The Vikings are coming

[Roc]

This is a beautifully sculpted and cast 90mm. Andrea figure.

Hide your daughters and wives.... The Vikings are coming . :lol:

Viking,
also called NORSEMAN, or NORTHMAN, member of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century and whose disruptive influence profoundly affected European history. These pagan Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish warriors were probably prompted to undertake their raids by a combination of factors ranging from overpopulation at home to the relative helplessness of victims abroad.
The Vikings were made up of landowning chieftains and clan heads, their retainers, freemen, and any energetic young clan members who sought adventure and booty overseas. At home these Scandinavians were independent farmers, but at sea they were raiders and pillagers. During the Viking period the Scandinavian countries seem to have possessed a practically inexhaustible surplus of manpower, and leaders of ability, who could organize groups of warriors into conquering bands and armies, were seldom lacking. These bands would negotiate the seas in their longships and mount hit-and-run raids at cities and towns along the coasts of Europe. Their burning, plundering, and killing earned them the name vikingr, meaning "pirate" in the early Scandinavian languages.

The exact ethnic composition of the Viking armies is unknown in particular cases, but the Vikings' expansion in the Baltic lands and in Russia can reasonably be attributed to the Swedes. On the other hand, the nonmilitary colonization of the Orkneys, Faroes, and Iceland was clearly due to the Norwegians

Cheers,

Roc.

 

[Roc]

The Warriors
The viking warriors had enormous success in scaring most of Europe out of its wits.
One of the reasons for their big success was their militant religion, and then the high quality of their weapons. The preferred weapon for the vikings was the broad-leaved battleaxe, which fast became a symbol for the vikings. Because, nobody one else in Europe used this weapon. No. 2 on the vikings top 4, was the sword, also used very much as a weapon of war. For the sword of a viking, only the very best could be used, so therefore the blades from the Rhinedistrict of Franconia were much desired, because of their high quality. The blade was of damask steel, which means, the the flat of the sword is forged of respectively steel with and without carbon. This makes a pattern of light and dark steel.
The flat of the vikings sword was always double-edged with a protecting iron bar across the blade. The handle had a knop at the end
The flat of the sword could also have been constructed by the vikings themselves, but that did not happen so often. That can be seen on the swords, because the Frank smiths had their own signatures. Among others the name "Ulfherth" was often found on the swords. The other weapons which the vikings used were spears and bows. The bows were often used for hunting, but they were also used for war. On the other hand the spears were used for war, both for throwing and thrusting. The spears were often decorated with precious metals. To protect themselves all vikings had a shield as defence. One the other hand, one does not know how much in general use the vikings' helmets were, but we know, that they existed, and that they did not have horns!!
We know, that not every man had a coat of mail. Only the richest one owned them.
The most feared of the vikings were those called berserkers. They were men, fighting in an ecstasy, which made them exctremely agressive and before the fight they were standing grinding teeth and biting i the edge of the shields. These berserks disregarded pain, so therefore the vikings believed, that they could not be hit. The scientists believe that the extasy was caused by the fact that the vikings had eaten the poisonous amanita just before the fight. These amanitas had a little secondary effect. It happened, that in the middle of the victory party, his ecstasy returned, and then the viking jumped up, took his sword, and ran out and began to hack uncontrolled at a rock, until his agression had disappeared.
Of cause it happened, that the vikings got mad at one an-other. That might be because of an insult, or if one had killed one of another persons family members. It could also be quite a different thing, namely because a woman could not decide which of two men she wanted to marry. If one of these or similar things happened, it had to be determined by a single combat.
A single combat took place like this
You spread out a cloak, (about 2 square meters) which should be the area of the fight. If then you stepped outside this area you were a "nithing" = (coward). Each viking then had 3 shields. If you were hurt, and your blood hit the cloak, you were allowed to stop the fight, and the one with fewest wounds would be the winner. Most usual was fighting untill death. The looser, if he was still alive, should pay his adversary in silver. If he died, all his equipment went to the winner.
This is most likely one of the reasons why some berserkers, travelled around fighting for payment.
It also happened that a man could see, that he had no chance in a fight, so without fight they gave all their belongings to the adversary. Including the wife. The vikings were not dishonest, so outside the ring there was of course a judge watching the fight.

 

[rdclaeps]

An Andrea 90mm. With the current market on their kits, it must of cost a small fortune. An SBS on this one would be great Roc. (hint-hint)

 

[Roc]

Hey Roger,very expensive kit, lucky for me , I bought it on sale for $40.00.

I will be doing a step by step, presently I'm working on the armor,as soon as it dries, I will post some pictures.

Cheers,

Roc.

 

[y_wong]

Dear Roc,

Looking forward to your viking.

BTW, thanks for the write up of the viking as it provides people like me without any prior knowledge a summary of the subject. It is quick and an enjoyable read.

regards

 

[rdclaeps]

Nice price, Roc. And from your photos, it looks like all the pieces to the puzzle are included . Look forward to seeing it come along.

 

[Edson]

A very nice proyect my friend, I will follow the S-b-S,as always im sure you are gonna make a great work and very informative! :lol:

Best Regards
Ed

 

[Roc]

Hey Wong, thank you, you are too kind .
The write up is my pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Bu the way , thanks for the tip on the blue background, I think it's going to work quite well.

Cheers

Roc.

 

[Roc]

Thanks Roger,I appreciate the encouragement.
After my experirnce with Soldiers, will not buy anything unless I know every part is there.

Cheers,

Roc.

 

[Roc]

Hi Ed , thanks and I hope you enjoy the step by step.

Cheers,

Roc.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Hi Roc!

I had my eyes on this kit only a few hours ago but the price tag made me wait for a better opportunity.

Im looking forward to this SBS as might well.

Vikings and Vendel being my special interest, would you mind me sharing my 2 cents about the background youve presented?

 

[Guy]

Thanks for the text Roc.....I always enjoy reading what you uncover while researching. I look forward to your sbs on the Viking, as this is one of my favorite periods

 

[KeithP]

Looking forward to seeing the SBS.

How come he don't look like Tony Curtis or Kirk Douglas? :lol:

Keith

 

[Roc]

Hi Janne, I would very much appreciate, you sharing with us your two cents on the background I just presented, the more the better.

The kit is very expensive, but sometimes ,can be obtained on sale, much cheaper.

Looking forward to your input,

Cheers,

Roc.

 

[Roc]

Hey Guy, you are very welcome, and I'm glad you are enjoying the text.


Cheers,

Roc.

 

[Roc]

Hey Keith, good point, knowing Andrea, you would think he would look like Tony Curtis. :lol: :lol:


Cheers,

Roc.

 

[Roc]

The main type of body armour in Anglo-Saxon times was mail. The term 'chainmail' not being coined until the 1700's. Mail of the period was made by cutting thin strips of iron from a piece of sheet, or drawing iron wire through a draw-plate, and winding this around a cylindrical former. It was then cut off with a chisel to form the links. The links would then be compressed so that the ends overlapped.

Rivetted mail - you can just appreciate some of the fine rivets
Half of the links were then welded shut in the forge. The other half had the ends of each link were flattened and then had holes punched in them. As the mailshirt was assembled a punched ring was linked to four of the welded rings, a rivet was put through the holes to close the link. Alternatively, the whole shirt could have been made entirely made with rivetted rings. Finally the whole mailshirt was likely to have been 'oil tempered' to make it stronger and give some degree of rust-proofing.

The early mailshirts seem to have reached to just below the waist and have short sleeves (there is no evidence for sleeveless mailshirts like those known from the Iron Age). These short mailshirts seem to have been referred to as a byrnie and are sometimes shown with a vandyked lower edge.


The mailshirt became longer towards the eleventh century until it reached the knees or just below with sleeves to the elbow. These long mailshirts, often with an integral hood, were split to the groin at the front and back to enable riding and could well have taken a year to make. The term hauberk, often used to describe these long mail-coats, is actually derived from the Old English word 'healsbeorg' which was in fact a mail hood (what is now called a coif); it was not until later that hood and shirt together were known by this name.

Mail worn on its own would stop the cutting edge of most weapons, but did not stop the crushing effects. So some kind of padding would have been worn under the mail. These padded garments, now known as gambesons, were made by sewing fleeces, raw wool or layers of woollen cloth between two layers of linen, felt or leather. Gambesons were probably very thick and could offer very good protection against the impact of weapons.

An aventail attatched to a helm in use; it hangs from a wire held in a slotted tube running around the lower edge of the helm
Gambesons were usually worn under mail (perhaps even attached to it) and would tend to be a similar outline to the mailshirt, although it is possible they could have been worn on their own by poorer warriors. No gambesons have ever been found, but modern practice in re-enactment shows the validity of such things. The Romans are documented wearing padding under their mailshirts which consisted of two layers of linen either side of a felt inner. Mailshirts also have a tendency to pull your tunic to pieces and stain the cloth, something which a liner such as a gambeson or leather between would prevent.

Mail coifs, or 'healsbeorgs', were worn from the ninth century and tended to cover the top and back of the head, the cheeks, chin, neck and perhaps some of the shoulders. Again coifs are mentioned but have never been found, so we can only guess as to their original shape. By the beginning of the tenth century these had become quite common amongst the professional warriors. By the eleventh century the coif was often integrated with the hauberk becomming a hood. The 'ventail' section of mail on or near the chest that folds up over the neck and chin, and hooked into position over the lower face, is the best explanation for the shapes found on the knights armour in the Bayeux tapestry.

They are not universal, but seem to be a sensible protection for a horseman, as most of the attacks he would receive would come up from below. Padded arming caps would be probably worn under the coif and may also have been worn on their own. The coif as a head covering is shown on figures from Byzantine mosaics, interestingly enough worn by both males and females. How widely elsewhere the wearing of them as normal headgear is unknown until the Middle Ages.

 

[Roc]

Limb Armour
Limb armour was far rarer than body or head armour. It is possible that a few kings and greater nobleman may have worn some form of greaves; a sensible defence as the legs were unguarded by the earlier round shields and contemporary accounts often mention men having their legs chopped off. No greaves have ever been found in Britain and illustrations of them are very rare. One illustration is dated to the late ninth century and shows a Dane and two companions with thin (metal?) plates attached to the front of their hose and reaching from knee to instep. An example at the beginning of the eleventh century covers also the foot.

By the eleventh century a few of the wealthier warriors are shown with mail chausses or leggings although these too are quite rare. Also in the eleventh century a few wealthy warriors are shown with tight fitting full length mail sleeves under the sleeves of their hauberks. It is also possible that a few warriors may have worn leather vambraces, or have used leather bindings similar to 'puttes' to protect their forearms. At this time lamellar and scale armours were known, and used in the Middle-east, but they do not seem to have reached Western Europe until after the First Crusade

I just finished painting the armour, it is drying in the oven over night, tomorrow, time permitting I will post some pictures.

Cheers,

Roc.

 

[rafaelega]

Roc,

I enjoy very much with your explanation. I will follow the text.

Adios,

Rafa

 

[Alex Lopez]

Wow friend!! You are a specialist in Viking themes.
I want make a figure about some famous Viking some time ago, like Erik the Red or Leif Erikson for example, I have some info from Erikson now but is not all I want... Can you help me?

Regards, Alex.