Viking: The Norse Warrior's (Unofficial) Manual

John Haywood

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9780500771389
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Written by a leading authority and packed with illustrations, this book paints a vivid picture of what it was like to be a Viking, combining the latest archaeological discoveries with modern-day reconstructions and tales from the Norse sagas. Includes all the information you need to learn: how to navigate at sea, what weapons and armour to choose and what to expect if you die gloriously in battle!

– 1 –

Why Become a Viking?

Remember that many a man lives but a brief time, while his deeds live long after him.

THE KING’S MIRROR

It is Yule in the year that the Christians count as 991 since the birth of their god. The first snow of the winter fell two weeks ago and the nights are at their longest and darkest. But here in the hall there is warmth and light, companionship and plenty of ale, fine wheat bread, and roast meat for everyone. Most people are already drunk and on the high table the jarl and the Viking warriors of his hirð are boasting loudly about their exploits raiding in England last summer. About how they fought alongside mighty Olaf Tryggvason when he slew the proud ealdorman Byrhtnoth at Maldon and sent the English running for their worthless lives. About how the cowardly English king Aethelred paid them thousands of pounds of silver to go home. And how they’ll be going back for more next summer!

Look at the warriors’ fine clothes, and their heavy brooches and arm rings glinting in the torchlight, gifts of the jarl – but all of them paid for by the English. They’ve got wealth, status and respect. The young boys’ faces glow with admiration; any stay-at-home fathers feel less than men and don’t dare look the warriors in the eye. Not so the girls though, they’re all trying to catch the Vikings’ eyes. Even the slave girls, for once, don’t look like they’re pretending.

How good do you think it must feel to have your own place on the mead benches at the jarl’s high table, your arms and fingers heavy with the rings he’s given you? To know that everyone either fears or envies you? That the skalds will sing of your deeds long after your death when lesser men have long been forgotten?

A chief feasts his warriors at the high table while others serve them. A life of privilege awaits the successful Viking warrior. (Bayeux Tapestry Museum, Normandy)

If you’d like a piece of the action, read on! Here you’ll find all the practical advice you need to become a successful Viking. But it isn’t a career for everyone. If you agree with your father, that it’s better to be a live dog than a dead lion, stick with your plough – you don’t have what it takes. In our times, war is the most certain route to wealth and fame, but successful Vikings aren’t treated like heroes for nothing. The price of glory is often a short life and for every Viking who returns home laden with gold and silver there is another who dies with a spear in his guts or drowns in a shipwreck. But what a life it is – what rewards and prizes for the daring warrior! What far-off places to plunder before the winter fires call him home! And remember, too, that the Norns ordained the day of your death even as you were being born and you won’t live a moment longer no matter how far from fighting you stay. Don’t wait for your fate to find you cowering in bed: ‘eventually you will die, but glory never dies for the man who achieves it’ (Hávamál).

The Viking Life

Your best bet for getting to know about the lives and exploits of the great Viking warriors is to listen to the sagas. These are often about events that happened a long time ago, so don’t believe everything you hear, but they’re a great place to get inspiration:

This was how Svein used to live. Winter he would spend at home on Gairsay, where he entertained some eighty men at his own expense. His drinking hall was so big, there was nothing in Orkney to compare with it. In the spring he had more than enough to occupy him, with a great deal of seed to sow, which he saw to carefully himself. Then, when the job was done, he would go off plundering in the Sudreys and Ireland on what he called his ‘spring-trip’, then back home just after midsummer, where he stayed until the cornfields had been reaped and the grain was safely in. After that he would go off raiding again, and never came back until the first month of winter was ended. This he called his ‘autumn-trip’.

ORKNEYINGA SAGA

What is a Viking anyway?

Have you been asleep for the last 200 years? A Viking is a pirate, a raider and a pillager. No one is too sure now where the word comes from, but it probably means ‘men of the bays’, maybe because that’s where Vikings often lurk hoping to ambush an unwary merchant ship. Foreigners think that everyone who lives in Scandinavia is a Viking. That is understandable – Vikings are the only Scandinavians most of them ever see – but this is far from being the case. Only those who go raiding can by rights call themselves Vikings. Most people stay on their farms or work at their trades peacefully, hoping to avoid violence, though that’s easier said than done in these turbulent times.

• TIPJust in case you’re so dozy you don’t know where you live, Scandinavia is the three northern European lands of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Why become a Viking?

‘Poverty has forced them thus to go all over the world and from piratical raids they bring home in abundance the riches of the lands. In this way they bear up under the unfruitfulness of their own country.’ To listen to foreigners like this Christian priest you’d think we are forced to go raiding just because we are poor. If our land is so unfruitful, why do we grow so tall and strong, eh? Fact is, the man wasn’t born yet who wouldn’t like a bit more treasure and a bit more land. However, there are many other good reasons to become a Viking; what’s most relevant to you will depend on your place in society.

King Ok, you’re probably not a king. But every Viking should know for whom he fights and why. Kings are top of the social hierarchy, set apart from other men by their royal blood and descent from the gods. Kings have been getting steadily more powerful for the past 200 years or so, but they are still insecure. Although you’re most likely to be a king because your father was, in theory any man with royal blood can become king. This is why succession disputes and civil wars are so common. Kings must be good warriors to have any chance of holding on to their thrones. They also need wealth to attract (and keep) a loyal retinue of household warriors. This is the hirð: both royal bodyguard and core of the royal army.

Kings don’t have the right to levy general taxation, and the income from royal lands and tolls on trade is never enough to keep their warriors happy – you might have noticed they have an insatiable hunger for jewelry and fine weapons. Setting out on Viking raids overseas is a great way for a king to raise income from plunder and payments of tribute, and at the same time enhance his reputation as a war leader by winning glory in battle. Success breeds success: victory in battle attracts more military followers, leading to further triumphs and greater power (and subjects ever less inclined to rebel!). However, a life of constant warfare is dangerous and few kings get to die in bed. It is well said that a king is ‘for glory, not for long life’.

You’d look worried too if you were in this king’s shoes. He’s probably thinking about how to keep his household warriors loyal. Leading a Viking raid to plunder in England might be the solution. (British Museum, London)

Sea king Scandinavian kings are first and foremost rulers of men rather than territory. Because of this, men of royal blood can be recognized as kings even if they don’t have a kingdom. All they need to do is attract a following of warriors – and keep them! Thanks to the charisma of their royal blood, this is not difficult. Leading Viking raids is a good option for these landless ‘sea kings’ – and if they get wealthy and famous enough, they might be able to seize a kingdom back home by force. Or, like the leaders of the great Danish army that invaded England in 865, which was commanded by an alliance of sea kings, they may be able to conquer a kingdom of their own overseas.

When Olaf Haraldsson first got a ship and men, the crew gave him the title of king; for it was the custom that those commanders of troops who were of royal descent, on going out on a Viking cruise, received the title of king immediately, even though they had neither land nor kingdom.

SNORRI STURLUSON, ST OLAF’S SAGA

Jarl If you’re very lucky you’ll be the son of a jarl. Powerful regional magnates, jarls are the pinnacle of the aristocracy, the highest men in the land under the king. The most powerful jarls, such as Håkon of Hlaðir and Sigurd of Orkney, rival their kings in power, wealth and the size of their warrior retinues, but of course they lack that special authority that only royal blood can bring. Jarls could once do pretty much whatever they liked, but now that kings have become stronger, they find this harder and harder. For jarls, therefore, leading Viking raids is a good way to increase their wealth and secure the loyalty of their warrior retinues as they struggle to maintain their status.

Hersir (plural hersar) This is an excellent place to start. With enough wealth to get you kitted up but never quite enough to satisfy your ambitions, you’re the right stuff! Also called ‘landed men’, the hersar form the lowest rank of the aristocracy. They are local chieftains, with extensive family lands and many tenants and dependants, who preside over their district thing (assembly) and lead the local defence levies in wartime. Hersar are wealthy enough to be able to equip themselves well for war (you’ll find out how to do this later) and they form the backbone of any Viking army. Hersar may own a longship or at least a share in one. ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• About the Author
• Other Titles of Interest
• Contents
• 1 Why Become a Viking?
• 2 Joining Up
• 3 The Novice Viking’s Guide to the Great War Leaders
• 4 Weapons and Tactics
• 5 Going to Sea
• Colour Plates I
• 6 Have Longship, Will Travel
• 7 Life on Campaign
• 8 Battle
• 9 The Spoils of War
• Colour Plates II
• 10 The Sword’s Sleep
• Map of the Viking World
• Glossary
• Acknowledgments
• Further Reading
• Sources of Quotations
• Index
• Copyright