personally, I can't stand it. I only used it for experimental purposes in small quantities. And you have to be sure that the person(s) you get the urine from are not on antibiotics or allopurinol which will kill the bacteria and the vat won't work.
The very cool beedstrings across the bussom found in Visby are cool
Anything you want to post regarding garb, I'll be on it like an ant on a sugar cube. 😁 I'm working on a wardrobe of tunics, peplos', apron dresses, cyclas' and earlyish sleeveless kirtles, so I can shift about 800 years and a couple of cultures, as my mood suits.
I'll second that!
My D&D character is kind of Anglo-Norse, and I think it would be fun to make her a bit more historically accurate. I'm doing part of the worldbuilding for this world and I'm going for fantasy leaning towards historical accuracy, not a complete historical recreation. So far I have made one tunic based on your video. It probably has to be classified as a mockup due to the technicalities that it is made of part of a cottonish curtain I dyed with logwood, which yields blue. My character is not very rich, so that will have to change. I have some orangey-reddish linen that looks reasonably like it was dyed with madder. Where I live, the weather is a lot warmer than England and Scandinavia. Do I have to make all my stuff out of wool, or would it be reasonable to make more of it out of linen?
I love the idea of collaboration and what I'm going to do with it. I need to get sewing, and I do have time now that the semester is over.
This video was great, I’m a larper who roleplays as a fantasy Viking so this was much-needed! Thanks Jimmy
If I remember right, the fashion was to have your tunic done up instead of wearing in an open "V" with loose ties.
(I could swear I heard Jackson Crawford say this at one point)
I think he may well have mentioned something about it. As I recall there’s a mention in the sagas about exposing one’s chest being seen as effeminate?
If remember my research correctly men with deep open tunics were considered "unmanly" plus it's freaking cold in Iceland, Sweden ,Denmark and Norway! Why would any one want to be cold on their chests?! The only reason I see for a deep v is breastfeeding. Otherwise I'd want my chest covered!
@TheWelshViking Yes - a man being 'ergi' (effeminate) being grounds for divorce. I like to speculate on what that means, conversely, for women's clothing- we're keyhole neckline cut lower? I suspect they were, because I suspect they needed to be for nursing mothers (specialist maternity wear likely wasn't a thing).
@krysab6125 that, and I'm fairly certain even the act of calling someone 'ergi' was punishable
Well put! Thank you so much for showing that book as well, seems like a great source for additional information! :)
I don’t know if i missed it but just in case: linnen.
Especially as ”underwear” ( such as a female ”shift”, shirts etc ).
New research indicates that linnen was used for outer wear as well together with wool.
I get Norway vibes from the location you filmed this in...
Since my son recently became an official member of Kongshirden 1260 in Bergen I've been meaning to look into Viking/ Medieval battle/training clothes for him. This emerged at the perfect time!
"In an undisclosed location" .... "autumn leaves strewn around this lovely park" AHA! You're in a park! I want my cool points now :)
My characters in my novel aren't viking, but I do try to make their "fantasy" setting at least somewhat mid-to-late medieval accurate. You mention that wool is the material for basically everything but boots, but I vaguely recall in past videos you've also mentioned linen. I know it would have been expensive but now I'm questioning my live choices lol
+1000cp!
I have even seen some archaeological finds from the Late Middle Ages and the leather of both the sole and the upper were SO THIN, like maybe 1 to 1,5 millimeter. Now, because they would have walked mostly on grass, dirt and maybe wood (and also sometimes wore pattens to protect from the moisture), even in cities, the soles would not have worn so quickly as on modern tarmac or stone. But still they would wear a lot (mud is really lethal to your turnshoes) and in some noble households, personnel would receive a new pair of shoes every month (and maybe use the old pair for dirtier jobs). So my guess is Medieval shoemakery was big business!
Happy New Year. My goals for 2025 are learning and doing more natural dying and Nålebinding. Thanks to your videos. And once and for all, conquering my spinning wheel.
Those are some nova scotian trees if I ever saw 'em
Yep. I thought North America, for sure, and probably visiting the in-laws.
Love this vid's idea! Honestly I'd want more of this sorta thing haha
I know ur welsh but Happy Turkey day!!! I hope everyone reading this is having a great day!!!
Jimmy is a Cowboy Bebop fan? My man just keeps getting more based with every video.
Excellent!! Great to see you again! Awesome video!!
This is such useful information! My mother's been getting into genealogy and this is some great insight into what our ancestors might've looked like!
I also wanted to mention another thing to keep in mind when creating a Norse character: Their names.
Specifically, their lastnames and such. Look up how patronyms worked. Look up how bynames worked.
I would link a website that is specialized for nordic names and their origins and meanings, it even has a viking name section, but something tells me that's what got my entire comment filtered away when I reloaded this page, which - fair. See if you can find it yourself.
Also yeah, this bit about getting something as basic as the name right should be obvious, but I've seen what completely unresearched viking names end up sounding like.
So I still thought it was worth bringing up.
um, woad doesn't need a mordant. Mordanted fabrics can be dyed with woad, but it's not necessary
Neat! That was very condensed and entertaining 😊
important thing for artists and writers is to know if you are going for "Viking inspired" or "Viking" and to be clear about that when talking about your creation. If you label something as "this is a Viking character" then the expectation and the responsible thing to do is to try and stick to styles found in archaeological record things you can find in museums and referenced in papers - yes you can have some creativity in the exact pattern on a broach and the trim, the colours you choose etc, but it still holds pretty close to what we know from actual evidence.
If you want to be more creative, and include things that aren't strictly in the archaeological record, that are more your own creation or inspired by other sources then great go for it! it's fun, but at that point you are creating Viking Inspired. The distinction helps people understand what you are doing and why and what they can take away from it.
A third point, which I've seen people do with costume, is that they set out saying they want to do Viking inspired costume, but actually the majority of things they end up being inspired by and referencing are from an entirely different culture, say Byzantine. This can just make things confusing for the viewer/audience but also runs the risk of making you look like you don't know what you're talking about. I heartily encourage people to change their mind and be open about it and not to stick too much to labels. "I was starting with Viking but then I loved the Byzantine collection in the museum so now the character is really more Byzantine inspired". (of course if you are designing to a brief or prompt, and find yourself going off in a different direction sometimes the best plan is to just drop those ideas, and go back to the start. you can pick up your Byzantine inspo for a future character, rather than trying to force your inspiration into the brief and it all just looking off)
Jimmy adjusting his exposure in a public place? Shocking. No wonder he attracted a sinister lurker.
This video is so interesting.
9:16 "There was a sinister lurker" with no further explanation is 😨 but also funny. I'm just incapable of talking to strangers often (literally trying to get a neurodivergency diagnosis) so now I wonder if people have thought of me like that lol
How about a video on the industry of recycling/salvaging abandoned roman materials?
Happy thanksgiving everyone
Appreciate the enthusement 😁
I♥️PENANNULAR BROOCHES‼️
I would absolutely love a Hyberno Norse video! Thanks from Michigan, USA!!
Just be aware that if you wear blue putees, you are obligated by law to join the Newfoundland Regiment (❤ to my fellow Heritage Minute nerds!)
Video drops on the day I finally join the Patreon? Amazing!
Thank you for the great summary!
Have you heard about the new treasure from the era that was recently found? It was on the news here in Sweden a day or two ago. It was unfortunately discovered with a metal detector (and not handed in right away either since they were being a bit bad about it). We don't have much of any significant archeological information apart from some basics because of that. It's mostly made of Arabic silver coins and some jewellery.
I watch for the history but you really make me want to try my hand at the clothing.
Great video Jimmy! As far as jewelry goes i wear period bronze jewelry based on finds. During the period would silver jewelry be worth more than bronze jewelry?
Came for the Viking clothing talk, stayed for the Cowboy Bebop reference…
Thanks a bundle, space cowboy
What about nalbound hats, socks, and mittens?
I would also like to point out for people who are interested in doing something Pre-Viking age and Arthurian, there is some evidence that Brooches in different styles and males were indicative of loyalties or almost like a badge of office in some parts of Britain in the 5th century. So if you want to be from a specific region of Britain you should look at the archeological evidence for that particular part. If you are wanting to be creative and inspired by the past, consider the meaning of the jewelry and metal objects you design. It might not all be simply because it’s pretty. This was all likely done in imitation of the Roman’s both on the part of the Romano-British and the Germanic immigrants. (Stuart Laycock’s book which name currently escapes me, does a pretty good job of making his ideas of what brooches were from what regions pretty accessible)
Ultimately my advice comes to this, understanding the real or fictional cultural and social context for your decisions about your character can add a lot of depth.
Are non-whites allowed to do viking reenactment? I mean people from sub-saharan Africa, India, China etc. I am facinated by viking and mideval history, but as a non-white, would I be thrown in the fire together with a cotton tunic and buckled soled knee-boots if I showed up at an event?
Mate, come reenacting! It’s a hobby - open to all! Only Actual racists would have an issue and we certainly don’t allow racists to play with us in our society and have people of many ethnicities involved!
If you’re UK based I may be able to help more, feel free to email if so, otherwise find a group and I hope they’re as cool as all the ones I play with :)
There are some non white people mentioned in the Sagas. Probably from Siberia.
1) as said, any reenactment is a hobby and should be open to everyone. In my (admittedly white) opinion, any group that would reject a member for being the 'wrong' ethnicity for their time period is a sh*tty racist one that you don't want to be involved with anyway
2) I'm not an expert, but the Vikings got around quite a lot, so there's a chance any of the ethnicities you mention could have encountered them
>20% of the people of Swansea in the 9th century were of African descent, according to oxygen isotope analysis, never mind the sagas!
@@TheWelshViking african decent as in north africa or subsaharan africa? There is no doubt there was an interface between scandi and medeteranian peoples at the time, but how common were zulu's homesteading in Birka or chinese in hedeby?
Assassin's guild scarf! Love your channel ❤
Nil mortifi sine lucre!
@@TheWelshVikingFabricati Diem, Pvnc!
Commenting to help the channel. Thanks for helping everyone dress appropriately in these troubled times. What about animal fur lined clothing for when it's not warm.
Not much evidence that I’ve seen, and again it would be very, very expensive. But we do have evidence of pile woven wool cloaks as a fake fur!
Shields? I assume round, likely center/boss gripped, maybe strapped if intended for use on horseback?
Strapped anyway to allow for shoulder carrying! But yes - a round shield with a central boss and a geometric design in achievable colours :)
@@TheWelshViking Ah ok, so a guige with arm straps if mounted and a guige with boss grip if on foot, got it. Would leaving the shield plain or maybe colored with one kind of paint be also fine If I don't want any kind of design on it? I'm shooting for an impression of a 10th century frankish cavalrymen/early-knight, don't know if it'd be inaccurate.
I'm going to check out the esim card. Thank you. Always enjoy learning and reaffirming information you teach.
And for the Viking Age: armour and fancy weapons were pretty elite. A simple farmer or footsoldier might have a spear, a shield, a longsaex (a long knife) and an axe, and maaaybe a leather or otherwise hardened cap. They really relied on the shield (and your skill with it). Swords, helmets and mail shirts were for rich people.
There are for instance some rope skullcaps (made of spiraling rope sewn together) that would at least protect somewhat against downward blows from swords. Still wouldn't prevent a concussion but at least your skull isn't split open.
Where are the rope skullcaps from? I’ve bot seen or heard of them
Hanging out for the follow up for ideas of viking things to add to my Conan mod. Hopefully sensible things. :D
👀👀👀 Intrigued
@@TheWelshViking I think yootoob will auto block links. But googling "tiktaalik dreaming conan exiles mod should show the 2. Hopefully. I also really need to update the pics. lol
I perceive many nuances in viking clothing. (I'll see myself out.)
Lol😂
Great video (as always)!! Would you mind doing a video about the “Hybrno Norse”; I know I most likely butchered the spelling. You mentioned it in a vid a long while back and I was just curious. Thank you for all that you do!! Have a great one!! -John from Detroit, Michigan USA. 🤘🏻
I was hoping to see your OC as you were talking about it, but then maybe you've made that video. I am not an enthusiast, but I like to listen to what you have to say...maybe my ancestors were these people. I want to know more about them.
Helooo im planning to write a fictional book that would feature the horse fights that I heard Vikings held, I’ve planned next to nothing about it yet & I hardly know anything about the horse fights: I’d love some insight on it or even a vid 😁love da vids (I’m gonna watch this in a lil just wanted to ask this soon tysm! 😃) Edit - I actually watched the whole thing nvm 😂
Pretty sure they would have used Fjord horse/ponies (they are on the borderline as they are short, but very strong!)
They are an ancient breed and normally shown with a "roached" (clipped) mane. They are normally a gold color, though some are more grey or pale, almost white. They should have dorsal stripe markings, and some have faint 'zebra' markings on their lower legs. These are considered a mark of a "primitive" breed.
That's a start for you ! Look online for more. They are still popular in Europe & decent #'s North America. (P.s. some more "sport" minded folks are breeding for longer/leaner sport horses versus the stocky shorter type.)
@ heyyy thanks a bunch 😃😃 I’ll definitely use this when I start working on the book, & ya I’ll have to look more into it online too 👌
Thank you for this video!
This would have come extremely in handy back when I was designing most of my Norse OCs (the vampire in my icon being one of them. haha), but instead I just furiously took notes from your older videos (as well as various other sources like museums and such, of course).
Your channel has a lot of good information! Thank you for existing on the internet.
Also yes. Hollywood needs to take notes. Their "viking" costumes are usually atrocious.
Now in winter times wool is great. I have a nice woolen tunic here (from a merchant which I know has not the best reputation in the 'scene' and shall therefore not be named). My only question is: What about the summer? Especially because they will get warmer. Has anyone some ideas? Is wool still a good idea? Linen?
Lightweight wool. Its important to remember also we're talking about a cold region in time where the average temperature was colder than it is now. They also had less issues just going shirtless and hiking up their pants if they had to work in the field and it was a scorcher out
when it's really warm, probably just the undertunic made of linen (which is a bit of a luxury as it takes more manhours to go from a flax crop to a tunic than wool, but boy it's MUCH nicer against the skin than even fine wool).
@@codycarter9906 Yeah, I know that part. I live near Haithabu/Hedeby and want to strike a balance between authenticity and, well, not dying by dehydration, because I tend to sweat a lot.^^ What do you consider "lightweight"? Mine is ca. 350 g/m²
@@kalamir93 There can be much lighter-weight wool. No idea what is authentic. But wool gauze IS a thing, so, technically, you can have much lighterweight wool. It's just hard to come by these days because the modern world has decided wool = winter clothes.
Awesome vid Jimmy. Now i wanna makea Viking aoC just as an excuse to do more sewing LOLOL.
That was awesome! Thank you. 🍻
This is so wholesome
You are on Earth. LOL
Repeat after me: historical viking clothing is not a netflix tv show cosplay. Thank you Jimmy!
Your humble claim to not be an expert is well founded. However compared to the vast number of your followers your skill set and knowledge base does give you quite a bit of expertise in those areas hence we can consider you to be an
Expert. It’s all relative and you History Jimmy in my opinion (no one else’s matter to me anyway) are an expert even though you don’t consider yourself to be one. So there Expert Jimmy! Hail haha.
Quick Question: what plant fibres were used by the Viking age Celtic peoples to make cloth?
They would've used linen or hemp at that time. (But I'm no expert)
linen, hemp, nettles. very, very, very unlikely cotton. better not cotton.
Flax or nettle I imagine.
Linen flax. If they had trade with the Mediterranean they may have gotten cotton. There are finds of silk but rarely , and only for the wealthy. But as some one said maybe nettles
I saw a reference to hemp identified as a warp thread in some textiles.
Main message: Vikings flex :p
...And take inspiration from the sources :)
I am sadly allergic to silver...so i think I would need to play an incredibly wealthy person if i wanted to have jewelry 😂
No, quite the contrary ! A lot of jewellery is bronze, silver is the really expensive stuff.
As Loweene says: bronze, iron, gold, bone, jet, rock crystal - all options!
I became alergict to 925 silver in my 20s, other cheep metals as a kid. Stirling and 925 silver usually have a 5% alloy of something, usually nickle to increase strength according to my jeweler and that's what I'm alergict to. I usually buy titanium. There are many lovely sellers on etsy who sell titanium and shined up it can look like silver. But I usually wear lots of non metal jewelry like: Jade, lapis, laramar onyx, and pearls. I got some glass beads too.there are many non metal options out there!
@@HosCreatesYou could also sew small patches of fabric to the inside of your garments where pins pass through to protect your skin, as an option. Pin through the garment but don't pierce the patch.
Could you do a video about the history of the longbow in wales?
Marvelous!
You failed to cover facial tattoos and the proper horns for the helmet.
Oh how I laughed.
Does anyone happen to know the intro music? Numerous music ID apps yield nothing! 😢
Sospan Fach, a Welsh folk song
@ really appreciated!
He did a video on it once. Translated and everything.
There’s got to be more BS about ‘Vikings’ than just about any other historical group. So refreshing to see some good, solid, evidence based advice on the real article. The sad thing is that it’s not a great mystery, there’s a fair amount of available artefacts to study, it just gets swept away by the fantasy crap from the TV shows and movies. I grew up in York BTW, I remember the Coppergate dig , and the Yorvik display is great.
While there's a _lot_ of BS about Vikings out there, I think there's more absolute drivel & misinformation about Native Americans by far, or the Celts. Both groups have been exploited & romanticized in unbelievably stupid ways.
@@DrachenGothik666 That's exactly what I immediately thought of. Native Americans, specifically. The fact that media tends to forget there actually were / are hundreds if not thousands of different cultures in the Americas, in particular.
I found your wonderful channel two weeks ago and by now have watched all your videos 😅 the sospan song is haunting my dreams
My OC in my reenactment group is an Anglo Saxon farmboy whose home was piliged and raided by a viking warband and, my OC was taken as a slave and eventually fought and earned his freedom, and then became a respected and feared warrior in the same warband.
So my kit it a mix of Anglo Saxon and Viking. But all based of hisrotical finds, evidence from the period and items and pieces from archaeological digs. My clothing is natural hues of light greens, browns, beige and un-dyed wools and linens. All of similar materials & colours the vikings/anglo saxons would've used to make clothing during the period.
But my green outer tunic has some red and yellow brading to signify a bit of wealth and prestige, with me being a warrior. And a brown and beige under-tunic, I'm also having a pair of red and beige herringbone twill wool trousers made for my cloths too. A pair of brown legwraps with green ties, some simple leather lace turnshoes (which were purchased at Yorvik viking fest)
an anglo saxon styled leather belt with adorning buckle and belt end. And leather pouches big and small, plus a leather tassle & loop satchel and deerskin, A brown cloak & penanular broaches And brown pillbox cap & brown and yellow style nailbind wool hat. Leather/ woolen mittens for the cold too.
Plus some viking & anglo saxon related neckalces repros of similar ones from digs done in Norway and England, Anglo saxon sword & viking sword. A 9th century style fighting axe, anglo saxon short and long fighting spears, a round shield too plus Naselhelm with chainmail/leather neck guard.
Plus padded leather gloves & repurposed leather greaves from GDFB and I've reused them as leather vambraces.
(planning to get a anglo saxon klappenrock wrap around "coat" in the future for combat armour).
But I'm always still changing, updating and adding new additions & pieces to my kit and equipment, even though I've been doing reenactment for 6 years now, I'm always seeing and looking at new things to add or aquire to make my kit even more historically correct for combat or living history.