Sorry for the late entry. We're not competing or anything and at this point I think we are the only people at all connected with Nasledie Predkov that are able to go to Rusborg this year. Sorry for posting this in English but my brain is fried after work this week. Sorry about the sideways photos. They're correct on my hard drive but when I upload them to Photobucket they get turned on their side and Photobucket won't let me rotate them without resizing them to be too small to meet your requirements.
Contact email: <anthony.d.arndt@gmail.com> and <kira.hagen@gmail.com>
Moscow mobile numbers: 8-919-992-29-61 and 8-985-381-89-95
Table of Contents.
A. Brief description of your role.
Au?in ?sg?slason (Anthony Arndt) and Geira Rau?sd?ttir (Kira Hagen)
Ethnically, I am a Norwegian, currently successful merchant, originally from Dublin. My wife is half-Norwegian, half-Swedish and also from Dublin. We both have local Irish grandmothers. Mine from an politically involved trading family, hers from a family of musicians.
Economically, I traveled with my father, also a merchant when I was young. When he retired to a small farm and his skaldic poetry, I left Dublin. First I spent nine years working as a guard for a wealthy German merchant traveling between Scandinavia, Ireland, England, the Danelaw, Denmark, Germany, Gardariki, and Miklagard. After I married, I worked as an independent merchant until my ship sank in the Baltic. To rebuild our fortunes, I then worked in Miklagard with the Varangians for three years before returning North to Gardariki as an independent merchant. As we own no land, my wife travel together.
Socially, we are both Heathens. Having seen the brutality of the Roman church's agents in our homelands, our own families being exiled from our farmsteads in Norway, we have no tolerance for the foreigner's white christ. I am an Odin's man paying particular attention to the all-father's roles as way-tamer and cargo god. My wife is a spakona working with the spirits of the land and the alfar and disir of our family. Because the Norwegian kings and jarls all scrape their knees and bow like thralls to the outlander's white christ we avoid Norway though we keep in touch through trading visits to my wife's family near Birka.
It is early in the eleventh century according to the Roman calendar and we are both gravely disappointed (though unsurprised) that the turning of their millennium passed by and none of the christ's men disappeared as they were hoping.
We currently are living and working in Gardariki.
Costume Photo
The over-tunic is a basic Scandinavian style tunic for the late-9th or early 10th century constructed with a fitted body and four gores, constructed of madder-red 2/2 twill. The under-tunic uses the same pattern and is made from plain-weave linen.
I have two belts. My older belt is a copy of finds from Gnezdovo:
My newer belt is a copy of a find from Gotland:
The belt pouch is a simple Birka style pouch.
The trousers are grey 2/2 twill and were built using the Thorsberg reconstruction. They are wrapped, kneed to ankle with wool wraps the same red as the tunic.
The shoes were supposed to be two-toggle shoes based on Birka finds. They were done poorly. I have a new pair that should be completed on 21st April. They will look more like this:
For jewelry I have a hand-carved amber Thor's hammer and a silver copy of the Kabara, Sweden hammer on a knit chain copied from the National History Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland. I only have one arm ring, cast in silver in a common Norwegian style.
When the weather requires it, I use a rectangle of simple blue or grey wool pinned with a penannular brooch. A copy of a 10th century Norwegian brooch found on the Orkney Islands.
Armor Photo.
My helm is a reproduction of the Gjermundbu helm. The two rings found on the right temple have been matched with two rings on the left temple and used to attach cheek-plates for extra protection.
Why cheekplates? The Gjermundbu is 10th century. To better portray an early 11th century Norwegian, I compared the fragments of the Gjermundbu to surviving Spangenhelms from other parts of Europe and the 12th century Norwegian helms. The best source for determining the look of 12th century helms for a conservative Norwegian is the Isle of Lewis chess set, commonly accepted to have been carved in region near Trondheim, Norway in the 12th century.
Nearly all of the foot soldiers and cavalry are shown with nasal helms. Many of the helms are shown with cheek plates, some even with back plates. This is all consistent with the construction of spangenhelms from other parts of Europe leading up to the early Medieval period. The Gjermundbu also has two surviving mail rings on the right temple, 30 centimeters apart. This is inconsistent with how mail aventails of the time would have been affixed but works well for affixing cheek plates.
An aventail will be attached once it is completed. It is the standard 4-in-1 pattern with alternating rows of solid and riveted rings and then oil-blued. It is being made with the hauberk. It is not finished yet. And probably won't be by Rusborg. The same is true for the hauberk.
The helm is also not finished. It just arrived at Mir Drevnostei on the 19th of April for a final fitting before the mask could be attached. The helm in the picture is a simplified Gjermundbu build more like the pioneer helm and intended only for training. When finished my proper helm will look more like this:
Under the helm I wear a simple hood in a generic style to keep my hair out of the mail and my beard out of the chin strap.
My mail shirt is not finished but I still have a Birka-derived caftan to wear under it. The caftan is made and lined with wool and trimmed with wool tablet-woven braid about 2.5 cm wide. In Norway tablet-woven braid was typically between 1.0 cm wide and 4.5 cm wide (in the case of the braid found on the tablet-weaving loom in the Oseberg burial and currently on display in the State History Museum in Oslo, Norway) with the average being between 1.5 and 2.0cm. For wearing under a mail shirt I wanted slightly larger rather than slightly smaller. The buttons are copies of 11th century Birka finds.
After my leg was shattered by and axe blow during a fight with a bandit five years ago (Vapnating 2007), my wife won my promise to better armor myself in the future. In Miklagard she was inspired by the zabai (splint) reinforced manikelia (bracers) and kremasmata (greaves) of the Emperor's heavy cavalry. She described it to a Swedish smith living among our Rus trading partners in Gardariki and he produced his best approximation.
(Though splint armor was found in Central and Northern Europe from the 6th through the 13th centuries, most surviving examples are either Khazar or Southern and Central European. The only Northern European example that I am aware of is the 7th century Valsg?rde grave 8 find. My armor follows some of the style of the Swedish example while being constructed more simply in the fashion of the Khazar merchants I would likely have bought fish and other foodstuffs from while traveling between Miklagard and the Baltics. After Vapnating I promised my wife that I wouldn't fight without solid, reliable armour and I felt it was more in keeping with my characters socially and religiously conservative nature to borrow from an earlier period Scandinavian example rather than a contemporary example from a neighboring culture.)
The sword is a simplified reconstruciton of the early 11th century sword from Glukhovtsev (Глуховцов). While being of Russian manufacture and style, this sword bore a striking similarity to 11th century Norwegian swords. The main difference being that the Russian styles were more ornate and bronze rather than simple and iron.
The shield is not pictured as it is not finished. I use a plywood and linen shield during training. For festivals I use a traditionally constructed shield. Linden wood planks glued together with casein glue (made from milk protein) and covered with rawhide leather. Even though Russia is a major supplier of Linden wood for much of Europe and raises and consumes a lot of beef, I have not been able to find the wood or the rawhide in Moscow. Only the shield boss and the milk. When the materials are assembled, I follow the design of the Gokstad shields but with the added facing of rawhide needed for a functional shield. In the worst case scenario, I may be forced to use ash wood faced with linen.
Women's Costume.
1. Dresses
Underdress is a modified pattern to use hand-woven Russian linen.
The hanging dress is grey wool.
2. aprons, etc.
The apron is a yellow and orange herringbone weave wool edged in red wool stitches.
3. Shoes.
simple laced, Hedeby ankle shoes.
4. Scarves.
None. Natural long hair. We're married, we're not Christian.
5. Outerwear
In cold weather a square of green wool pinned with a brooch. Additionally a brown wool hood can be added.
6. Accessories (with subcategories: brooches, belts, amulets, etc.)
Simple Swedish 10th century turtle brooches that we're hoping to replace at Rusborg. A silver Thorshammer from Oland, Sweden. A bronze key from Birka.
7. Bags.
Birka pouch for personal items. A larger bag to carry and conceal her DSLR.
8. Raincoats
None. Cloaks suffice.
Contact email: <anthony.d.arndt@gmail.com> and <kira.hagen@gmail.com>
Moscow mobile numbers: 8-919-992-29-61 and 8-985-381-89-95
Table of Contents.
A. Brief description of your role.
Au?in ?sg?slason (Anthony Arndt) and Geira Rau?sd?ttir (Kira Hagen)
Ethnically, I am a Norwegian, currently successful merchant, originally from Dublin. My wife is half-Norwegian, half-Swedish and also from Dublin. We both have local Irish grandmothers. Mine from an politically involved trading family, hers from a family of musicians.
Economically, I traveled with my father, also a merchant when I was young. When he retired to a small farm and his skaldic poetry, I left Dublin. First I spent nine years working as a guard for a wealthy German merchant traveling between Scandinavia, Ireland, England, the Danelaw, Denmark, Germany, Gardariki, and Miklagard. After I married, I worked as an independent merchant until my ship sank in the Baltic. To rebuild our fortunes, I then worked in Miklagard with the Varangians for three years before returning North to Gardariki as an independent merchant. As we own no land, my wife travel together.
Socially, we are both Heathens. Having seen the brutality of the Roman church's agents in our homelands, our own families being exiled from our farmsteads in Norway, we have no tolerance for the foreigner's white christ. I am an Odin's man paying particular attention to the all-father's roles as way-tamer and cargo god. My wife is a spakona working with the spirits of the land and the alfar and disir of our family. Because the Norwegian kings and jarls all scrape their knees and bow like thralls to the outlander's white christ we avoid Norway though we keep in touch through trading visits to my wife's family near Birka.
It is early in the eleventh century according to the Roman calendar and we are both gravely disappointed (though unsurprised) that the turning of their millennium passed by and none of the christ's men disappeared as they were hoping.
We currently are living and working in Gardariki.
Costume Photo
The over-tunic is a basic Scandinavian style tunic for the late-9th or early 10th century constructed with a fitted body and four gores, constructed of madder-red 2/2 twill. The under-tunic uses the same pattern and is made from plain-weave linen.
I have two belts. My older belt is a copy of finds from Gnezdovo:
My newer belt is a copy of a find from Gotland:
The belt pouch is a simple Birka style pouch.
The trousers are grey 2/2 twill and were built using the Thorsberg reconstruction. They are wrapped, kneed to ankle with wool wraps the same red as the tunic.
The shoes were supposed to be two-toggle shoes based on Birka finds. They were done poorly. I have a new pair that should be completed on 21st April. They will look more like this:
For jewelry I have a hand-carved amber Thor's hammer and a silver copy of the Kabara, Sweden hammer on a knit chain copied from the National History Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland. I only have one arm ring, cast in silver in a common Norwegian style.
When the weather requires it, I use a rectangle of simple blue or grey wool pinned with a penannular brooch. A copy of a 10th century Norwegian brooch found on the Orkney Islands.
Armor Photo.
My helm is a reproduction of the Gjermundbu helm. The two rings found on the right temple have been matched with two rings on the left temple and used to attach cheek-plates for extra protection.
Why cheekplates? The Gjermundbu is 10th century. To better portray an early 11th century Norwegian, I compared the fragments of the Gjermundbu to surviving Spangenhelms from other parts of Europe and the 12th century Norwegian helms. The best source for determining the look of 12th century helms for a conservative Norwegian is the Isle of Lewis chess set, commonly accepted to have been carved in region near Trondheim, Norway in the 12th century.
Nearly all of the foot soldiers and cavalry are shown with nasal helms. Many of the helms are shown with cheek plates, some even with back plates. This is all consistent with the construction of spangenhelms from other parts of Europe leading up to the early Medieval period. The Gjermundbu also has two surviving mail rings on the right temple, 30 centimeters apart. This is inconsistent with how mail aventails of the time would have been affixed but works well for affixing cheek plates.
An aventail will be attached once it is completed. It is the standard 4-in-1 pattern with alternating rows of solid and riveted rings and then oil-blued. It is being made with the hauberk. It is not finished yet. And probably won't be by Rusborg. The same is true for the hauberk.
The helm is also not finished. It just arrived at Mir Drevnostei on the 19th of April for a final fitting before the mask could be attached. The helm in the picture is a simplified Gjermundbu build more like the pioneer helm and intended only for training. When finished my proper helm will look more like this:
Under the helm I wear a simple hood in a generic style to keep my hair out of the mail and my beard out of the chin strap.
My mail shirt is not finished but I still have a Birka-derived caftan to wear under it. The caftan is made and lined with wool and trimmed with wool tablet-woven braid about 2.5 cm wide. In Norway tablet-woven braid was typically between 1.0 cm wide and 4.5 cm wide (in the case of the braid found on the tablet-weaving loom in the Oseberg burial and currently on display in the State History Museum in Oslo, Norway) with the average being between 1.5 and 2.0cm. For wearing under a mail shirt I wanted slightly larger rather than slightly smaller. The buttons are copies of 11th century Birka finds.
After my leg was shattered by and axe blow during a fight with a bandit five years ago (Vapnating 2007), my wife won my promise to better armor myself in the future. In Miklagard she was inspired by the zabai (splint) reinforced manikelia (bracers) and kremasmata (greaves) of the Emperor's heavy cavalry. She described it to a Swedish smith living among our Rus trading partners in Gardariki and he produced his best approximation.
(Though splint armor was found in Central and Northern Europe from the 6th through the 13th centuries, most surviving examples are either Khazar or Southern and Central European. The only Northern European example that I am aware of is the 7th century Valsg?rde grave 8 find. My armor follows some of the style of the Swedish example while being constructed more simply in the fashion of the Khazar merchants I would likely have bought fish and other foodstuffs from while traveling between Miklagard and the Baltics. After Vapnating I promised my wife that I wouldn't fight without solid, reliable armour and I felt it was more in keeping with my characters socially and religiously conservative nature to borrow from an earlier period Scandinavian example rather than a contemporary example from a neighboring culture.)
The sword is a simplified reconstruciton of the early 11th century sword from Glukhovtsev (Глуховцов). While being of Russian manufacture and style, this sword bore a striking similarity to 11th century Norwegian swords. The main difference being that the Russian styles were more ornate and bronze rather than simple and iron.
The shield is not pictured as it is not finished. I use a plywood and linen shield during training. For festivals I use a traditionally constructed shield. Linden wood planks glued together with casein glue (made from milk protein) and covered with rawhide leather. Even though Russia is a major supplier of Linden wood for much of Europe and raises and consumes a lot of beef, I have not been able to find the wood or the rawhide in Moscow. Only the shield boss and the milk. When the materials are assembled, I follow the design of the Gokstad shields but with the added facing of rawhide needed for a functional shield. In the worst case scenario, I may be forced to use ash wood faced with linen.
Women's Costume.
1. Dresses
Underdress is a modified pattern to use hand-woven Russian linen.
The hanging dress is grey wool.
2. aprons, etc.
The apron is a yellow and orange herringbone weave wool edged in red wool stitches.
3. Shoes.
simple laced, Hedeby ankle shoes.
4. Scarves.
None. Natural long hair. We're married, we're not Christian.
5. Outerwear
In cold weather a square of green wool pinned with a brooch. Additionally a brown wool hood can be added.
6. Accessories (with subcategories: brooches, belts, amulets, etc.)
Simple Swedish 10th century turtle brooches that we're hoping to replace at Rusborg. A silver Thorshammer from Oland, Sweden. A bronze key from Birka.
7. Bags.
Birka pouch for personal items. A larger bag to carry and conceal her DSLR.
8. Raincoats
None. Cloaks suffice.