Viking tents and camp gear: what a reenactor camp is made of
The A-frame tents you see at Foteviken are canvas on carved wooden frames, based on the Oseberg and Gokstad ship burials. A tent, a bed, a chest and an iron pot are the core of a camp. Beginners borrow first and buy over years.
The tents
Two Viking Age tent frames survive, from the Oseberg and Gokstad ship burials in Norway, both from the ninth century. They are A-frames: two pairs of crossed poles with carved animal heads at the top, a ridge pole, and a canvas cover. Nearly every tent in a reenactor camp copies this shape, in sizes from a two-person sleeping tent to a large hall tent for a group kitchen.
A good A-frame in heavy linen or cotton canvas on a hardwood frame costs 800 to 2,500 euros ready-made from specialist makers in Sweden, Poland and Germany, and many reenactors build their own frames and sew their own covers. Modern synthetic canvas is banned at strict markets; natural canvas with a period cut is the rule.
Round tents and geteld-style tents appear at some markets and are debated; the A-frame is the safe choice.
Furniture
Beds are wooden frames with slats or rope, topped with a straw mattress and wool blankets and sheepskins. Chests hold clothes and double as seats. Low stools and small tables come out for meals. Everything is knock-down joinery that fits in a car.
Cooking
An iron tripod or a suspended chain over an open fire, a cast-iron or riveted pot, a griddle for flatbread, wooden bowls and spoons, knives, a bucket. Groups cook together and the kitchen tent is the social centre of a camp. Fire regulations at every site require a fire watch and water to hand.
Hidden modern things
Cool boxes under blankets, phones in pouches, a first aid kit, a gas stove for the 6 am coffee before the public arrives. Every camp has them and every camp hides them. The rule at strict markets is that nothing modern is visible during opening hours.
What a beginner needs
Nothing, at first. Groups lend tents and pool cooking gear, and a newcomer’s job is to sleep in a corner of someone’s tent and help with the fire. The first purchase is usually a bed roll of wool blankets and a sheepskin. A tent comes after a season or two, when you know you will use it.
Buying and building
Specialist makers exhibit at the big markets and take orders. Frames are a good winter woodworking project for anyone with basic tools; patterns and dimensions from the Oseberg find are published. Canvas is the expensive part.
Transport
A camp for two with a tent, bed, chest and cooking gear fills an estate car. This is why reenactors drive between markets all summer, and why the car park behind a Viking camp looks the way it does.
Related events
Last updated 2026-09-06. Prices and opening hours change; check the venue before you go. Back to Gear and reenacting or the festival calendar.