Hiberno Norse Textiles - Other than Wincott Heckett, what do we know?

by YlvaTheRed

I live in Australia, which can make accessing information tricky at times. My area of focus is the Hiberno Norse / Norse Gaels (9th - 12thc CE). I am well acquainted with Elizabeth Wincott Heckett's "Viking Age Headcoverings from Dublin" but I am looking for any other evidence of clothing/textile finds from this time/area. I have a feeling that I'm not going to find anything from Ireland, and if that's the case, what Norwegian-found textiles are likely to be appropriate to assume *could* have had similar styles migrate with people to Ireland?

textandtrowel

I think your best bet for finding information on Norwegian-found textiles will be in association with the Oseberg ship finds. The excavation was done long ago, and I can't think of a single good scholarly overview in English, although there are some earlier publications by the Viking Ship Museum (Oslo) that you might be able to find.

Since the evidence is so patchy (pun intended!), most surveys are fairly broad in scope and use multiple lines of evidence. I don't know of such a study for Ireland, although one seems to be in the works. I also really enjoy the work done on this website by an author in Denmark.

The places where I would begin looking for published information are below. For detailed information, I find Owen-Crocker and Walton Rogers to be excellent references. Ewing is more your focus but lacks the same degree of detail. Mannering is a terrific complement, and although she's an expert in textiles, they're only one facet of this book. Vedeler adds significant context for the silk textiles that some of the upper-tier elites would have worn.

  • Thor Ewing, Viking Clothing (Stroud: Tempus, 2006).
  • Ulla Mannering, Iconic Costumes: Scandinavian Late Iron Age Costume Iconography, Ancient Textiles Series 25 (Oxford: Oxbow, 2017).
  • Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Dress in Anglo-Saxon England, 2nd ed. (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2004).
  • Marianne Vedeler, Silk for Vikings, Ancient Textiles Series 15 (Oxford: Oxbow, 2014).
  • Penelope Walton Rogers, Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England, AD 450–700, Council for British Archaeology Research Report 145 (York: Council for British Archaeology, 2007).