|
|
|
Viking Age Arms and Armor
 |
Much of the text presented on this page is out-of-date. Until we find time to make the needed updates to this page, we strongly encourage readers to look at this topic as it is presented in our new book, Men of Terror, available now from your favorite book seller. |
Comparatively little is known about Viking age weapons, and even less is known about how the weapons were used. This limited knowledge is due to the limited sources we have available for the study of Viking age weapons and their use. This series of interlinked articles summarizes what is known about the weapons and speculates about how the weapons might have been used.
| Introduction to Viking Age Arms and Armor | |
|
|
Virtually every free man owned and carried a weapon and was familiar with its use. |
|
|
Available Sources of Information There are four main sources of information on Viking age weapons and techniques... |
|
|
The shape of combat describes the nature of the fight... |
|
|
Defensive Armor |
|
|
The shield is the primary defensive weapon... |
|
|
Viking age helmets were simple: a bowl, a prominent nose guard, and no horns... |
|
|
Mail was highly desirable, but it must have been exceedingly rare in the Viking age... |
|
|
Some unexpected items were pressed into service for defense... |
|
|
Offensive Arms |
|
|
The sword was the most desirable weapon in the Viking age... |
|
|
The sax is a short, single-edged sword, used primarily in the early part of the Viking age... |
|
|
The spear was probably the most common Viking age weapon... |
|
|
Rather than being crude and slow, Viking age axes were light, fast, well-balanced, and capable of many nasty tricks... |
|
|
Viking Bow and Arrow The bow and arrow were used for hunting, but not normally for fighting... |
|
|
Other Viking Offensive Arms A variety of other weapons are mentioned in the stories, but we don't know what they were... |
|
The effects of these weapons on flesh and bone have been documented in a Hurstwic Viking Weapon Test Cuts video on YouTube. These articles on Viking weapons have been updated and expanded in the book, Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques published by Westholme Publishing. The book is once again available from your favorite bookseller. But please be aware that in the years since the book was written, our research has advanced. Some of the ideas in the book no longer represent our current thinking about how Vikings fought and used their weapons. Our Viking combat training approach is taught in a series of training DVDs, Hurstwic® Viking Combat Training Volume 1: Fundamentals of Viking Training, Hurstwic® Viking Combat Training Volume 2: Advanced Viking Training, and Hurstwic® Viking Combat Training: Fighting Moves from the Sagas. The DVDs are now available from Hurstwic, LLC and other merchants. Our research and practice of the fighting moves of the Viking-age warrior continues at Hurstwic's dedicated training facility. Please join us in our training! A complete list of references to arms, armor, and combat in the Icelandic sagas is available for downloading from the Hurstwic library. |
 |
 |
©1999-2024 William R. Short |
