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The Valsgärde/Vendel area helmets

Owners Note1: After received my copy of Dominic Tweddle's "The Anglian Helm from Coppergate," I've gained alot of information on Pre-Viking helms and a whole new insight on some issues dealing with them. I highly recommend obtaining a copy of the book if you are interested in any of the helms listed below.  Most of the information below came from said book, but it is still worth buying! Better pictures of the originals and their line drawings are on the way! Contact me with any questions you may have regarding any of the info below! 

Owners Note2: Some of the pics on the following pages belong to Sir Raymond's, from  Raymond's Quiet Press, website. I highly recommend Raymond as Ive done business with him MANY times and am extremely pleased with his work ethic, his craftsmanship, his devotion to reasonably priced reproductions and he's just really pleasant to deal with! I must also thank him for letting me use some of his pics on this page as examples. --Halvgrimr

Uppland, Sweden and the surrounding area has produced twelve helmets from the Vendel period, eight of them (including the Ultuna) are intact or reconstructable. There is no absolute consensus on the dating of the Valsgärde/Vendel graves, between them all they range from AD500 to the mid 7th century.  Since they are so broad, if I have documentation I've included the dates attributed to them. You will notice that some of the helms are called Vendel and some are called Valsgärde this is due to the fact that they were found in burial that are in the same area but separate places, even though they are separate there are obviously cross culture influences. 

The Pressblachs

Many of these helms incorporated the use of copper alloy foils with varied motifs on them as decoration. These foils are also know as pressblachs. 

The motifs have been interpreted to mean many things. Some of them are used to date certain types of armor in use as the time and others still mystify us as to their meaning.  Though the foils are found on several of the helmets from the Valsgärde/Vendel area (and even as far away as the Sutton Hoo Grave) the repertoire of figural motifs is limited to 8 images, this includes the images from the stamps (also called matrices) from Torslunda in Öland. Figures 1 and 2 below show these  matrices.. Arwidsson believes the skillful composition (and stereotypical design)  point to the motifs being copies of late Roman illustrations. He also believed they came to the Northern areas with the helmet design/type.¹

   

Click on pics to see bigger versions!

As is evident on the extant foils and the matrices from Torslunda the makers of changed the details over time to represent the weapons and armor in use over time. This is noticeable by noting the various types of swords, spears and shields that appear in the same motif but on foils from varied times. Though many of these motifs display types of weapons from the Vendel period, it is possible that the original design predates that period.

For reenactment purposes I am told that Dave Roper, at the Hoard,  makes them in the correct manner- he carves the pattern, makes a die and then beats the bronze over the die with a leather hammer. Unfortunately, he doesn't show all his work on his site but I am told his casting are some of the best around.

Any information on the the Valsgärde/Vendel graves or graves of the surrounding area is welcome, please contact the site owner with details.  

So far I've found documentation for the following helms called Valsgärde/Vendel helms. I have included suggested reconstruction line drawings of the helms that are in "The Anglian Helm from Coppergate."

The Valsgärde Helmets	The Vendel Helmets
The Ultuna Helmet	The Vallentuna Helmet
The Uppåkra Fragments	Vendel helmets in Gotland?

These Sites are currently being restructured

Some of the new info hasn't been thru a final edit yet, so expect some grammar/spelling errors!

I hope to have the final drafts done soon!

Halvgrimr 

04/09/2003

1. "A Vendel warrior from Vallentuna", L. Sjösvärd , M. Vretemark & H. Gustavson, "Vendel Period Studies: Transactions of the Boat-Grave symposium in Stockholm, February 2-3, 1981", The Museum of National Antiquities, Stockholm Studies.