On December 1 I wrote that the narrow leg garments seen on Viking age depictions could be either close-fitting trousers or hose. There are actually finds of hose, from the Hedeby harbour this time too. It consists of two joined square pieces, on around the knee and the other around the shin. At the top edge there is a strip of leather to fasten the hose to a belt or cord around the waist. The hose should have covered at least part of the thigh, but is cut off at the bottom so we can’t know if it had a foot, even if that should be plausible based on how hose used to look later in the history.

On the picture to the right, the hose is complemented with a foot based on the more well-known of the Thorsbjerg trouser, which I described on December 1.

The hose from Hedeby is probably a man’s garment because it intended to be fastened to something worn around the waist. There are no finds of anything which could be interpreted as women’s hose, or fabric stocking as they also could be called. But women also needed something to keep the lower parts of the legs warm during the cold season and during the later medieval period, women’s hose used to end at the knee. A Viking age version of that could have looked like on the picture to the left, taken by Iduna Pertoft Sundarp.

You can buy our patterns for the Hedeby hose here: Trousers