Kit checks
Before they can be considered for promotion to Drengr, all members of the Society are required to have two sets of kit appropriate for use at the Society’s events which pass an advanced authenticity check. This is in addition to earning Drengr points and accumulating sufficient recorded show attendance.
Further information on kit checks is available in the Society Authenticity Manual (.pdf).
Contact the Authenticity High Thegn (email: authenticity[at]vikingsonline.org.uk) to arrange a kit check.
Basic (Fri-hals) kit checks
Basic kit checks are part of the promotion process from Thrall to Fri-hals. The Group Authenticity Officer should assess the candidate’s kit – it is a group responsibility. If there is no group authenticity officer, the group leader has the role by default.
- As a basic kit check, it is expected that the candidate will have generic and/or lower-status kit from one of the core kit types i.e. Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Danish, western Viking, Welsh/British.
Advanced (Drengr) kit checks
Any member of the Vikings Society seeking promotion to Drengr must pass two advanced kit checks, assessed by two of the Society's Certified Authenticity Thegns.
- The first kit assessment must be one of the core culture types appropriate to the British Isles in our period, i.e. Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Danish, western Viking, Welsh/British. It may be higher or lower status, male or female.
- The second kit assessment must be a significantly different set of kit. It may be:
- the same core culture type, but with kit of significantly different gender, class or time-period. Simply adding more weapons and armour to the same kit is not enough! Slave/jarl, armoured warrior/craftsman (with tools and worked examples), housewife/combatant or 9th century/11th century are the sorts of contrasting status we wish to see;
- a different core culture type (i.e. Anglo-Saxon/Anglo-Danish, western Viking, Welsh/British), which may be the same or different gender, class or time-period;
- a more specialised culture type from a region with significant contact with the British Isles c.800-1100 (e.g. Norman, Hiberno-Norse, eastern Viking, ‘Rus, Pictish or Irish);
- a specialised occupation – principally clerical, monastic or other religious.
If in doubt, any questions or doubts about the suitability of a second set of kit should be raised with the authenti-team well before the assessment!
Please consult the relevant Society authenticity guidelines, as these will set out what we expect to see when presented with a set of kit from the various options.
Kit types not admissible for advanced (Drengr) assessments
Very low status kit (i.e. thralls, theows and other un-free or semi-free) may only count towards one Drengr check. While we are very happy to see very low status kit, the similarities between the various culture types are too great to count as a significantly different set of it.
While the Society may publish authenticity guidance for earlier or later periods, this is to support our presence at events beyond the period c.800-1100. Such kit types will not be accepted for advanced (Drengr) kit checks.
Similarly, individuals may wish to develop highly specialist kit for regions with no direct contact with the British Isles c.800-1100 (e.g. Byzantium or the Islamic world). Such kit will not ordinarily be accepted for an advanced (Drengr) kit check.