Viking Discussion

Discussion of topics concerning life in the middle ages around the world, including architecture, history, and warfare.
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The Hordesman
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Post by The Hordesman »

Nick wrote:The horned helmet was indeed a part of Scandinavian culture, but it was not used in war. It was worn by priests on religious ceremonies dedicated to one of their pagan gods. I am not entirely sure which god it was.
Perhaps, and others say some Jarls worn it, and some say some Lid regiments (I dunno if its right to call it regiments). I only use it for Gods though.

When vikings fought eachother, I dont think they actually had any army colors (but I can be wrong) probably they fought those who runned from another direction, in small battles they just killed people they didnt recognize.

I found it wierd that not everybody knew this, but the "roundels" as I was informed they were called, has actually been a part of the scandinavian cultures until christianity took over. The earliest findings of these has been from the copper age!

I need to get more info on "ulfhednars" these guys arent mentioned much.

By Oden, I need redbean helmets!
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TwoTonic Knight
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Post by TwoTonic Knight »

The Hordesman wrote:
Nick wrote:When vikings fought eachother, I dont think they actually had any army colors (but I can be wrong) probably they fought those who runned from another direction, in small battles they just killed people they didnt recognize.
It's possible a jarl's or king's household guard had colors (certainly they had a standard), but no example springs to my mind as I type this.
I found it wierd that not everybody knew this, but the "roundels" as I was informed they were called, has actually been a part of the scandinavian cultures until christianity took over. The earliest findings of these has been from the copper age!

I need to get more info on "ulfhednars" these guys arent mentioned much.

By Oden, I need redbean helmets!
Roundels were not part of Scandanavian culture so far as I know until the advent of full plate armor, along with everyone else. If you have evidence of it being used in a different time period, I'd love to learn more about such.

"Ulfhednars" were "wolf-skin wearers", a variation of berserker.
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The Hordesman
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Post by The Hordesman »

Bronze Age:
http://www.historiska.se/collections/tr ... s/tres.jpg

Iron Age:
http://runeberg.org/nfbm/jern2.jpg

Viking Era:
http://www.vikingatider.se/pictures/bok5.jpg (With faces instead!)

Undefinded:
http://www.gotmus.i.se/skolverksamhet/4 ... /12961.jpg

Its quite hard to find pictures on the web. The best source is museums here in scandinavia, the local one has a huge display of copper and bronze age findings.

Probably, it has some link of the Sun God (the round circle with the cross that is found as glyphs on rocks and stone hills all over sweden, which also represents the sun and the wheel but is in many cases seen in a religious ritual, etc.) which was worshipped before the Asagods.
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Nick
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Post by Nick »

Ulfhednars" were "wolf-skin wearers", a variation of berserker.
That reminds me! Quite a while ago, I've read a book called 'wolfskin', it's about vikings. Exellent book, I enjoyed it very much, and I recomment it to all of you.
Here it is:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 94-0823844
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Post by TwoTonic Knight »

Hordeman: None of those can be specifically identified as armor (and some can specifically be identified as definitely not armor). I still can't find any reference to such in any of my sources.

Nick: Thanks for the book reference. Yes, that's probably about Ulfhednars, looking at the description. I'll have to give that one a try.
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Post by Maedhros »

TwoTonic Knight wrote:Hordeman: None of those can be specifically identified as armor (and some can specifically be identified as definitely not armor). I still can't find any reference to such in any of my sources.
From what I know the shoulder plates weren´t armour but rather some sort of adornments... that was what they told me at school at least...
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Post by The Hordesman »

TwoTonic Knight wrote:Hordeman: None of those can be specifically identified as armor (and some can specifically be identified as definitely not armor). I still can't find any reference to such in any of my sources.
They were not used as protection, actually, they are adorments as Maedhros said. If you check the viking torsos you see that they are used to hold up the clothes (dark blue one, which is cloak-like) and the most others they are put on belts etc. While the horns are incorrect, these are pretty much so. As an owner of all viking torsos, I know. :)
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Post by TwoTonic Knight »

The Hordesman wrote:
TwoTonic Knight wrote:Hordeman: None of those can be specifically identified as armor (and some can specifically be identified as definitely not armor). I still can't find any reference to such in any of my sources.
They were not used as protection, actually, they are adorments as Maedhros said. If you check the viking torsos you see that they are used to hold up the clothes (dark blue one, which is cloak-like) and the most others they are put on belts etc. While the horns are incorrect, these are pretty much so. As an owner of all viking torsos, I know. :)
Then they are not roundels. Broaches, pins - along those lines.
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The Hordesman
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Post by The Hordesman »

TwoTonic Knight wrote:Then they are not roundels. Broaches, pins - along those lines.
M-hm. :)
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Post by Longbowmen »

Hello everyone.

-The biggest Viking ship ever made was: The Tall Serpent/Snake (don't remember exactly); it was 37 meters long and it could carry up to 75 viking warriors. It was build by a man named Olaf Tryggvason in 998.

-The top speed of most of the viking ships was around 27 kilometers in an hour and while rowing the vikings went 11 kilometers per hour.

-Most boats didn't weigh much; so they could easily pull them out of the water and put them somewhere else in the water.

-The Vikings where the first ones to discover America.

Wich lead's me to the question:
Did they sleep on there boats and if so, how? Just on the deck while a storm raged above there heads?
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Post by The Hordesman »

Longbowmen wrote:-The Vikings where the first ones to discover America.

Wich lead's me to the question:
Did they sleep on there boats and if so, how? Just on the deck while a storm raged above there heads?
First? I allways thought it was the natives... :lol:

Ive seen longboats with small tents in the end, probably were they slept, but Im not an expert, probably they had variations of them; some for short-distance attacks and fishing, etc without "tents" and some larger ones with tents, Im not 100% on tents but I think they existed. :wink:
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Post by Longbowmen »

The Hordesman wrote: First? I allways thought it was the natives... :lol:
Offcourse the natives did :roll: , but the Vikings where the first ones from europe :wink: . And thank you for your answer.


Tents... hmm... Why didn't i thought of that?
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Nick
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Post by Nick »

I think their ships had small quarters for the captain, etc. As for ordinary Vikings, I think they slept on Benches (which were along the sides), when the sea was quiet. I doubt they even attempted to sleep during a storm, as they would get washed off.
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Post by The Hordesman »

Just reviving it for letting people know the viking calendar, its quite fun to know they only had four days a week :D

Months:
Glugg
Göja
Blida
Fare
Skerpla
Hovila
Höand
Skördand
Höst
Gor
Ylir
Yula

Days:
Tyrsdag
Odensdag
Torsdag
Frejadag

Of course, things changed when the Christians and other southern cultures influenced the vikings.
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Post by TheOrk »

Wow, thats real interesting, I wonder whatever happened to the other three days. I know that I heard from somewhere that (Oden) Odensdag was Wednesday translated a dozen times, do you know what any of the other english translations were?
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