Luxury in dress—Material used—Popular colours—Everyday dress—Various garments—Belts of silver and gold—Cloaks—Trailing gowns—Shoes—Plaids—Gloves—Hats—Moustaches and beards—Hair worn long—Fashions—Splendour of chiefs’ accoutrements.
The finds as well as the Sagas, which are confirmed by the Bayeux tapestry, show that from a very early period the people of the North dressed with great luxury; but, with the exception of the complete garments of the bog finds, only fragments of wearing apparel belonging to the iron age have been discovered, which in most instances are thoroughly discoloured.
In the Sagas we have only partial descriptions of the dress worn by men and women, and though many names of pieces of clothing are mentioned, very little light is otherwise thrown upon the subject.
The material used for clothing seems to have been the same for both sexes—linen, wool, silk, skins, and furs. Among the costly materials mentioned is “pell” which is supposed to be like velvet. The materials were sometimes seamed with gold and silver thread, or embroidered. It was the custom to have a border on many of the clothes called hlad, which was either a band, ribbon, or a kind of lace.
Blue, red, green, scarlet, and purple, were the colours most in favour; grey was the colour for everyday use, and white vadmal, a coarse or thick woollen stuff, was the distinctive clothing for slaves.
The trousers were worn at a very early time, as we have seen from the Bog finds, and were kept in their proper place by a belt round the waist, and had the socks knitted on to them, over which were shoes. Over the linen and woollen shirts was the coat of mail. Over the shoulders a cloak was worn, resembling that of the Romans or Greeks, with a fringe or border at the sides. These cloaks were fastened by fibulæ. The costumes of the Bayeux tapestry agree with the descriptions of the Sagas.
The everyday dress of Geirmund is thus described:—
“He usually dressed thus. He wore a red scarlet kirtle, and over it a grey cloak (feld), and on his head a bearskin cap (húfa). He wore in his hand a large sword. It was not adorned with silver, and its blade was keen and broad and no rust on it. He called the sword Fótbít (foot-cutter), and never let it go out of his hand” (Laxdæla, c. 29).
Fig. 1144.—Cloth with representation of lion or leopard. ⅓ real size.—Mammen find.