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Norse-Gael Vikings

Writer's picture: Jennifer HartmanJennifer Hartman
Jan 298 min read

Who Are The Norse-Gael Vikings?

The Vikings came from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. They travelled far and wide, reaching Canada, Russia, Baghdad, and North Africa! Early in the Viking Age, those who settled in Ireland became the Norse-Gael Vikings. They formed strong alliances, contributing to Ireland's prosperity and epic sagas of legendary raids against England. Embracing Gaelic culture and mythology, they integrated into the Gaelic population, becoming part of native Ireland.


Each Viking settlement provided different materials and foods, diversifying available resources such as colours for dye, fabrics, crafting materials, foods, and weapons. Availability depended on the year and location, with items grown locally or traded through merchant routes.


Not every Viking town would have the same materials as another, and materials may only be available within a short period depending on the rise and fall of raids, trades and settlements.



What Did The Vikings Wear?

Each area will have variations of colours available. Although we can theorize how people wore the excavated materials, it doesn't necessarily mean they all wore them the same way. Generally, we assume they wore linen or wool dresses, shirts and pants since linen, wool spinning, and looms have been found everywhere; however, Iron Age Denmark recently discovered a woman dressed in a baggy, linen crop top, short skirt and large, round metal belt. Did the style evolve come the Viking Age? If we dress according to the weather, wouldn't the same be valid for the people of the Viking Age? What if we could design anything within the parameters of what was available? Although I'll list typical Viking Age reconstructed gear, we can assume creative freedom and expression existed then and are still valid today.


We can determine what foods and colours are likely to be worn, used and consumed by:

  1. Studying the native plants of each area to assess food and materials available to dye or make clothing and weapons;

  2. Reading sagas and history books depicting battles and settlements to determine who went where and when; and,

  3. Viewing archaeological materials carbon-dated to the Viking Age


Items found throughout the Viking Age in all locations and periods include:

  • Natural or white linen for clothing

  • Wool and twine for clothing

  • Leather - Turn shoes, belts and merchant purses

  • Bronze - Tortoise Brooches, Cloak fasteners (rings and more brooches)

  • Iron - Pots, tools and jewellery

  • Silver - Available to the upper class

  • Clay - Pots, jugs, plates and bowls

  • Wood - Looms, spinning wheels, knives, utensils,

  • Bone - Combs


Later in this article, graphics of Viking Age materials and items unearthed from Viking settlements are included when they pertain more specifically to the Norse-Gael Vikings.


When Was The Viking Age? What Counts?

The Viking Age was a small portion of Scandinavia's early Medieval Age. Since conquerors wrote history, the period is traditionally marked by the English, with the Viking Age starting in 793 with the Northumbrian raid on Lindisfarne and ending with the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.


However, the Vikings first appeared in England in 789 when the Northmen from Hordaland (Old Norse: Hǫrðalandi) landed at the Isle of Portland after the visitors were mistaken for merchants. Scholar Judith Jesch, EdD, states that given archeological evidence in the area, contact between Scandinavia and the British Isles was earlier in the century. The Viking Age may have started as early as 700–750. Jesch suggests there were likely many more minor raids before the large one on Lindisfarne.


By 795, the Viking Age of Ireland began when the Norweigian Northmen attacked and set up bases to continue attacking Lindisfarne until they burned the abbey in 802. At that point, the Vikings primarily attacked Ireland until 830, when England and the Carolingian Empire banded together to fight them off. By then, the Vikings had a lot of success against England, the Carolingian Empire, and other parts of Western Europe by using the inner conflict of the Empire and by pitting the English kingdoms against each other.


Ireland Viking Raids, Settlements and Clothing


Ostman Tribe - The Norse-Gael Vikings (9th-12th CE)

Following the first raid on Ireland in 795, the Vikings intermingled and settled with the local population, creating the Norse-Gael population. The Norse-Gael population embedded themselves into the native identity of Ireland. From the 9th to 12th centuries, the Norse–Gaels dominated most Irish and Scottish Sea regions and were noted to be proud of their vibrant clothing.


During this time, the Norse-Gael Vikings founded the:

  • Kingdom of Isles (Hebrides and Isle of Man)

  • Kingdom of Dublin

  • Lordship of Galloway


Eventually, the Norse-Gael warriors lost the fight to the Crown and disappeared. However, in the 12th-14th century, the English in the area recorded Norse-Gaels living outside the walls of Dublin, speaking Gaelic and praising Gaelic gods. They called them Ostman (men of the East), taken from the Old Norse word Autr (East). The Ostman had a reputation for being good merchants and for their success in fishing, craft-working and cattle-raising. This success made the Crown's economy successful, which gave them more protection and rights than the Irish until England began colonization much later.


Although the English called them Ostman, Norse-Gael mercenaries clans were called the Gallowglass (Irish: gallóglaigh), meaning foreign warriors. Materials found include the regular collection listed above but with the addition of hemp, nettle and flax after discovering the 1040 -1170AD dated Överhogdal Viking wall hangings that seem to depict the foretelling of Ragnarok.


Explore the slider to view major Viking settlements, clothing colour options, and excavation findings in Ireland:



Fun Fact: The history of the Norse-Gaels in Ireland embeds Scandinavian DNA with the natives, which is why many native Irish people typically have 2% Scandinavian DNA.


Norse-Gael Viking Descendants


Clan Gunn - Highland Scottish Clan (8-15 CE)

Clan Gunn (Scottish Gaelic: Na Guinnich) is a Highland Scottish clan descended from the Norse Jarls of Orkney and the Pictish Mormaers of Caithness and are considered Scoto-Norse. Before the Viking Age, they were the Kingdom of the Picts, until the 840s when Norse-Geal Viking Kenneth MacAlpin (Medieval Gaelic name: Cináed mac Ailpín) defeated them and became Pictish King. After his grandson took over in 900AD, outsiders began to call the land Kingdom of Alba instead of the Kingdom of Picts and the area's Gaelicisation quickened. By the 11th Century, northern Scotland had become fully Gaelicised Scots, and Picts had been forgotten, only staying alive in the legend of foreigners who told Pictish legends and myths.


The Highland Scottish clan became the oldest and longest-lasting Gaelic clan from The Hebrides, known in Scottish-Gaeland as Innse Gall (the Islands of Foreigners).


The Uí Ímair (Descendants of Ivar)

Starting in the 900s, the Uí Ímair (Ivarids) ruled most of the Irish Sea region, the Kingdom of Dublin, and the western coast of Scotland (the Hebrides and parts of Northern England)


They emerged as one of the most formidable dynasties of the Viking Age, renowned for their dominance in the British Isles. They ruled over numerous regions until they eventually assimilated with the local inhabitants. During their conquests, they ruled over:

  • The Kingdom of Scotland

  • The Kingdom of Dublin

  • Munster - dominated from Waterford (Briefly)

  • Mercia (Briefly)


Descendants were given to other kingdoms, including:

  • Two queens of Ireland - who were also queen of Mide and queen of Munster

  • Queen of Leinster (and Osraige)

  • Queen of Norway

  • Queen of Brega

  • Overkings of East Anglia (Maybe)


When Ivar died in 893, the Annals of Ulster noted in his obituary: "Ivar, king of all the Norse of Ireland and Britain, ended his life." This led some scholars to believe he could be the leader of the Great Heathen Army and the inspiration behind the legends of Ivar the Boneless (865–860), son of Ragnar Lodbrok.


Vestmen - Iceland Norse-Gael Settlers

The Landnámabók, a medieval record of Icelandic settlements, aligns with accounts by 8th-century monk Dicuil and recent archaeological findings. These sources reveal that Gaelic monks, Norse-Gael settlers, and slaves inhabited Iceland and the Faroes before the Norse Vikings, known as the Vestmen. Today, Vestmannaeyjar in Iceland and Vestmanna in the Faroes bear names similar to the Vestmen.


The End - Or The Beginning?


Ireland played a vital role in the success of the Northmen during the Viking Age, with many assimilating into Irish and Scottish societies. Their descendants joined the monarchy, extending their influence past the Viking Period into the Medieval Age of Northern Europe. Although some mysteries persist, like examples of Norse-Gael outfits, ongoing discoveries continue to enhance our understanding.

 

Did you know?


Over 20 hours of research and fact-checking went into this article.

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Sources:


Dating The Viking Age

  • Jesch, Judith (2015). The Viking Diaspora. Routledge. pp. 8–10. ISBN 978-1-317-48253-6

  • Swanton, Michael (1998). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Psychology Press. ISBN 0-415-92129-5. p. 57, n. 15

  • Stefan Brink; Neil Price (2008). The Viking World. Routledge. p. 195. ISBN 978-020341277-0

  • "History of Lindisfarne Priory". English Heritage

  • ... and almost every textbook on the Vikings, the Viking World, and Norse Mythology (The Poetic Edda by Jackson Crawford, Women in Old Norse Society by Jenny Jochens, the World of Viking Gods by Njordur Njardvik, Dictionary of Norse Myth & Legend by Andy Orchard, the Encyclopedia of Norse and Germanic Foilkore Mythology and Magic by Claude Lecouteux, and more)...


Lindisfarne Raid


First contact on the Isle of Portland - Loyn, Henry (1995). The Vikings in Britain. John Wiley & Sons. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-631-18711-0.



Ostman Tribe


Clan Gunn

  • Bannerman, J., The Lordship of the Isles, in Scottish Society in the Fifteenth Century, ed. J. M. Brown, 1977.

  • Innse Gall - Hunter, James (2000) Last of the Free: A History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Edinburgh. Mainstream. ISBN 1840183764. p. 104


Highland Scottish Celts

  • Mike Corbishley, Rosemary Kelly, Ian Dawson, James Mason, and Kenneth O. Morgan [1996]. "The Young Oxford Dictionary of the Kingdoms in Britain & Ireland". ISBN 019-910035-7.


Kingdom of Scotland - Ó Corráin 1998

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