Excavations in the eighties by Viborg Stiftsmuseum
established that the town of Viborg, situated in
the centre of Jutland, already existed in the
Viking age. The site, on the shore
of Søndersø, was
inhabited from about 1000 until about 1300, when it was submerged in connection
with the building of a royal stronghold. Parts of houses, well constructions
and fences as well as other archaeological objects found were all in a good
state of preservation; also found was a big lump of textile material which was
placed in a pit that apparently was a post hole. This pit belongs to ceramic
layer I, which is roughly dated to the 11th century.
In the damp environment of Søndersø the conditions for
preservation were favorable to the organic objects found. Textiles of plant
material are usually found only as small fragments, so although the linen shirt
is not preserved complete, the find must be considered extraordinary.
Analyses of the textile material, the different fragments
and the seams revealed that the find was the greater part of a male shirt made
of Z/Z-spun, linen tabby. Based on the interpretation a reconstruction was made
it is a rather slim-fit poncho, without seams on top of the shoulders, the
skirt being open on both sides; the neck lining is continued into
two ribbons for tying. It is presumed that the shirt had long sleeves.
The Viborg garment is the only profane shirt/tunic from the
Viking period so far found in Scandinavia or in Europe
as a whole. These tunics, the cut of which is Persian-inspired, can be followed
throughout the Mediterranean countries in the latter half of the first
millennium. The slim-fit poncho cut of the Viborg shirt fits into this line of
development, and scattered finds in Europe
show that this cut continued to be used after the Renaissance.
My interest in this tunic
The Viborg shirt is well known for the quilted pattern on
front and back, and for the many intricate seams used to assemble it. Looking
for a dual layer quilted Viking tunic as a fencing shirt for my husband this
pattern stood out. As I would be dealing with double duck cloth instead of
pliable linen most of the seams would have to be machine sewn and a big part of
the challenge of this project was to figure out how to machine sew while not
showing any machine stitches.
The hand openings and neck line are hand sewn as the neck
opening was used to turn the double layered garment inside out. The quilting
pattern is also hand sewn and uses a running stitch.
Unfortunately the unusual neck opening does not work for a
fencing shirt as the long slit could catch a blade. Fortunately the fencing hood
obscures the neck opening anyway so for a fencing shirt the design of the neck
opening is not so crucial.
The wide arms as used in the original pattern don’t work
well for a fencing shirt; the billowing elbows in double duck cloth feel
obstructing and could also catch a blade, while obscuring the silhouette of the
fencer. So I opted for a standard triangle tunic arm.
The Viborg shirt
Reconstruction
Remnants front of shirt Remnants back of shirt
Reconstruction of
Front of shirt Reconstruction
of back of shirt
The Pattern
The simplified
version of the Viborg shirt, suitable for machine sewing.
Instructions on how to make a
fencing replica
Choose a fabric that will pass the punch test: two layers of
duck cloth will work fine.
Using a tunic that fits for size, transfer the measurements
from one over to the other. Keep in mind that this tunic has a narrowed
waistline so to make sure it will fit over the shoulders use the width of the
base tunic as the narrowest point on this tunic.
The overlap of the front to back is 5 cm or 2 inches. The
waist quilt seam is at about hip height, the panels come to just over the
knees. Make a mock up on paper and double check measurements with your base
tunic.
Fold your cloth double, and pin the paper pattern. Cut out
with seam allowance. Attach the underarm gore to the arms, and the arms to the
body. Sew the body to the top of the panel. You should have two partially sewn
tunics, turn them inside out and stuff one inside the other (both should have
the inside with seams visible, the good side is hidden). Sew the panels
together.
I added a fake seam at the inside of the arms to emulate the
two panel design of the original.
Turn everything outside in so the good sides are showing and
the seams are hidden. With a whipstitch attach the hand hole lining to the
outside and do the same for the neck opening (I used a simple oval). To stay in
theme add a small cord along the edge of the neck opening even though here it
is decorative, not functional as in the original design.
With a running stitch attach the inner lining to the outside
in the same square pattern as the original. I opted for an undyed thread but a
contrasting color could be used as well.
Conclusion
This shirt is surprisingly practical to fence in and gives
my husband a good range of motion.
As we are a Viking household it is nice to see him in a
Viking outfit even if fencing is technically not a Viking pastime. Bottom line,
it works well and it looks good. I am so happy with the result I might even
have enough fabric left to do a kid sized version for our son!
Make your own Viborg fencing tunic for your fencing viking man! With a little tweaking of the original pattern my version can be sewn by machine, in a double layer of duck cloth, leaving only the neck, arms (from turning inside out) and decorative quilt stitching to be done by hand. And honestly, I do all my visible stitching by hand anyway - it looks so much better that way!
With a little squinting you can see the quilting square on the front of this tunic, keeping the two layers in place. I used an undyed cotton, you could use a contrasting color and really make the pattern stand out.
Bibliography
Ejstrud, Bo - editor (2011) FROM FLAX TO LINEN Experiments with flax at Ribe Viking Centre, Ribe
Viking Centre & University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg
Fentz, Mytte (1987) An
11th century linen shirt from Viborg, translated by Maggie Mulvaney.
This article appeared as "En hørskjorte fra 1000-årenes
Viborg" in KUML 1987; Årbog for Jysk Arkælogisk Selskab
Fentz, Mytte (-) “Vikingeskjorten fra Viborg” Viborg
Stiftsmuseum.
For more about the Viborg Stifts
Museum:
http://www.viborgstiftsmuseum.dk/
Printable pdf available from Academia. edu at:
https://www.academia.edu/27845542/An_SCA_approved_fencing_tunic_based_on_the_11th_century_Viborg_Shirt
Printable pdf available from Academia. edu at:
https://www.academia.edu/27845542/An_SCA_approved_fencing_tunic_based_on_the_11th_century_Viborg_Shirt
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