14th Century Herjolfsnes Tunic, Find #33

Photo taken at the Archeon, Alphen aan de Rijn, The Netherlands.

Description.

A pretty basic medieval outfit, consisting of a dark green woollen hood, a beige woollen tunic, linen undertunic, brown leather belt with brown leather pouch, green woollen hosen and brown leather turnshoes. The hosen and shoed are completly sewn by hand by my husband. All visible seams are sewn by hand on the other garments.

Inspiration.

 

(l) Detail from an image from a 14th century manuscript made by Snorri Sturluson.
(r) Line drawing from the same image.

The original garment owned by the Nationalmuseet Copenhagen, in Denmark.

Patterns used.

A paper pattern, made directly from the original by the Teko-Center, is for sale at museumshop of the Nationalmuseet Copenhagen, Denmark

More information.

The tunic is Herjolfsnes (Norlund) No. 33 (museumno. D5674) and is nicknamed "the sailor's jacket". It was found in 1840 in the Herjolfsnes church ruins. It is Norlund type 1a, a tunic designed to be pulled over the head, with side gussets but without a middle gusset and a oval neck opening. The original is sewn in 2/2 twill fabric, the warp was originally grey and the weft white.
The one sleeve that is preserved is made from two pieces, downwards towards the wrist it is in fragments so it is impossible to determine if the sleeve was slit. Some of the other garments found at the same site have wrists with slits. This is the only garment found that was not fully lined.
The lenght of the garment is 1190 mm. This means that with a belt (or cord) around the waist the garment would have reached to the middle of the calves or the knees.

The hood is Herjolfsnes no.66 and is made in dark green cashmere wool.

Costume made in 2004.