REAL Viking Jewellery Guide: Rings, Pendants and Bracelets (Oh My!)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2024
- Bling is the thing! Vikings loved it and so should you! The Viking and Early Medieval period was awash with gold, silver, garnets, rubies, crystal, and all sorts of beautiful creations! But what sort of arm rings and neckwear did the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons really wear? And how can you tell what's good for your re-enactment impression?
Join me as we take a look at just a few of the thousands of shiny things the Viking world left for us. We might even learn a new Welsh word on the way there!
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Some source material:
samla.raa.se/xm...
www.gearandgra...
finds.org.uk/c...
www.academia.e...
mis.historiska....
www.pitt.edu/~...
Ok, the teeth thing. My Mari Lwyd (see vid) had some loose teeth, and I had to pop them back into place. I ran out of hands, so one of them got clamped between my jaws. Hence knowing the unpleasant tase of horse gnashers.
🤣🤣
I did wonder but thought it would be impolite to ask. :D
I suspected that might be the case.
🤣🤣
I didn't ask. 😆 Things happen. My children were horrified to know that I know what dirt, grass, and -- er, corral dust taste like.
"Have you heard about Snorri's new jewellery?"
"Yes, it is the torc of the town."
((giggle))
Oooh TORC... I thought it was Torque and was confused when the massive golden doughnut did not appear before my eyes upon a cursory search
@@AgentPedestrian The Celts with the huge torques were always pulling burnouts when racing their chariots in the street.
Not now Euan!! Back in your box!!
"Torc" is for pickup trucks.
I love the real "Welsh noises" instead of a cut or elevator music 😂
Yet most of it was in English 😂
*_Me attempting to transcribe spoken Welsh:_* "More Welsh noises."
The best Thors hammer is from Denmark and have a runic inscription that say "hammer" :D
I've seen that and I love it because it just seems so sarcastic...
Someone needs to make one and carve in hammer time. 😆
Maybe the maker wasn't confident in it being recognizable as a hammer? I like to do what I call 'speed doodles' as a drawing excercises where I draw something on a time limit without references in ink so I can't erase anything if it doesn't look right, and most of the time I go back and label things with arrows before showing them to people so that A) they know that the weird thing around the guy's neck is supposed to be headphones, and B) that I am aware that that's not what headphones look like. So yeah, I'd probably write 'hammer' on a pendant I made if I wasn't confident that it actually looked like a hammer...
Edit: I don't know why I typed "writing excercise" instead of "drawing excercises"...guess my brain is tired...
@@Amy_the_Lizard It's actually a fairly intricate example of a mjolnir pendant www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2014/06/30/thors-hammer-found-on-lolland/
"Are you Thor, the God of Hammers?"
"I guess: it says so right there."
"It's hot today in Scotland." - says while wearing a wool sweater...
My first thought also🤣
Ditto. 🖖😊
He's got to appeal to all the Lindybeige fans in one way or another.
THIS. Just peel off the jumper and you'll be fine. Or at least okay.
Haha, yes!
The thought of a young Viking-age girl wearing a bear's tooth pendent has got me thinking two things: 1) People will always be people, and young girls will always love being badass in their own, weird way, and 2) I was immediately reminded of the Norwegian folktale (collected in the 19th C., but still) "East of the Sun, and West of the Moon," where a young girl is courted (given away to) a prince enchanted into the form of a white bear.
That makes so much sense as a young girl's pendant! I literally have a pendant of two adjoined boars' tusks which I put together from found tusks when I was a teenager; not as something for reenactment (I'd never even heard of reenactments when I was a kid) but because it felt "badass" (especially because I was small for my age.)
I've been a goldsmith for about 14 years now and I'm getting into Scandinavian history, viking... looking to begin reproducing some of these designs. I find this stuff so freaking cool man. If you want anything handmade let me know!
Well daggone, please tell me you have a website
You should show some on video!
Definitely make some Celtic torcs
I’m definitely interested
The Welsh Noises were the best part. ROFL
YES GOOD CORRECT
While you were mentioning that Bronze was a perfectly period metal for Viking age, I thought about a Viking Woman with Bronze Tortoise Broaches and how they would just shimmer and shine in Candle/Firelight in the long home.
Ugh Gorgeous 😍😍
My favourite Viking Lady Shiny as a dressmaker are needle cases. The perfect practical bling for the proud needleworker.
The extended period of *Welsh noises* *chaos and cacophony* "Oh I'm behind the chair" *loses balance* "OH SHI--!" *cut to test screen*
Cinematic history right there.
Close second is the Salvador Dali moment
We do indeed subscribe to watch him fall over.
This video is simply iconic
I've been sent down a rabbit hole by Abby Cox and binged a couple of videos from the channel but this one is it, I'm never leaving again
"Do you want to see my boar's tusk?"
"Snorri, no!"
you seen one tusk you've seen them all :D
D'you know what Snorre (what Snorri usually is called in Swedish) is also a word for in Swedish? P*nis. A kind of childish name, but none the less.
@@scouttyra I did not know that. Accidental puns are the best puns :D
"Beads will get their own show"
Ah... the venerable bead (sorry hehe)
I bought a reproduction metal bead pendant from the Aarhus viking museum back in the 80s, with a simple double spiral pattern on its surface. I'm guessing maybe would've been worn over clothing, as it used to constantly bash me in the sternum, collar bone and throat like a pretty, vicious little demolition ball.
Really glad to have found your channel, enjoying your enthusiasm, engaging delivery and wry BS debunking :)
I used to wear pewter beads at the ends of my braids for Celtic music festivals. I was a living flail weapon.
@@lisafish1449 I've always wondered if those were as painful as they looked. . . and if you spun your head too fast, you could give yourself a black eye?
I will love you forever for saying that research should be part of our hobby!!
Dammit buy I had managed to stop laughing and was just taking a swig of tea when you pointed out where the boars horn was now to go wipe the screen.
Just a note: if you can claim it's 'hot' WHILE WEARING A WOOL SWEATER, it's a very different type of 'hot' to what we in Canada (well, parts of Canada) are suffering through. Thirty- four, with a humidex of 42 anyone? Sorry, that's not on 'jewelry' topic...but even the idea of a wool sweater makes me faint...
Wonderful video though!
It's been 34 and humid in southern UK today I was sweating in cotton and linen, wooly jumpers are mad!!🥵
We hit over 40 and humid at one point this summer in some parts of Canada
We do not remove our jumper whilst filming. This is the way.
@@TheWelshViking I seem to recall a shirtless moment or 2...
I thought he might come back from the ring hunt without the jumper 😄
😂 The search for the ring was epic.
Sits in a wooly sweater, complains about heat.
Never change :D
As an archaeology PhD student focusing on Islamic glass, I’m very excited for your bead video! I’m not well-versed in the glass/precious stones of Europe during this time (the most I know of is in connection to early medieval Islamic trade networks), so I can’t wait to see the examples from assemblages that you’ll show! Beads are lovely and little appreciated outside of academia. Thanks for a great channel and I’m excited for more of your research!
Not going to lie, that boar's tooth diagram had me thinking.... Butt plug?
I'll leave 🤣
:D
Well, modern morticians use a kind of buttplugg to prevent , ehm , stuff from leaking out
@@scouttyra Very true! Makes one wonder.
@@scouttyra that might confuse archaeologists of the future 😂
Idiom of the day: Sweating like a Tory without a trust fund.
This Idiom is going to be fun to use out here in Deep East Texas. rofl
@@bonniehyden962 Even better if it's said with a stereotypical Texas accent! XD
I'm definitely incorporating it into my Hoosier vernacular.
As much as I loved the main content and found it fascinating - I have to say that the off screen chaos was EVERYTHING ^*^ Much giggling!
Ikr! I was giggling from the very beginning, when he was describing the little sausage-shaped dog leaving a 💩 in his yard 😂
Lots of dogs in our neighborhood, always leaving peemail for each other lol.
So interesting! I was in the Frisian Museum in Leeuwarden last week and I loved their permanent history of Friesland exhibition. I think I bored my mom telling her all the background info, some of which I learned about here. (I was also telling her about all of the clothing stuff, learned from various costubers. There was an exhibition on embroidery going on that was a lot of fun.)
I love that the Welsh noises stayed in. 10/10
What a lovely romp through the bling shop! Temple pendants are indeed still part of Eastern European women’s headdresses…in fact, stretching all over Asia, down to the Caucasus and as far as China in one design or another…and you’ll be delighted I’m sure to know that you’re farewell sign off cc’s in English as ‘oh well I’m a troll’…🤣🤪
"Well, I'm a troll" cracks me up every time.
Ornaments suspended at the temples are also part of some Dutch and Friesian women's folk dress - usually called "oorijzers" (literally "ear-irons").
@@rachelboersma-plug9482 Ooh! I'm a fantasy writer, and I'm always looking for subtle ways to keep everyone in my multi-species settings from wearing the same 'generic medieval fantasy person' clothes you see all over the genre, so I'll have to look into those more! ^_^
@@Amy_the_Lizard Here's a basic 2-part overview (not academic, but well illustrated). One of my great-grandmothers came from the Scheveningen area and was still wearing oorijzers in the 1950s.
Edit: whoops, forgot actual link: ateliernostalgia.wordpress.com/2016/09/27/oorijzers-ear-irons-part-1/
@@rachelboersma-plug9482 tank you very much for the link!!
Yay! Shiny things. Corvid brain happy
Inside you have two corvids, and they both like shinies!!
I enjoy the humor and intellect that you put into every video. Thank you!
21:30 looks like a dummy holder - fasten the ring to a linen bag full of sweetened mashed grain and the pin to little Bjørn's woollen tunic so he can't throw it out of his Viking pram when he gets bored.
If there isn't at least one Venerable Bede joke in your bead video I think you'll have to pack in this whole thing
Ah yes, the venereal bede. Can't forget why he was cloistered away.
you are an absolute joy.. you make me chuckle and giggle and other things.. I love ya.
Oh my, I want all the things.... Yes, I talk to my things as well, and have outbursts in strange ululations. Okay, that's the first time I have used that word in over 25 years.
Not sure that is a good thing.
Anyhow, Thank You for another lovely video my overseas friend I will never meet. Huge hugs! Nice sweater, by the way.
Just wanna say that your channel finally convinced me to start reenacting. I just ordered most of my kit and now I'm off to find a group to join.
"Welsh noises" are my favorite. Thanks for a fun video after a busy day!
For some reason, this made me think of a dragon, which specializes in hoarding Viking jewellery. That would be an awesome hoard. Looking forward to the beads video!
This just went from a terrible day to an awesome one.
There is an incredibly beautiful ring in the National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology. Its in the Viking exhibition, and its the number 40 one. Its got a beautiful lavender-pinkish stone (maybe a precious stone, I'm not sure). I'm obsessed with how pretty it is.
I've picked up that shade of amethyst on the beaches of Loch Torridon in Scotland and rose quartz on the South Welsh coast so probably cheaper to use the real thing than make glass
@@cadileigh9948 that's very interesting. The ring could have very possibly been made in Ireland, or at least in the vicinity, although, I have no way of proving that.
Now I need to look that up. . . I love that shade!
Synchronicity struck while I'm sitting here at my workbench making woven wire jewelry and you suddenly mention Viking woven wire.
Huzzah!
I nearly leaped off my chair.
I wanna get into jewelry making. … With all my FREE TIME!! *cries in working poor*
Good to hear you are on the mend. I'm a hobby metal smith with an interest in historical jewellery styles, so I can't express how happy this video made me. I took more notes in the last 30 mins than I did in the jewellery portion of my art history undergrad. And many thanks for the source materials, I love a good reference list.
I know it’s a very brief moment of the video but that amber axe-head pendant it just 😍
The Thumbnail for this video, with the torc in the background; makes Jimmy look like a Byzantine Saint with a halo.
🤣🤣🤣 like a Tory without a trust fund! So accurate!
That thumbnail reminded me of a dream I once had where a stained glass window was discovered in Iceland. It was from a pre-Christian temple and depicted the local goði with a giant arm ring behind his head as a halo. Apparently my subconscious isn't concerned much with historical accuracy
So glad to know that you are feeling better! That's really the best news.
As a smith, I can confirm that bronze is a very nice material and can look good on rings. There's no shame in buying bronze jewelry.
It's also strong! My favorite and most valuable pendant is one which I only wear on a bronze chain; because it's gold, and I don't want to lose it. When the bronze is kept polished, it looks almost like the (14k) gold too, but it's much more durable.
I love this type of jewellery, so simple but so so beautiful. I got a second hand arm ring and I always feel like a badass with it
Dude, I learned the other day that the Celts knew how to gold plate in the iron age using mercury. Like, totally fascinating.
Absolute madness, the atuff they could do
That amber axe head pendant looks really cool! I'm sure it was beautiful when it was first made!
The cross with the dog head is really intriguing. I wonder what was the idea behind it.
I got a chuckle out of the tooth pendants turning out to be associated with kids and women, not manly men who man like people think. Be careful, though, someone might take that boar's tusk image and think that's a suggestion on how to decorate their junk.
😞 if only I had junk
It was found in Iceland, some hypothesize that it's possibly a sort of mixture of the Christian cross and the Norse Mjolnir pendant, with beast heads being a fairly popular motif in medieval Germanic and Scandinavian artwork my guess is that the jewelry smith probably just thought it looked cool or something like that. Sometimes an answer can be that simple, doesn't necessarily need to have special meaning or symbolism, sometimes people did something because they thought it looked cool.
Some have pointed out however that the cross or cross like designs are found in Scandinavia before christianity gained a significant foothold. However the pendant itself was dated to sometime in the 10th century so I give more weight to the argument it's possibly a form of syncretism,
@@CollinMcLean It's funny because that's something I'd love. . . even though I'm hundreds of years later and thousands of miles away and don't even have any Scandinavian heritage (although some of my family do). I'm Christian and I also love dogs, so it's such a cool way to meld both, and I wonder if it was made for someone as a gift, because the jewelery smith knew that person would find it especially meaningful?
Speaking of your love for all things tea. I follow a couple of channels from Azerbaijan that make all kinds of tea to go with a meal that is prepared during the video. They use all sorts of things from traditional black tea leaves, to clover, mint, basil (green, purple, blue), melissa (lemon balm) roses, fruit (rosehips etc).
I think you'd find some good combo's to try. They also use a special tea contraption called a samovar, which I'd never seen or heard of until I discovered these channels. Think of an urn like they use at meeting halls and such that is filled with water and has a tap on the front. There is a special chamber inside the samovar where you put hot coals to heat the water, and a little chimney to allow smoke to escape as well as a place to put your teapot on top to brew your tea or keep it hot.
Care to let us know what the channel names are? Sounds interesting. I know TH-cam won't let you post links but we could search the names ourselves🙂
@@ashleejones1690 this is Country Life Vlog (it's an old video, but it should still work.) th-cam.com/video/0ZI8jQQYcQ0/w-d-xo.html
The other channel is called Samovar Tea th-cam.com/users/SamovarTea They are sister channels, I think the camera man is related to everyone in some fashion.
Love the opportunistic jewellers mould. I’ve always kind of wondered about the meaning and emotion people imbue their religious jewelry with - when the reality is it’s a hunk of metal often manufactured commercially with as much give a crap as any other shape or symbol, and no loyalty to any particular belief system.
I guess it’s whatever the wearer chooses to make of it.
Exactly. The metal doesn't mind, it's a bit confused at the attention.
Ooo you've sparked something in my brain! Love history and Vikings have always fascinated me - I've just started metalsmithing, so this is definitely inspiring! 😊❤️
Jimmy you do know that swearing at inanimate objects is a sign of senility 🤣
In Scotland wearing a wooly jumper in summer is mandatory, we don't usually bother in winter unless a polar bear walks past wearing one then we might concede it is a trifle chilly.
Hope the studying has gone well. An excellent informative video once I stopped laughing at your antics. Thanks fair cheared me up
Here in NE England t-shirts & shorts are worn year round. Except for me, 30 years away from Cornwall & I still miss being close to the gulf stream.
I have it on excellent authority that it's a point of pride among the New Zealand scientists stationed in Antarctica (over the summer) to wear walk shorts outside the base. And they celebrate midsummer by cutting a hole in the ice and going for a dip.
“Horse teeth, they don’t look good & they don’t taste good!”
😳 I want to hear the story behind this!
Kievan Rus & Slavic wore temple rings, some Russian folk costumes have similar accessories. They also wore types of moon pendant (possibly on a string of beads around the neck)
Also a slightly famous pendant you didn’t mention was the “Freya”, it’s an interesting find that one.
Fascinating! Thanks for the research and delivery!
Great video! I look forward to your video on beads especially but enjoy all your topics.
It's really good to see you almost back to your prior covid self again. This video is just what I needed today. I'm quite fascinated with Viking and Celtic jewelry and how they were made; especially the Viking wire weave. The glass bead making is also of great interest. I'm looking forward to more on these topics. Many blessings.
Such a cool array of finds and styles. Thanks as always for all your hard work and academic rigor keeping us all on the proper Viking straight and narrow!
I love making Norse wire weaving, though the price of silver wire has slowed me down a lot. I look forward to you making a video on it.
I just started my first one today. I've noticed that it's got that great therapeutic feeling that other simple repetitive construction has.
I love the series of random happenings outside of his window that we’ll never see but are nonetheless entertaining
Me too! Now I want to see the little sausage-shaped dog. . .
All the shiny things!
Scrolling through vids looking to do some research on viking jewelry to make I didnt expect all this great info to come from a welsh guy 😂. My dad was Welsh. What a weird link back! Love your videos!
I’m only four minutes in, and I’m only listening (because I’m driving) and I had to stop the video to tell my one of my bestest friends she must watch it! Between that Tory joke making spit my coffee onto my steering wheel and your rummaging through things making some very entertaining sounds *dead*. If I hadn’t already subscribed I would have now!
I actually came here for the subject at hand, but I’ll stay for the entertainment
on its own, and watch all the videos regardless of interest. Thank you for the content!
just catching up, glad you're feeling better, another brilliant video
love the real "Welsh noises" and the Arghnopleasewhy
Just stumbled across this video, good info I've been making some of the more traditional items for a few years now. Great fun
BTW - a recent article in Ornament magazine has a lovely article on Anglo-Saxon bead making by a maker who used only period available techniques…good stuff imho.
I am having a moment thinking back to watching "The Secret of Kells" and the imagery of "The Eye of Crom Cruach". Rock crystals for magnifications~
thank you welsh viking for bestowing the wisdom of odin upon us who like shiny things
Jimmy be rocking that ponytail look
Fabulous video! So very interesting!!
So glad you’re feeling better❗️
I love all talk of jewelry and it’s beautiful to see - I love the Thor’s hammer and cross together, I know that is an evocative image for historians to consider, added protection- why not?
Keep well Jimmy🥰
You are absolutely delightful! Thank you for all you do and please carry on doing it! 💜💗💜
Aw shucks! That's very kind of you indeed! Diolch!
I just wanted to tell you that I think you are very cool. That is all. Much thanks for your awesome videos.
Cant say i wore much bling..well, havnt during enactments. I do have two arm rings that ive worn daily for about 14 years (one was payment for some work I did in Norway, another was a gift from my brother in law) they are very thick and heavy silver youd struggle to cut them or bend them. And a thick silver 'twist' ring which was a gift from a lady in sweden who I helped out at this vikingr town/market. They travelled for work from market to market so i joined in for the adventure more than payment. Very interesting video and informative. You have me as a subscriber.
Soooo interesting! Thank you
Could the Mjolnir neck-rings be simpler than other styles of torc because of the religious connotations? I'm thinking of modern Christianity where worshippers are encouraged to be humble, and big gaudy, ostentatious displays of worship are generally seen as a bit tacky (if not disrespectful to the bloke upstairs). Could it be similar for the Norse, where Thor-worshippers tried to embody what they felt Thor himself would prefer to wear?
The other (probably more obvious) answer could be because of the price. Thor worship came from all walks of life, and not everybody could afford a big braided neck-ring, but a lot of people could probably afford something simpler.
There used to be a really amazing wire wrapping lady somewhere along the Royal Mile, she made exquisite bracelets.
There was an article I read before pandemic(so don't expect me to remember where), that talked about the Thors hammers and miniature tools that had been found. That they seemed to used like Christian crosses to define their religious affiliations and that they are small because it wasn't always safe to flaunt them.
I have that dog pendant in sterling, stainless, brass, pewter, and one more metal. I pick them up everywhere I see them. And, I've made a silicone mold so I can make them in polymer clay for decorating jars. Scandalous. Some day I'll finish stringing them all together in one hunky, non-Viking neckpiece.
I thought you wear a claddagh ring, didn’t realise it was a skull!! 😂
i have a pendant that looks exactly like the one at 26:28 !!!! I’ve been trying to figure out where it came from as it was in my grandfathers stuff, i finally know now!!! That’s so cool 😁
Rewatching: I still watch some of these while cleaning my silver jewelry.
A few years ago I was perusing jewelry based on archeological finds and found the Most Awesome fish pendant (10th century saxon if I remember correctly). It's one of those blunt headed, lots of teeth monsters with a green (glass) eye and the hanging loop comes off what is either supposed to be a jeweled or spiked collar. It's rad and I wear it all the time in my real life. I mean, how could I resist a 10th century punk fish 😂
thank you
Amazing awesome video
I have that wolf's head cross. I do wear it on a steel chain because it's less likely to break. It was my grandmother's.
I kept loosing my rings, I like stainless steel because it is very resilient, won't rust, corrode or tarnish. I had enough of loosing them, so I took a simple stainless steel tweezers from our first aid cupboard at work after I needed to pull out a sliver of wood. I formed it into a ring shape with rounded ends. I plan to engrave it with a few Viking runes. All l need is a all engraving tool.
Wonderful video! Really helpful 😊
A less common/famous (?) option for arm rings is the spiral style found in the grave of the Eura woman in Finland. Sadly it's difficult to find reproductions apart from the "official" ones from Kalevala Jewelry (which are quite expensive as they are made to order).
One can look at amazing stuff at the Historical museum in Stockholm right now. A fantastic exhibition on the Vikings just opened some weeks ago. Beads, rings and pendants just look brand new although they have been hidden in dirt for centuries.
Thanks again for another great video and glad you're feeling better!
One of the things that most held my imagination at the tomb of Phillip of Macedonia was the pieces of rock crystal with tiny gold figures worked on the backs. They were part of the decoration for a piece of furniture. (You can not get too nerdy in this! I am loving it! Bring on the beads!)
This was a fun video. I appreciate that you went into detail because I love germanic artwork/jewelry
Great to see you doing well and looking healthy!!! Glad to hear that your PHD work is also going well.
Late to the game, but on the note of ring vs chain neck rings... Ive done a bit of silversmithing, which includes making chain by hand, from twisting wire and cutting loops to soldering them shut _individually._ Its a lot, a LOT of work to make a proper chain that isn't in the woven/knit style. And even then, drawing out dozens of meters of very fine wire is its own challenge. It was probably exponentially cheaper to make a single iron band, and sturdier too. If the ring is bent out of shape, anyone could fix it without trudging back to the smith for the third time that week.
Really looking forward to the beads episode. I do glass work, and will be waiting for this with baited breath. Thanks for the interesting history chats! PS hope you are feeling better.
Me too! Beads (stringing, not making) are my main medium since I was in grade school! Love the shiny, live the shiny!
I made a ring like that twisted one you showed in copper, in 'resistant materials' class at school. It was fun process.
I got really exited when I realised that I have a ring that resembles one of the replicas you showed a picture of at 11:20. But mine is not that fancy, but I bet there were a lot of jewellery too in that period, that is like my ring, just something that one of my friends hastly made up for me by a small piece of metal wire. Just makes sense in my mind.
And it also makes sense that the pendants were quite small. I have a modern necklace with a pendant that is 5 cm and it gets really heavy sometimes.
When are we getting the closures video? It would be incredibly convenient for me if it came out soon, pretty please❤
A bit late for this topic, but as for the animal teeth and claw pendants, bronze bear tooth pendants were very much of a thing in Finland (a whole different cultural area, albeit close by) but none of those finds afaik are from male grave context. Women, then again, could've had even whole sets of bronze bear teeth in their graves.
I had a friend teach me how to wire weave chain like what you showed at 21:06, I don't know how to attach anything to the ends yet but it is time consuming for sure. And you have to be sure not to yank it accidentally because you can bend the wire and I don't even know if that is fixable.
jimmy: i'm sweating
jimmy: *literally wears a wool sweater*