A source of enduring fascination, the Vikings are the most famous raiders of medieval Europe. Despite the exciting and compelling descriptions in the Icelandic sagas and other contemporary accounts that have fueled this interest, we know comparatively little about Viking age arms and armor as compared to weapons from other historical periods. We know even less about how the weapons were used. While the sagas provide few specific combat details, the stories are invaluable. They were written by authors familiar with the use of weapons for an audience that, likewise, knew how to use them. Critically, the sagas describe how these weapons were wielded not by kings or gods, but by ordinary men, as part of their everyday lives. Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques provides an introduction to the arms and armor of the Vikings, the people who lived in Northern Europe during the Viking age, roughly the years 793-1066. Using a variety of available sources, including medieval martial arts treatises, and copiously illustrated with images of historical artifacts, battle sites, and demonstrations of modern replicas of Viking weapons, the author and his colleagues at Hurstwic (a Viking-age living history organization) and at the Higgins Armory Sword Guild have reconstructed the combat techniques of the Viking age and what is known about the defensive and offensive weapons of the time in general. Throughout, the author corrects some popular misconceptions about Viking warriors and warfare, such as the belief that their combat techniques were crude and blunt rather than sophisticated. In addition, the book provides an overview of Viking history and culture, focusing on the importance of weapons to the society as well as the Vikings' lasting impact on Europe through their expeditions of trade and exploration.
Little in my academic training prepared me for life as a Viking in a museum. I received a Doctor of Science degree from M.I.T. and spent nearly 30 years in industry doing research in the fields of audio, acoustics, and human hearing.
At some point, I was introduced to these stories called the Sagas of Icelanders. A summer course in Iceland flamed a mild curiosity about the people of the sagas into a passion to learn more about the history, culture, and society of these Viking-age people.
To learn more about daily life and material culture, I joined Hurstwic, a living history organization that was doing hand-on archaeology in an attempt to reconstruct some of the lost techniques and arts of the Viking age. Prior to my joining, the group had had a serious weapons injury, so I took it upon myself to find a safer way to train.
I found the Higgins Armory Museum which was starting a group to research, practice, teach, and demonstrate the martial arts of the European middle ages, and so I became involved with the Higgins Armory Sword Guild from its early days.
Because of my interest in the Sagas of the Icelanders, I focused on the weapons and combat techniques of the Vikings. The research led to the conclusion that their combat techniques were not crude and blunt, as depicted in movies, video games, and other popular media, but rather was sophisticated and subtle.
The research led to an invitation to create a regular program of demonstrations of Viking combat techniques at the museum, which has been running now for about nine years. Guests at the demonstrations often asked where they could learn more, so I created a series of web-based articles on Viking topics.
My friends in Iceland repeatedly encouraged me to expand those articles into a book. I took their advice, which resulted in the publication of Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques, the first of what I hope will be a series of books on Viking-age topics.
