Wulfheodenas in Sweden
Wulfheodenas Uppsala Trip

Hi Folks,
To all interested parties,
Early Anglo Saxon, Merovingian and Vendel period Living History group,
Wulfheodenas,
Will be making a pilgrimage to the old Burial mounds at Gamla Uppsala, Sweden on May 13th this year.
With Seminars both for Students and Academics in the morning and the public in the afternoon.
We're in the area for a few days and hope to visit the SHM (Statens Historiska Museet) Stockholm, on the Monday.

We will be bringing the core of our Vendel and Valsgärde kit, and related kit.


If you are in the neighbourhood, please feel free to drop by and say hello.

Wulfheodenas.


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Very much looking forward to finally meeting you guys in person. Regarding the museum in Stockholm - wasn't that planned for tuesday, instead of monday though?
Indeed Artis - we will be going to the museum in Stockholm is on Wednesday 15th May. Probably not in costume though.

We are looking forward to meeting you as well.

Paul
I'll be there!

My current kit is late viking age and not Vendel so I'll probably just come in modern clothes.
wulfheodenas in Sweden
Sorry, well corrected Paul.
We are also looking forward to meeting our Swedish myArmoury friends.
Sweden trip
Hi All,
Just a quick amendment. We will be attending the SHM in Stockholm in kit. In a semi Official capacity.
Mainly in the morning of Wednesday the 15th (of May).
and for any interested parties we will have with us, several Vendel period swords and seaxes etc., some of which have featured on myArmoury recently. Some which have yet to be revealed!
By Thorkil, Patrick Barta, Vince Evans, Dave Roper and Matt Bunker.

Plus of course the opportunity to see many of the re creations including the helms, next to some of the originals.

We will also be accompanied by Peter Johnsson , Vince Evans and Dave Roper.
So really worth a look in if your into swords and shiny stuff.

Bruce
Sweden trip
''By Thorkil, Patrick Barta, Vince Evans, Dave Roper and Matt Bunker.''

and Petr Florianek......

Fellow forumite Peter Cowan will also travel be travelling the long distance from over the Atlantic to join us, see you there Peter.

It would be great to meet fellow forumites there too, if your in the area say hello.

best
Dave
Wulfheodenas in Sweden
Cheers Dave,
Yes, sorry Petr, didn't mean to miss you out. :)
Wulfheodenas in Sweden
Well, back at home now.
What can I say, an unbelievably brilliant trip.

Firstly some big Thankyou's are in order;

To Roger Wikell, thanks for your support and helping to make this a possibilty.
Jonas Wikborg, thank you very much for the guided tour of the current Gamla Uppsala dig,

To Fredrik Käck, Gunilla Beckholmen, and all the excellent staff at Gamla Uppsala museum, for their kind and gracious hospitality.
To Dr John Ljungkvist (Uppsala University), for the kind and informative tour of the Gamla Uppsala site, including the great hall, and for his patience and time.

To Prof Frands Herschend and Prof Neil Price (Uppsala University ) for their geniality and help in making this a reality.

Also to John Worley, the Curator of Uppsala University's Gustavianum museum, for his undivided attention, hospitality and unbridled enthusiasm
and for securing us access to the museum storerooms.
Of course thanks to staff at the storerooms for allowing us 'strangers' in.

To Kent Andersson (head of the Culture and collections unit at the Statens Historiska Museet, Stockholm.) for the personal tour and the hospitality shown to us. and indeed to all the staff at the SHM, who were warm and welcoming.

To Fellow Forumite, Swordmaster and friend Peter Johnsson, for his behind the scenes efforts and his undying enthusiasm and congeniality.

To Swordmaster, Vince Evans and his wife, for taking the time to be with us all the way from Hawaii. His insight into the many swords we saw was invaluable.

To our latest Wulfheodenas aquisition, and fellow forumite Peter Cowan, thanks for also travelling thousands of miles to be part of this special trip. also thanks for bringing all your beautiful kit for us to see. You really helped the whole picture and I'm glad you really enjoyed it. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Stockholm.

To Forumite and friend Artis Aboltins, who also travelled a great distance to be with us. Great to meet you. Glad you had a great time.

To longtime Wulfheodenas friend and semi "resident lensman" Lindsey Kerr. For capturing us at our best!

To Paul Mortimer, Steve Pollington and Matt Bunker for an excellent and well received presentation.
To Dave Roper, of Wulfheodenas and Ganderwick Creations for many fresh insights into well known shiny stuff, seen by us close up for the 1st time.

and finally to all of my Wulf brothers and the lovely people of Sweden, for an unforgettable, exciting and awe inspiring trip.

Enough for now.
But I'm sure Paul M, Dave H, Matt B and others will have more feedback to add.

I will add my post visit report shortly, after I have had time to assimilate, still a little overwhelmed!
I want to put my own experience of the arms and armour we saw into a perspective, that may be of interest to others here.

Bruce

(I do apologise if I've forgotten anyone by name!)



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Sweden trip
Hi All,
Well here is my post Sweden trip appraisal.
Firstly we visited the museum at Gamla Uppsala, followed by, on the next day, the Gustavianum museum in Uppsala and the museum storerooms, and then the Statens Historiska Museet in Stockholm on the next day.

Most of the more well known Vendel and Valsgärde artifacts were shared between these three venues. Particularly all the helmet and sword re creations we have in the group that are relevant to this thread.

Now my first point is that between the different museums there is an inconsistency in how the artifacts were displayed.
Some pieces were in two sided glass cases, for example the Valsgärde 7 swords, which gave a better insight into the design and construction of various elements. Also the V6 helm was in a case with a full 360deg view.

However others, most disappointingly were displayed with one side to the wall.
This was frustrating as some of the artifacts, to my knowledge, have no existing photos or even drawings of the 'other' side.
For example, myself and Vince Evans were studying the Vendel 1 Ringsword, as I am commissioning him to make me it.
My problem is that the intricate interlace and the arrangement and design of the garnet inlay on the reverse side may not be identical to the one the commonly seen side. Plus the case it was in, rendered the sword some distance away from the glass. the shape of the case making it very difficult to get pictures from ALL the critical angles.
This was highlighted by the discovery that the V7 ringsword has got tooling on the leather or wood on the reverse of the scabbard, Which is every bit as interesting as that on the front side.

The general conclusion seems to be that the Vendel and Valsgärde finds, whilst being obviously recognised as cultural treasures are not quite given the pride of place that they truly deserve. There seems to be in Sweden at present a 'Viking-centric' attitude, with more importance and priority ascribed to artifacts from the Viking period, At least in the context of museums.
This may lie in part, in the fact that little has been done in studying the Vendel and Valsgärde graves since the original reports some time ago. From what was discussed with Academics whilst there, it seems that the consensus is that more research should be undertaken on these graves, This could indeed shed new light, given what is currently known from other similar culturally connected finds and the employing current technology and techniques to appraise the finds.

We as a group, hope that our trip to Sweden and the great interest shown there by our hosts, may play a small part in generating some kind of momentum within the academic community and indeed the public themselves.
A perceptible shift in interest towards this period is noted. myArmoury not least, being in part responsible for this. Which is great, for those interested in the period. Another boon for the period are those great armourers out there, that are willing to undertake re creations and to take risks creating things that have very scant research from which to work.
More Research= More Commissions= More gorgeous shiny things to drool over.
I hope my simple appraisal is not too 'idealistic' .
But with a subject this interseting, its hard to not be optimistic. Especially given the knowledge, of what the finding of the Staffordshire Hoard has done for the study of the Early AS period here in the UK.

Thoughts, Ideas, Suggestions?

Bruce
ps photo, courtesy of Linda Wåhlander at the SHM


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Wulfheodenas are planning to return to Uppsala during May 2016, about a year from now. It will be good to see any myArmoury members there. I will post further details as our itinerary develops.


Paul

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