It is sometime during the 8th century. The sky is eerily dark and foreboding. The monks are going about their standard routine of studying the bible at the monastery at Lindisfarne. Seemingly a normal day, they have no idea of the events that are about to transpire. A new and strange ship is spotted on the horizon. As it comes to shore, men come flooding out with axes, swords and hammers. They attack the monks and storm the church, stealing everything of value within the church walls.
The Vikings used many techniques during their successful raids during the Viking Age, but among the most important were the weapons and devices that they used during battle. There is not a lot of evidence of these but there have been some items that have been found underground. There are also some stereotypes of the Viking weapons that were proven to be untrue after finding actual Viking artifacts. What about the men who designed these brilliant weapons? What types of things did the Viking blacksmith do to craft these mighty weapons and armor?
What tools and weapons might the Vikings have left behind during the attack on Lindisfarne? According to Thorleif Sjovold most of the artifacts from the Viking Age were found in burial chambers (Sjovold 182). Many times the deceased person was burned on a pyre. Other times they were buried in a boat or a burial chamber or barrow. Many things were discovered with the remains of the body, as it was the tradition to bury the person with their most prized possessions. Things like jewelry, weapons and armor were all found amongst the burial chambers of the Vikings (Sjovold 185). This would correlate to what we talked about in class, that during the early part of the Viking Age, most people we burned on a pyre. As the years passed more and more Vikings started using burial mounds as a method of burial. I think this has to do with what we learned in the Saga of the Ynglings, that Frey was laid to rest in a special house after he died to fool people into thinking he was still alive. The townspeople at the time noticed that their crops and harvests were still bountiful and when they found out that Frey had been dead that whole time I think they attributed it to the way in which he was buried. So after that, burial mounds became popular with the Vikings, explaining the increasing amount of burial mounds in the late Viking Age.
What was found in these burial mounds were the weapons and armor that we know that the Vikings used. The weapons and armor that the Vikings used carried strong ties to the Nordic Gods. Throughout Nordic mythology, weapons, armor and magical relics were essential for the Gods’ success. Thor had his mighty hammer, Mjollnir, and a belt, which gave him increased strength. Without these items, Thor would have been much less of a god and probably not even comparable to the other gods. Odin had his spear and his horse, Sleipnir, which he rode into battle. Without them, who knows, even Odin may not have been what he was. In the Nordic mythology the relics, like necklaces and rings, and weapons were what made the heroes. It seems that many of the Gods or Goddesses had a certain weapon or relic of super powers. A great example of this is when Thor gets his hammer and belt stolen by a giant. Thor was practically helpless without them and he had to use his cleverness to get his possessions back and slay the giant. This shows us that the weapons were held sacred by the Gods and that they could almost be identified as normal humans without them.
The ties between the Nordic Gods and the Vikings are found in Viking grave finds. The Viking may have used many different weapons and armor during the Viking Age. I just want to talk about some of the weapons that were found in actual Viking burial mounds, the sword, the spear, axes, and shields.
“Swords were not only the most splendid, but also amongst the most numerous”. (Sjovold 267) Swords seemed to be the most common type of weapon used during the Viking age. “Strictly speaking these swords have the shape of magnified knife…” (Sjovold 267) Apparently Viking swords were typically smaller than the average sword. This fact conflicts with the beliefs of the Vikings swords to be huge pieces of metal and iron only able to be wielded by Vikings as depicted in the “Thirteenth Warrior”. I myself always imagined the Viking weapons to be frighteningly large and heavy, so heavy that a man of normal size and strength would not be able to wield it, just as Ibn Fadlan wasn’t. There were however some swords that were much larger. Of 183 swords that were found in gravesites throughout Norway, “about 17 of them exceed 80 cm in length, and there are at any rate 4 which are 90 cm or long, or longer.” (Sjovold 271) This appeared to be the average size of a sword for the typical Viking. However, there were bigger and longer swords that were found in Norway. “The longest specimen (sword) on record…was 100 cm long and 4 cm wide.” (Sjovold 271) Although there were swords out there that were longer, the longest one was still only about 3 and a half feet long and there were very few of them.
The spear is another weapon common in Viking grave finds. They were common in the early Viking Age but its popularity died out in the later years. “In the Late Iron Age of North Norway it (the spear) is surpassed in popularity by the sword as well as the axe.” (280) The popularity of the spear among Vikings could stem from the fact that Odin also carried a spear, which was the most feared weapon in his arsenal. It is then no surprise that the Vikings would have attributed a spear as a formidable weapon in battle.
One of the more popular weapons during the Viking Age was the axe. This is most likely because; “…the axes can be used as tools as well as weapons”. (Sjovold 285) This shows the importance of the axe’s use as a multi-purpose tool. I could easily imagine the Viking free man who used his axe to cut wood, go into battle and use that same axe with skilled precision on the battlefield. When one uses a certain tool for a certain length of time one becomes more skilled with that particular tool. If one were able to use that tool as a weapon in combat, I could understand why many Vikings would feel more comfortable with an axe, as opposed to a spear or sword.
The Vikings seemed to have a wide array of offensive arsenal but they appeared to have less armor in battle. Possibly they may have preferred going into battle with the least amount of weight as possible or maybe the armor that was used in battles disintegrated or was not found in burial mounds. There is one piece of defensive equipment that was found and that was the shield.
“The shields constitute a small and uncomplicated group…what is found is only the metal bosses, which are invariably made of iron.” (Sjovold 289) The shields were made entirely out of wood with the exception of those metal facets in the center of the shield. For that reason most of the shields have rotten way entirely except for the metal so there is little that is known about the shields. These shields were most likely round in shape and could have been used for protection from arrows in battle.
“Concerning the Viking Period shields we may probably presume that they have generally been of the same type as the shields from the Gokstad find: circular, about 1 m in diameter and made of very thin wood…In battle they may have given a certain protection against arrows, but it is hard to see that they can have been of much help otherwise.” (Sjovold 289)
Since these shield bosses were rather small and thin they were either extremely hard to find in the grave site or they had rusted away and disintegrated through the years. The typical Viking warrior may not have even used a shield because, as the grave finds indicate, they would, with the exception of an arrow, have provided little protection and would have just added extra unnecessary weight.
One more weapon that the Vikings used was the bow and arrow. “Bows and arrows did not play any great part as weapons in the Late Iron Age of North Norway.” This could be attributed to the fact that they may have been more adept at using their swords, axes or spears in hand-to-hand combat as opposed to fighting from afar with arrows. They were probably used more for hunting than for combat but I’m sure could have been used either way. (Sjovold 291) But there are graves in which often contain up to 12 arrows mostly made of iron arrow tips, but some others were made of bone or copper. (Sjovold 291)
These were the main weapons and armor that were used by the Vikings or, at least the main weapons and armor that were identified in graves. We know now of the different types of weapons and armor. All of these weapons were tremendously vital in the achievements of the Viking raiders.
The most vital “weapon” during the Viking Age was the longship. The key reason that the Vikings were so successful with these other weapons I mentioned earlier was the utilization of the Viking Longship. “The Gotland picture-stones and the Hedeby bracteates show that Baltic seamen had the use of sails, with a complex rigging, a choice of four distinct types of hull, and a tradition of oarsmanship in crews of up to 30 men.” (Christiansen, 170) Viking success would have been impossible without this development because the longship was the vessel that carried the Vikings to their wealth and riches. The Vikings would use their ships to get to their destination and once ashore “most of them dispersed to get plunder, horses, cattle, slaves and fuel.” (172) The maritime historian Alan Binns has identified the longship’s greatest significance on European seaboards as that of “a fast, efficient and reliable landing craft.” (Marsden, 20) Even by today’s standards the longship is considered to be very seaworthy. “A modern experiment with a replica vessel made the crossing from Bergen to Newfoundland in some twenty-eight days and the prowess of the longship is attested by the remarkable range of its seagoing, carrying Scandinavian expansion even as far as Vinland on the edge of north American continent.” (21) This is not surprising considering the success the longship had for the Vikings, they were able to travel to the very ends of Europe and beyond, all thanks mainly due to the strength and stability of the longship.
It did take more than some weapons and highly effective vessels to make them a powerful civilization in history however, it required a certain persona. Most likely the Viking’s most valuable attributes was his desire and the act of surprise. The Vikings had such a desire for gold and silver that they would sacrifice almost everything, including their own lives and others’ to attain it. “The earls Ottarr and Hroaldr who raided south Wales in 914, kidnapped a Welsh bishop, let him go for a mere 40 lyre of silver and lost most of their men; but Ottarr survived and joined King Ragnal of Dublin.” (Christiansen 179) As is said in this quote, the Vikings were willing to lose some or most of their men in battle if the reward was sufficient. Christiansen states on page 184-185 five steps to the Viking’s battle strategy.
1. Embarking and crossing the sea: “having out”, “bidding out”, “bringing out” in the fast and fearsome and fanciful vessels.
2. Embarking and moving inland: “going up”, “carrying shield ashore” to meet the defenders, or devastate their country.
3. Fighting the defenders hand to hand, in “shield wall”, or which ever of the three battle-images mentioned above seems metrically apt, but always with insatiable fury: “like a maddened elk” is one memorable simile.
4. Driving away the fugitives, and leaving the dead in heaps for the wolf, the raven and the eagle to enjoy; whatever happens, they must get their rations of eagle-meat, wolf’s yule-feast, raven’s joy and she-wolf’s breakfast, washed down with rook-beer, the watcher’s warm ale.
5. Being admired by, or at least avoiding the scorn of, women at home.
From this description we are able to see the thing that the Vikings see as important in battle: unrelenting ferocity. Meeting the enemy face to face was an intimidating tactic used by the Vikings with much success but they also used a “hit and run” strategy if needed. (Christiansen 187) The Vikings used surprise and intimidation as a weapon itself. This allowed them to get a “head start” on their competitors thereby preventing them from getting sufficient defense. “It is often asserted that Norse raiders adopted a guerilla strategy of hit and run devastation, deliberately avoiding battle and timing their movements to penetrate undefended territory when least expected.” (Christiansen 187)
I believe that the Vikings were battle-tested pirates. A group of people who roamed about the seas looking for a place filled with riches to steal. Their versatility and success in battle is attributable to the effectiveness of their quick strike attacks and their weapons. Most important in the quick strike attack however, was the longship, which gave them unsurpassed speed in the water to surprise their opponents.
Not every Viking was along during raids however, one of the most important men remained back in the town creating the Viking weapons and longships. Although the blacksmith and the shipwright did not do any of the fighting, they did play an essential role in the success of the Vikings and their weapons and should therefore be mentioned as well.
How the weapons were created was left to the Viking blacksmith. He was the man who worked the iron into the mighty, Viking weapons. The very first step in blacksmithing was to extract the metal from the iron ore. This was usually done where the ore was dug up. The metal bars or “ingots” were then transported to the blacksmith he could then begin his ironwork. He would melt down the iron in his stove and forge the iron into the shapes he wanted. (Metalworking) “The skills and processes of working metal (especially iron) were a mystery to most people in ancient and Viking times and were thought by superstitious people to be magical.” (Metalworking)
Being a blacksmith during the Viking times seems to be just about as prestigious as being an actual Viking. The blacksmith was obviously an integral part of the Viking raiders’ success on the battlefield; he was after all, molding the very instruments of victory for the Vikings.
It is quite possible that the man most attributable to the success of the Vikings was the man who created the speedy Viking longships.
“People who make boats and ships are called Shipwrights and its their expert carpentry that could not only turn trees into ocean-crossing vessels, but understood the different needs of say –say- a cargo ship and a fishing trawler.” (Siddorn, Williamson) These Viking carpenters had developed special methods of carpentry to develop the strongest, most flexible ship of the time. The Shipwright used hammers and wedges to split the wood. Although this was the only way of cutting the wood at the time, it actually made the wood stronger than cutting with a saw because the wood retained more of its structure with axe chopping. (Siddorn, Williamson) The keel was built first and the shipwright worked his way out to the hull instead of starting at the hull and working in. The ribs of the ship were fastened by fiber. This was done to help absorb the stress on the ship from the waves. Using nails to fasten the ribs would have made the vessel too rigid and more apt to crack and sink. (Siddorn, Williamson)
The Viking shipwright would no doubt have one of the most demanding jobs of the Viking Age but I am sure he did not go unrewarded for his patience and fine craftsmanship.
In our modern day of improved weaponry, we should look back at the Viking triumphs and mastery of battle. We could see how an underdeveloped, paganistic, group of people could end up thriving with the proper utilization of weapons and technological breakthroughs, as was the case with the longship. Vikings were able to use their weapons and tactics to become one of the most powerful groups of people of their time.
Sobakina