Norse headwear
Jul. 7th, 2011 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eliskimoI've been feeling dissatisfied with the usual approach to Norse women's headgear in the SCA for some time now. The Jorvik cap and the Dublin cap are fine ... but they don't seem right somehow for high status personas. Of course, it doesn't help when I see the clear SCA anachronism of wearing a crown or baronial coronet over top of one of these caps. That just looks silly.
While the popular image of "Viking" women has them wearing two blonde braids, The Viking Answer Lady website mentions a "typical" Norse hairstyle of wearing the hair uncovered, pulled back in a knotted ponytail -- which could also be described as a bun against the head with a "tail" of hair sticking out from it. Gale Owen-Crocker mentions this style as well in her paragraphs on Viking women in "Dress in Anglo-Saxon England". I had a discussion with Unnr a few years ago where she talked about the possibility of laying a scarf over top of the head, knotting it under the hair against the nape of the neck, and then braiding the tails of the scarf in with the hair in a single plait hanging down the back, giving a similar look to some of the picture stones. Thor Ewing makes a similar suggestion in "Viking Clothing," associating the look with the term "sveigr" used in Norse literature. I'm curious how that would look with a coronet -- if would look less silly than a coronet over a Jorvik hood -- but I haven't tried it yet.
Another possibility for "sveigr" that Ewing mentions is essentially a simple turban, since the word is related to the Old Norse for "to bend or twist". I have seen this look in the SCA, although generally with later period Anglo-Saxons, or with later continental cultures. I'm not sure how it would work with a coronet. The other common word for a woman's headdress in Old Norse according to Ewing is "faldr" which simply means "folded" This is what is usually associated with the Jorvik and Dublin caps, although in Rigsthula, a Jarl's wife is described as having a "high curved headdress" and the word used is "fald." Ewing suggests that might mean a cap into which the hair is stuffed, like some of the women on Oseburg tapestry. Although he doesn't make the connection, it seems to me that would be similar to the later period St. Birgitta cap. Somewhere else (I can't remember where) I've seen the suggestion of Norse women wearing their hair in a similar cap, but made of openwork sprang. Owen-Crocker notes the mention of the Jarl's wife's "curved" headdress and then in another section, points out that some silk caps with linen ties were found at Coppergate. In the two line drawings she includes, the caps look to be pleated and gathered at the point near the ear where the ties attach. That is another headdress I haven't really seen on anyone in the SCA. I'm curious about it.
Something else that Owen-Crocker write that I found interesting is this:
"It has generally been assumed that the 'train' costume and the 'paired brooch' costume are one and the same, but it must be noted brooches are not usually visible on the profile figures depicted in the 'train.' It seems likely that this 'train' costume belongs to a higher rank in Scandinavian society than the 'paired brooch' one; the use of extra material, particularly if it is to trail on the ground, is a symptom of that conspicuous consumption that has marked the wealthy classes throughout much of the history of mankind. In the Icelandic poem Rigsthula it is the woman of the class of jarl who wears a costume with a train, whereas the paired pins and keys belong to the class of carl." (pg. 164)
This, of course, raises a interesting question as to how an SCA queen with a Norse persona should dress ...
However, in this current discussion of headgear it brings me back to something Ewing mentions, that at Birka there are a number of graves where the women were wearing a decorated headband (some across the forehead, some around the back of the head), but these are also graves where the women are not wearing the turtle brooches. He says it is also unclear whether these bands were worn alone, or were associated with either a faldr or sveigr. The Viking Answer Lady says brocaded fillets were worn by Swedish Vikings, but now I'm wondering if the Birka graves might indicate that decorated fillets were more indicative of higher status than a simple east v. west sartorial preference.
Finally, as for the Jorvik/Dublin hoods/caps, both Owen-Crocker and Ewing mention almost in passing that these could have been nightcaps, and not really for day wear, we really don't know. Of course, if they were nightcaps, it makes wearing them with a crown or coronet all the more silly.
I'm sure other people have already discussed this and I'm late to the game, but Norse is my secondary persona and I'll admit I'm not quite motivated enough to join the Norsefolk list just to see what others think.
While the popular image of "Viking" women has them wearing two blonde braids, The Viking Answer Lady website mentions a "typical" Norse hairstyle of wearing the hair uncovered, pulled back in a knotted ponytail -- which could also be described as a bun against the head with a "tail" of hair sticking out from it. Gale Owen-Crocker mentions this style as well in her paragraphs on Viking women in "Dress in Anglo-Saxon England". I had a discussion with Unnr a few years ago where she talked about the possibility of laying a scarf over top of the head, knotting it under the hair against the nape of the neck, and then braiding the tails of the scarf in with the hair in a single plait hanging down the back, giving a similar look to some of the picture stones. Thor Ewing makes a similar suggestion in "Viking Clothing," associating the look with the term "sveigr" used in Norse literature. I'm curious how that would look with a coronet -- if would look less silly than a coronet over a Jorvik hood -- but I haven't tried it yet.
Another possibility for "sveigr" that Ewing mentions is essentially a simple turban, since the word is related to the Old Norse for "to bend or twist". I have seen this look in the SCA, although generally with later period Anglo-Saxons, or with later continental cultures. I'm not sure how it would work with a coronet. The other common word for a woman's headdress in Old Norse according to Ewing is "faldr" which simply means "folded" This is what is usually associated with the Jorvik and Dublin caps, although in Rigsthula, a Jarl's wife is described as having a "high curved headdress" and the word used is "fald." Ewing suggests that might mean a cap into which the hair is stuffed, like some of the women on Oseburg tapestry. Although he doesn't make the connection, it seems to me that would be similar to the later period St. Birgitta cap. Somewhere else (I can't remember where) I've seen the suggestion of Norse women wearing their hair in a similar cap, but made of openwork sprang. Owen-Crocker notes the mention of the Jarl's wife's "curved" headdress and then in another section, points out that some silk caps with linen ties were found at Coppergate. In the two line drawings she includes, the caps look to be pleated and gathered at the point near the ear where the ties attach. That is another headdress I haven't really seen on anyone in the SCA. I'm curious about it.
Something else that Owen-Crocker write that I found interesting is this:
"It has generally been assumed that the 'train' costume and the 'paired brooch' costume are one and the same, but it must be noted brooches are not usually visible on the profile figures depicted in the 'train.' It seems likely that this 'train' costume belongs to a higher rank in Scandinavian society than the 'paired brooch' one; the use of extra material, particularly if it is to trail on the ground, is a symptom of that conspicuous consumption that has marked the wealthy classes throughout much of the history of mankind. In the Icelandic poem Rigsthula it is the woman of the class of jarl who wears a costume with a train, whereas the paired pins and keys belong to the class of carl." (pg. 164)
This, of course, raises a interesting question as to how an SCA queen with a Norse persona should dress ...
However, in this current discussion of headgear it brings me back to something Ewing mentions, that at Birka there are a number of graves where the women were wearing a decorated headband (some across the forehead, some around the back of the head), but these are also graves where the women are not wearing the turtle brooches. He says it is also unclear whether these bands were worn alone, or were associated with either a faldr or sveigr. The Viking Answer Lady says brocaded fillets were worn by Swedish Vikings, but now I'm wondering if the Birka graves might indicate that decorated fillets were more indicative of higher status than a simple east v. west sartorial preference.
Finally, as for the Jorvik/Dublin hoods/caps, both Owen-Crocker and Ewing mention almost in passing that these could have been nightcaps, and not really for day wear, we really don't know. Of course, if they were nightcaps, it makes wearing them with a crown or coronet all the more silly.
I'm sure other people have already discussed this and I'm late to the game, but Norse is my secondary persona and I'll admit I'm not quite motivated enough to join the Norsefolk list just to see what others think.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-11 06:31 pm (UTC)One of the local Laurels who's gone hardcore into Viking research recently does this, but I'm not sure if she has specific documentation for it.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-13 04:33 am (UTC)