Plate-Brynie

In Snorri Sturlason's "Heimskringla", a  the history of the Norse kings, there is mentioned something called a "plate brynie".  This reference comes from a story that is set between 1157 and 1161 A.D.   Now a brynie is of course what we commonly call a chainmail shirt or mail shirt.  So what is a plate-brynie?

From archaeological evidence, there are only two examples that come close in my mind. Both are from Sweden

The first is a grave find from Valsgarde which dates to the Vendel Age (550-793 A.D.): it appears to be a combination of ring-mail and splitted strips of iron that look like they would have been attached to leather straps with rivets.

Multiple pieces of armor found at site of the Battle of Visby (1391 A.D.) are made up of multiple plates riveted together that bears a resemblance to Eastern lamellar armor.  

 



So for something that fits into the Viking Age (800-1000 A.D.), I came up with this: the plates are linked together with rings and incorporated into the mail shirt as essentially the front of the armor.  While not based on anything specifically historic, I feel that it would be a logical development in armor going from the classic mail shirt to the plate armor that was found in Visby.

Homemade Norman Helmet

Handmade helmet and chain mail shirt.
Modified Cold Steel Norse Hawk.
Tinker Pearce Norman sword.
See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsJGbzymrHU

Artifacts from Lake Lednica, Poland.

I recently built a helmet from raw material, namely sheet metal and carpet tacks, which will be used in my short film "Sons of Romans, Sons of Vikings". The character who will be wearing it is Drogo FitzRolf, a Norman captain who wields a sword and ax in battle.  The photo of the costume was inspired by a picture I found of 10th and 11th centuryartifacts from Poland. The nasal helm, sword, spear, and mail shirt were discovered in the lake of Lednica in Poland.  The armor and weapons are part of a find of medieval settlement and fortification on an island in the lake called Ostrów Lednicki. ('Ostrów' means 'holm' (i.e., river or lake island). 

You can see the video of me making the helmet here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsJGbzymrHU

Forged Medieval-Style Buckles for Sword-Belts

See the video of me forging these buckles here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag7RfSaHMTk

This was the inspiration for my work. This original piece dates to the Viking Age and was found in East Agder, Norway.

Cold Steel Norse Hawk

I modified a Cold Steel Norse tomahawk to use it as a prop for a short film.  I put the head of the tomahawk in my forge to burn off the paint and replace it with fire scale.  I also stained the handle with homemade birch oil.

See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjHTQmI06bw
Buy one here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/550771248/modified-cold-steel-norse-hawk-w-leather?ref=shop_home_feat_2

Completed Spears

Here's what the completed modification of my re-enactment spears look like after I cleaned up the blades and shaped them a bit with a file. The shafts are mere mop handles and the rivets are cut down nails that are peened over. They are crude but effective, and beautiful in their own way.  They're not as pretty as they were originally, but now they have character. Video forthcoming, so keep an eye on my Youtube channel.

See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP-oM57eX8U

This is how the spear heads originally looked. The top one is the Windlass Hewing Spear.