Norse Warfare: A Portrayal of Combat, Raids, and Plunder in the Viking Age

INTRODUCTION

The focus of this book is a warrior race, the Vikings, who lived by a moral code different from that of their contemporaries in other parts of Europe. Norsemen of the Viking Age pursued a variety of occupations such as farmer, smith, merchant, and explorer. Only 2 to 3 percent of the male population engaged in raiding and even they were mostly peaceful when at home. But in battle they were ruthless and barbaric. Known for their savagery, the Vikings followed their own laws and defied those of other peoples. History is colored with the myths of these legendary Nordic warriors going berserk on hallucinogenic mushrooms and ignoring the rules of society by pillaging and plundering with no regard for God and human life. They refused to be dominated or bound by the precepts of others and took the fight to their opponents, invading and occupying many lands in northern Europe and Russia.

The Viking Age began in the late eighth century CE and spanned nearly three hundred years. Vikings inhabited the lands of northern Europe, mainly Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland, and were known by the various names of Norsemen, Rus, Svear, Goths, Danes, and Varangians (mercenary guards serving the Byzantine emperor); although, peoples under attack frequently referred to the foreign invaders as Norsemen or Danes.[1] The term Viking is thought to stem from the Old Icelandic vikja (deviate or travel), or vik (bay), and to describe an individual who lurks in a bay area—a pirate. Viken, meaning the bay, is the stretch of land between Oslofjord in southeastern Norway and Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. During the Viking era it was a heavily fortified stronghold and is mentioned extensively in the Icelandic sagas.

The Vikings frequently campaigned on home turf and fought their most ferocious battles against other Vikings, but they also traveled widely and engaged in conflict throughout most of Europe and Russia, whose leaders were in a state of almost continual warfare among each other. The Viking Age in general was a brutal time. Despite the lack of a centralized government, Vikings succeeded in terrorizing major civilized societies throughout the world for almost three centuries and their war history includes most of Europe where many of the battles were fought.

Skilled warriors both on land and at sea, Vikings reinforced their land warfare by attacking from the sea, and their sea warfare from the land. Combining land and sea battle was instrumental to their success. Ideally, land battles generally were short and quick, however, because the Vikings spent most of their time at sea where they were able to avoid other military organizations. The raids they mounted were on a relatively small scale, but their admirable seamanship, surprise attacks, highly developed ships, and outstanding fighting skill created a disproportionately large impact. Their swift battleships, carved with frightening dragonheads on bow and stern, could be sailed into the shallow waters of a bay and quickly dragged ashore. Once on land the Vikings fought with determination and ferocity. To their victims they appeared to be an unstoppable force that rendered resistance pointless—better, if possible, to run away and be spared. Viking plunderers were like a plague to those under attack. Monks described them as stinging wasps, fanning out in all directions, wrecking, robbing, and destroying. The Norsemen were seen as simple barbarians, backward and under-developed, but dangerous.

While Vikings plundered far beyond their native northern territories and raided the coasts of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, and Spain, they also engaged in exploring and trading, extending those activities to Russia, the Arab world, and the Americas. Their trading activities were no less significant than the raids; although, surviving accounts tend to focus chiefly on the latter because of their dramatic effect. Arabs welcomed the Vikings as trade partners, but Christians viewed them more negatively—understandably so, given the Viking penchant for killing monks and plundering monasteries. Vikings clung steadfastly to their pagan beliefs and for a long time gave no quarter to Christians trying to convert them. Alcuin of York, historian, scholar, churchman, and one of the best information sources of the time, interpreted the Viking attacks as God's punishment for declining moral standards.[2] After the raid on Lindisfarne in 793, Alcuin said in a letter to Aethelred, king of Northumbria: In nearly 350 years we and our forefathers have been living in this the best of countries and never before has such terror struck Britain as the one we now have to suffer from this heathen race. Nor was it thought to be possible that such an attack could be carried out from the sea.[3]

Viking exploration and territories. Image source: Pinpin, reproduced under Creative Commons license.

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For her study, the author relied on a number of primary and secondary sources and researched museums in Sweden, Norway, and northern Germany. Much of what is known about the Vikings is derived from Scandinavian finds, such as weapons, ships, jewelry, and runes that paint the picture of a sophisticated trade culture, and from a few written records, chronicled for the most part by victims of the attacks. Apart from those who carved the runes, the Norse population was illiterate, so records written by Vikings from the period under Norse Warfare study are few. The runes, written for posterity, reveal little more than the name of the person who raised the stone, the name of the person memorialized, social standing, praiseworthy deeds, if any, and cause of death. While they provide insight into the Viking value system and their notions of honor and heroism, they contain almost no information on Viking war strategies. Since the Nordic countries did not attain literacy until after Christianization was completed in the twelfth century, observations recorded in foreign chronicles provide most of what is known about Viking war history. These accounts include the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Nestorian Chronicle (also called the Russian Primary Chronicle), the Alexiad of Anna Comnena, and the Gesta Normannorum by Dudo of St. Quentin. The chronicles tend to be fairly consistent as to events, but were written by clergymen who, like most Christian Europeans, knew the Vikings only as plunderers and destroyers. It is therefore understandable that the chroniclers likely had a biased opinion of these marauding pirates and exaggerated the horrors they experienced on encountering a fleet of pagan Viking longships.

The Icelandic sagas are another source for information about the Vikings, but written some one hundred years after the Viking Age, they are said to contain more myth than fact and are characterized as being over-laden with fanciful detail. The earliest sagas offer little help to military historians seeking such details, for example, as the prevalence of helmets and mail armor in battle, the shape of battlefield formations, the duration of a standard raid, and frequency of military campaigning by an average Viking. Most scholars agree, moreover, that it is highly unlikely that the dialogues are accurate. The above notwithstanding, even the earliest sagas expand our notions of Viking life and the thoughts, feelings, and mindset of the Norse population. As they proceed into the tenth century, the sagas become more reliable. They establish a historical record, describe Viking principles and war tactics, and highlight the role and importance of invasions and raids in Norse history. They commemorate mere soldiers, not just kings, and help to establish the family trees of men of lower rank—men who did not aspire to become leaders or kings, but who advanced their personal ambitions and displayed great valor in combat. It has been said that history often remembers only its kings, not its foot soldiers, but the sagas, which frequently shift from protagonist to protagonist, tend to depict heroic acts rather than the acts of heroes.

A manuscript leaf from the Heimskringla Sagas, written by Snorri Sturluson, c. 1260. Sagas commonly refer to what was seen or said; thus, an oral tradition. Consider the word sage, referencing a learned person, philosopher, or thinker. Image source: National and University Library of Iceland, reproduced under Wikimedia Commons license.

Embarking on a historical journey involves not just factual discovery or historical truth, but discerning the meaning of events and how they influenced society. War historians cannot limit themselves to battle dates, but must also ask why battles were fought and what influence they had on later generations of warriors. While archaeological evidence is often the historian's most dependable source, reliance on artifacts alone is insufficient. Tangible evidence frequently reveals specific events and customs in a given period, but does not necessarily disclose how people thought and reasoned. In the end, culture and ethnicity influence a society's myths. More important than their historical accuracy, the real value of the Icelandic sagas is the knowledge they provide of the culture and ideology of Norse society. The myths, sagas and eddas (narrated folktales of Norse mythology and Norse heroes), bolstered by archaeological evidence and eyewitness accounts, help form a more complete picture of Viking warfare.

Of the modern Scandinavian languages, Icelandic most closely resembles Old Norse. Though similar, minor linguistic differences existed in the Viking Age between the east countries (Denmark and Sweden) and the west countries (Norway and Iceland). For the purpose of this study, the terms Norse, Danes, and Svear are used interchangeably with Vikings. The boundaries between the northern countries were poorly defined and Vikings commonly undertook joint ventures against foreign nations. To establish permanent bonds between families, Norse and Danes intermarried with the Svear, and vice versa. From the viewpoint of a raided country's population, however, the pirates coming from across the sea were all from one and the same geographical region; they looked the same, acted the same, seemingly spoke the same language and were therefore often described simply as Danes.

Achieving consistency with Norse names is difficult owing to alternative spellings and lack of a definitive standard. The different forms are, however, similar enough to be easily understood. The name Olav can also appear as Olaf, Anlaf, or Olafr; Sven as Svein or Sweyne; and Knut as Knud, Cnut, or Canute. Unless quoting directly from a historical document, the author uses the Scandinavian version of the name rather than the common English translation. The Vikings had only one given name and surnames served to indicate patrimony only—whose son a particular Sven, Harald, or Sigurd was. Sigurdson can also appear as Sigurdsson or Sigurdarson. Most surnames referred to the person's father, but sometimes to the mother. The Danish king Svein Ulfson is usually known as Svein Estridsson, after his mother. Guthorm Gunhildson, an advisor to King Harald Hardrade, was also named after his mother. Spelling of names was sometimes linked to the country of the warrior's origin and was often a result of personal preference. Nicknames frequently reflected warriors' distinguishing characteristics in appearance or achievement, as in the Tall, the Great, the Boneless, etc. Unless quoting directly from a historical document, the author has replaced nicknames such as Tveskaeg (Forkbeard) and Harfagre (Fairhair) with their English equivalents.

Chapter One provides an overview of the many Viking battles fought on foreign soil. Chapters Two through Nine discuss various aspects of Viking warfare, including motivation and leadership, ship building and seamanship, weapons and battlefield tactics, as well as the elite forces of Jomsborg and the Varangian Guard. Chapters Ten through Fifteen highlight prominent Viking kings and their most notable battles. In an attempt to illustrate the entire Viking period, the most renowned kings from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are featured. Supplemental information can be found in the accompanying footnotes and a glossary of terms.

Snorri Sturluson (c. 1178–1241), a prominent historian of the Middle Ages, considered the Norse king Harald Hardrade a great warrior, bold in arms, strong and expert in the use of his weapons beyond any others. . . . But Sturluson also cautioned against the indiscriminate, or wholesale, recording of Harald's feats, owing partly to our uncertainty about them, partly to our wish not to put stories into this book for which there is no testimony. Although we have heard many things talked about, and even circumstantially related, yet we think it better that something may be added to, than that it should be necessary to take something away from our narrative.[4] This quotation is a reminder that historical research is not an exact science because it remains open—eternally—to the individual historian's interpretation and the particular prism through which the historian views events. So while this book presents the author's view, it also seeks to encourage readers to pose their own questions and provide their own interpretation of the past.

Understanding the success of Viking raids and warfare requires knowledge of the forces that motivated these warriors. Were the Vikings' operating methods, battlefield tactics, strategies, weapons, communications, transportation system, military objectives, and mindset more highly developed than those of other military organizations in that era? Were they ahead of their time? The pages that follow take the reader on a journey to far-away places one thousand years ago and trace the rise and fall of a great warrior race.

1. RAIDS ON THE CHRISTIAN WORLD

Fair-skinned, light-haired Norsemen ruled the rivers, waterways, and seas, casting their shadow of destruction on the Christian countries of the civilized world.

They came in waves from the barren lands of the north—young, energetic, adventurous men looking for a fight. The surprise and fear felt by the monks at Lindisfarne, the monastery of St. Cuthbert on Holy Island on the Northumberland coast in northeastern England, seeing a Viking fleet of longships suddenly appear on the horizon can only be imagined. The monks were men of peace who had been living and working at this holy sanctuary since the sixth century; the destruction they were about to witness was unimaginable. An attack on God's church was not only unexpected, it was thought inconceivable that a siege on such a scale could be carried out from the sea. This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament . . . and not long after . . . the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter.[5]

The Vikings came across the North Sea. When the longships approached the coast, the monks went down to the water to greet the arriving strangers, not realizing that this was not a time to be trusting. Without warning, the crazed Norsemen beached their ships, robbed the monastery of its treasures, wrecked and shattered the precious altars, and murdered the monks, leaving only blood and destruction in their path. By the time the sails of the Viking fleet disappeared over the horizon, the monastery stood in ruins. The situation was dreadful. If even God could not protect the monasteries, who could protect the rest of Britain?

The beginning of the Viking Age is said to have started with the raid on Lindisfarne in 793. It was, however, preceded by an earlier appearance of Norsemen in England when a smaller fleet of three longships arrived at Dorset in 787. A Saxon tax officer, mistaking the strangers for traders, asked that they face the king to pay a tax. The Vikings responded with displeasure at the request and killed the tax officer. And in his days came first three ships of the Northmen from the land of robbers. The reve [steward] then rode thereto, and would drive them to the king's town; for he knew not what they were; and there was he slain. These were the first ships of the Danish men that sought the land of the English nation.[6]

Most early raids comprised small parties consisting of just a few ships, but the destruction was so great that the victims felt it was truly punishment from God. These early attempts at pirating the monasteries and convents along the coasts of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales were ambitious, but because they were sporadic in nature, the great raid on Lindisfarne came as a shock to most of the civilized world. [T]he calamity of your tribulation saddens me greatly every day, wrote Alcuin of York to the bishop of Lindisfarne on hearing of the attack. The assault was so gruesome that Alcuin had to justify it by relating it to the sins of the people: [W]hen the pagans desecrated the sanctuaries of God, and poured out the blood of saints around the altar . . . truly it has not happened by chance, but is a sign that it was well merited by someone.[7] The Vikings, who embraced a polytheistic heathen religion that, by Christian standards, had few rules and fewer moral values and encouraged bravery in battle, must have laughed mockingly at the monks who, in their innocence, expected their Christian god to protect them.