Historical amulets and pendants at Pera Peris

Necklaces based on historical models

In the pendants category, you can purchase a beautiful selection of Viking pendants and medieval amulets from the jewellery collection of Pera Peris – House of History.

Here you will also find Celtic and Roman necklaces, which have also been made based on original finds or closely following historical models.

We offer high-quality replicas and museum replicas of Viking pendants and medieval amulets from different eras and countries, so you can choose from a wide range of necklaces.

In ancient times and the Middle Ages, men and women often wore magical amulets as protection against evil forces or to ensure good luck. Replicas of historically accurate pendants are still an indispensable part of authentic Viking reenactment costumes today.

Our medieval amulets and Viking pendants are made of high-quality jewellery bronze and are characterised by a particularly beautiful golden-yellow bronze alloy. You can also purchase our historical necklaces in genuine silver-plated. Our pendants are coated with an extra-strong layer of silver of up to 10 mg.

In addition, most of our pendants are coated with a special tarnish protection that ensures that the jewellery bronze does not oxidise and darken easily and that the silver does not turn black. This means you will be able to enjoy your medieval necklaces for a long time to come.

Here you will find a selection of historical pendants and amulets based on models from antiquity.

Amulets and pendants in the early Middle Ages

In addition to pearl necklaces and neck rings, pendants and amulets are particularly common among the necklaces found in archaeological finds from antiquity and the Middle Ages. These were mostly made of bronze, but often also of gold and silver, and were worn as protective talismans or simply for decorative purposes.

In the Middle Ages, such a pendant could consist of a simple piece of iron, depending on one's status and wealth, but it could also be a precious gold disc decorated with granulation decoration and enamel.

Disc-shaped pendants made of bronze or silver were particularly common at all times, as were pendants depicting mythical creatures or faces, which were not uncommon as necklaces.

Amulets depicting images of gods are also particularly interesting pieces of neck jewellery. For the Celts, for example, this was Cerunnos, for the Romans Jupiter, for the Germanic peoples Wotan, and for the Vikings Odin, Freyr or Freya.

In late antiquity and the Middle Ages, crucifixes and cross pendants were increasingly in use, often with Byzantine influences. A popular Viking pendant was pierced silver coins, which were sometimes threaded onto a chain between individual beads, and the Slavs of the Viking Age liked to wear moon-shaped pendants, known as lunitsa or lunula amulets, which the girls and women of the Slavs and Rus wore for protection.

Amulets and pendants have been widely used as necklaces since time immemorial, and while the necklaces of our ancestors were mostly made of bronze and silver, copper, tin and iron were also commonly used materials.

In ancient times and the Middle Ages, there were also extremely precious amulets made of pure gold and even Viking pendants inlaid with precious stones such as rock crystal, such as those found on Gotland, for example.

You can buy replicas of medieval pendants and amulets in our medieval shop.

Viking pendants made of rock crystal

Viking pendants made of rock crystal are a unique feature of necklaces from the Viking Age and are among the most remarkable examples of medieval jewellery craftsmanship.

In addition to spherical rock crystal pendants and flat, cut lenses, entire necklaces with crystal balls in silver settings have even been found on Gotland.

Some of these Viking pendants even had a silver coating on the back that reflected the light, creating an image of the person in front of it.

The silver settings of the Viking-era rock crystal pendants were often made using the filigree granulation technique, which suggests that they were made by Slavic craftsmen, as this was a typical manufacturing technique used in Slavic jewellery production in the 10th century.

Early medieval pendants in the shape of spheres made of rock crystal are known to have existed as early as the 6th century. They were set in simple silver mounts and have been found in Anglo-Saxon, Alemannic and Frankish finds from the Merovingian period.

However, the rock crystal pendants of the Merovingians are far from matching the craftsmanship of the Viking pendants from Gotland. In any case, the processing of rock crystal was already common during the early Middle Ages.

Replicas of pendants and amulets from the Viking Age can be purchased here.

Granulated Viking pendants with filigree decoration

As already described, it was very common in the Middle Ages, especially among the Slavs, to make pendants and amulets with filigree granulation decoration, which was applied to a base material in the form of fine silver wires, strings of beads and balls.

The Slavic jewellery makers of the Middle Ages were masters at creating small works of art with the simplest of means.

The granulation decoration was based on a hammered or cast base form made of thin silver sheet, onto which the granulated jewellery elements were soldered, leaving traces that were barely visible to the naked eye, so that it almost appeared as if the granulations were floating.

These techniques were not only used for Viking pendants and medieval amulets.

As early as the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, such granulations were already widespread in the Middle East and reached their first heyday in the north during the Roman Empire. Among the North Germanic peoples, granulation appeared in the 2nd–4th centuries in the form of drop-shaped gold pendants and disc-shaped gold bracteates.

In our medieval shop, you can also buy Slavic filigree jewellery from the Viking Age.

The Viking Thor's hammer pendants

In addition to a variety of different Viking pendants, the Thor's hammer is particularly well known as a typical necklace of the Vikings, which was very widespread in the 9th and 10th centuries, towards the middle/end of the Viking Age.

It is believed that wearing the Thor's hammer was a way of distancing oneself from the increasingly widespread Christianity, which is why these Viking pendants are found more frequently towards the end of the Viking Age.

Remarkably, however, Thor's hammers are mainly found in women's graves from the Viking Age. This may be because Thor's hammer was believed to have blessing powers.

Although the Thor's hammer is still considered a symbol of pagan belief today, without wanting to adhere to right-wing ideology, wearing such a Viking pendant today is simply an expression of a general interest in the Viking era or simply a sign of affection for Nordic culture in general.

You can buy authentic replicas of historical Thor's hammers from the Viking Age here.

The axe pendants of the Vikings

The axe played an important role in the Middle Ages as it was, alongside the spear, the most important weapon of the common man, easy to obtain, inexpensive and also an important tool. It is therefore not surprising that in the Middle Ages, Slavs and Vikings often wore small amulets and pendants in the shape of an axe.

Such axe pendants were particularly popular in the Baltic States and Russia during the Viking Age, and were especially popular among the Western Slavs and Rus.

The so-called axe of Perun, the supreme god of Slavic mythology, whose attribute was the axe, was also significant here, symbolising the striking lightning bolt and equal in significance to Thor's hammer.

The Finns, on the other hand, wore the so-called ‘Axe of Ukko’, also known as “Ukonvasara” or ‘Ukonkirves’, as an axe pendant. This was the magical weapon of the Finnish god of thunder, Ukko, and had a very similar meaning to Thor's hammer and Perun's axe, producing lightning and thunder.

In our medieval shop, you will also find replicas of medieval miniature axes as pendants.

We hope you enjoyed this little excursion into the world of medieval amulets and that you will find a suitable pendant that you would like to wear as a necklace.

Your medieval shop for authentic re-enactment

In the wide range of our medieval shop, we offer you many medieval accessories as well as authentic replicas of medieval jewellery, including:

• Bronze pendants
• Medieval beads
• Medieval earrings
• Bracelets
• and much more

Whether for the next convention, a Viking camp or a medieval festival, you will find everything your heart desires for a historically accurate outfit.

Discover detailed reproductions of cloak fasteners from different eras, as well as various medieval bags and an extensive selection of medieval belts, and stand out from the crowd with lovingly crafted details.

For an authentic re-enactment, we will equip you with the necessary camping supplies. Read our blog about life in the Middle Ages and gain interesting and enlightening insights into the mystical eras of the Vikings, Celts and many others.

When you place an order at the Pera Peris Medieval Shop, you benefit from many advantages, such as

• 25 years of experience
• Free shipping on orders over £50
• Delivery usually on the next working day
• Multiple payment methods, such as PayPal, credit card or bank transfer
• 14-day right of withdrawal
• Easy returns

Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to know when there are new products or great offers. If you have any questions or requests, our customer service team will be happy to help. Please contact us or use the callback service. We look forward to your enquiries.

Choose quality and authenticity for your medieval equipment and order your reenactment supplies at peraperis.com.

Pera Peris – House of History – your medieval shop.

Bring a piece of history into your home!