Stools, Benches & Chairs

From The Viking Age Compendium
(Redirected from Stools, Benches and Chairs)
Jump to: navigation, search


More Furniture & Storage pages

Completion Rating
This article's completion rating is 1 out of 5. Article planned for future work. No real progress to date.
Completion Rating
This article's completion rating is 1 out of 5. Article planned for future work. No real progress to date.
Viking Age Compendium articles on Furniture & Storage:
VA House Bench.jpg
Stools, Benches & Chairs
Viking Age Compendium articles on Furniture & Storage:
VA House Bench.jpg
Stools, Benches & Chairs

Luxury chairs were signs of wealth and status. For most normal people seating consisted of sitting on the ground, on raised earth benches or small stools [ROESDAHL & WILSON 1992]:cat.561.

Stools and Benches

These rudimentary seats would have been all that was available for most people in Regia’s period.

Wooden 3 legged stool

Some have D-shaped holes in the centre of the seat that would have served as handholds for lifting the stools (Winchester, Dublin).


Wooden 4 legged stool

  • Hedeby, AD 850-1066 Oak, 29.6 x 20.6cm and 2.1cm thick. Leg holes are 2.6cm in diameter and the oak legs where wedged. The complete height was 19.5cm [WESTPHAL 2006]:p.87
  • Dublin, [MORRIS 2000]:p.2304)


Wooden 4 legged bench

All of these benches have been interpreted as both seats and tables. Working marks in the wood

  • Sala Hytta (although probably a low table)
  • Oseberg c.AD 840 Oak, 92.5cm x 33cm. The legs are of a softer wood and are 28.5cm long.[GRIEG 1928]:p.167
  • Dublin


Wooden jointed bench

  • Dublin, Ireland. Cat. DW39. late C11th,
  • Dublin, Ireland. Cat. DW73.
  • Dublin, Ireland. Cat. DW74.
  • Hemsedal Church, Norway. L.130cm, AD 1200 [ROESDAHL & WILSON 1992]:cat.459
  • Elisenhof, Germany (8th-11th C). The side of a bench. Made of one piece of wood, 16.2cm high, 21.0cm wide, 3.0cm thick. Two legs are cut out with a gap of 8.5cm. An gap for a dovetail joint with the seat is 8.7-10.7cm wide. The seat would have been 1.5-2.0cm thick and was secured with two wood nails, one from the bottom and one from the top. [SZABO 1985]:p. 120, Taf 29
    A similar bench was also found in the Migration period Cemetary of Oberlfacht, Germany. [SZABO 1985]:p. 121


Chairs and Thrones

Wooden ‘Box’ style chair

A unique find from the Viking Age although there are other examples from the later Medieval Age.


Throne

These are the same as the wooden ‘box’ style chairs, except that they are more ornate with carved arms and backs.


Wooden ‘backed’ chair

This is from a unique C11th find in southern Sweden.

Earlier finds are from Oberflacht (AD C6th-C7th) and a boys grave in the Cologne Cathedral (AD 540) [WESTPHAL 2006].

Folding Chairs

Folding chairs are known from both Egypt and Rome and seem to have continued through the ages. A problem we face is understanding the subtexts from the Viking Age. In Roman times folding chairs were used to symbolise power and this may still have been the case in the Viking Age.
BL-TCVI-f017v King David

Wooden ‘Curule’ folding stool

These are considered to be high status items similar to the Roman ‘Curule’ which were a symbol of political or warrior power. Historically they were often used by leaders when passing judgement. They have distinctive curved legs.

  • Dagobert's Throne, France, late 8th-9th century
  • Manuscript Images


Wooden 'simple' folding stool

Made from straight bits of wood. In Roman times they sat in them with the cross bar to the front and back [CROOM 2000]:p.102

Iron framed folding stool

Log chair

Chairs with low backs made carved from a single log seem to be a Scandinavian innovation.

References

Croom, A. T. (2000) Roman Clothing and Fashion. Tempus. [CROOM 2000] ^ *
Grieg, Sigurd (1928) Osebergfundet Vol II. [GRIEG 1928] ^ *
Hirst, Sue (2004) The Prittlewell Prince. The Discovery of a rich Anglo-Saxon burial in Essex. [HIRST 2004] ^ *
Lang. James T. (1988) Viking-Age Decorated Wood. A study of its ornament and style. Medieval Dublin Excavations 1962-81: Ser.B Vol.01 [LANG 1988] *
Morris, Carole (2000) Wood and Woodworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York. York Archaeological Trust: 17/13 [MORRIS 2000] ^ 1 2 3 4 5 6 *
Robinson, James (2004) The Lewis Chessman. British Museum Objects in focus. [ROBINSON 2004] ^ *
Roesdahl, Else, and Wilson, David M. (eds.) (1992) From Viking to Crusader, The Scandinavians and Europe 800-1200. Nordic Council of Ministers. [ROESDAHL & WILSON 1992] ^ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 *
Westphal, Florian. (2006) Die Holzfunde von Haithabu. Hedeby-Ausgrabungen in Haithabu [WESTPHAL 2006] ^ 1 2 *
Szabo, Matyas; Grenander-Nyberg, Gertrud & Myrdal, Janken (1985) Die Holzfunde aus der Fruehgeschichtlichen Wurt Elisenhof. Elisenhof Band 5 [SZABO 1985] ^ 1 2 *