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Old Norse Online

Lesson 8

Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum

Viking Weaponry

The Viking Age warrior had a wide array of weaponry and protective gear available for use on the battlefield. In the earlier period sword and spear were the predominant weapons. The spear was later set aside in favor of the axe, and it is this weapon which frequently caught the imagination of artists depicting viking battles. Use of the sax was not unheard of, this being a short sword or long knife, and also of bow and arrow. For defense viking warriors often used a small, round shield. On the body they would wear a shirt of chain mail or corselet, though archaeological remains are scant, and it appears that most warriors could not afford such protection. In their stead, some warriors wore shirts of padded leather, or clothes with insewn bone plaques. Helmets were used, though the rarity of remains suggests that their use was far from widespread.

The sword more than any other weapon in viking culture was viewed with a certain amount of awe and reverence. A particularly good blade might bear a name and be passed down through generations as an heirloom. The creation of such blades was often given an air of mystery and magic. Swords typically weighed between four and five pounds, and were some thirty five inches from tip to butt. The blades were roughly five inches wide and thirty inches long. There was a small depression, the blood groove, a half inch wide and running down the middle of the blade. Some blades were damascened, i.e. made from alternating layers of iron and steel folded together, to produce a strong but flexible blade. Beginning in the tenth century one finds blades decorated with symbols, signs, or even texts. In the late eleventh century Christian symbols begin to appear.

The spear was an extremely common weapon in the Viking Age, and could be anywhere from six and a half to ten feet long, including an eight to twenty four inch metal point with socket tube. Spears fell into two broad types: those for casting, and those for thrusting. Some casting spears are said to have had ropes wrapped around them, so that as the rope unravelled in flight, the spear began to twist. The thrusting spears have longer, heavier heads. The socket itself was often longer to avoid being hacked off of the shaft. In later periods the socket tube of thrusting spears was often decorated in the same style as swords with intricate silver inlays.

Battle-axes came into use fairly late and were made with either wide or thin blades. In essence there were three types of axe. One type, the hand-axe, was little more than a farming tool. The light head carried a hammer opposite the blade, and this was fixed on a long iron-shod shaft. A second type, the bearded-axe, was commonly used in sea battles for grappling because of the squared projection at the bottom of the blade which gave it its name. The third type, the broad-axe, is the most famous. It is heavier than the other types, and the warrior grasped it with both hands. The blade could be up to twelve inches across, inlaid with silver or gold.

The Vikings used bow and arrow for both fighting and hunting. Bows do not survive from the Viking Age, but the sizes of arrows and depictions in art suggest the use of both a short bow and a long bow, which could be up to six and a half feet. The bows were typically made of pine. Arrowheads were generally iron. Sharp points were used to bring down big game such as reindeer, moose, and bear. Blunt arrowheads were used for the smaller game which was the mainstay of the fur-trade, the blunt point doing less damage to the pelt. Sometimes forked points were used for hunting birds.

The viking shield was round and formed of thin boards fixed from behind by an iron bar. The hand gripped the bar, and the knuckles protruded through a hole cut from the center of the boards. This hole, and thus the hand, was covered by an iron boss fixed to the front of the shield. A leather strap allowed one to hang the shield over the neck in order to keep both hands free. Leather might cover the face of the shield, and the rim might be ringed with iron. But generally little metal was applied to the shield, the preference being on lightness and ease of motion rather than on bulk and endurance. The shields were often painted a single bold color, and sparsely decorated, if at all. The more ornate shields were intended for show rather than for battle.

It appears that helmets of earlier periods were more ornate than their later counterparts. Some helmets dating to the late seventh century cover the entire head and face with guards for the neck and cheek. Ornamentation included eyebrow ridges and fine metalwork lining the rim. No helmets have been recovered with the stereotypical upward sweeping horns, though indirect evidence in the form of figurines and carvings suggest that some such helmets may have existed. These depictions, however, often seem to perform a magical role, and so if such helmets existed, they were presumably far from common. By the time of the Viking Age, helmet design favored a simple conical shape, sometimes with but often without a nosepiece. Helmets appear to have been fashioned from either metal or leather.

Reading and Textual Analysis

The following selection is a poetical excerpt from Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs. The diction of the poem is archaic, and some scholars have thought it to be the remnant of an earlier poetic form of the entire narrative, of which the saga we have is the distilled version. Some scholars of the early 20th century have included the poem with the collected poems of the Poetic Edda.

The poem begins when Hervör arrives on the island Samsey to claim the sword Tyrfing from her dead father Angantýr. The basic outline of the story up to this point is as follows. Dwarfs created the sword Tyrfing for Svafrlami, but one laid a curse upon it: that it should bring death to the one who wielded it, that no wound it caused should ever heal, and that it should bring about three shameful deeds. These are of course played out to the letter in the ensuing story. Arngrím killed Svafrlami and took the sword Tyrfing from him. Arngrím had twelve warrior sons, and one of them, Angantýr, received Tyrfing to carry to war. In Upsala, Angantýr made suit for the king's daughter, and the king ordered him to fight his champions Örvar-Odd and Hjálmar on the isle Samsey. The king's champions arrived first on the island, heading inland and leaving their crew on the ship. When Angantýr and his brothers arrived, they killed the entire crew, but were sorely wearied from battle. Odd and Hjálmar arrived only after the brothers' fatigue had set in; Odd killed the eleven brothers, and Hjálmar killed Angantýr. Hjálmar nevertheless died shortly after Angantýr as a result of his wounds from Tyrfing. Angantýr's posthumous daughter, when she came of age to learn her father's true identity and the cause of his death, set herself on the track toward vengeance. She determined that Tyrfing was the proper instrument for her task, and so she travelled to Samsey and the burial mounds of Angantýr and his brothers to ask her father for the sword. This is where the poem picks up the story; from the end of the poem it is clear what Hervör's next task will be, as she puts revenge before her own well-being in true heroic tradition.

Hitt hefir mær ung í Munarvági
        við sólarsetr segg at hjörðu.

Hirðir kvað:
        "Hverr's einn saman í ey kominn?
        gakktu greiðliga gistingar til!"

Hervör kvað:
        "Munkat ganga gistingar til,
        þvít engan kank eyjarskeggja;
        segðu hraðliga áðr heðan líðir
        hvar ru Hjörvarði haugar kendir?"

Hirðir kvað:
        "Spyrjat at því, spakr est eigi,
        vinr víkinga, þúst vanfarinn;
        förum fráliga sem okkr fõtr toga --
        alt es úti ámátt firum."

Hervör kvað:
        "Men bjóðum þér máls at gjöldum;
        muna drengja vin dælt at letja:
        fær engi mér fríðar hnossir,
        fagra bauga, svát farak eigi."

Hirðir kvað:
        "Heimskr þykki mér sás heðra ferr,
        maðr einn saman, myrkvar grímur;
        hyrrs á sveimun, haugar opnask,
        brennr fold ok fen -- förum harðara!"

Hervör kvað:
        "Hirðumat fælask við fnösun slíka,
        þótt of alla ey eldar brenni!
        Látumat okkr liðna rekka
        skjótla skelfa; skulum við talask."

Vas þá féhirðir fljótr til skógar
        mjök frá máli meyjar þessar;
        en harðsnúinn hugr í brjósti
        um sakar slíkar svellr Hervöru.

Hon sá nú haugaeldana ok haugbúa úti standa, ok gengr til hauganna ok hræðisk ekki; óð hon eldana sem reyk, þar til er hon kom at haugi berserkjanna. Þá kvað hon:

"Vaki, Angantýr! vekr þik Hervör,
        einga dóttir ykkur Tófu.
        Selðu ór haugi hvassan mæki,
        þanns Svafrlama slógu dvergar.

Hervarðr, Hjörvarðr, Hrani, Angantýr!
        vekk yðr alla und viðar rótum,
        hjálmi ok með brynju, hvössu sverði,
        rönd ok með reiði, roðnum geiri.

Mjök eruð orðnir, Arngríms synir,
        megir meinsamir, moldar at auka,
        es engi skal sona Eyfuru
        við mik mæla í Munarvági.

Svá sé yðr öllum innan rifja,
        sem þér í maura mornið haugi,
        nema sverð selið þats sló Dvalinn;
        samira draugum dýrt vápn fela."

Þá svarar Angantýr:
        "Hervör dóttir, hví kallar svá
        full feikinstafa? Ferr þér at illu.
        Õr est orðin ok ørvita,
        villhyggjandi vekr menn dauða!

Grófat mik faðir niðr né frændr aðrir.
        Þeir höfðu Tyrfing tveir es lifðu,
        varð þó eigandi einn of síðir."

Hon kvað:
        "Segðu eitt satt: svá láti Áss þik
        heilan í haugi sem þú hefir eigi
        Tyrfing með þér! Trauðr est at veita
        arfa þínum einga barni."

Þá var sem einn logi væri alt at líta um haugana, er opnir stóðu. Þá kvað Angantýr:

"Hnigin es helgrind, haugar opnask,
        allr es í eldi eybarmr at sjá;
        atalt es úti um at litask.
        Skyntu, mær, ef mátt, til skipa þinna!"

Hon segir:
        "Brenni þér eigi bál á nóttum,
        svát ek við elda yðra fælumk;
        skelfrat meyju muntún hugar, þótt hon draug séi í durum standa."

Þá kvað Angantýr:
        "Segik þér, Hervör, hlýttu til meðan,
        vísa dóttir, þats verða mun;
        sjá mun Tyrfingr, ef trúa mættir,
        ætt þinni, mær, allri spilla.