Category Archives: The 9th Century

It is interesting that DAS has been around for thirty five years and despite there being few restrictions on names, the same Viking names get regularly recycled. A look at sources reveals a baffling amount of new to us names and components. What can we use? Whilst there are many names in use in Scandinavia [...]

Most Saxons and Vikings wore the standard woollen overtunics that we all know and love, however this was not a universal style. This article will examine the evidence we have for four different styles of coats- the early Germanic “warrior jacket”, the two cuts of Eastern Viking kaftans and finally the female coat. Obviously kaftans [...]

In the Beginning there was nothing but an abyss in space; no golden sand, no crashing waves, no nourishing soil nor a blade of grass and no sky to cover it all. Many ages passed and there gradually existed a place of clouds and shodows, called Niflheim, to the north of the abyss and from [...]

Origins of the Runes The origins of the runic shapes themselves are from the bronze age and were ideographs used by their priest or magicians. They were abstract graphic expressions of the innermost contents of their religious and magical teachings. The origins of the runic systems we know today are from the folklore of the [...]

As most people in the DAS will have noticed by now, I tend to enjoy the occasional board game during the evening’s banquet. Much, it could be said, as fish enjoy the occasional swim. I have decided therefore, to write up rules for some of the more common games from our period, thus allowing me [...]

ANGLO-SAXON ART presents itself in their metalwork, jewellery, manuscripts and sculpture and the influence of the Celts, Christianity and the Vikings, all contributed towards the differing styles. Quoit-Brooch Style Found chiefly in Kent and the south-east, the crouching quadruped is seen in profile while the double contoured body is covered with a fur detail of [...]

As a former follower of Aelfric the Picky, I aspire to perfect representations of kit and costume. Being also though very much a fan of DAS’s informality and inclusivity I do not hold with rigid rules and regulations on what you must/must not have (or how much you must spend) to participate. I err on [...]

Some years ago I helped to compile an article on Anglo-Saxon food, for a DASmag. Since then, new research has been done on the subject of the diet of Dark Age Man, and Ann Hagen has recently published A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food – Processing and consumption. In truth, little more is revealed on the [...]

Agriculture The land would be ploughed using an ard that cuts a groove in the soil but does not turn the furrow, therefore the field would sometimes be cross-ploughed. Smaller fields would be worked with hoes, picks or dug with spades. The plough with iron blade and mould-board that turns a proper furrow, was not [...]

Saxon The family was extremely important in Anglo-Saxon society; women took their social rank from their father, or their husband after marriage. The family was a large group of cousins, aunts, uncles etc, a clan rather than a family in the modern sense. If wergeld was due, it was shared by the kindred, whether paying [...]

793 Vikings plunder monastery of Lindisfarne. 795 First recorded Viking raids on Scotland and Ireland. 800 The Oseberg Viking longship is buried about this time. 825 Mercians defeated by Egbert of Wessex at Wroughton who annexes Kent, Essex, Surrey and Sussex. 835 Danish raid on Kent. 841 Viking settlers found the city of Dublin in [...]

Vikings and Anglo-Saxons At the end of the eighth century A.D., England was a fully settled Christian land occupied by largely Anglo-Saxon peoples. Much of the land lay within great estates owned by kings, noble families and the Church. The ninth century saw the Vikings first raid, then conquer and finally settle in England. The [...]

Our main historical source is the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, but there are other records such as the Irish Annals, letters, and political documents. It’s always exciting when the written record can be matched with archaeological finds, as at Repton. Sporadic Raids by Norwegians 792 King Offa makes arrangements for the defence of Kent against “pagan peoples”. [...]

?-12,000BC THE ICE AGE 300,000BC Colonization of Britain by Homo Erectus Britain is attached to the European continent during an interglacial period of the Ice Age. Using simple wooden spears, primitive humans hunt the mammoth and hippopotamus that are prevalent in southeast England. 70,000BC Neanderthals settle in England These humans live in caves and hunt [...]