Greetings! I am an avid Viking Reenactor looking to improve my combat kit. I fight in an organization called the Adrian Empire, where Rebated steel combat (ACL style, but larger time frame) is a tier of combat that I'm striving to get geared up for. My primary time period of focus is the Late Viking age (Knut The Great to Harold Godwinsson) Anglo-Danish Huscarls, with some interest in the Varangian Guard. But enough about me, let's get to the purpose of this post: Gear!

I've got a few questions for my senior reenactors regarding the gear of both of these groups of warriors:

First, I was wondering if, by the time of Halold Godwinsson, the spangenhelm had been predominantly phased out in favor of the single piece dome typified by representations of the Norman Invaders? In regards to the Varangians, would they have replaced their native helm styles with the "Phrygian Cap" style helms used by the Byzantines?

Another sticking point is leg/arm and hand protection. Armoured combat requires arm, hand and leg protection be used and I was wondering if there are any examples of such that I can mimic? I've pretty much just resigned myself to using splint style armor on my legs and arms, but is there anything period that I can use for hands? All I can find the Visby gauntlets, but that's a few centuries too late for my tastes.

Any help that you guys can render would be much appreciated.

ok, time to tackle this one

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/...fences.htm this is a good source

as for gauntlets? the best bet you'd have is to just resign yourself to not having a historical thing to work with... and just accept theyre there for safety only...

there are some possibilities maybe, there is evidence of a late roman scale covered mitten of sorts , and some sort of wierd overlapping plate thing used by the sassanians... the other alternative is to make a simple design of leather plates overlapping over the knuckles with a thumb piece or under maille perhaps

you're best off just accepting that gauntlets are a compromise for safely and are not a representation of historical armour of the period...

in reality anyone prior to the 13th century has pretty much no options for hard material gauntlets but splints are a good idea for legs and arms, another option for the forarms is copious amounts of padding covered with maille possibly scales but i'm not sure if chiopsella were specified as being scaled or not

to play it safe, i'd suggest essentially building up a kit as an anglo danish huskarl without any major imperial modifications except perhaps small additions to your personal jewelery or decorations on the weapons...


its easiest and most reliable to think of yourself who has been in the guard a short time only and probably has the armour he owned when he arrived in the capital...

one thing a varangian though would be able to change is being that the range of colours and fabric choices go way up due to the empires richness and the guards payroll , perhaps they wore a turban to keep wioth the byzantine fashions (conjecture on my part) and wore a ceremnial style cloak on courtly occasions

though seeing as how a person joining the guard needs a certain level of wealth (i think they need to pay a pound of gold to be allowed to join before being tested ) as such your level of clothing from back home is likely to be fairly good quality however as a varangian you might have a nice silk shirt and a cotton one instead of all linen and wool


as for more general gear, think of yourself as a anglo danish huskarl first, as such your clothing, armour and weapon would reflect that...

helm- as you said single piece nasel helm, (dont bother with the phrygian cap seeing as how its more of a 12th century deal, not to mention, as i noted above, if you're in the guard you have enough money to afford your own helmet so youd likely keep that instead)

sword- standard late viking sword, check the typology for what was available, but a type X with brazilnut pommel or tea cosy pommel are a safe bet...

(also, dont worry about pattern welded blades, theyre more of something of earlier centuries, by the 11th monosteel blades had become just as good as a pattern welded one and not being nearly as expensive

armour- maille, for the sake of comfort padding can be a thin gambeson or several layers of wool clothing under the maille standalone thick gambesons pretty much have no evidence of existing in the region at that time so in terms of pure historical accuracy a gambeson is non existant but it makes fighting more comfy so most people wear one anyways

Doesn't matter. If he isn't a Varangian then my point still stands about us not knowing what armour they wore.

Don't we have any description of theie equipment at Alexiad? I remember dimly her mentions them wearing armor during a mass at Hagia Sophia

First piture here in the bottom:

http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=11667&highlight=

We don't know which battle that is depicting.

Thank you all for your fantastic advice! I always appreciate assistance in bringing more accuracy to my reenactment

Following for updates, I am woefully ignorant on this subject

New question. Scrounging about the internet for maille rings ('cause a finished hauberk is beyond my price range) I've found both flat cross section rings and round cross section rings. As both are dome rivets, is there one type that is more historically accurate for the Viking Age, or is it simply a fabrication created by two different modern production techniques.