My new Viking clothes (see Waiting for new Viking clothes) came a few days ago! 🙂

I had hoped to model the whole ensemble this evening so that my friend Janet VanMeter could photograph me before Sewing Circle, but life got in the way.  So here are the “uninhabited” garments, although at least they are in their home.

I must say, though, that my photos do not do these lovely items justice. I was quite pleasantly surprised when I received everything: it was all much nicer than I had even hoped for.

The plentiful hand-sewing on the items from NornasMystery is quite delicate, yet sturdy. There is a lot of attention to detail, which shows in the meticulous alignment of the decorative stamps. These are great clothes! ❤

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Medieval Viking/Slav dress of heavy linen with hand-stamped designs from NornasMystery, an Etsy shop in Belarus.
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In actuality, the gold designs on both the dress and the cloak, below, really pop!
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The wool twill bag has a stamped silk insert and is lined with linen. Its wooden handles are based on finds from digs at Birka, a Swedish island that was a center of Viking trade from the 700’s C.E. to the 900’s. Note that the stamped design includes two winged kitty cats! 🙂
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The tablet-woven woolen bands from Etsy shop VytuVatu in Lithuania; on the far right is the one for my belt, the center braid is for my headscarf, and on the left is a gift keychain from the shop. The bronze penannular brooch is from Etsy shop QuirkySues in British Columbia.
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The green Viking cloak from NornasMystery. None of these photos do its colors justice.
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Under the items from Etsy is the Vineyard Green linen I ordered from F/S to make an underdress, which will go with a smokkr that I will make in part from wool hand-woven by Joy Selby Cain, another friend of mine in the SCA.

Since receiving these things, I custom ordered  an underdress to go with the dress pictured above from Alena Baihot, the proprietor of NornasMystery. It will have ties at the neck, unlike my other underdresses. To me the ties will give the whole ensemble a more Slavic/Rus’ look.

Meanwhile, Alena and I have struck up a conversation on Etsy about my abiding interest in Princess Ol’ga, the amazing tenth century Viking/Slav/Rus’ ruler who saved the Riurikid principality of Kiev so that her three-year-old son Sviatoslav could rule once he became of age, after his father was slaughtered by the Derevlians.

Ol’ga had been very crafty and sly, not to mention infamously bloodthirsty, in obtaining revenge on the Derevlians and keeping them from usurping Kiev.

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“Saint Princess Olga,” by Svitozar Nenyuk. Note that she holds a miniature building representing the city of Kiev.

Ol’ga also later proved a worthy match in her dealings with Constantine VII, the Byzantine emperor.  She agreed to convert to Christianity, the first of the pagan Viking Rus’ rulers to do so, which was probably a major reason why Constantine permitted her to return to Kiev from Constantinople, where she had been his “guest.”

Ol’ga was supposed to evangelize the Rus’ when she returned home, which she tried, although she was unsuccessful with her son. Still, her grandson did convert eventually and when he became ruler of Kiev, he required all his subjects to convert as well.

In her old age, Ol’ga successfully defended Kiev in a siege from the marauding Pechenegs. Her efforts in doing so led to her death.

I learned about Princess Ol’ga, who along with her grandson were later made saints in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, from a class on Medieval Russia at Ohio State University and from my own research while I was studying Viking women.  I taught classes about Ol’ga for the SCA, which also published my article on her. See My article on Princess Ol’ga is published!; Getting ready for Twelfth Night and more Ol’ga; and Post-event reviews are in!.

I can’t wait to wear my new Viking/Slav outfit to an SCA event! ❤