What WEAPONS Did VIKINGS Actually Use?... And some they DIDN'T!
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- Опубликовано: 25 дек 2020
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What weapons did the Vikings use? Here we look at the weapons most commonly used by Vikings in the middle ages, as well as some of the weapons that they DIDN'T use!
Swords of the Viking Age by Ian Peirce: amzn.to/34NuEF3 or (UK) amzn.to/3nQ32qs
Facebook & Twitter updates, info and fun:
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Schola Gladiatoria HEMA - sword fighting classes in the UK:
www.swordfightinglondon.com
Matt Easton's website and services:
www.matt-easton.co.uk/
Easton Antique Arms:
www.antique-swords.co.uk/ 
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Sorry for being off the topic of Viking arms , but I have a question . Christmas Day I watched Hannibal with my aunt Sharon and my cousin Angela over Chinese food . It was my first time watching that film . Hannibal Lecter used what appereared to me to be a Spyderco hawkbill knife to eviscerate Inspector Pazzi. But when he slew the Bravo wearing the silver bracelet I thougt a stiletto woud be the proper knife for the task . I saw no evidence in film that Hannibal owned a stiletto . Did I miss something ? Or did the fim maker imply that Hannibal used a hawkbill knife to stab the man under the ribcage into the heart ? It seems to me that a classicly educated man like Hannibal Lecter would use a stiletto to make such a precision strike in such a manner . The wound depicted in the scene seemed to be narrow and deep to cause the man to bleed out so quickly . Cheers !
Advertisements and a sponsor spot. I hope you got a pretty penny for this long video.
Glad you finally said it about swords being less common and useful than axes and spears, love you for that.
Booo!
@@victorwaddell6530 The key is in the line the pickpocket guy told the detective. Something like "he meant to grab my balls but he missed." In other words we're supposed to believe that Lecter did that damage with his bare hands. Ridiculous? Yes. But so is everything else in that movie.
When it got to the 'weapons they didn't use' I was half expecting him to hold up a rifle just for a quick laugh.
I thought he was just going to go through the weapons of assassins creed valhalla (looking at you flails...)
@@GuitarsRockForever they do nowdays though, 2 forward fixed mount Browning M2 QCHB, one M2 QCHB OR a Mk19 40mm GMG in a mid deck ring mount and two rails along the deck sides of sea mines or depth charges is the standard armament of the Combat Boat 90 of the Swedish Amphibious corps and marine Home Guard defence militia XD
Or Lindeybeige breaks down the wall in a tank
A Krag-Jørgensen, no less :)
I was expecting him to pull out something Jeorg made and laugh as he said "Let me show you its Context..."
Been watching his videos for years and this is the first time I've ever looked at his ears. They're magnificent
He's got a back row ears,
You have been blind, and now you see.
If your name is Nosferatu...
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I SEEEEEE THE TRUUUTH
Petersen's type ix battle ears. They were usually used in western Europe within a viking context until about the early 900s. They were superceded by type x ears during the 10th century only due to lack of resources.
I wish Matt would get sponsored by RAID® ANT & ROACH KILLER
"Raid?!"
RAAAIIIIDDD!!! XD
I just sprayed beer outa my nose at this! Thanks mate. Great comment! Lol.
*crawls out of the basement*
CONTEXT!
*crawls back into the basement*
Matt is in his shed; I'll have you know.
@@djc807-5 the ways of my basement are infinite (and mostly confused)
@@talscorner3696 have my admiration anyway, fellow basement dweller! (The main bedroom of my house is in it's heated tile floor basement)
@@talscorner3696 I mean what you know!
"There's a lot of debate about the length of spearheads" Ah, some things stay the same throughout the ages I see.
Spoken like a world weary immortal.
The best scene (only good scene) from Braveheart was Wallace and his cronies sitting around a campfire talking about having a spear as long as a man. "Some men are longer than others."
Also: "Wood of the shafts doesn't survive". Sadly.
Good one :) What had me was 41:20 and on.
"... It's not to say that the vikings didn't use the seax, they did have the seax, *they had forms of seax..* "
I know..but it's funny when he says it quickly and with enthusiaism.
One reenactment group banned 'viking' spears with a blade over 3 inches long. Then, after I went to Sweden, Finland and Denmark on a museum holiday, I brought back photographs of Viking era spearheads of several sizes . But was told "that's wrong " !!!!! As Matt and others have said, weapons weren't mass produced. Each was hand made, and there would have been massive variety, according to what metal was immediately available, and the smiths personal attitude. As well as local style, the wealth and wishes of the user......
20:50 in Basel, they looked for a murder weapon in the Rhine and found no less than three weapons apparently tossed from the same bridge at the same spot! They were not even from the same perp, but had been dumped in the course of a century! Later, they searched the river section more thoroughly and found about a dozen weapons ranging from WWII to the bronze age! They found enough other river finds to fill an entire museum and that's exactly what they did for a year! It was pretty impressive.
So as late as during WW2 people where still sacrificing captured weapons at that spot. That is a long running tradition if anything. 😉
A pretty popular place for murder.
Thats pretty depressive.
They had to hide them from the Crime Scene Investigation? Just wipe the fingerprints!
Long history of murderers living there.
It's Boxing Day . We get Matt Easton , Viking weapons and real history. Bring it, this is interesting.
Odd I thought Vikings wrestled more then boxed.😂
🥊🥊
What is Boxing Day?
@@Rokaize It's a traditional English holiday, on which the otherwise polite and friendly English people get together and box out their differences. There isn't much bloodshed, since most participants follow a quite old set of rules, known as The Hampshire Accord, which among other things forbid the gauging of eyes.
Originally, Boxing Day comes from Scotland, but the Scots realised round about 1757 that every day is potentially Boxing Day for them, so why bother with a special holiday?
@@Rokaize Boxing Day is a traditional English holiday where wealthy people would give their servants the day off and give them gifts because they, the servants, would have been working on Christmas Day serving their employers.
Good video. The three silly weapon tropes from Viking/generic barbarian fantasy: the ridiculously large hammer (although, Thor had a hammer, so it must be true...); the short but broad and heavy sword with a long 2 handed grip (the worst possible combination); and the sword with pointy bits sticking out of the blade part way along its length. The three silly fighting tropes: the shield being used to repeatedly bludgeon the opponent with large wild swings; the northern European sword being used with all the poses and postures associated with the katana; and using the sword (rather than the shield) to parry a blow that would have missed by a metre anyway. The silliest tropes for battles: forming a disciplined and well-rehearsed shield wall until the last moment then charging wildly with no attempt at maintaining a formation; and individual heroes running around the melee looking for each other to settle old scores, and never being killed by a random member of the enemy force.
And don't forget the silly one of a handful of heroes using their individual fighting prowess to defeat hundreds or thousands of the enemy and thus win the battle.
Agree, though the most common silly battle trope is not only running looking for people, but heroes forcefully moving through melee casually slaying oponents who are all trying to RUN PAST THE HERO to somewhere else. WHERE are they all running? Is there a black Friday right behing the hero? (Oh and btw. the hero usually twists around from time to time, throws his weapons and takes away his oponents' weopons (usually then also throws them somewhere)).
A country size of Dallas! almost winns ww2... So what People had a heart of Steel?
@@patrikfurberg6494 - That came out of nowhere.
@@julietfischer5056 Well it is not unheard of great soldiers or warriors in later periods with better sources to atleast kill scores of enemies. So a hundred is probably not impossible. Especially if they are peasant levys and you have high status armour and training.
Funny. Matt‘s advertisement for RSL was interrupted by an RSL ad
Conan, Robert E Howard often described his protagonist as wearing mail using a shield. Sadly Holywood fails this image badly.
Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo had cemented the image of the bare-chested Conan long before the first movie came out.
Yes there hasn't been a"real" Howard esk type Conan ever. Arnie's Conan was ok but his sword work too slow and the other guy was closer to the real deal but the story was shit.Come on Hollywood GET IT RIGHT.Howard must be turning in his grave after the last story aaaaarrrrgh.
Leather is cheaper than mail.
He must have gotten cold in some of those illustrations.
I know I've had a few comments but I reckon it would be terrific if Hollywood actually produced a series of Conan totally in keeping with Robert E Howards Conan stories, something like Game of Thrones ,from thief to reaver to king.Now that would be something and there's enough written material to do it.
So, as a conclusion: Any old hatchet from your grandparent's garden shed is probably more "Viking style" than the wallhanger I recently got (cheap, at least) off an internet auction.
I loved you on Metatron's tournament, Captain Context, sir!
Matt: "I'm going to use inches because I'm a Brit and that's what I'm most familiar with"
A minute later.
"These swords weigh about 800 to 1,000 grammes"
Me: "Yeah that's a British way of measuring things!"
Two stories about the British love/ hate relationship with the metric system:
A gentleman goes to a garden centre in Somerset. He asks how much for a cubic metre of soil? Gets told he can have as much as he likes, but "they sell it by the shovel"
Another wants a quote for an addition to his home but wants it in metres. The builder take a stride, then skips about 3 inches, then repeats until he has paced out the site.
A metric stone of bs if you ask me. Lol
mate go to any UK timber merchants and ask for 4" x 2". you will be offered it in lengths from 1.8m to about 4.2m. or go by milk to make rice pudding and it will come in pints. but the rice will be sold in grams. we get fuel by the letter. but drive in miles and so on. live with it we are british and its just something we do because. :)
He kicked things off by saying the shield was 10 or 12 centimeters smaller than what vikings actually used.
And “grammes” is a British way of spelling things. 😉
Of course their main weapon was stabbing people with the horns they totally had in their helmets
-horned
-great sailors
-renowned raiders
All vikings were minotaurs, confirmed.
You know it
@@harjutapa Minotaurs are great sailors? Interesting.
Anthony Ridgway Maze runners..
@@faust8218 I mean they're definitely good at navigation at least from living in a labyrinth badommtss
It's a little silly how weapons and armor common throughout Europe and Western Asia (indeed, North Africa too) are viewed as uniquely "viking". The Vikings left just a big impact on British history they've eclipsed the perspective. Not to mention the Vikings by their very nature would be picking up arms and armor from both trading partners and their dead enemies. You make a spear and a shield at home with the hope of getting a nice helmet and sword and mail shirt eventually.
Interesting to learn about the Norwegian backsword. Makes me wonder if it's from the continent or it's a variation of the seax
A lot of people liken them to the seax, but I'm not really convinced there is a direct connection.
@@scholagladiatoria I know by that time the Romans had the paramerion-maybe the Norwegians got the idea from there?
@@scholagladiatoria There are "langsæxes" mentioned in sagas, which do appear to be used mainly as weapons, and some people interpret that as a reference to the single-edged swords.
I think one thing to note is that they seems to be a massive taboo in old Norse culture behind taking from battlefields
Why this is I don’t know. It could be a respect thing. Perhaps they believed that the dead would need these weapons when they finally find themselves in with Óðinn in Valhöll
I’ve seen a dude from Herstwic who reckons that it comes from their understanding of luck or fortune. So if an object has failed its owner on the battlefield then it clearly isn’t lucky, and so isn’t going to serve them any better
But it’s definitely true that they very rarely looted battlefields
"Wot, no francisca/francesca!?" Sorry, ex competative axe thrower & forester here, so I do love my axes.
Great video, its sad that moving media especially gets it wrong so often as it sticks in folks heads. Like the hero rarely uses a helmet or shield as it hides how pretty they are, two handed swords... so they can flex and do slow motion moves to look good (First Conan film is a prime example). My family and partner hate watching historical films because I'm busy saying "But they didn't...." far too often.
Great to see a longer overview video from yourself, do enjoy them. All the best for 2021. Lang may yer lum reek as we say here on the right side of Hadrian's Wall.
There is nothing like a good education to take the fun out of things.
Couldn't agree more. Do you/Does anybody know any largely accurate films/tv shows they can recommend, especially when it comes to fighting styles?
This is something that's bothered me since I was a kid. Every Robin Hood fight scene had me thinking 'Why are they standing still and banging their swords together instead of moving and stabbing or slashing exposed parts of the body?" or "They're in a clench - why doesn't he rake his shin/stamp on his foot/nut his nose/knee him in the orchestras?"
So frustrating, as it reminded me it was really bad choreography rather than reality, and broke the illusion. ;) Also, I was genuinely interested in the way people really fought with swords, and most films just reminded me over and over again that they had nothing but bad habits to teach me.
54 minutes... Christmas, hey?...
47:57 my God, that was a savage burn against wall hanger swords... nice!
I come from old Väringen, Now named Mälaren after sea level changed, And has one of the most dense amount of burial sites of norse graves, and these often have posts that you can read, and view what was found and the spekulation on those objects, The amount of foreign objects, not only Weapons is amazing, and foreign but homemade copies of those are as common aswell. it get me thinking norsemen were problably like romans, the improvised stole and adept other technologies. what i find most intresting is the remnants of bows, it seems it wasn't a tech the vikings knew how to make, beacuse almost all bows they find are foreign xD sorry for bad english ^^
We still have the same industrial practice of importing and improving on foreign ideas, especially when it comes to weapons industry.
Eg: Strv 104 (improved Centurion), Strv 122( impr. Leopard2A5), Rb17(Impr&modded Hellfire ATGM), Strf9040SPIKE(local design improving on the concept layout of the Bradley and the BMP IFVs)
etc.
Your English is perfect sir , just perfect , I don't have a single word of any other language (typical of the ignorant English),. I am always in awe of others who can .I agree with everything you say . Thank you .
Scandinavians definitely knew how to make bows, and had been making them since the Mesolithic. The bow itself rarely survives in a burial context, so there is usually impossinble know whether it was imported or not in most graves. The arrowheads are usually locally made.
Excellent overview! Thanks.
I’d love to see you do a detailed video about seax design, usage and styles.
Agreed
Me too mate
I like that you use the viking era more than viking weapons, to me it more describes a period in history that helps break down what is known as the dark ages and middle ages.
I really appreciate your long videos matt, specially about stuff like this, thank you and happy christmas
Fascinating, as always Matt - thanks for sharing your knowledge with us ... glad I found the time to sit down and watch this in one go :-)
You know, I'm not going to complain about Matt taking a Raid ad because that company tends to pay absurd amounts of money for ad placement, so more power to him. The company and their product is STILL a scam.
How is it a scam? It's just another gacha game. although notably being one of the few by a western company. And of course it's gigantic advertising campaign. Never played it, so I can't judge the quality of the game itself.
@@neurofiedyamato8763 exactly, a ptw scam.
@@SonsOfLorgar That's not a scam. A scam is to trick and a lie to get you to pay money for a service or prize that don't exist. When you spend on a gacha game, you know very well it is RNG. If you are lucky, you get exactly what was promised. Calling gacha game mechanics gambling is perfectly reasonable, but it isn't a scam.
@@neurofiedyamato8763 I mean, when they promise "immersive and complex turn-based combat" and you have a game that can literally play itself because it's so basic, that could arguably be considered a scam. I mean, Genshin Impact is a Gacha too, but they still got actual gameplay.
@@neurofiedyamato8763 A) every talking point in all their ads is chock full of lies (even the word 'fast', its just word salad), B) every part of the free offer is a lie
• There are more axes than any other weapon type in the Norwegian museum. Additionally, the first weapon type you were required to bring when entering the army was an axe. Then a shield. Then a spear. That said, "in the shield wall, a spear is worth twice that of a sword."
• Another point to add, is that the norsemen of Norway and Sweden also had access to tovedsbue. Two-woods-bow. Smaller composite bows based on King's Mirror and two archeological finds.
• I seem to remember reading that crossbows were introduced in Scandinavia from around 1000 ad. I'd have to check my sources.
Kongespejlet is much later than the Early Middle Age (Viking Age).
axes only make up 17% of archeological finds in the viking age, 39% are spears. just because a specific museseum displays more axes doesn't mean axes are the most common.
my sources? Daxböck's study (2008), Kristján Eldjárn and Adolf Friðriksson (2000).
as for minimum requirements for vikings? the oldest records for such a minimum requirement for Scandinavians is the Norwegian "Older Law of the Gulating" which dates from the 11th/12th century. so we can't say for sure for earlier periods. the minium laid out in this was shield, spear and either an axe or a sword.
what is your source for the minium being only an axe?
@@PalleRasmussen True. Archeologist Ivar Malde date the bow to the tail end of the viking age. I assumed it originally came from direct interaction with the Ukrainian dothraki, but turns out it's credited to the Sami. ^^
@@matthiuskoenig3378 Its not a museum. It's the national archeology museum. Their web portal unimus unfortunately shut down a month ago, but the quantity of axes were nothing short of overwhelming. Far surpassed spears and swords in the 1000s as far as I can remember. This wasn't limited to warrior graves, or a narrow time period, but the totality of the entire archeology database of Norwegian culture. From every farmers tool axe to a huscarls axe. The broadest spectrum.
Im curious about the scope of your sources. What did they try to answer. What does your two sources try to encompass? Warrior graves of a specific time period in a given location, or a broader spectrum?
Yeah, uncertainty included, off course. The minimum requirement, the first source mentioning it, is a later source. I assume it's one of those added minor details which doesn't require a whole lot of evidence to make sense at earlier ages. An axe is an every day tool that helps you from freezing to death in the winter, clear new farmland or build something productive. Codification of a known practice.
"
But when a working man takes his first service for full wages, then he shall the first summer buy an axe, the second a shield and the third a spear. But if he lacks any of these three weapons, then he shall pay fine to the king of one øre for every one he lacks. But if he lacks them all, then he shall pay fine of one øre to the king and have only half-rights until he get hold of weapons.
"
What do you think?
Law of Magnus, 13th century.
myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=32114&highlight=
@@willek1335 fascinating thank you for sharing this info
extremely informative mate. Thanks
Great video, Matt, and it's really nice to see you in full whiskers.
I one hour video on medieval weapons... it must be Christmas!!
Bjorn: Hey, blacksmith, build me a battleaxe but with two blades!
Bjorn: And a two-handed sword too!
Bjorn: Also I heard leather armor is great!
Bjorn: Oh, and I want horns on my helm!
...
Another viking to his wife: You know, Helga, let's not name our future son 'Bjorn'.
Blacksmith: *groan* Great, another time-travelling tourist.
My name is Björn, and I take great offense/pride to this comment.
why mention leather armor? its not a-historical.
As always the depth of your knowledge leaves my head spinning.thankyou.
Yet ANOTHER fantastic, in depth lesson Matty Boy! You sir, are a ROCKSTAR of a teacher! Happy new year & God bless, both to you and your lovely warrior princess Lucy!
In my swabian homeregion, nearly in every villages graves of alemannic , sometimes frankish warriors. From 3th to early 7th the mensgraves contained weapons. Some centuries before the vikings, but the same germanic culture. In those graves the longer spatha sword is the weapon of upper class warriors The seax, Sax in german, was made in different size, was the weapon of the average warrior, or the back- up of upper class warrior. The smallest versions, had been simply large knives , like later Bauernwehr, for everyday tool use. Then spears, lighter ones and more often the heavier type. Relicts of shields are mostly the iron/steel shield bosses. It seems , that in my region in those days, bows axes/ hatchets and slings had been the weapons of poor warriors. But now to this video. The Galloglass soldiers of medieval/ renaissance Ireland , had, when i am right, also viking ancestors and had been armed with axes/ hatchets in a rather long pole.
Gallowglass axes are a bit different from Dane Axes, (More squared/angular profiles as opposed to the curved "Bearded" blades.) However a lot of the Gall O'glach were Scottish mercenaries, which may have been influenced by Vikings. It's possible, we don't really know. Can't really say whether you're right or wrong here. However, they're a bit anachronistic. Galloglass seemed to appear (In records) in the 1200s. The Viking Age was pretty much done with 200 years before that, in between you have Normans, the Domesday Book, and Marcher Lords. That's basically why there's no continuous provenance between the 2 kinds of great ax.
@@Psiberzerker : Also i can be wrong. I have read, that those gallowglass soldiers / mercenaries came from areas of Ireland and Scottland, where in viking age a number of vikings settled, so i thought, this men are celtics mixed with some vikings and some viking culture influence.
@@brittakriep2938 I'm just saying IT'S POSSIBLE. It can't be proven one way or another, because they've got Crusades in between. Broadly, the Galloglass came from all over, and yes, being local, most of them were Irish/Welsh/Scots. Some of them may even have been Norman, part Norman (From interbreeding) and/or trained with Normans, who're also descendants from the Franks of the Viking age. However, they also traveled all over, and brought a lot of stuff back from the Crusades. Also, that's a massive difference between Gallowglass Axes, and Viking Axes.
@@guydoe1666 "Racial Group?" Germans, and Prussians used to be the same Nation, and still used different weapons. Welsh, and Scots are on the same island, about the size of the lower part of Michigan, and used different weapons, throughout their histories. Racial groups just do not use the same weapons, throughout their histories. Not even close.
Just type in Gallowglass Ax into a search engine. Pick one. Look at it. That's the specific weapon we're talking about, and the Vikings never used one anything like that, except for the pole. They might have used them similarly, we don't know, but they're not the same weapon.
30:00 -- I have been enjoying your video up to this point; and yes, I was anticipating axe talk before spears, but I'll get more to the point I think you were aiming for at the beginning of the axe talk. The reason why Axes are associated with the Vikings and the High Fantasy Dwarves is because the weapon is a general purpose Tool and ultimately, without an Axe the Vikings don't get to have excellent sailing vessels. I continue to consider the word "Viking" to be a Job Description, not as a cultural identity (ethnically, it's Norse). And because the Norse had knowledge and access to iron and steel, their ability to do things such as create and maintain wooden sailing vessels suitable for navigation all over the known and unknown world was directly impacted by those metal tools.
I was reading a book a few years back which had been published in the 18th century, and which was recounting sailing voyages to the South Pacific in which the various aboriginal groups on different islands valued Iron as a means of exchange above all other commodities. The amount of work required to construct a dugout canoe *without* Iron or Steel is measured in weeks and months. With Iron and Steel, it is hours and days.
Love your engaging and easy to understand videos.
Greetings from Norway!
Really fun video, enjoyed it very much.
The lugs/wings: All of those uses, and to stop the spear running too far through the opponent, as could happen in a charge. Similar thing seen, I think, in boar lances, so the lance doesn't go straight through and either drag off the rider or stay in the boar. In a press you'd need to push opponents back, not run them through to your hand.
probably a lot less of a concern fighting on foot with those very long bladed "hewing spears" though. I also expect people are less likely to charge onto the end of a pointy and waiting spear than an enraged wild boar
We really need an image of those Norwegian single-edged blades. Never heard of anything like that.
www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/nextgen/sword-viking-berserkr.htm
I remember a certain Icelandic viking movie where they where prominent. The protagonist throwing knives however I guess i pure fantasy.
@@johnspettell1853 beautiful blade. Terrifying price!
@@michaelpettersson4919 Hrafninn flýgur (When the raven flies) is the name if we're thinking of the same movie. :) It's the first of three movies that used to be the only serious attemts at making viking themed films. The other two are 'The shadow of the raven' and 'The white viking' and they were far more authentic than the first film with the viking ninjas. ;)
'The shadow of the raven' is actually based on 'Tristan and Isolde' while 'The white viking', which had by far the largest budget of them all, is about the conflict between the early christian vikings and the traditional ones. :)
Thanks for this. Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!
Love your insight man!
An HOUR long video from Matt?!? ITS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
Started a new mount and blade viking conquest playthrough today.
Very educational and capturing video!
Good video and thank you for including imperial data as well as metric 👍🏻
Axes are essential items for Scandinavian life at that period of time both terrestrially and for shipboard use. An axe works better than a sword at getting through a door that is barred.
Axes are still essential items for Scandinavian life hahaha :-D
Long cold nights up there. Can't go raiding if you don't make it through the night.
Not those large thin fighting axes. They are for flesh. But noone left home without a real axe for wood. Like going naked in the streets.
@@sirseigan i have a nice axe less than two yards from my kitchen table. It resided in the boot of my car, when i had one. Used for removing snowfelled minor trees on rural roads during winter. Hammersmithed steel, quite expensive. I also have an older Sandvik axe for carpentry. So, axes are useful outside cities...
IMO axes being a common weapon among Norse raiders can partially be explained by the fact that axes are an important tool for boat building and wood working and many tool axes at that time didn't differ much from war axes.
Another factor might be that a axe head can be forged easier from bloomery iron than a sword because the cutting edge that benefits most of high quality iron or steel is shorter.
They used battle axes for battles... they had woodcutting axes for cutting wood. Fighting with a wood working axe is as inefficient as cutting wood with a battle axe. The vikings were usually the attackers, which means they were prepared for battle, meaning woodcutting axes would've been more common for their foes to use, as they would have been fighting with whatever they happened to have in hand.
We know this from graves and battlefields as archeological sites.
But a more likely explanation is very close. An axe handle is easy to make on a ship, so a broken axe could be fixed on a boat. A spear or sword couldn't as a spear handle is too long to be easily crafted there and with a sword, you need metalworking tools to just fix the handle. You wouldn't have a furnace on a light wooden boat.
Good stuff man, cheers and happy holidays!
What a greatly informative and interesting video this was!!
Dude, you dropped your spear in the river!
No way, I threw it in as an offering to the river god.
Really?
Did I stutter? Now, give me hand out of the water...
Today we throw golf clubs into ponds as offerings. -_-
If you absolutely could recover your spear, you would. It wasn't that cheap.
@@tl8211 Well... I mean, depends on the river. If it's very deep or has a nasty current or is simply quite cold you might not wanna risk it, provided that you can actually swim.
I mean it is still in wide practice, just look at how many a modern weapons are recovered from the water
Today it's mostly people who lost their guns in a tragic boating accident. : )
I’m not an expert on Viking Era weapons but I have heard, and would agree, that arming warriors with spears and small axes would be cheaper and easier than trying give everyone a sword.
They would stow on the boat well too.
@@jamesdriscoll_tmp1515 and can be used as tools, woodwork, hunting etc...
Really enjoy these longer videos!
Great presentation. Thanks
From what i've heard there should be mentions of handbågar (bows) and låsbågar (crossbows) in the sagas about the Jomsvikings and the battle of Hjörungsvåg year 986ad. Could be worth looking up for anyone interested.
The winged spear reminds me of a boar spear, possibly related.
I was thinking that.
@@thhseeking It is virtually identical to a spontoon - a spear used by sergeants to defend the colours in the 18th-early 19th centuries. The guards also prevent the spear getting trapped in flesh.
Also, short spears like this were used for bear hunting or boar hunting in Scandinavia and elsewhere. A stout shaft was neccessary to prevent it for breaking when braced against the ground against the attacking animal. The crosspiece prevented the animal from simply dragging itself along the shaft to maul the hunter before it expired. Boars were known to do this. On the continent they used slightly longer spears of this type from horseback. A sport for the nobility up to modern times...
Great video Matt.
Michael, glad to see you're doing well! Whether you make a video a week, a month, a year, or maybe never again, I hope you have all the happiness and health! You have an infectious joy for life, the outdoors, and adventure--thank you for sharing some of it with us!!
am massive fan of my gotland dane axe always get people asking to look at it when am out doing living history
You forgot to mention clubs.
In Snorri Sturlason's Heimskringla (Chronicles of the Norwegian Kings), Olaf Haraldson's saga, the Baptism of Dale-Gudbrand (www.gutenberg.org/files/598/598-h/598-h.htm#link2H_4_0352 ): "There was a man with King Olaf called Kolbein Sterke (the strong), who came from a family in the Fjord district. Usually he was so equipped that he was girt with a sword, and besides carried a great stake, otherwise called a club, in his hands." In Norwegian, the weapon is translated as "trelurk", meaning "thick, heavy piece of wood"; unfortunately, I couldn't easily find the original Icelandic.
It's not frequently mentioned in the sagas, and obviously absent from the archeological record, but it's hard to deny its obvious utility against shields and mail. In the example mentioned, Kolbein was part of a regular army, so the sword won't have been his primary weapon; the club will have been.
Stick a bit of metal on the end and you've got a mace.
Clubs/maces/mauls/percussive weapons, call them what you will, from the shillelagh to the knobkerrie, are ubiquitous everywhere and everywhen.
Mat says they don't show up in the Viking era record.
The interesting question is, why?
Interesting as always, thankyou
Nice! Good one Matt!
I wonder if the popularity of axes is because of the raiding heritage, just as spears are of less use, an axe might be just what is needed to get through those pesky doors people keep leaving locked/barred/barricaded.
That sounds plausible to me
Hitting a - solid - wooden door with a battle axe would do very little but fuck up the weapon; the blade is much easier to damage than a wood axe.
Axes were cheaper than swords to make, but probably more capable than spears to justify the use. Also the dane axe can be used to thrust depending of how angular the head is.
At the battle of Hjörungavåg in 986 the use of lock-bows by the joms vikings against the norwegians is reported by a somewhat later source. The fact that making a crossbow that is as powerful as a war long bow without using steel or compound materials is quite a feat, would make it less likely to see crossbows en masse in war in the nordic countries. It's plausible that it could be used for hunting.
masterclass! really appreciated this one
Great video !
As Nick's recent video shows, the sagas indicate that people did use Viking-era one-handed sword in both hands on occasion. The swords all had short grips as far as we know, but warriors every once in a while wielded them in both hands regardless.
B. H. Abbott-Motley I suppose you could always grip up around the guard for some extra force if you wanted to stab someone or maybe give em a good bop on a helmeted head.
@@susanmaggiora4800 This is more medieval but I remember reading about gripping your wrist of your sword hand with your off hand in order to generate more power....seems a bit naff to me but yeah
The Sagas are from the 13th-ish century, and are a source for that, not for the Early Middle Age.
If you are going to use a Danish style sword in two hands, the easiest way is to use your weaker hand around the pommel to help increase the strength of the blow or to help direct an attack better. Talking from 23 years of HEMA, NFPS and renactment experience.
@@DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis Danish style sword?
You mentioned the Byzantine empire and Eastern Europe quite a lot during this video. I'd be very interested to hear more about both of those. I think the swords and armour community here on RUclips is a bit too narrowly focused on England and Western Europe, at least when it comes to the Middle Ages.
Such a shame too. As a reenactor focussing on the Varangian Guard, particularly those on the Eastern front, I've come to learn quite a bit about the Byzantines and the Kievan Rus, and find the latter's gear and wares to be quite beautiful. We have members who kit up as Danish mercenaries and a few of us are Rus members of the VG, and when we do reenactment, people are often surprised, expecting either plate armour or something like that when they hear that we reenact medieval era history.
Likewise, they get surprised at our use of colours, expecting drab or just plain metal, and I keep thinking to myself that they should check out Burgundian knights of they want to see colours, because compared to them, the Varangian mercenaries were pretty modest.
Lots of beautiful history is pushed aside by Hollywood's obsession with armies of full plate, mismatching gear, with swords that penetrate said plate like it was wet paper, even though it apparently hampers them (Real plate harnesses don't, at least not to the extremes they depict), or people wearing dull colours if any at all, caked in grime, living in squalor.
@@ResidentWeevil82 That sounds pretty cool. And I couldn't agree more.
@@ciryatar Right now, the danish museum "Moesgaard" has an exibithion called "Rus" about the vikings in the east-european area ...
A Brief History of America: Atlantis - Ring of Dragons
c.1200BC: Greek Vikingar from Crete discover America, Mjolnir Erochson returns via Greenland
1186BC: Vikingar move to Carthage shipping portage, the vacancy of Crete incites the Trojan Wars
908BC: King Aegeus unites Troi with Athens, and relocates to England to oversee America
850BC: Voyages to America take place, the ‘Isle of the Blessed’ by Homer, 10000 furlongs
754BC: Roman God Mar begins the Latin colonization of Mesoamerica from Equador
404BC: Plato’s Hermocrates Dialogue orated the founding Sagas of America, Peloponnesian War
250BC: Phoenician colonization of America (Zeus’ Deluge), Mayan and Skraelingar occupation
133BC: Religion of Thor begins with Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and ‘300’ men, Tiber River
1BC: American Vikingr relocate the Tree of Life (Mississippi) from Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica
1AD: Liefr Eirikson, Son of Eirik the Red, Vineland coastal cycle of the Ouroboros (Ring of Dragons)
600AD: Cahokia Indians populate America’s Tree of Life, winter campsite at Teotihuacan
791AD: Vikings lose the Battle of Uppsala Sound, thought to be a land battle, were taken by sea
985AD: Lief Erikson, Son of Erik the Red, attacked along east coast, pulls men from Mississippi
1040AD: Federated States of America, militarized Indian tribes to finish off European Vikings
1068AD: Skraelingr and Stave Uprising brings end to Viking Era, Roanoke Island (NY) abandoned
1255AD: Confederate States of America formed by Orion Armistice in Iceland, Heads & Tails Accord
1307AD: Templar are purged from Europe, African trafficking from Gold Coast to populate America
1459AD: Byzantine Empire invites father of Christopher Columbus to Bimini Island with him at age 10
Podcast ‘Voyage of the Thundergods’: ruclips.net/video/xVxTmN322w8/видео.html
The Kraken - Greek Arianism (æ); Macedonian head, 8 Persian tentacles
Evolution of Time Loops: Enoch, Eroch, Erich… Odin’s Cobblestone Court
Cycles of Ygododdin, in Europe:
Visigoth Theodoeric (7) Gothic tribes, Camelot Spain
Vikingr Erik the Red (7) Nordic tribes, Irish Derry
King Arthur Knights (7) Templar tribes, French
Cycles of the Ouroboros Dragon, in America:
Leafar Eiriksson (7) Gothic tribes (Vikingar Greek)
Liefr Eriksson (7) Swedish tribes (Vikingr American)
Lief Ericsson (7) English tribes (Viking Danish-Norwegian)
Of course, we are living in the anglosphere, which would explain the focus, but nonetheless, your point is a good one
Love the video !
I am not overly interested in historic weapons and armour but I keep getting back to this channel but Matt is a great presenter and keeps me interested.
Spears, small axes, two handed longaxe, clubs, seaxes, one handed swords, javelins, throwing axes, slings, bows, two handed long spears, sometimes they threw full length spears too.
I have a prediction: Of the common weapon types used (i.e. swords, axes, pole-arms/spears, etc), the time spent talking about them will be inversely proportional to how commonly/frequently the weapon was actually used by vikings. 😁😁
I don't know. Given that most of the raiders/Vikings were poor enough to consider the risk well worth the rewards I suspect that most of the actual Viking weapons are not known to archeology, because they are interpreted as common tools, and where replaced once the survivors found something better.
@@vidard9863 In that case, I rest my case. Matt most definitely did not spend much time talking about common tools as weapons. 😁😁
@@evilwelshman fair point.
Great stuff here!
Damn good video Matt
We need this video re-uploaded, with one small correction - every time Matt says "Vikings" that should be replaced with Lindybeiges "VIKINGS" shout
P.S. I hope Matt hits 300K before New Year
Something tells me Matt got Assassins Creed Valhalla for Christmas 😂
Hello Matt! Thank you for this video! I'm very humble person but I have a New Year wish about you making video about fencing on uneven terrain. Most fencing treatises are about fencing on idealized plane. While plenty of battles were on stairs, trenches, hills, sand coasts, thickets etc. Can you share your thoughts on this rather broad topic please. Especially tower stairs. Live as long as possible and happy New 2021!
VGJ Matt expecially with "winged" spear. Have a nice holiday !
No expert I, but I would have thought the "winged spear" would have been used mostly to keep an adversary, man or beast from running up the shaft and binding the weapon. A "boar spear"?
The advantages of being able to hook your opponent, his shield, and his weapon probably vastly outweigh any effects at preventing over penetration.
Was biting wit a weapon?
According to the Sagas wit was often used defencively by the mortally wounded to save face.
There's also a tradition we now refer to as a "flyting" where two men would hurl insults at each other, usually in verse.
For all intents and purposes, it is a Viking-era Rap Battle. No, I am not joking - there are many examples from poems and the Sagas.
@@aegirkarl1411 "They are much in fashion - these broad-headed spears" - Spoken by Atli, after he was stabbed by a spear, from _The Saga of Grettir the Strong_
Happy Boxing Day, Matt!
Awesome video keep up the good work my dad myself and one of my sisters we are so in collectors or should I say almost any blade it titan weapon collectors so it’s great to see videos like this
Single edged swords supposedly were popular here in Latvia, after all, Courland (Western region of Latvia) is just across the Baltic sea from Sweden. Supposedly because of lack of good iron and thus steel here, and yes, they are cheaper and simpler to make.
Ummm at 20:35. Yes, for "swords in rivers", there is the archeological idea of ritual behaviour. But a lot of battles were fought near rivers. Because rivers and river crossings were very strategically important
Yes, but many of the artefacts have been treated in a way that would probably not have arisen from a military context, which has lead to the idea of ritual 'killing' of the weapon. This is also a continuation of behaviour that seems to have predated large scale warfare and can be seen at sites which have no obvious military value e.g. middle of small lakes. I've lifted bronze tools/weapons from sites like Flag Fen where it is pretty obvious it was not deposited in a battle.
@@73North265 I'm sure that's true. My objection was that Matt only gave one explanation for "swords in rivers". This implies there is only one reason, the ritual behaviour. But in fact, throughout history, big battles were fought by rivers. Tollense for example.
In truth, I have no idea. I have never done a statistical analysis of the probable reasons swords were found in rivers, or even looked up the archeological papers on the subject. I'm just doubting that every sword found in a river, ended up there for ritual reasons. Especially given humans fight battles in strategically or tactically important places, like river crossings.
@@Muritaipet I get the objection but do try to remember he is trying to condense a large topic into a short video essay being presented to 'normal' people - this is not a phd thesis. However, it is a common feature of many 'river swords' that they are often found in contexts with no other artefacts, which does tend to rule out battles (although I will accept that dynamic environments like rivers are a pain for unstratifying finds).
People often jump on archaeologists for using the term 'ritual' too often, but this often misunderstands what they are saying - it isn't always a spiritual/religious thing, we all have 'rituals' ie. things that would only make sense to us, or people present at the time (why do you wear certain clothes, listen to certain music or eat certain foods, do certain things? Why was Oasis so popular in the 90s when it was obvious they were just ripping off the Beatles?). The reasons will not always be explainable through material culture (ie. Archaeology) and we can only guess at why it was done. Ritual is often a shorthand for human nature and actions not always logically fitting with the evidence which is preserved.
@@73North265 LOL. Well yes. But no. I expect high standards from "Captain Context". He really should have said "usually" or "often"
@@Muritaipet Lol! As a good friend said to me once "If you want to succeed at all your goals....just lower your standards until you can't fail"!
Brilliant Matt. So enlightening. My only vague knowledge is from playing fantasy board games and choosing and researching weapons that way. I love to hear about what was most likely used and knowing what the myths are and what there is no evidence for.
Hey Matt. Great vid ! Had me thinking, would you consider doing a fun review of Bannerlord classes historicity ?
Pure guess here: if the raiders had any plans to stand their ground if met with real resitance, I would guess they had at least some spears. A small center with spears would be good to hold said center even in a small mel'e. It would also be nice to have at least some spears in the group if cavalry show up. But again, that is a pure guess from my side.
Yeah or possibly leave a few with people to guard the ship? Again pure speculation but heck it’s fun to think about!
Based on weapons found as gravegoods the spear was by far the most common weapon. We have tonnes of spearheads from archeological digs. Sword/axes was likely "just" backupweapons and the spears primary weapons
The spear has many caracteristics which are interesting. Firstly it's easy to use for a beginner so even a simple man can become a threat for a warrior just that fact explain the great importance of the spear at these time. You just don't need to only have professionnal soldier or at least enough trained men, many farmers with spears can be efficiency so. And it's not over some others things make the spears so good. After what you said is not false I guess.
@@jacobgrisham268 "Have a spear" is almost never the wrong answer. You may want it at some point during the trip and you can easily leave it in the ship when you raid the monastery. I'd be quite surprised if spears were not commonly taken along by raiding parties. Like you I'm guessing, but it just makes so much sense.
Only way a double bitted axe makes sense is if someone brought a woodfelling axe to a fight for whatever reason.
I've heard (on the Internet, so it must be true) that they used, if very rarely, double bitted axes for executions. Still, both that and woodfelling are about tools, not weapons. Tools that can do a lot damage if used as weapons, but much more awkward to use.
How do you perform a backcut without a double bit ?
Here's a thought. Given Vikings were primarily raiders, wouldn't their weapons be more typically the same stuff they'd take from their enemies? Particularly since they need to be self-sufficient on campaign and weapons tend to survive only so many battles before they're compromised. Add to that, carrying a looted weapon would also be a status symbol to a raiding culture. I realize the artwork gives them distinct weapons, but that can be just to prevent audience confusion.
Of some reason that reminds me of a primitive British pistol made for the resistance movements during WW2. It was thought of the gun you use to capture a better gun.... 😄
@@michaelpettersson4919 the liberator.
Great Video 🗡🛡😊
The elongation of the guards probably came from the fact that sword became more popular as civilian weapons. If you only got a sword to both attack and defend, it makes sense to guard your hand well, as its a primary target. As the time got by, there were more and more advanced guards (like "basket hilt" ones). Maybe they did retrofit a "norman" style guard into a viking blade, passing down swords like heirlooms. Although unlikely, its not impossible that a viking blade saw combat in a crusader's hand.
That makes sense. Certainly in Europe the most complex sword guards like the swept-hilt rapier are on frankly 100% civilian swords with military use being more an artifact of officers carrying civilian swords to battle as actually fighting gets less common to pure command roles. The one exception seems to be the basket hilt that got really popular at least in the British Isles for common military cavalry swords until the 1750s but the basket hilts used are cheap to make compared to the looping bands of rapiers and some smallswords. The basket hilt that became popular on cutlasses by the American Revolution was just a vaguely 8 shape of iron bent to fit around the grip.
In terms of the hewing spears, there's an interesting spear blade that was found at Sandby Borg in Sweden dating to the late 5th century that, at least to my eyes, looks like a midway point between a roman pilum and a hewing spear. The spear point was clearly used for getting through chainmail given the length and pointyness of the blade. Sandby Borg and many other Migration Period sites on the island of Öland had very clear trade connections with the Roman empire. However, the Sandby Borg spear and other migration period proto-hewing spears did not have cross guards as far as I'm aware. I could be completely wrong about any connections here, but I think there's a late Iron Age origin.
Thank you for clarifying the seax. About some one did.
The winged Spear is also perhaps a tool, such as the woodman axe, that was also effective on the battlefield. The lugs (or similar bars) existed up into the 1800s to prevent Boars from skewering themselves up the shaft and attacking the wielder.
14:33 Spear is still the most important hand weapon in the form of the bayonet on a rifle. Or at least it was until maybe WW1.
Forgot to talk about hunting. The winged spear was prob used agenst boars.
Yes, and the winged spear was essential in boar hunts until the implementation of magazine fed lever or bolt action repeating rifles and revolvers.
Excellent overview of an often misunderstood minutia of history. Your emphasis on the impracticality of certain movie or fantasy edged weapons is useful in historical conjecture regarding the possible existence of certain variations of weapons. If a weapon didn't function well in a life or death struggle, it wouldn't be around long.
I once ran a viking D&D game, and I had planned for characters to find a two-handed Chinese sword in Constantinople, it was going to be a hidden secret they could stumble upon if they played their cards right.
Let me guess: the buggers went the wrong way, glitched through half the campaign and ended up finishing it without finding any of the secrets and carefully laid plot developments you'd set up for them?
I used to play with a group that seemed pathologically averse to anything regarding roleplay, because they were constantly chasing XP through combat. There I was, saying "lads! look at this interesting-looking path that the DM is constantly hinting we should investigate!" while they all bum-rushed the nearest vaguely-threatening thing that was just hanging out eating it's lunch.
@@peterclarke7240 conversely, in my D&D group, we always end up fixating on some "hint" or "clue" that the DM never intended as such, and then spent most of the session bumbling around either failing to advance the story, or not even trying to (like the time the goblin barbarian wanted to find cake). Then when combat finaly does break out, we'll usually totally massacre the encounter in like three rounds, even though the DM had decided to double the number of enemies because he was annoyed with us.
I once ran a game based in a city where I managed to get half the party allied with one faction and the other half with a second. There was a lot of sending people out of the room while dealing with one side and then swapping for the other lot. Was worth it though, the looks on their faces when the big fight at the end occurred and they realised they were fighting on opposite sides...
Speaking of weapons they didn't use: Warhammers. Same point as maces, really. But people think "Thor is known to have a hammer, surely that means it was a popular viking weapon." Fact of the matter is, whilst Thor does use his hammer as a weapon, it's quite clear from the earlier illustrations and jewelry that Mjölnir still was imagined to be more of a tool-shaped hammer than some kind of 14th century battle weapon or god forbid, this ugly hunk of metal it is presented to be in modern comic books. And a misshapen one at that, since Loki in trying to stop the dwarfs who made it from winning a bet against him had repeatedly sabotaged the making of it, resulting in an unusually short grip.
So no, a viking wouldn't be using a hammer in combat, unless maybe in self-defence if it was the only thing he had at hand.
Yes, the idea of Thor's hammer is that he needs a way to make the sound of thunder. If you go back 1000+ years you do not get many loud sounds, the exception being the sound of a hammer on an anvil. Obviously Thor's hammer needs to be very big to make such a huge sound, but they got round this by saying that it was very dense. So dense that even Thor could not lift it without a special glove (and maybe a belt too iirc). He did use the hammer as a weapon, but it is symbolic of the thunderbolt, it's not the hammer itself that is designed to be a weapon. Thor bringing his hammer down on a giant's head is lightning striking the top of a mountain.
I believe that (pre viking era) Thor-like figures have been depicted with axe-like objects. Maybe even stone axes.
Or Thor's hammer belongs to an earlier age -- and even then it didn't need a massive head.
Have there been any spears found with the shaft intact in the bogs or anywhere else from the viking era? That would be the best way I can think of to find preserved wood from 1000+ years ago.
Joe. This link contains the story of the only known intact spear find from the Viking age.
secretsoftheice.com/news/2017/11/29/spear/
Great video! BTW Matt, since you have been sponsored by Raid a few times... Why not review the equipment of some of the character? Since it´s a fantasy game you could pick some of the most actually viable desings and some of the most unpractical ones and elaborate on each.