Viking Age arms and armour - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Knowledge about arms and armour of the Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

(eighth to eleventh centuries Europe) is based on relatively sparse archaeological finds, pictorial representation, and to some extent on the accounts in the Norse sagas and Norse laws recorded in the thirteenth century.

According to custom, all free Norse men were required to own weapons, as well as permitted to carry them at all times. These arms

Weapon

A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

were also indicative of a Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

's social status. A wealthy Viking would have a complete ensemble of a metal helmet

Helmet

A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...

, wooden shield

Shield

A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....

, mail

Mail (armour)

Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....

shirt, and animal-skin coat, among various other arms

Weapon

A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...

and accoutrements of war. The average farmer was likely limited to a spear, shield, and perhaps an axe

Axe

The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...

or seax

Seax

Seax in Old English means knife or cutting tool. The name of the roofer's tool, the zax, is a development from this word...

(large knife). Some would bring their hunting bows to use in the opening stages of battle, as well.

Bows and arrows

Bow

Bow (weapon)

The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...

s were used both for hunting and in battle. They were made from yew

Taxus

Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...

, ash

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

or elm

Elm

Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...

trees. The draw force of a 10th-century bow may have reached some 90 pounds force (400 N), resulting in an effective range of at least 250 m. A bow found at Viking Hedeby

Hedeby

Hedeby |heath]]land, and býr = yard, thus "heath yard"), mentioned by Alfred the Great as aet Haethe , in German Haddeby and Haithabu, a modern spelling of the runic Heiðabý was an important trading settlement in the Danish-northern German borderland during the Viking Age...

, which probably was a full-fledged war bow and arrow, had a draw force of well over 100 pounds. A unit of length used in Icelandic law (the Grágás) called a bowshot (ördrag) corresponded to 480 m. Illustrations from the time show bows being pulled back to the chest, rather than to the ear, as is common today.

Arrowheads were typically made from iron and produced in various shapes and dimensions, according to place of origin. Most arrowheads were fixed onto the arrow shaft by a shouldered tang that was fitted into the end of a shaft of wood. Some heads were also made of wood or antler. Evidence for eagle feather flights has been found with the feathers being bound and glued on. The end of the shaft was flared with very shallow self nocks, although some arrows possessed bronze cast nocks. The historical record also indicates that Vikings may have used barbed arrows, however, the archaeological evidence for such technology is limited.

The earliest find of these relics were found in Denmark, seemingly belonging to the leading-warrior class, as per the graves in which they were found.

Spear

The spear

Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...

was the most common weapon of the Viking warrior. Spears consisted of metal heads which could measure between twenty and sixty centimetres with a tendency towards longer heads in the later Viking age. These heads were mounted on wooden shafts of two to three metres in length. Spear heads with wings are called krókspjót (barbed spear) in the sagas. Some larger-headed spears were called höggspjót (hewing spear) and could also be used for cutting. The barbed throwing spears were often less decorated than the ostentatious thrusting spears, as the throwing spears were often lost in battles

The spear was used both as a throwing weapon and as a thrusting weapon. Most evidence indicates that they were used in one hand. Limited evidence from a saga indicates that they may have been used with two hands, but not in battle. The head was held in place with a pin, which saga characters occasionally pull out to prevent a foe from re-using the weapon (presumably, spear-head falls off if spear is thrown and misses target).

Compared to a sword, the spear can be made with inferior steel and far less metal overall. This made the weapon cheaper and probably within the capability of a common blacksmith to produce.

Other polearms

A polearm known as the atgeir is mentioned in several Norse saga

Norse saga

The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...

s and other literature. Atgeir is usually translated as "halberd", akin to a glaive

Glaive

A glaive is a European polearm weapon, consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japanese naginata and the Chinese Guan Dao....

. Gunnar Hámundarson

Gunnar Hámundarson

Gunnar Hámundarson was a 10th century Icelandic chieftain. He lived in Hlíðarendi in Fljótshlíð and is probably better known as Gunnar of Hlíðarendi...

is described in Njáls saga as cutting and impaling foes on his atgeir.

Several weapons

Viking halberd

The term "halberd" has been used to translate several Old Norse words relating to polearms in the context of Viking Age arms and armour, and in scientific literature about the Viking age....

(including the kesja and the höggspjót) appearing in the saga

Saga

Sagas, are stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc.Saga may also refer to:Business*Saga DAB radio, a British radio station*Saga Airlines, a Turkish airline*Saga Falabella, a department store chain in Peru...

s have been designated as halberd

Halberd

A halberd is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries. Possibly the word halberd comes from the German words Halm , and Barte - in modern-day German, the weapon is called Hellebarde. The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on...

s or bills

Bill (weapon)

The bill is a polearm weapon used by infantry in medieval Europe.The bill is similar in size, function and appearance to the halberd, differing mainly in the hooked blade form...

Knife

Two distinct classes of knives were in use by Vikings. The more common one was a rather plain, single edge knife of normal construction, called a knifr. These are found in most graves. Smaller versions served as the everyday utility tool, while longer versions were likely meant for hunting or combat or both. Weapon knives sometimes had ornamental inlays on the blade. The construction was similar to traditional Scandinavian knives. The tang

Tang (weaponry)

A tang or shank is the back portion of a tool where it extends into stock material or is connected to a handle as on a knife, sword, spear, arrowhead, chisel, screwdriver, etc...

ran through a more or less cylindrical

Cylinder (geometry)

A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given line segment, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...

handle, the blade was straight with the edge sweeping upward at the tip to meet the back of the blade in a point.

The other type was the seax
Seax
Seax in Old English means knife or cutting tool. The name of the roofer's tool, the zax, is a development from this word...

, a large, single-edged drop point knife commonly carried by freemen in Norse society. It was usually a bit heavier than the regular knife and would serve as a machete

Machete

The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...

-like implement in peacetime, but also made a deadly side-arm in war. A wealthier man might own a larger seax, some being effectively swords. The smaller knives were likely within the fabrication ability of a common blacksmith.

The Seax

Seax

Seax in Old English means knife or cutting tool. The name of the roofer's tool, the zax, is a development from this word...

was in widespread use among the Migration period Germanic tribes, and is even eponymous of the Saxons

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

. It appears in Scandinavia from the 4th century, and shows a pattern of distribution from the lower Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

(Elbe Germans) to Anglo-Saxon England. While their popularity on the continent declines with the end of the Migration period, they remain in frequent use in both England and Scandinavia throughout the Viking history.

Sword

The Viking sword

Viking sword

The Viking sword is a form of spatha, evolving out of the Migration Period sword in the 8th century, and evolving into the classical knightly sword in the 11th century with the emergence of larger crossguards...

was for single-handed use to be combined with a shield, with a blade length of typically 60–80 cm. The weapon was constructed from many layers of high- and low-carbon steel; the high-carbon steel providing durability and the low-carbon steel flexibility

Its shape was still very much based on the swords of the Dark Ages

Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...

and on the Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

spatha

Spatha

The spatha was a type of straight sword, measuring between , in use throughout first millennium AD Europe, and in the territory of the Roman Empire until about 600 AD. Later swords from 600 AD to 1000 AD are recognizable derivatives, though they are not spathae.The spatha was used in gladiatorial...

with a tight grip, long deep fuller and no pronounced cross-guard. This was in keeping with the rest of Europe as, at that time, this design of sword was the most widespread.

Swords were very costly to make, and a sign of high status. The blades were usually double-edged and up to 90cm, or a little over, in length, but early single-edged sabres are also known. They were worn in leather-bound wooden scabbards. Early blades were pattern-welded, a technique in which strips of wrought iron and mild steel were twisted and forged together, with the addition of a hardened edge. Later blades of homogeneous steel, imported probably from the Rhineland, bore inlaid makers' marks and inscriptions, such as INGELRII or ULFBERHT. Viking craftsmen often added their own elaborately decorated hilts, and many swords were given names, such as Leg-biter and Gold-hilt.

Owning a sword

Sword

A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...

was a matter of high prestige. Persons of status might own ornately-decorated swords with silver accents and inlays. Only the wealthier Viking goðar

Gothi

A goði or gothi is the Old Norse term for a priest and chieftain. Gyðja signifies a priestess.The name appears in Wulfila's Gothic language translation of the bible as gudja for "priest", but in Old Norse it is only the feminine form gyðja that perfectly corresponds to the Gothic form...

, jarls

Earl

An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...

and sometimes freemen used swords. The rest of the adult male population carried axes or spears into battle. One sword mentioned in the Laxdæla saga was valued at half a crown, which would correspond to the value of 16 milk-cows. Constructing such weapons was a highly specialized endeavour, and was likely outside the skill of an average Norse smith; many sword-blades were imported from foreign lands such as the Rhineland

Rhineland

Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....

. Swords could take up to a month to forge and were of such high value that they were passed on from generation to generation. Often, the older the sword, the more valuable it became.

Axe

Based on the everyday tool for chopping wood, axe

Axe

The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...

s specialized for use in battle evolved, with larger heads and longer shafts. However, many battle-axes, including the bearded axe, were directly developed from wood cutting implements. Some axe heads were inlaid with silver designs. In the later Viking era, there were axe heads with crescent shaped edges measuring up to 45 cm, called breiðöx (broad axe). The limitations of the weapon are limited reach and a slow recovery time after striking a blow. The double-bitted axes depicted in modern "Viking" art are likely pure fantasy.

Vikings most commonly carried sturdy axes that could be thrown or swung with head-splitting force. The Mammen Axe is a famous example of such battle-axes, ideally suited for throwing and melee combat

An axe head was mostly wrought iron

Wrought iron

thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

, with a steel cutting edge. This made the weapon less expensive than a sword, and was a standard item produced by blacksmiths, historically.

Helmet

Today there is only one known example of a complete Viking helmet in existence. This Viking helmet

Helmet

was excavated on a farm called Gjermundbu in Ringerike

Ringerike

oskar er kjempe kulRingerike is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Ringerike...

in central Norway. Gjermundbu is located in Haugsbygda

Haugsbygda

.Haugsbygd is a village in Ringerike municipality, northeast of the center of Hønefoss, in Buskerud, Norway.-Location:...

, a village in northeast of Hønefoss

Hønefoss

Hønefoss is a city in Buskerud county, Norway, and the center of the municipality of Ringerike.In 1852, Hønefoss received town status and was separated from Norderhov. Hønefoss celebrated its 150th year of township in 2002...

, in Buskerud

Buskerud

is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.-Geography:...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. The helmet dates to the 10th century. This helmet was made of iron and was in the shape of a rounded or peaked cap made from four plates after the spangenhelm

Spangenhelm

The Spangenhelm was a popular European war combat helmet design of the Early Middle Ages. The name is of German origin. Spangen refers to the metal strips that form the framework for the helmet and could be translated as clips, and -helm simply means helmet. The strips connect three to six steel or...

pattern. This helmet has a rounded cap and has a "spectacle" guard around the eyes and nose which formed a sort of mask, in addition to a possible mail aventail

Aventail

An aventail or camail is a flexible curtain of mail on a helmet that extends to cover the neck and shoulders. The mail could be attached to the helm by threading a leather cord through brass rings at the edge of the helm. Aventails were most commonly seen on bascinets in the 14th century and...

. The eye guard in particular suggests a close affinity with the earlier Vendel

Vendel era

In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel era is the name given to a part of the Germanic Iron Age ....

period helmets. From runestones and other illustrations, we know the Vikings also wore simpler helmets, often peaked caps with a simple noseguard.

Viking helmets have been excavated from only three sites: Gjermundbu, Norway, Tjele Municipality

Tjele municipality

Until 1 January 2007 Tjele municipality was a municipality in the former Viborg County on the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 273 km², and had a total population of 8,641 . Its last mayor was Anna Margrethe Kaalund...

in Denmark and Lokrume parish on Gotland Island, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. The one from Tjele consists of nothing more than rusted remains of a helmet similar to the Gjermundbu helmet, the same goes for the one from Gotland. It is possible that many of the Viking helmets were made from hardened leather and ironstrips, since many Icelandic stories and Scandinavian picture stones tell and show warriors with helmets. It is also possible that helmets were inherited, instead of buried with the deceased, and went from father to son, and therefore stayed in a family for generations before eventually being turned into scrap metal or something else, like an axe.

There is no evidence that vikings used horned helmets in battle, although it is possible that they were used in a ritual fashion.

Mail

Once again, only a single fragmented but possibly complete mail

Chain Mail

"Chain Mail" is a single by Mancunian band James, released in March 1986 by Sire Records, the first after the band defected from Factory Records. The record was released in two different versions, as 7" single and 12" EP, with different artworks by John Carroll and, confusingly, under different...

shirt has been excavated in Scandinavia, from the same site as the helmet - Gjermundbu in Haugsbygda

Haugsbygda

.Haugsbygd is a village in Ringerike municipality, northeast of the center of Hønefoss, in Buskerud, Norway.-Location:...

. Scandinavian Viking age burial customs seems to not favour burial with helmet or mail armour, in contrast to earlier extensive armour burials in Swedish Valsgärde

Valsgärde

Valsgärde or Vallsgärde is a farm on the Fyris river, about three kilometres north of Gamla Uppsala, the ancient centre of the Swedish kings and of the pagan faith in Sweden. The present farm dates from the 16th century. The farm's notability derives from the presence of a burial site from the...

. The mail shirt is currently interpreted as elbow-and-knee length. Probably worn over thick clothing, a mail shirt protects the wearer from being cut, but offers little protection from blunt trauma. Mail was very expensive in early medieval Europe, and would likely have been worn by men of status and wealth. It was almost certainly the "four-in-one" type, where four solid (punched) rings are connected by a single riveted ring. Mail armour of this type was also be known as a byrnie or brynja. Rings welded together were also a common technique to make the mail, as well as to rivet or weld every other ring, while the other rings were left unriveted. A mail without riveted rings or with the rings not being welded together, the mail would give poor protection in battle. Expensive mail armour was also seen as cumbersome and uncomfortable in battle. Many Vikings thus opted for leather body armour, as it was both more flexible and cheaper.

Chainmail armour is relatively heavy — though the weight is well distributed — and the underlying padding is both expensive (likely layers of linen canvas) and warm. At the Battle of Stamford Bridge

Battle of Stamford Bridge

The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway and the English king's brother Tostig...

the Viking warriors were said to have left their armour back at their base camp due to the unseasonably warm weather.

Shield

The shield was the most common means of defence. Traditionally shields were made of linden (Lime) wood although other timbers may also have been used such as alder and poplar. These timbers are not very dense and are light in the hand. They are also not inclined to split, unlike oak. Also, the fibres of the timber bind around blades preventing the blade from cutting any deeper unless a lot more pressure is applied. Round shields seem to have varied in size from around 45 - 120cm (18" - 48") in diameter but the smaller and more manageable 75 - 90cm (30" - 36") is by far the most common.

The smaller shield sizes came from the pagan period for the Saxons and the larger sizes from the 10th and 11th centuries. By the beginning of the eleventh century the bottom edge of the shield had evolved downwards to cover the upper leg giving rise to the kite shield. There is evidence for both flat and curved kite shields, with the curved being more common, and most having bosses. It is debatable whether or not these bosses were used in the same fashion as round shields; i.e. centre gripped. The tendency in re-enactment is to wear them crossbraced, as if you were still riding. This is because if the shield is held near the boss, the lower section acts like a pendulum making it difficult to operate. The Kite shield seems to vary between 1.0 - 1.5m (3'6" - 5') in length with about 1.2m (4') being the commonest. Most shields are shown in illuminations as being painted a single colour although some have a design painted onto them; the commonest designs are simple crosses or derivations of sun wheels or segments. The few round shields that survived have much more complicated designs painted on them and sometimes very ornate silver and gold work applied around the boss and the strap anchors.

The Gokstad ship has places for shields to be hung on its railing and the Gokstad shields have holes along the rim for fastening some sort of non-metallic rim protection. These were called shield lists and they protected ship crews from waves and the wind. Some Viking shields may have been decorated by simple patterns although some skaldic poems praising shields might indicate more elaborate decoration and archaeological evidence has supported this. Towards the end of the Viking age the Continental-style kite shield

Kite shield

A kite shield was a distinct type of shield from the 10th–12th centuries. It was either a reverse teardrop shape or later on, flat-topped. The tapering point extended down to either a distinct or rounded point...

came into fashion. Viking shields were also heavily used in formations. The shield fort, or skjaldborg, was a main formation in which accomplished Viking warriors would create a line of interlocked shields and thrust spears at adversaries. Other notable tactics included swine order, in which warriors would create a wedge configuration and attempt to burst through the front line of nearby foes.

Lamellar

More than thirty lamellae (individual plates for lamellar armour

Lamellar armour

Lamellar armour was one of three early body armour types made from armour plates. The other two types are scale armour and laminar armour.-Description:...

) were found in Birka, Sweden, in 1877, 1934 and 1998-2000. They were dated to the same approximate period as the Gjermundbu mailshirt (900-950AD) and may be evidence that some Vikings wore this armour, which is a series of small iron plates laced together or sewed to a stout fabric or leather cats shirt. There is considerable debate however as to whether the lamellae in question were in the possession of a Scandinavian resident or a foreign mercenary.

Cloth and leather

Quilted cloth (gambeson

Gambeson

A gambeson is a padded defensive jacket, worn as armour separately, or combined with mail or plate armour. Gambeson were produced with a sewing technique called quilting. Usually constructed of linen or wool, the stuffing varied, and could be for example scrap cloth or horse hair...

) and leather armours are conjectured as possible options for lower-status Viking warriors. Such materials rarely survive the ages, however, and no archaeological finds have been found. Some rune stones depict what appears to be armour which is not chain mail. Several layers of stout linen or hemp canvas would provide a good level of protection, at reasonable expense. Leather was far pricier during the period, and thus less affordable for the casual warrior. A reference is made to reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...

hide armour in St. Olav's saga, though it could be a simple coat that was "magically" enhanced.

Battles

Battle of Hafrsfjord
Battle of Hafrsfjord
The Battle of Hafrsfjord has traditionally been regarded as the battle in which western Norway for the first time was unified under one monarch.The national monument of Haraldshaugen was raised in 1872, to commemorate the Battle of Hafrsfjord...
Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
Battle of Hjörungavágr
Battle of Hjörungavágr
The Battle of Hjörungavágr is a semi-legendary naval battle that took place in the late 10th century between the Jarls of Lade and a Danish invasion fleet led by the fabled Jomsvikings...
Battle of Svolder
Battle of Svolder
The Battle of Svolder was a naval battle fought in September 999 or 1000 in the western Baltic Sea between King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway and an alliance of his enemies...
Battle of Nesjar
Battle of Nesjar
Battle of Nesjar was a sea battle off the coast of Norway in 1016. It was a primary event in the reign of King Olav Haraldsson . Sigvatr Þórðarson composed the poem Nesjavísur in memory of the battle....
Battle of Stiklestad
Battle of Stiklestad
The Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway was killed. He was later canonized...

External links

Viking Age Arms and Armor (hurstwic.org)
Arms and Combat in the Íslendingasögur
Viking Weapons and Warfare (bbc.co.uk)
The 'Viking Shield' from Archaeology by Peter Beatson
Viking Helmet from Gjermundbu, Norway

Other sources

Oakeshott, R. Ewart (1996) The Archaeology of Weapons, Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry (New York: Dover Publications Inc.) ISBN 978-0-486-29288-5
Hynson, Colin (2009) In Viking Times (Men, Women & Children)(Wayland Publishers Ltd.) ISBN 978-0750259088
Sawyer, Peter (ed) (1997) The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings (Oxford University Press) ISBN 978-0192854346

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Bows and arrows

Spear

Other polearms

Knife

Sword

Axe

Helmet

Mail

Shield

Lamellar

Cloth and leather

Battles

See also

External links

Other sources