The Vikings loved jewellery! And one of the most popular forms of jewellery in the Viking Age was brooches. They were made specially, cast, hammered, recycled from sword fittings, book bindings and coins, and they came in a bewildering range of shapes and sizes.
We have literally thousands of early medieval brooches and pins to choose from and take inspiration from, and because it's 2021 lots of them are online! But it's a difficult game finding good, authentic looking Viking (or Anglo-Saxon, or Briton, or Frankish, or Irish) jewellery for your reenactment outfit.
Luckily, this is a walkthrough!
So join me as we look at some of the most popular types of Viking age brooches, and discuss what to buy, what to avoid, and what will make you the fanciest Viking in town whether it's in iron, bronze, silver or gold!
Also I filmed this in self-isolation as I was recovering from actual COVID-19, so apologies for being a sweaty mess of a Welsh Viking. And for the coughing.
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The Welsh Viking,
PO Box 821,
YORK,
YO1 0PY
Links to image sources:
https://smarthistory.org/viking-art/
https://finds.org.uk/counties/findsrecordingguides/author/hgeake/
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1901-0718-1
https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/6f7e08a0-06c7-3301-b9ea-73fc42f6880f/Early-Medieval-copper-alloy-pseudo-penannular-brooch/
https://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=00872743001&itemw=4&itemf=0001&itemstep=1&itemx=15
http://urd.priv.no/viking/brooches.html
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vikg/hd_vikg.htm
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1951-0206-1
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/465119
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1873-1211-1
https://emidsvikings.ac.uk/items/equal-armed-brooch/
http://hug-renning.blogspot.com/2016/01/from-carolingian-army-to-nordic-womens.html
http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/Grisskogen.html
https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/e753472f-dd8a-33c0-bf7a-00f355f718b1/Early-medieval-gold-brooch/?field0=string&value0=penannular+gold&field1=with_images&value1=1&field2=material&value2=gold&index=7
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Breadalbane_Brooch
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1028201