Top 10 Viking weapons
Viking warriors are famed for their savagery and bravery – but the arms at their disposal shouldn’t be overlooked. Here are 10 of the most famous.
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For centuries, Vikings were famed and feared for their prowess in battle. They terrorised large parts of northern Europe in their longboats and forged very successful careers as raiders and invaders.
While their bravery and ruthlessness were undoubtedly key to this success, their advanced weaponry was another string to their bow (pardon the pun). Talented ironmongers created extremely effective weapons and seasoned battle strategists ensured they were put to their best possible use in action.
Here we take a look at 10 of the top Viking weapons of the medieval period.
1. Axe
Due to their combative nature and the difficult environment they lived in, most Vikings carried a weapon at all times. Typically, this was a standard issue battle axe.
Its ubiquitousness is down to a number of reasons. Firstly, swords were expensive to fashion and would only be carried by the upper class of warriors, while axes were cheaper and more accessible. They were also highly flexible tools as well as weapons, meaning they could be used in foraging for food, building boats or houses and repairing them as well.
When it came to the heat of the battle, however, the axe was also a class apart. Equally suitable for throwing or as a melee weapon, the axe was held in place with a belt and its long handle gave its owner a greater reach in combat. On some specimens, the cutting edge has been found to measure up to 18 inches in length.
2. Sword
As mentioned above, swords were very expensive to manufacture (indeed, they were the priciest Viking weapon in use) due to the high cost of iron and the skilled labour needed to fashion it into a blade. However, the spoils of a single raid could be sufficient to afford a sword, so most seasoned warriors carried one.
Most Viking swords were intended to be carried in one hand (in tandem with a shield in the other) and had a double-edged blade. They generally measured around 35 inches in length and often had intricate designs on the blade and hilt, with warriors naming their weapon and using it throughout their lifetime.
The scabbards that carried these swords were also often embellished with patterns and designs, including motifs of gods and goddesses from Norse mythology. These were generally wrought from wood covered in leather and suspended from the right shoulder.
3. Knifr
While swords are undoubtedly the most emblematic weapon of the medieval period, they were expensive and thus somewhat rare. Daggers were far more common and Viking daggers generally came in two forms: the knifr and the seax. The knifr was a plain, single-edged blade that was normally quite small in size and could be carried by all Vikings, even slaves.
For this reason, it is the most common Viking weapon by a distance. It is found in the graves of virtually every Viking, including women and children, and had practical purposes beyond warfare. However, it could also be used for self-defence if push came to shove.
The cylindrical handle of the knifr was generally made of organic material such as bone or wood. Meanwhile, the iron blade ran straight for most of its length, only curving upwards at the tip.
4. Seax
While just about every Viking carried a knifr, the seax was a larger, more lethal version that was typically owned by the warrior class. It was an extremely practical tool that could be used to hunt animals and skin them after the kill, as well as cutting ropes or hacking at wood.
On the battlefield, however, the seax was generally regarded as a backup weapon if the sword or axe was lost or broken. It was worn upright on the belt and could be drawn and used in one single fluid motion, causing blunt force trauma to even a heavily armoured opponent and lethal damage to an unarmoured one.
Seaxes came in all shapes and sizes, but most were at least 10 inches. Their heavier and longer size made them more effective than a simple knife, but still capable of being wielded in one hand.
5. Spear
The spear is another extremely common Viking weapon. It generally was made of lower-class materials and less metal, making it cheaper to manufacture and within the capabilities of any blacksmith.
Despite this, spears still carried significant meaning for Viking warriors, primarily because Odin’s principal weapon was the spear Gungnir. Indeed, there are suggestions that Vikings often began battles by tossing a spear clear over the enemy’s army, thus claiming the land for themselves.
In general, there were two kings of spears: lighter, less intricate ones for throwing and heavier, more specialised ones for thrusting. The former were, understandably, lost more commonly in the course of a battle and as such, less importance was attached to them.
6. Bow and arrow
The bow and arrow were initially used solely for hunting, but Vikings quickly discovered their effectiveness in raids and battles. Archers would release a flurry of arrows to kill as many enemies as possible prior to close contact fighting.
Skilled archers were able to shoot an average of 12 arrows per minute, and some arrows were so strong that they were able to penetrate enemies’ shields. It’s believed they could achieve a range of up to 200m and while there are suggestions that some Vikings used barbed arrowheads, the supporting evidence for this is limited.
Both bows and arrows were generally constructed of lightweight wood such as yew, elm or ash. The arrowheads were normally made from iron.
7. Halberd
Known as the Atgeir in Norse, the halberd was a polearm of considerable length that could be used for thrusting, impaling and cutting. As well as allegedly being responsible for the death of Richard III, halberds make regular appearances in the sagas of several Icelandic heroes, illustrating their commonality.
Two such weapons include the höggspjót and the kesja, which surface in these sagas on several occasions. However, no weapons matching their descriptions have been found in Viking graves to date. This could signify that they were extremely rare or simply did not form a part of Viking funerary customs.
Another, perhaps more likely explanation is that such halberds were not even used by Vikings at all, but latterly attributed to them by other medieval chroniclers after the fact. It remains unclear whether or not this was the case, but some kinds of halberds certainly formed part of the Viking arsenal.
8. Sling
If the bible is to be believed, David felled the giant Goliath armed only with a simple sling. While such a weapon is clearly not as formidable as many of the others listed above, its effectiveness should not be underestimated.
Most Viking-age slings were fashioned from a length of rope fitted with a leathern cup to carry the projectile. These projectiles would likely have been simply rocks and stones that the Vikings found by the wayside, making the weapon cheap and accessible to all. Even an armoured helmet would be susceptible to damage from a direct hit from a sling.
The lightweight nature of the sling also lent itself well to infantry, since they could run unencumbered in open formation and pepper the enemy with projectiles.
9. Shield
The shield was the primary method of defence in battle for Viking warriors. Unlike the kite shield, which is believed to have originated in the Byzantine Empire, most Viking shields were round in shape and usually spanned between 30 and 35 inches in diameter, though on occasion could reach up to 47 inches.
Shields were generally made from a light wood such as linden, ash, fir or poplar. Unlike oak, the fibres of these timbers are not prone to splitting, meaning that an enemy would need to deliver significant force to the shield in order to cleave it in two. The wood itself was often reinforced with leather or iron.
Of course, shields were generally used in conjunction with swords and served a defensive function. They are a key part of the Viking arsenal and integral to the myth of the shield maiden, which might be based on reality or a more modern construction.
10. Nudity
In addition to shields, most Vikings wore helmets and chainmail as protective armour. However, there is one class of Viking warrior which espoused all forms of clothing: the berserker.
Berserkers would take to the field of battle wearing nothing but their birthday suit and were renowned for fighting with such ferocity and rage that they inspired terror in their foes immediately upon sight. The very nakedness of their body was a weapon in itself, since it demonstrated such a blatant disregard for their own safety.
Although it’s nigh-on impossible to corroborate the existence of berserkers through archaeological finds (you can’t discover clothing that didn’t exist), there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest they did in fact form a key part of the Viking army.
