Viking Arms and Armor

[Rev. Allen M. Drago ~ Traveler]

Helms:
The Viking helmet, has been a source of much misinformation since the Nationalist movements in the 1800's, when romantic painters pictured burly Vikings adorned with helmets graced with cow horns sprouting from either temple like some sort of upright aurochs! VIKINGS DID NOT EVER WEAR HORNED HELMS!!!!! The only examples of Scandinavian helmets with horns come from the late Bronze Age, very much before the Viking era. One example is a bronze helmet of probable Celtic origin (c. 800-400 B.C.E.) which was found at Vikso, Denmark. This helmet has a jutting bird-beak between two round, staring eyes on the forehead, and is crowned with two S-shaped "horns" that curve up and back above the head which are bronze, not horn, and which do not resemble cow horns in any way, shape or form.

Another is a small bronze figurine of a man wearing a helmet identical to the one found at Vikso. There are also a couple of art sources that seem to depict "horned" helmets. A helmet-plate die from Oland, Sweden, shows a dancing figure wearing a helm with cheek-pieces and which is crowned with two horn-like bird's heads which arc over the top of the head so that the birds appear to be staring at one another (c. 450-500 AD). Similarly, the Sutton Hoo helmet, found in England but of probable Swedish manufacture, is decorated with ornamental plates depicting almost identical figures (c. 500-600 AD). Note that the Viking Age is dated from ca. 800-1100 AD.

Construction and dimensions of Sheilds:
Shields were typically 80-90 cm in diameter. The board was flat, and made of a single layer of planks butted together. The Gokstad shields were made of seven or eight white pine planks of varying widths. The planks were usually only 6-10mm thick, and were bevelled even thinner at the outer edge. There is no archaeological evidence for laminated (ie. cross-ply) construction though contemporary poetry and slightly later legislation suggests it.

The planks were possibly glued together. Extra support could come from the boss, grip and rim bindings, and from a leather covering. At least some shields from Birka had a thin leather facing, and some earlier English shields were covered on both sides. However, the planks of the Gokstad shields were painted, indicating that they had no leather facing covering them. It is worth noting that their uniform and fragile design suggests that the Gokstad shields may have been ornaments made especially for the burial, and thus not representative of actual combat shields.

An interesting parallel to the Gokstad shields comes from a peat bog at Tira, in Latvia. Dated to the ninth century, this near intact shield is constructed of six spruce or fir planks and covered on front and rear with leather, padded with pressed grass.

Boss:
At the centre of the shield was a circular hole covered by a more-or-less hemispherical iron boss of ~15 cm diameter (including flange), which enclosed the hand grip. The iron of the dome was fairly thick (3-5 mm), though the flange was somewhat thinner. Bosses had two main forms - the early style had a high dome and a pronounced neck. The later style, low domed without a neck, never completely replaced the former. Less common were a squat style and a sub-conical style, sometimes with an apical knob. Single examples of bosses with a toothed flange are known from Telemark, Norway; Birka, Sweden; and Ile de Groix, France. In the latter burial, some unique bosses with elaborate flanges were found. These bosses might have had a Western European origin.

The boss was normally attached by broad headed iron nails, the points of which were either clenched (bent over) or flattened on the reverse of the shield. In the Birka material four nails was most common, occasionally six (as for the Gokstad shields). Five nails were sometimes used, as in examples from Cronk Moar, Man and the ship cremation on the Ile de Groix, France. The flange of some bosses were angled, perhaps to secure the boss to the board by placing tension on the nails, or possibly because they were attached to convex shield boards. Flanges with decorative edgings of non-ferrous metal strips were found in some Birka graves, and nail heads were sometimes inlaid or tinned.

Handle or grip:
Wood alone must have been used in the majority of graves where remains are lacking, as in the Gokstad shields where a thin lath of rectangular section is nailed (crossways with respect to the planks) from edge to edge across the back face, it serves as a handle where it crosses the central hole. On more elaborate shields a wooden core was covered by a gutter-shaped sheathing of iron, usually ornamented with embossed bronze sheet or silver inlay. The handle was long, often crossing the full diameter of the shield, and was tapered towards both ends. The tips could be flattened out into a spatulate terminal which was nailed directly to the board, or be fastened down by separate bronze mounts. Occasionally the nails fastening the boss also passed through the handle. The handgrip may have been wrapped with leather (eg. Birka grave, and as known from early Anglo-Saxon).

Edge Reinforcement:
Continuous gutter-shaped metal edge bindings like those known from Vendel, Välsgarde, and Thorsbjerg were obsolete by the Viking Age. In the vast majority of finds there is no evidence of edge reinforcement, which must therefore have been absent, or of a perishable nature. On the Gokstad shields, small holes are bored about 2 cm in from the edge, at intervals of c.3.5 cm, presumably to fasten a rim, all other traces of which have perished. It can be speculated that the edge was bound with a leather strip fastened with stitches or thongs, or possibly very fine iron nails. Small clamps made of iron or bronze sheet are occasionally found in graves. Clamps were sometimes simply decorated by tinning, punching or engraving. In Birka graves the clamps were butted to produce a continuous edge, however, only sections of the rim survive, perhaps indicating deliberate damage before burial. Sometimes several clamps are distributed evenly around the shield rim, perhaps to fasten a leather edge binding, traces of which sometimes remain. Clamps from grave were fastened over a leather edging, though their low number and uneven distribution suggests that this was not their primary purpose. Here they might have fastened joins between planks, or shored up a damaged edge.

Other Fixtures:
Other metal fittings from shields, including nails are occasionally recovered. Some Birka graves contained one or two small rings held by eyelets which passed through the boards, and sometimes also the handle, with the ring projecting on the rear side. They may have served to hang up the shield, or as attachment points for a guige strap.
In the 11th C. Valsgarde 11 burial, a shield appears to have been repaired by nailing 13 thin brass strips (15-30 by 6-7 mm) across the break.

Decoration:
Archaeology as well as literary and art sources indicate that the shield was often painted. The faces of the Gokstad shields were painted yellow (?orpiment = As2O3) or black (?charcoal), and arranged alternately along the ship's sides. Red shields may have been popular. A red shield is mentioned on a Danish runestone, as well as in several sagas. Distribution of a pigment layer in the Viking Age Välsgarde 9 grave indicated a red painted shield. Shields from the Roman Iron Age weapon sacrifice at Thorsberg were painted red or blue.

Fragments from Ballateare, Man suggest that the leather facing of this shield was painted with black and red patterns on a white background. It was suggested that a gesso (organic matrix, such as egg yolk) paint was used. Traces of white paint were found on a wooden fragment from the Manx Cronk Moar shield. A recently discovered 10th C. chamber grave at Grimstrup, Denmark contained a circular wooden board which covered the corpse from head to hip. As no other traces (ie. boss) were found in an otherwise fully equipped male burial, it has been suggested that the board is a 'blank' or unfinished shield. The board was elaborately painted with interlace patterns, though the overall design is no longer discernible. The background colour is dark blue, the interlace is grey-green edged with white lines. Some lines of red paint and white dots are also visible. Representations of shields in Viking art are frequently marked with 'pinwheel' patterns of radiating curved lines.

These might possibly represent metal strengthening bands; or even seams in the leather facing; or may mark segments originally painted in contrasting colours, as shown in a few contemporary Frankish manuscripts. Inspiration for decoration of a reconstructed shield might also be sought in surviving painted wooden objects from the Viking Age. Sheet metal decorations in the form of beasts or birds fixed to the shield face are confined to the preceding Vendel period, though an applique of wooden strips was suggested for the Cronk Moar shield. Some examples of decorated metal parts (bosses, grips, clamps) from Viking Age shields have already been mentioned above.

Combat techniques:
Analysis of battle damage to weapons from the massive Roman Iron Age deposit of Nydham indicated the primary use for the large round shields was in fending off missiles, while sword duels were conducted blade on blade. However, the use of shields in hand to hand combat is recorded in customs such as the holmgang duel. The heavy iron construction of the Viking Age boss is unlike the Roman Iron Age examples of thin bronze, perhaps indicating a change to a hand-to-hand fighting style in which parrys with the boss were possible. The thin boards would split easily, and could perhaps have been deliberately made so, in order to snare an attacker's blade.

Kennings for Weapons:
The information in this section was taken in large part from Academy of St. Gabriel Report #2871, which reports: "Old Norse literature preserves a number of names for particular weapons. The greatest number of preserved Norse weapon names are for swords, but names are also found for spears, shields, mail-coats, and staves."

The Academy of St. Gabriel report also particularly mentions: "We have put the word 'gift' in quotes because something is called the nautr of a person even when it is not a gift, but is booty."

SWORDS:
Bastarðr ('bastard')

Brynjubítr ('byrnie-biter') (Sturlunga Saga I, p. 450)

Dragvandill (etym. unc.)

Fetbreiðr ('foot-broad'; 'foot' as in unit of measure)

Fjôrsváfi (acc.) (Life-taker?)

Fótbítr ('foot-biter, leg-biter')

Gamlanautr (Gamli's 'gift')

Grásíða (Grey-side)

Grettisnautr (Grettir's 'gift')

Gunnlogi (War-flame, Battle-blaze)

Hneitir (exact sense uncertain, but something like 'Thruster, Cutter')

Hvítingr (White-One)

Jarðhússnautr ('Gift' of an Underground Room/Passage; it was taken from one)

Jôkulsnautr (Jôkull's 'gift')

Kársnautr (Kárr's 'gift')

Kettlingr ('kitten') (Sturlunga Saga I, p. 452)

Kvernbítr (Quern-biter)

Lang (Long)

Laufi (apparently from 'leaf')

Leggbítr (Leg-biter)

Naðr (Adder)

Níðingr ('villain, truce-breaker') (Sturlunga Saga I, p. 453)

Skrýmir (etym. unc., but perhaps Large-One; also the name of a giant)

Skôfnungr (Shin-bone)

Sniðill (Pruning-knife)

Sætarspillir ('truce-spiller, peace-breaker') (Sturlunga Saga I, p. 453)

Tumanautr (Tumi's 'gift')

Tyrfingr (from 'a resinous fir-tree'; the sword is magical and is said to be sheathed in flame)

Ættartangi (apparently Family-tang, as in 'tang of a sword')

Ølvisnautr (Ølvir's 'gift')


AXES:
Droplaugar ('drip-water')

Hel (This is the name of the giantess who was goddess of death. The word may also be used to simply mean 'death').

Himintelgja ('heaven-scraper')

Hjalti (This axe-name is apparently from hjalt 'pommel of a sword; cross-guard of a sword'.)

Hlôkk (This is the name of one of the Valkyries. It may be related to hlakka 'to cry, to scream (as an eagle); to rejoice'.

Randgríð (This is also the name of one of the Valkyries. The name is from Old Norse rônd 'a rim, a border', used poetically to mean 'a shield', and , 'frantic eagerness'. There is also a giantess named Gríðr. The combination hence means something like 'shield-hungry'.)

Rimmugýgr ('Battle-hag').

Saxa (This is the name of a giantess; it is also a feminine form of sax 'a sword'.)

Skaði (This is also the name of a giantess/goddess. The name is identical with the masculine noun skaði 'scathe, harm, damage'.)

Steinsnautr ('Steinn's gift')
Stjarna ('star')
Svartleggja ('black-legs; black-hafted')
Sveðja ('glancer')
Tjald-sperra ('tent-spar')


SPEARS:
Grásíða ('grey-side', reforged from the sword of the same name)
Vigr ('spear'; the word is poetic, the common word for 'spear' being spjót)


SHIELDS
Ôrveigarnautr (Ôrveig's 'gift'; Ôrveig is fem.)


MAIL COATS:
Emma (?)
Full-trúi ('full-trust'; 'Old Faithful')
Sigfússnautr (Sigfúss's 'gift')


STAVES:
Hegnuðr ('chastiser') or Hôgnuðr (etym. unc.)
Landkônnuðr ('land-prober, land-explorer')

found online, wanted to share,
posted by: Keeper of the Northern Fires