Historical Tips For The Viking Era

Okay, so you wanted a bit of advice regarding the equipment and tactics of that era, I'll start with equipment of the Huscarl (housecarl) as they are the first warriors we meet in your book.

Armour; The most common armour of the period was the mail shirt, called a byrine. This mail shirt would be worn over a tunic and padded vest. A arming cap (cloth) would go under a mail coif which was essentially a hood that came down below the shoulders. Over the coif a helmet with a long nose guard would be worn. Gauntlets where not used in pre-Norman England however thick leather gloves would have commonly been worn. Mail is almost impenetrable when fighting hand to hand as it is very well designed to stop slashing attacks, however if it is poorly made the rivets may burst when struck. The way to penetrate mail is with a stabbing attack; arrows with long thin heads will kill a man in mail and a strong thrust with a spear or sword will possibly break through, though not with as much success as the bodkin arrows. However despite the mails good defensive strength its flexibility causes a huge problem in that swings from swords and axes, while not cutting will still cause blunt trauma damage; a sword blow to the shoulder could break bone or dislocate a joint for example. The helmets could deflect arrows with ease and would turn swords but not the more devastating axe blows.

Shield; Huscals carried a large circular shield, made of wood with a metal rim and a large metal boss in the centre. The boss was hollow and sheltered the hand that held the shield, it also acted as a weapon; smashing someone in the face with the boss would break noses and shatter teeth, leaving the enemy open to a sword blow.

Weapons; The most common weapon of the age for regular fighters such as Huscals was the sword, modelled on the Roman spatha and was a devastating slashing weapon. The whole weapon was around a meter long and weighed around one kilogram, the pommel was made of iron even if the blade was steel as it made the weapon more balanced. Bows of that age had around 250 meters range and their iron tipped arrows could penetrate the mail worn at the time. The most common weapon for centuries, including the 11th century, was the spear; easy and cheap to make despite being a weapon commonly used by the masses when they were called to war it was also used by the leading war class; the Huscals. There were two types of spear heads; a lighter thinner one used on spears for throwing, and a heavier broader one used for stabbing melee spears.