Kim Hjardar - Vikings at War

Vikings at War

To Jens Halvor and Wilhelm Summa pia gratia nostra conservando corpora et cutodita, de gente fera Normannica nos libera, quae nostra vastat, Deus, regna.

(By your great and merciful saving grace, O God, protect us and ours from devastation by the wild men of the North.) FROM AN ANTIPHON DEDICATED TO ST VAAST OR ST MENARD

Kim Hjardar and Vegard Vike

Vikings at War

Oxford & Philadelphia

Published in Great Britain and the United States of America in 2016 by CASEMATE PUBLISHERS

10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW, UK

and

1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

Casemate Publishers / Spartacus Forlag AS, 2016

Original edition in Norwegian: Vikinger i krig Spartacus Forlag AS, Oslo 2012.

1st English edition 2016. Translation by Frank Stewart.

Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-403-7

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200454-9

Cover and book design: Eivind Abusdal/Katie Gabriel Allen Layout: Punktum forlagstjenester AS

Drawings: Anders Kvle Rue

Maps: Kim Hjardar

Technical drawings: Vegard Vike

Front cover: Skafti Helgason, photographed by Kim Hjardar.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing. Every attempt has been made to secure the appropriate permissions for material reproduced in this book. If there has been any oversight, written submission should be made to Spartacus Forlag AS.

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Published and distributed in the Nordic countries by Spartacus Forlag AS

ISBN 978-82-430-0986-8

eISBN 978-16-1200454-9

Mobi ISBN 978-16-1200454-9

www.spartacus.no

Contents

FOREWORD

BEADUHEARD MEETS HIS FATE

1. THE VIKINGS

Who were the Vikings?

Viking society

The Viking warriors religion

2. THE ART OF WAR

Viking troops

Viking military techniques

3. VIKING FORTIFICATIONS

Viking fortifications

4. VIKING SHIPS

The Viking ship

5. VIKING WEAPONS

The Vikings and their weapons

6. VIKING INVASIONS

The world of the Vikings

The Islands in the West

Ireland

England

The Frankish Empire and France

The Iberian peninsula

The lands in the East

Byzantium

Greenland and America

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF MAPS

IMAGE CREDITS

Foreword

F or the Viking, war was everywhere. It was part of the fabric of society, it was raw and brutal like all other warfare at that time, and it led to major upheavals in Europe. The warfare of the Vikings left various traces. Among other things, it played a part in the unification of countries such as England under one king, prepared the way for the unification of fragmented northern lands into independent nations and laid the foundations for the kingdom of Russia in the East.

Vikings at War describes Viking military history between 750 and 1100 AD, popularly known as the Viking Age. This was one of the most expansive and innovative periods in the history of the Nordic countries. The Viking expeditions extended to the Caspian Sea in the east, to Jerusalem in the south, to the furthest border of the known world, America, in the west and into the great Russian forests in the north.

We describe the historical developments, causes and conditions which led to the raiding expeditions, military campaigns and conquests originating from Scandinavia during the Viking age. We present many of the most important military events and significant characters and groups. We discuss different aspects of offensive and defensive warfare, weapons technology, military tradition, theory and tactics.

We hope to challenge some of the established presentations of the Viking as a peaceful trader, skilled hand worker and adventurous settler, and instead present an objective and nuanced assessment of the Viking warrior.

Through examples and excerpts from original sources, reconstructions, maps, illustrations and photos, we aim to give the reader a vivid insight into one of the most exciting periods of North European history the Viking Age.

Vegard Vike wrote the chapter on Viking weapons. The other chapters were written by Kim Hjardar.

Kim Hjardar and Vegard Vike

Beaduheard meets his fate

789 AD: summer was well established and the little kingdom of Wessex in the south of Saxon England must have looked its best. In the fields the golden heads of corn swayed gently in the wind, promising good yields, and the forests were full of wild game. Peace blessed the land.

K ing Beorhtric of Wessex had recently married the daughter of the mighty neighbouring King Offa of Mercia, thereby sealing the peace between the two peoples. But that summer three unknown ships arrived at Beorhtrics kingdom. The strangers on board settled on a little island called Portland. They began to take tolls from passing ships and claim support from the fishermen and the farmers living on the island and the nearby mainland. Finally the news of the disrespectful foreigners reached as far as the royal town of Dorchester. Beorhtric was told that they had not declared what business they had with him or his bailiff, and that the people now lay under their control. So he ordered his bailiff, Beaduheard, to travel to the coast and ask the strangers to report to the bailiff in Winchester and make their business known, so that tolls could be collected on the trading goods they surely had with them.

The bailiff and his little group of men shouldered their weapons and rode off on the journey. On the way they met several farmers who confirmed that the foreigners had demanded taxes from the population in the form of both fish and livestock. They had also abducted several of the farmers wives and daughters as slaves. People said that the foreigners called themselves Northmen, and that they were from a country called Hordaland, somewhere far north over the sea.

Arriving at the coast, the bailiffs men could look over to Portland and see the strangers ships drawn up on the beach. The number of plumes of smoke rising up from the island indicated that there had to be more than just a handful of men. The bailiff engaged local fishermen to ferry him and his men over to the island. By the time they landed, a group had already assembled on the beach to meet them. Beaduheard observed that some of them looked quite dishevelled, as if they had just got up from a night of drunkenness, but others were well clad and looked more fresh and sober. Some of them had tattoos on their arms and chests, of strange patterns and symbols resembling animals and trees, while others had quite well-groomed beards and hair. All of them had tanned, furrowed faces from their life at sea, but their bare chests were light red as if they had been too long in the hot sun.

Several of the men who swarmed round the bailiffs little group carried axes and spears, and they immediately started chattering among themselves. The bailiff could only understand a few words they said, but gathered from their speech that he was dealing with the people known as Danes. The men stood aside, and one of them stepped forward. He was taller than the others and had a carefully trimmed beard, long forelocks and a shaved neck. He pushed his cape aside, revealing a silver inlaid sword handle. He said his name and his fathers name and presented himself as the spokesman for these men, and then bade the bailiff and his men to lay down their weapons.