Customer Reviews

Men-at-Arms 396: Medieval Scandinavian Armies (1) 1100-1300

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As the nordic (since Finland and Iceland are included in the book, the title is misleading) medieval military scene after the viking age is a subject on which few authors have cared to comment, one could have hoped for a more thought-through book from Nicolle and Lindholm. Sadly, this is not the case.

Factual errors abound and the authors happily ignores a great deal of both written and pictorial evidence to support their theories, particulary about the backwardness of Sweden and Norway in military terms. As the "guide to further reading" is populated almost solely by outdated literature, one suspects little effort has been made to provide an up-to-date picture.

One of the authors also manages to bring out an old hobby horse-theme; the interesting idea that Viking age one-edged swords were inspired by eastern fashion is presented - despite the fact that one-edged swords have been around in the north since the early iron ages. While many medieval developments may have arisen from eastern contacts, this idea seems like mere speculation. This is merely one of several glaring errors in this below-standards book.

One can also wonder why the book has the timespan 1100 to 1300 attached to it. By ending the book around 1300 the author cuts an artificial barrier into a period of great activity in scandinavia, both political and military - the period of the mid-nordic realm of the swedish duke Erik, in which the three scandinavian kingdoms clash both on the battlefield, dynastically and politically.

On the illustrations, McBride shows himself as a capable but rather creative illustrator - the strange stockiness of his figures, plus the abundance of fur coats with the fur turned out, make them seem a bit more like movie barbarians than medieval northerners. The clothing on civilians, and quite a few of the warriors, in all plates of the book seem to be inspired more by the popular image of viking age clothing than the plethora of scandinavian evidence available - the altar frontal collections of the Historical Museum in Bergen alone could have provided him with much inspiration. Unfortunately, McBride chose to resort to imagination instead.

One can only hope that other english-speaking scholars try to do a more thorough job when, or rather if, a similar and hopefully more valuable volume on the military aspect of medieval nordic culture appears.

If you have curiosity about any aspect of military history, Osprey books are the most ideal place to start! Osprey books not only provide the reader with a good, sound, lavishly illustrated summary of the ancient warriors (or whatever military entity that is the topic), but you can browse through the bibliography in the back for more detailed books. These books always feature interesting "color plates", imaginitive illustations which give you a postcard interpretation of the subject, as they may have appeared in their time.

As one who enjoys Medieval Studies in general, but more specifically the martial aspects of the era, I must say that it seems that most of the literature available on the Middle-Ages seems to focus primarily on British, French, and Celtic regions of Europe. Now, these are interesting studies, but I have had difficulty finding Medieval-books on other regions of Europe, and that is where my curiosity lies. My heritage is predominantly Scandinavian, and its about time this particular title was published!

This book covers military aspects of early Scandinavia, approximately from the end of the Viking era, to the height of the Medieval period. Imagine Europe a thousand years ago, when much of the region still featured virgin wilderness, especially the further north and/or east one travelled.

In this time, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were developing into nations, just as other kingdoms of Europe were. Iceland would remain largely as an independant island, until eventually coming under Norwegian or Danish influence. Finland was for quite some time considered to be a frontier area of Sweden, althouogh the Finns were a distinct people from the Swedish colonizers. The Norse language developed into the modern Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian languages, resulting in people with a common heritage, but just different enough to have distinct national pride and identity.

Like the rest of Europe, Scandinavia and the adjacent Baltic regions were the setting of many dramatic international rivalries, anti-pagan crusades, wars, battles, and conflicts of all scales, right up until the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. Denmark, Sweden, and German states, (and sometimes Russia and Poland), were often the primary rivals for power over the Baltic Sea. Norway would lose its status as a separate nation in the Middle-ages, but the people did not lose their Norwegian identity. Norway did not regain that status until 1905! What an epic!

For most of us the history of Scandinavia begins with the Vikings, their attacks, daring explorations, commercial routes and invasions, and then we have Gustavus Adolfus charging Wallenstein in the 30 years war...as you perceptively noticed there is an hiatus of quite a few hundreds of years here. In Portugal, and I suspect most other countries, absolutely nothing is said about this period of time in school CV's, not even a line. And Scandinavia was an important commercial center and a major political power in northern Europe.

Dr. Lindholm is a researcher on medieval weaponry (he is also an accomplished and experienced martial artist, focusing on sword fighting); Prof. Nicolle needs no presentation, is strengths as one of the finest medievalists alive are well known (just as his small weakness of trying to see Islamic influence everywhere); McBride illustrated the plates which are quite good. This team created an introduction to the armies of medieval Norway, Sweden and Denmark and their settlements in Greenland, and outposts in the Baltic.

Mr. Fodstad review is interesting and makes assertive critical remarks that are useful; but in the defense of the authors I state that although there are illustrations where the fur is turned outside, there are also others where it is clearly in the inside (like B1). About the reliance on outdated material, although true, we must bear into account that this book was probably written in 2002 and as an introduction, it fulfills perfectly the purpose. Also there is clearly some backwardness in Norway's fortifications for example (they didn't needed them bigger), and the geographical limitations also prevented the rise of Knightly warfare common in 12th century Europe, so the authors comments about that factor have some validity.

This work details weapons, armor, tactics and fortifications and a short summation of the main events for the period of 1100 - 1300.

The facial features I don't know, but of course the soldiers are stocky these people lived a very active life. When you have a soldier or warrior life and you have to carry all that armor on your own two legs and have wild a sword with a shield or an axe or a poleaxe... for an entire battle and marche on foot and fight again through an entire campaign, trust me i work out I Know a lot about this, trust me you become very tought and physicaly developed, you become vey stocky. These people did not sit around watching TV. They had to fight in a way that required a lot of physical strength and when they were not fighting they were working building fortifications or practicing thier fighting skills. that is why i love angus mcbride's work because he does not draw skinny out of shape soldiers that would not be able to lift a pike!

A fine book about a subject that has not received enough attention. Both text and plates deal with Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish armies, as well as those of the Kingdom of the Isles, the Saami, and the Norse settlers in Greenland and Iceland. A wonderful book with Angus McBride's usual excellence.

Das Buch ist eine gute Arbeit mit kleinen Schwächen, die hauptsächlich auf dürftiges Quellenmaterial zurückzuführen sind. Wenn man über eine Epoche schreibt, die einige hundert Jahre zurück liegt, wird es immer Raum für Interpretationen geben.

I just finished this book, and I loved it! I have always been interested in the Viking period, and I was curious about their successors.
The writer does a great job in giving us an overview of the military history of the Northern nations, of the shift from the Viking influences to the feudal culture of Europe, but at the same time developing their unique own military culture.
Angus MacBride's illustrations are a beautiful guide to this evolution. As a fan of the Icelandic sagas, I especially enjoyed his illustration of the Northern Atlantic settlements folks.
As with most of the Osprey Books, we are given a glimpse of history, and I am usually thirsting for more, but they are great start with excellant writing and illustrations. This is a great introduction.