Kit Resources

These kit guides aim to describe the sort of clothes worn by typical Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans in England, plus some of the artefacts they used in combat and everyday life.

The best books for people interested in clothing are Thor Ewing's Viking Clothing and Gale Owen-Crocker's Dress in Anglo-Saxon England. Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England AD 450-700 by Penelope Walton Rogers is very good at a slightly earlier period. Kevin Leahy's book Anglo-Saxon Crafts is a great resource for a variety of authentic crafts and techniques, and for quick advice on specific craft techniques, eHow can be very useful.

Overviews

Clothing and textiles

Basics & Techniques

Patterns & Guides

Archaeology of textiles

The following websites deal with Dark Age fabric crafts in general. They may be useful for several techniques and for finding out about authentic tools and methods.

Weapons & Armour

Armour and protection

Weaponry

Leather work

Metal, Wood, Bone, Antler and Glass

See also:

Tents

We have not made our own tents, but we recommend the following links:

Ravensgard has a marvellous page on the surviving Viking tents (offsite)

Ydalir Vikings provide instructions for making a Geteld tent (offsite)

This pdf from Hurstwic explains how to make a replica of the small A-frame tent from the Oseberg ship.