viking age furniture

Stools

The sketch to the right is one of three 3-legged stool seats found in the York dig. All three were made using a heavy plank cut into a deep half-circle. Each stool had three legs, with two at each corner of the front edge, and one at the center back. This particular stool was made of oak (or maybe burrwood) and measured 55cm (22 inches) across the width. The cross-section shows a fragment of one of the legs, which was wedged into the hole.This type of stool was probably the most ubiquitous Norse seating, as they have been found in homes and in workshops. Similar stools have been found in Winchester in the early-mid 10th century levels, and in the Fishamble Street, Dublin, dig at 11th century levels. Both of these stools had D-shaped holes cut into their center, presumably to make them easier to carry. There was also a rectangular 4-legged stool in Viking Age levels at Hedeby, and another in 11th century layers at High Street in Dublin. The Oseberg ship burial contained fragments of a longer oblong stool which might have also functioned as a workbench. The birch stool seat below was found in Lund, Sweden, and dates to the 11th century. The seat was 40cm (16 inches) wide. (sketch above: Morris, p. 2303; photo below: Roesdahl, p. 245)

Sunnifa Gunnarsdottir (Charlotte Mayhew) [email protected] July 2013 16

Chairs

The chair back on the right from Lund, Sweden, (1000-1050) is 75cm high (30 inches) at the back top. The chair back is maple, but the cross pieces are beech. The wooden pieces use mortise and tenon joints, while the cross-pieces on the upper part are held in place by trenails. The reconstruction uses the same types of wood and is the same size. The woven straw seat is conjectural. Stools that resemble this chair, but without a back, were used in 13th century Novgorod. (Roesdahl, p. 375)

This childs seat from ~1050 in Lund, Sweden, was built of beech wood. While only two sides have been found, the chair has been reconstructed with a matching other side, a seat, and a rod going through the hole in front of the seat. This chair would have been used as a child restraint like a modern high chair. The chair is 46.5cm (~18 inches) long. (Roesdahl, p. 376)

The reconstructed chair to the lower right is based on the chair pieces found in the Oseberg Queens burial. The chair is made of beech wood and is 67cm (27 inches) high. The four base boards fit into the corner posts. The two back posts slant slightly backwards and support the back board. The seat was missing, but the holes drilled into the side boards suggest that it was originally a rope or woven seat. The panels of the chair have parallel lines drawn onto them, and the center rectangle of the boards is set in. The chair was originally painted with stylistic animals, and colored borders. This is the only known box type chair from the Viking Age, however, other chairs of this type have been found from later in the medieval period.(Christiensen, Ingstad & Myhre, p. 131)Sunnifa Gunnarsdottir (Charlotte Mayhew) [email protected] July 2013 17

Oseberg Chair Schematic Drawing

(photo: http://s192.photobucket.com/user/Castlegrounds/media/Oseberg/Volume%202/Plate9sm.jpg.html)


Isle of Lewis ChessmenThe 78 pieces of the Isle of Lewis chess set were carved from walrus ivory and whales teeth by a Norwegian workshop in the 12th century. The kings, queens and bishops in the set are clearly depicted sitting in chairs, which have carvings on all visible surfaces. (photos: google images for isle of lewis chessmen)

The Bayeux TapestryThe Bayeux Tapestry was commissioned in the 1070s by Bishop Odo, half brother to William the Conqueror. In several frames of the Tapestry, William is shown seated on a cushioned bench with animal-head terminals. The only other people that appear in the Tapestry seated are Edward the Confessor, and Harold Godwinson at his Coronation. This suggests the idea that chairs were owned by those of higher rank. (Wilson, p. 177)


Benches

Pieces of benches have been found in Norse and Anglo-Saxon sites such as York, Dublin, Novgorod, Winchester, and Oseberg. This suggests that benches were a common piece of furniture in homes. To the left is a bench-end from Christchurch Place in Dublin, Ireland, from the mid-11th century. Note that it is about 30cm (12 inches) wide, and about 13.5cm (5.4 inches) high and . The other 11th-century bench-end found at Christchurch Place was 38.4cm (15.36 inches) high and 14cm (5.6 inches) wide and was carved from willow wood. This diminutive size suggests that both might have been for kneeling rather than sitting. (Lang, p. 35, 64, 75) The two 13th century

benches (left and below left) are from Norway and Sweden. No size indications were given in the text. (Karlson, Pl. V & VII) The 12th century bench ends below right are from Hemsedal Church, and are 130cm (52 inches) high and 123cm (49.2 inches) wide. Note the slot cut for the seat, and traces of the back still attached to one edge of the uprights. The animal head terminals are reminiscent of the 12th century chairs shown earlier. (Roesdahl, p. 348)


Kungsra Bench

The Kungsra bench was discovered in 1906 in Kungsra Church, where it had been for close to nine centuries. It was examined by experts and determined to be from the 11th century, which makes it the oldest known intact example of Scandinavian medieval furniture. The sides are 62cm (~25 inches) high, apart from the finials, which are 75cm (30 inches). The back is 108cm (~43 inches) high at the sides, 75cm (30 inches) high at the lowest point and 82cm (~33 inches) in the middle. The seat is 43cm (~17 inches) above the floor and 50cm (20 inches) deep. The length of the bench halfway up the back is 198cm (6.6 feet). The bench is made from pine. It uses four upright pieces, one long board for the back, another for the seat, and another for the decorative piece under the seat. There are also 3 pieces on each side: the carved side, a shaped armrest on top of that, and a plain support under the seat. (Kolchin, Pl. II & III; correspondence, Statens Historiska Museum


Folding Chairs or Stools

A Bronze Age chieftains burial from 1400BC in Guldhj, Jutland, Denmark, yielded a folding chair made of ash wood, with an otter skin seat. The crossed legs were 34cm (13.6 inches) long, while the edge of the seat was 36cm (14.4 inches) long. Fragments of 17 other folding chairs resembling this one have been found in Nordic Bronze Age sites in Store Hj in Denmark, Germany and one in Sweden. The Daensen chair from Lower Saxony was decorated with bronze and gold fittings.(photo: http://thomasguild.blogspot.com/2011/12/medieval-folding-chairs.html)

The 2003 excavation of an early 6th century Anglo-Saxon grave at Prittelwell, Essex, England, revealed a folding stool made of iron , the only one found in an Anglo-Saxon grave to date. This grave belonged to the Prittelwell Prince, an Anglo-Saxon king who has yet to be positively identified. Another iron stool with inlaid work on its frame is housed in the British Museum, but its design is significantly different. It has been suggested that this stool is 6th or 7th century Merovingian. No folding chair has yet been found in a Viking Age context. (Wilson, An Inlaid Iron Folding Stool, p. 45)

Stools and chairs with a basic X-frame have been recorded since the 18th dynasty in Egypt. King Tutankhamuns tomb contained two such folding chairs, one with a high back. These campaign stools also appear in Roman and Byzantine contexts. Folding chairs also appear in later medieval contexts, usually being used by someone of high status such as a king or clergyman. The 12th century chair to the right belonged to the Abbess of the Monastery of Nonnberg; it was refurbished in the 14th century when more carving was added to it. Many examples of folding chairs are brightly painted and highly decorated.(photos: http://pinterest.com/pin/523473156657639535/;http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/folding-chair-of-the-abbess-of-the-nonnberg-monastery-caps-news-photo/56466280)


viking age furniture

Documents