VIKING TENT FRAME AND CLOTH For the Real Viking Project, Level 1

October 2002 by

Danr Bjornson, CSO (Middle Kingdom)

Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 2

Historical Documentation ............................................................................................................... 2

Tent Frame .................................................................................................................................. 2

Carved Decoration ...................................................................................................................... 3

Tent Cloth ................................................................................................................................... 4

Materials and Process ..................................................................................................................... 5

Frame .......................................................................................................................................... 5

Cloth............................................................................................................................................ 9

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 12

Summary The ships that the Norse people used to travel to other lands were the best shipbuilding technology of their time. But when a group was out "viking" and the ship was crowded, sleeping aboard ship was not particularly comfortable. For that reason, the Vikings would beach their ship and sleep on shore whenever possible. For shelter on land, they fashioned tents from sailcloth and oars. It is believed that these crude tents gradually developed into the exterior-frame tent design seen in the Gokstad and Oseberg ships.

My main source was The Viking, by Bertil Almgren et. al. It includes a description and a drawing of the Oseberg tents that were sufficiently detailed for me to build the tent frame with reasonable accuracy. I used other sources to refine the design and for artistic inspiration.

The drawing in the book did not show all the details, so I had to design some parts myself. While the dimensions of the pavilions canvas are said to be accurate to the Oseberg tent, the frame directions that came with the pavilion were different enough from the historical design that I had to find some dimensions through experimentation. Later, I found some other sources that confirmed my design. I designed the decorative animal heads in a similar artistic style and technique as those of the Oseberg ship. I used locally available wood, doing the initial cuts with power tools and finishing the finer details and decorative carving with hand tools.

My lady assisted me with finishing the wood. I chose a clear satin polymer to preserve the look of bare wood and still make it weatherproof. The result looks realistic from more than a few feet. My lady also provided a second pair of hands and eyes in our experiments to find the most efficient setup procedure.

I made a few mistakes and a few concessions to modern requirements. For example, I made the 14-foot sections of ridge and side poles so that they break down for easy transport. Because these are not visible when the tent is erected, I used modern materials and techniques for the join. I also developed a setup procedure that is easy and effective for this frame design. Finally, my original ridge pole was not sturdy enough and I had to redesign it.

This document will show you how to construct a basic tent frame and cloth, one that will satisfy Level 1 requirements for the Real Viking Project. It will also briefly describe how to make the tent canvas.

Historical Documentation

Tent Frame

Norse tents came in many sizes. The large Oseberg tent was 5.3 m long x 4.5 m wide x 3.5 m high inside, the small Oseberg tent was 5.3 m long x 4.15 m wide by 2.7 m high inside, and the Gokstad tent was a bit smaller, though exact measurements are not available (Willett). A tent with a triangle-shaped end that is approximately equilateral, and about 1/3 longer than it is wide, seems to provide the most pleasing proportions. The wood that makes the pieces must be strong enough for the job, and so 2" thick lumber is the most common.

The Almgren book provides a brief description of a tent on page 262, and on page 273 is the

drawing shown below. I have added some markers in red to help highlight some of the features of interest. First, the carved animal heads are quite noticeable (A). The uprights appear to be tapered over their length (B), being wider at the top than at the bottom. The ridge pole and side poles are round on the ends to pierce the end frames (C and D) and are held in place with pegs. What is not clearly visible is whether the ridge and side poles are round for their entire length. We can just see something inside the tent (E) that might be a round side pole. According to research by Willett, the side poles were round dowel-like poles.

This drawing provides little definite information. Willett provides exact measurements of each portion of the tent.

A round pole held by pegs on the outside might allow the end frame to slip inward if the tent were shaken by strong winds. An addition peg on the inside would prevent this but might pierce the tent fabric. The structure would not be very sturdy because the weight of the canvas would pull heavily down on the thin round poles. The round pole that pierces the end frame is similar to a mortise and tenon joint, except that in this case the tenon is round. This made a great deal of sense because, being round, it allows the tent to be assembled flat on the ground. Then the center can be lifted upward, with the joint rotating around the round tenon, to erect the tent with ease. Therefore, a round tenon was an important design feature. According to Willett, the round tenon was cut down from the diameter of the side poles and ridge poles. This creates "shoulders" on the tenon that eliminate the need for a peg on the inside.

Carved Decoration

The uprights are decorated with carved animal heads. Beds and other furnishings from the Oseberg find also have animal heads, and in some cases a single object is decorated with slightly different styles over its various parts. The animal heads are generally considered to be of the Oseberg-Borre style of Norse art (Graham-Campbell, 98), on both the bed and tents. I used this

style of art, and the idea of different variations of artwork on one item, in the final design.

I have been attempting to learn the styles of Norse art for the past year. While I can identify one from another, I am still developing the ability to draw something from scratch in a particular style my designs tend toward the Jelling style if I do not have a model from which to work. The Smith book was quite helpful, for it provided me with a good renditions of the Gokstad tent frame supports (page 6) shown here much reduced in size. The features of these animals, including ears, teeth, and the general shape of the heads, suggest to me that they are horses. The Smith book also showed me drawings of other Viking carvings of dogs and bears (page 25; not shown in this document), which would be of great help in designing the animal head carvings for my tent frame. It helped me maintain the artistic style of the Gokstad tent frame. The drawing also shows the start of the tapered shape on the uprights.

Tent Cloth

Tents in Viking times are generally believed to have evolved from makeshift shelters made from oars and sailcloth. Experimentation at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, has shown that woolen sails are superior in performance to linen, hemp, or cotton (Andersen). Since the long-staple wool of the Icelandic sheep requires less effort to harvest, comb, and spin than the fibers of linen or hemp, and need not be imported like cotton, wool cloth was probably cheaper as well. Thus it is reasonable to assume that most Norse tents were made of wool, though the other materials mentioned would have been available.

The tent cloth is generally believed to have been wrapped over the ridge pole and attached to the side poles, with the uprights and ground braces outside the tent, and tent flaps on the ends to keep out the weather when desired. This common interpretation is practical, easy to make, and effective.

Shown to the right is a cut-away drawing of what the tent would look like with only half its canvas, so show how the tent flaps drape inside the end frame.

There is evidence for tents being dyed different colors. The picture at the front of this document is my own tent, with heraldic banners hanging on it. Heradry is a post-Viking innovation. I use the banners to uniquely identify my tent, and specifically use our registered heraldry as a matter of SCA culture, but such banners would not be appropriate for the Real Viking Project. For the RVP, it would be practical to be able to identify your tent from many others, but heraldry would

not be appropriate. It is best to decorate the tent with Viking art styles, by making it in colors or stripes, or to not decorate the cloth at all if you desire, and mark your camp another way.

Materials and Process The materials and building process shown here are a quick and easy method to build a tent that achieves RVP Level 1 authenticity. To reach higher levels of authenticity will require all wood parts, uprights with integrated decoration, etc. However, you will be able to upgrade the tent by replacing parts of the frame to reach the higher levels, if you later desire to do so.

Frame

The drawing shows my names for the various parts of the tent frame and how they fit together. This will make it easier to understand the directions as well as to visualize to project as it progresses. The names and the drawing used here are my own invention, and the tent frame parts may have other names in other works.

Also, I refer to the uprights and ground brace together as the "end frame."

Materials:

For wood, I chose what was locally available. This included lumber of pine and dowels of poplar. Unfortunately, the original design resulted in a ridge pole which was not sufficiently strong for more than half a dozen uses, so I replaced the ridge pole with steel pipe. The components needed for a "break-down" ridge and side poles are listed as optional. Finally, to make the uprights historically accurate would require the use of 2x12 boards, which are expensive and heavy, even after most of the wood was cut away to form the taper and animal heads. Therefore, to save money and weight, I made the uprights from 2x4s and attached animal heads made from 2x10s.

1. 6 each 2x4 x 12 (to make uprights and ground braces)

2. 4 each 2x3 x 16 (optional: replace with 4 each 2x3 x 8; side poles)

3. 2 each 1 1/4" inside diameter steel pipe, threaded at one end, 7 feet long (ridge pole)

4. 1 each steel pipe nipple (straight and threaded), to fit the pipe above (ridge pole)

5. 3 each pressure-treated 2x2, 2' long (ridge pole inserts)

6. 1 each 1x10 x 6 (animal heads)

7. optional: 4 each angle irons (such as galvanized stair tread supports; to make the break-down sleeves)

8. optional: 6 each 3/8 x 5" carriage bolts with nuts and washers (to secure break-down poles)

9. finishing paint, stain, oil, or varnish (I chose a satin clear polymer)

10. 1 each 5/8 x 3 wooden dowel

11. Wood-grain contact paper (to make the steel ridge pole look like wood)

Tools included a miter saw, band saw, jig saw, drill, hole saw, hand saw, draw knife, mallet, and an assortment of woodworking and woodcarving chisels, as well as the whetstones and strops to keep the knives and chisels sharp. Drilling the holes is much easier if you have a drill press, but I did not have one at the time I made the frame.

Process:

The dimensions listed here are for a 10 wide by 14 long by 8 high tent. Some of the dimensions, such as the length of the ridge and side poles, came directly from the manufacturer of the canvas. The rest are from experimentation. The procedure shown will allow you to adjust the dimensions to fit your canvas.

1. Measure the canvas and cut the ridge and side poles to length. Allow 5" on each end for the tenon. Cut the tenons with a saw, taking care to cut across the grain first to prevent binding of the saw when cutting with the grain. Using mallet and chisel or drawknife, trim the tenon to a uniform 1 3/8 inches round, while maintaining a perpendicular shoulder for the rest of the 2x3 cross-section. This edge will press against the end frame to make a sturdy structure. If the ridge and end poles are built to break down, attach the hardware and assemble them. Lay the canvas on the ground and slip all 3 poles into place.

NOTE: After using the tent for a few months, this design for the break-down ridge and side poles proved too weak. The ridge pole started to bend under the tension and weight of the canvas. Therefore I replaced it with a 1 1/2 inch steel pipe with wooden inserts at the center and ends, so that the external appearance is the same. The two pieces of pipe meet in the middle, joined by a standard coupling. The weight, however, is taken not by the coupling's threads but by the 2 foot wooden insert. This insert was made from pressure-treated 2x2. One end was trimmed to fit tightly into the pipe, where it was hammered into place and secured with a small nail (drill the pipe before putting in the nail). The other end of this insert is trimmed to fit slightly more loosely into the other piece of pipe. To put them together, slip the two pipes together over the insert and screw them together at the coupling to hold them. The outer ends have shorter inserts, trimmed to fit into the holes in the uprights. Cover the outer ends of the metal pipe with wood-grain contact paper, so no metal shows on the outside. The new ridge pole is much stronger but also heavier. It allowed the tent to withstand the storm at Blackstone Raids

in 2002 without any problems, a storm that flattened several modern tents and medieval pavilions. The side poles remain as in the original design, because they are not subject to any serious stress and are strong enough.

2. Drill each upright with a 1 inch hole, 1 (on center) from one end. NOTE: the holes are drilled to 1 1/2 inches, whereas the pegs are 1 3/8 inches. This is not an error -- the extra play makes assembly easier and will tighten when the tent is erected. When all four are drilled, slip them onto the ends of the ridge pole and under the tenons of the side poles so that the side poles ride on top, bringing the canvas with them. Raise the tent with the help of an assistant by lifting the center to about 5 feet of the ground. Then, lift one upright while the upright it is attached to pivots on the ground, until the tent is raised to about 8-9 feet. At this point the tent will be too high off the ground, because you have not yet measured or cut the length of the uprights. Spin the side poles in place so the tenon is toward the ground, in the "low tension" setting.

3. With the help of your assistant, stretch the canvas slightly from both sides at the same end of the tent, and mark the uprights where the side poles cross it. Repeat this for the other end. Then disassemble the structure, measure the distance from the hole to all the markings, and average them. Each canvas may vary slightly and this technique gives a better fit. If you do not average the markings, you will have to assemble the tent the exact same way each time, and failing to average the distances also compounds the problem if your measurements were in error. Using the average measurement for your marks, drill the 1 inch holes. Cut off the board 1 inches below the edge of the holes you just drilled. The drawing shows the dimensions for my tent frame, but yours may vary slightly.

4. With the newly-cut uprights, assemble the tent again, taking care that the doors overlap the proper amount, put down the ground poles, and mark where the holes will go to hold the tent in place. As before, measure and average the markings. Cut the ground pole to length, drill, and reassemble the tent as before. The ground pole should go inside the upright that crosses outside its partner upright, and outside the upright that crosses inside its partner upright. The drawing below, which shows the ground brace from the side and also from beneath, will make this clear.

5. Drill the 5/8 inch holes in the tenons for the ridge poles and side poles 3 inches out from the main pole (1 3/4 inches from the end of the tenon), and cut a piece of dowel about 4 inches long for each. The dowels should fit loosely enough to insert and remove them by hand, but not so loosely that they slip out on their own. These dowels will hold the end frame onto the ridge and side poles when the tent is assembled. For a slightly less authentic, but more utilitarian look, you could use metal cotter pins. The cotter pins have the advantage of not tightening in

wet weather, which was a problem with dowels, but may not be acceptable above RVP Level 1.

6. Design and cut the animal heads from the 2x10 board. For a tent this size the head should be about 10 inches by 14-18 inches. My design was based on the art style used for the Oseberg tent and bed. Each end has a bear and a wolf, derived from my surname of Bjornsson and my ladys surname of Ulfsdottir. In this way I used the animal heads to identify us. In the original design, these were made from 1x10 boards with the mouth area cut out, which looked fine but broke after a few incidents of rough handling. In the current design, the animal heads are from 2x10s and the mouth area is painted, not cut out. Carve the lines with a V-gouge (parting tool) and use the V-gouge to create checking in the shaded areas. Then, outline the carving with paint if you wish. Ensure that you have two right-handed and two left-handed animal heads so none of them are upside down or backwards when the tent is assembled. The design I used is shown below. You should make your own design to match your persona, or use the one from the Smith book shown in the documentation section.

7. The uprights have a 1-foot section that overlaps at the top where they cross above the ridge pole. Cut a notch 6 inches long and inches deep from each upright. Then, peg or glue the animal heads into this notch so they fit flush with the front of the upright board. Ensure they will not be upside down, which should work fine since you have two right-handed and two left-handed heads. This piece together technique is much easier and less wasteful of wood than cutting the uprights and animal heads in one piece, and the visual impact is almost as good, but it is RVP Level 1 authenticity and will not be allowed for Level 2. For extra security, you can put 1 1/4 inch screws through the joint from the back side to ensure the animal heads stay on. Paint the screw heads the same color as the wood.

8. Finish the frame as you desire. I chose a clear satin polymer because, when we first built it, it had to be stored outside. It held up to the weather, though the mildew is gradually working its way beneath it, and it still allowed a bit of water into the mortises. Even so, it will last for years now when stored inside. A better finish would have been oil (such as tung or linseed), which is more authentic and only needs to be reapplied every two years.

With the frame built, erecting the tent is easy with two people who know the procedure. People have different aptitudes for the mechanics of this process, so be careful, and train anyone who volunteers to assist you. The key is that things go together only at the correct angle. A pole that slips into place easily when the two parts are at a 90-degree angle will seem to be an impossible fit at an 85-degree angle. Therefore, practice, observe the angles as you go, and do not rush. The only times I have broken wooden parts was when I was in a hurry and used a mallet instead

of patience to assemble or disassemble the tent. While it is possible for one person to put up this tent, it would much longer and be very tiring. Likewise, more than 4 people will not make it go any faster. Observant readers will have noticed that the tenons are 1 3/8 inches diameter, but the mortise holes are 1 1/2 inches diameter. This 1/8 inch difference is necessary to erect the tent.

1. Lay the canvas on the ground. Assemble the ridge and side poles and slip them in place.

2. Attach the uprights to the ridge pole and secure with a dowel or pin. Have an assistant hold the far end of the upright, to help you get each upright to the proper angle, as you put it on -- this approach gets the job done more quickly than if each of you struggles independently at each end of the tent.

3. Put one person at each end of the tent. Lift the ridge pole until the tent stands about 5 feet high. Then, lift one upright, while the other pivots on the ground, to push it until the ridge pole is about 8 feet high and the doors overlap the correct amount.

4. Lay the ground braces in place and, using the side poles, attach to the uprights. While you work to insert each corner, have your assistant push or pull on the tent frame to make the angles line up correctly for you. Spin the side poles so that they put maximum tension on the canvas and secure with dowels.

To take the tent down, reverse the process. Be VERY careful when doing the reverse of step 3, to ensure that no fingers get pinched as the uprights rotate around the ridge pole.

A tent frame built as described above meets the Level 1 standard for RVP. For better historical accuracy, a person could make the uprights from 2x10s and taper them as the originals were, and use round wooden dowels for the ridge and side poles. At a later date, this document will be rewritten to present the Level 2 standards for future editions of the Real Viking Project Participant's Manual.

Cloth

This section is theoretical, since I bought my canvas, and a few ideas have been borrowed from Willet. The Known World Handbook, an SCA publication, also has directions for building a Viking tent cloth which are good directions, though I did not use them here.

As discussed previously, tents were probably made of wool but could have also been cotton, linen, or hemp. For RVP Level 1 authenticity, canvas is a readily available material that performs well. Any non-shiny fabric that looks like wool, linen, or canvas from 5 feet away is acceptable. For fire safety reasons, you are advised to avoid synthetic materials. If you plan to go to higher levels of authenticity for the Real Viking Project in the future, you should use one of the materials available in period, such as wool, linen, or cotton canvas. A tent cloth costs too much money and/or effort to make a new one next year. For the rest of this section, the word "canvas" will refer to whatever cloth you plan to use to build the tent.

A high-quality tent canvas to fit the frame described above will cost around $450 new, including some options but not a floor. You can make your own for about half that much money and dozens of hours of work, sewing on a heavy-duty machine, handling pieces of canvas up to 20 feet long and 15 feet wide. For me, there was no question that buying a canvas was easier, but

your budget, sewing skill, and available time will help you decide. If you insist on making your own tent cloth, I recommend that you buy canvas which has already been treated to resist water and mildew.

The basic shape of the canvas is a rectangle, with triangles attached at each end. Since the canvas will be much more expensive than the wood, I highly recommend that you make the cloth first and fit the frame to it, as described in the frame section above.

All seams should be flat felled seams. Most of the hems should be double hems, because they will either have ties attached or will be subject to a lot of stress. You may also wish to reinforce certain areas of the canvas with reinforcing folds. All such seams, hems, and folds must be double-stitched. Some extra care at this point will make your tent cloth last much longer.

Flat felled seam

Double hem

Reinforcing fold

The following measurements are my own based on observations of my own tent, study of Willet, and theory. I have not actually sewn such a canvas and I highly recommend you draw the plans out and verify them before you proceed, both to gain an understanding of the process and to verify my measurements. While the tent canvas design is simple, it is a lot of work due to its size, and canvas is expensive. It would be unpleasant to waste effort or money due to an error in this document.

You will need about 25 yards of 60-inch wide canvas. Take three pieces of 60-inch canvas, 20' long each, and sew them together with flat felled seams to form a piece 20' long and a bit less than 15 feet wide. Double hem all sides of the resulting piece of cloth, then fold each end over about 8 inches to form a pocket at each end and sew it down. This pocket remains open on each end, and will hold the side poles. The resulting roof canvas looks like this (the pockets have been exaggerated to show them clearly):

8 inches

18 3/4 feet (20 feet minus seams and pockets

14 3/4 feet (15 feet minus seams)

Then, prepare the tent flaps by making two canvas pieces 5 1/2 feet wide and 8 1/2 feet long. This is easiest to do by cutting a 6 inch strip and adding it to the edge of a 60-inch piece of canvas. The flat felled seam between these will be where you attach ties later. Cut each of these pieces of canvas on a diagonal, cut a bit out of the top portion of the additional strip as shown here, and hem the resulting triangles all around. Put ties along the edge of the door flaps. At each end of the tent, one set of ties will go along the edge every foot and one set of ties will be sewn on the seam (6 inches back from the edge) at the same intervals. By setting one set of ties back, you can tie the door shut with a 6-inch overlap for better protection from the weather. The ties go along the edge that, in the drawing to the right, is represented as a vertical line. 5 1/2 feet

8 1/

2 fe

et

Sew the flaps on each side of the roof canvas. The diagonal cut should run along the sides of the roof canvas, the 5/12 foot portion running sort of parallel with the pockets. Your tent canvas now looks like the drawing below (again, the pockets' size is exaggerated). It is ready to use.

5 1/2 feet

8 1/2 feet

You could also add weather flaps along the bottom edges of the door flaps and pockets. Weather flaps guide rainwater to run under your tent floor, by folding the flaps to the inside and then putting the tent floor (a tarp, for example) over the flaps. Some people prefer to install a canvas floor in their tent, as well. If you make a floor, it should attach with ties on one or both sides, or can be sewn to the pocket on one side only.

Bibliography Andersen, Erik, The Woolen Sail, Viking Heritage Magazine 2/2002, pg 18-19, Gotland University, Visby, Sweden.

Almgren, Bertil, et. al., The Viking, Nordbok International, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1971. This book is much like other "generic Viking" secondary-source books, but it was written prior to many of the discoveries in the 1980s and 1990s. It is therefore of limited use on many topics. It is, however, the only source I have found thus far with any information regarding Norse tent design.

Graham-Campbell et. al., Cultural Atlas of the Viking World, Andromeda Oxford Ltd, Abingdon England, 1994. ISBN 0-8160-3004-9. This is a very good source for maps, artifacts, archeological sites, and history of the Viking Age. At 240 full-sized pages, it goes into fascinating depth on many topics and draws its conclusions from more recent archeological finds. Even so, it is a secondary source.

Smith, AG, Viking Designs, Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, NY, 1999. This book contains 175 line drawings rendered from archeological finds all over Scandinavia. The author captions each drawing by the object from which it comes and where it was found. This book is either a secondary or tertiary source, as its contents are "adapted" and do not, in all cases, reproduce the original artwork in every detail. Even so, it is a fine source of inspiration for creating my own original artwork, and I will continue to use it for that.

Willet, Andrea, Dimensions of Wooden Frames of Surviving Viking Tents with a Standardized Tent, http://freehosting2.at.webjump.com/6ccfc4962/fr/frojel-webjump/Html/Doc1.html , 1997. This web page has some good information and sources, including detailed instructions on building a tent frame and tent cloth. I did not find it until long after my tent frame was built, and it takes a slightly different approach to the frame. It main contribution to this document was to help work out the process for making the tent cloth.

The World of the Vikings, York Archaeological Trust and the National Museum of Denmark, Past and Forward Limited, year unpublished. This CD-ROM contains color photographs of thousands of Norse artifacts from several museums in northern Europe, and its search software makes using it very easy. While the information given for each artifact is limited, the quality of the photos is very professional, and I often find things there which can be further researched elsewhere.

About the author: Danr Bjornsson is a 10th Century Danelaw, with 3 farms in the Hedeby area, where he lives with his lady Isabel Ulfsdottir. You can reach them at danr.n.isabel@juno.com and see their work at http://bjornsson.crosswinds.net.

SummaryHistorical DocumentationTent FrameCarved DecorationTent Cloth

Materials and ProcessFrameCloth

Bibliography