the Viking warrior 8th to mid 11th century the end of the eighth to mid
11th century in Europe is largely known as the Viking Age these so-called
Vikings with fierce Raiders from the shores of Scandinavia many were forced
to take up this profession due to a lack of decent farmland
and eventually climate change in the region as a result warfare and
Scandinavian culture became highly advanced and with military innovations
occurring during this timeframe a Viking warrior would be armed with what he
could afford or what was passed down to him from his family members the standard
weapon of choice for the Viking warrior was the spear this was due to this
weapon being relatively easy to construct and as a result it was very
cheap to buy the length of the spear shafts averaged from 2 to 2.5 metres
long and were usually made of strong durable ash a typical North spear was
a long bladed spear head mounted onto the sturdy shaft Spears were often used
as a thrusting weapons but was sometimes uses missiles as well gradually the
Vikings began to manufacture Spears for the specific roles
as well as this Vikings would often make use of bladed weapon such as swords and
knives a Viking sword would typically be a one-handed weapon the majority of
these swords were a Frankish design indeed these Frankish swords became so
dominant in Viking warfare as in 864 ad the Franks eventually had to ban selling
these swords of the Vikings as he were being used on the people who made them
despite this popularity swords were almost exclusively used by the upper
class as only they could afford to buy these weapons however what the Vikings
were most famous for was their use of axes these axes were used in a variety
of ways from slashing to throwing as the axe head was mostly wrought iron with
steel cutting edge this made the weapon less expensive than a sword
meaning more warriors could afford them various types of axes existed from huge
two-handed Dane axe for the small Mammen axe which was ideal for throwing the
main defensive weapon of the Viking warrior was his round shield round
shields seemed to have varied in size with 75 to 90 centimetres being the most common and
they were made from a variety of materials they were constructed by
gluing several planks together and were then reinforced with a metal frame around
the rim the center of the shield also sported a metal boss which was used for
battering another type of shield was the kite
shield however this was more popular with the Vikings who settled in Normandy
who were later known as the Normans most common type of armor worn by Vikings was
chain mail however this was expensive and was often off-limits for poorer Vikings
chainmail was commonly only worn by professional warriors as only they had
the need for such armor the Vikings also wore simpler helmets often caps
with a simple nose gaurds research indicates that Vikings may have only
rarely used metal helmets helmets with metal horns presumably for ceremonial
use are known from the Nordic Bronze Age 2,000 years prior to the Viking Age the
Vikings fought in a close formation typically called a shield wall a shield
wall would be formed by a line of Vikings over
lapping their shields the first three ranks of the main wall would have been
made up of select warriors who carried heavier weapons and consistently wore
armor it would also have been nobles who would have had their own armored
retainers and bodyguards the shield wall worked by essentially pushing the other
shield wall until it broke the Vikings utilized many different formations of
shield walls from the straight-line shield wall to a wedge shape this was
used to break up other shield walls well thank you for watching and listening all
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BC seeing you later