Vikings did whatever
the hell they wanted. They were stealth and ruthless,
seafaring norsemen and women who disregarded conventional
battlefield tactics, methods, and customs of the time. These attributes weren't seen
as cowardly acts of warfare. They were regarded
as smart tactics in a successful pillaging. Today, we're exploring
what it was really like on a Viking raid. Make sure after watching you
subscribe to our channel, Weird History. Leave a comment,
and let us know what you think about this video. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let's understand why
these norsemen turned to raiding and pillaging. It wasn't because
they loved violence and it was something
to pass the time. Viking raids were a
matter of survival. It wasn't always
like that though. Early in the Viking Age between
the 8th and 9th century, Vikings fought for honor. They were made up of small
tribes that didn't adhere to law, authority, or religion. And violence was used as
a way to settle disputes with other tribes. Eventually, defending
the tribe's honor and appealing to their gods
of war became secondary. Vikings soon began to
go on raids to acquire wealth and material goods. They often targeted Christian
monasteries in Britain. Why? Because these monasteries were
easy prey for the Vikings. The defenseless monks
who inhabited them were sitting Friar ducks. A tribe of Vikings as
small as 30 warriors could take down a monastery
without breaking a sweat. As a matter of fact, the
beginning of the Viking Age is normally regarded
as June 8, 793 AD when the first documented
Viking attack took place at a monastery on the
island of Lindisfarne in Northern England. Alcuin, a scholar in
Charlemagne's court at the time wrote of that particular raid. Never before has such
terror appeared in Britain as we now have suffered
from a pagan place. These heathens poured out
the blood of the Saints around the altar, and trampled
on the bodies of Saints in the temple of God
like dung in the streets. But to the Vikings, a monastery
was too good to pass up. They were filled to the rafters
with treasures like gold, silver, jewels, and books. Monasteries were also a valuable
source for food, drink, cattle, clothes, and tools. A Viking pillaging at
Christian monastery was like raiding a
Bed Bath and Beyond, except without all the
patchouli fragrance. The fact that Viking
raids were aimed at churches and
monasteries was regarded as particularly
horrifying at the time. No one was safe
from the Vikings. Not even men of God. [MUSIC PLAYING] When Vikings weren't
raiding monasteries, they were battling the armies of
various countries and sometimes other Vikings. These fights weren't as simple
as punking some monks though. These battles required strategy. Vikings relied on the
element of surprise. Vikings were well-known
for ambushing their targets by hiding in the woods and
lying in wait for their opponent as they walked along
established roads. Of course, every now
and then, Vikings would adhere to traditional
rules of warfare. For example, if a
tribe of Vikings was confronted on land by
an opponent of equal size and strength, they'd
begin their battle by forming a shield wall. It worked like this. Before one spear was thrown,
warriors from each tribe would face off with each other
in a wedge like formation. This was a shield wall. Depending on the
size of the army, a shield could be made
up of five to six rows of warriors holding round,
handheld, wooden shields. The bulk of the wedge
formation was usually made up of heavily armed
men with berserkers at the very front of the wedge. Yes, berserkers. More on that in a minute. Archers and the other
veterans of the tribe would then line up
behind the wedge. And body guards called hirds
would surround their leaders and chiefs at the back. The ground battle
would finally begin when a warrior threw a spear
over their enemy's lines. Waves of spears followed
with armor piercing arrows fired off by archers
close behind. Often, the opening [INAUDIBLE]
determined the fight. Eventually, one of the tribes
would stagger and wheel away from the spears and arrows
that rained down upon them. Of course, if both
tribes remain standing after the initial
downpour of spears, the warriors of each
side pushed forward to wage close quarter,
hand-to-hand combat with their enemies. [MUSIC PLAYING] OK, berserkers. They deserve some
special acknowledgment. We all know that vikings
were insane warriors. But they were nothing
compared to berserkers. A special group of elite
vikings who were so bad ass they didn't even
wear armor or helmets. They fought in loin cloths. And the only weapon they
used was a light shield. Berserkers were skilled
warriors for sure. But the thing that
made them so dangerous was that they had no fear. Before battle, they
would work themselves up into a crazed trance like
state called berserkgang, and then fight with blind fury. While in this frenzied
state during raids, berserkers lost
all human capacity for reason or awareness and
were known to scream and howl like wolves or mad dogs. You now know where
Wolverine's berserker mode was inspired from. If you believed the
lure of these berserkers were said to have
spiritual, magical powers from the god of war, Odin. It's also hypothesized
that berserkers would prep for battle by
drinking gallons of alcohol and consuming magic mushrooms. Although, most people
on this concoction would just start playing
guitar by a campfire. Some botanists have claimed
that berserker behavior could've been caused by
eating a plant called bog myrtle, one of the main
spices in Scandinavian beer. In land raids, tribes would
position their berserkers at the front of the wedge. The boar snout would then rush
their enemies battle lines and take their formation
apart in hand to hand combat. At this point, the
raid would turn into a straight up donnybrook. And the tribe that won usually
had the strongest assembly of berserkers. [MUSIC PLAYING] Vikings love their
weapons as much as a dog loves going for a ride. A typical raid saw Vikings use
axes, swords, bows and arrows, and daggers. But their go to weapon
of choice was the spear. Inexpensive and easy to make. Spears also had reach,
which was pretty helpful when a raid devolved
into hand-to-hand combat. With a tip made of
iron measuring anywhere from 8 to 24 inches and the
wooden shaft usually made of straight grain
ash, a Viking spear was used mostly for throwing. But an adept warrior
could use theirs for carving, chiseling,
and chopping, as well. It's like the Viking version
of a Swiss army knife. There's little
evidence that tells us the length of the shaft
from the Viking Age. But chapter 6 of [INAUDIBLE]
saga tells of a spear so long a man's outstretched arm
could barely touch the rivet. Of course, most
historians estimate that the combined length
of a wooden shaft an iron head of a Viking era spear was
between seven and 10 feet long. [MUSIC PLAYING] Swords were pretty
rare in the Viking Age. They were expensive,
difficult to make, and very few Vikings
owned a good one. That meant that swords were
the mark of an elite warrior and treated as heirlooms
passed down from bearded father to son for generations. You could determine
the quality of a sword by the elaborately
decorated hilts or by the bladesmith's
name that was imprinted near the base of the blade. Just like a brand name imprinted
on anything you buy today. Different styles
with varying looks were even given
nicknames by Vikings, like Plague Biter and Gold Hilt.
Not sure if Part Eater or Oath Keeper ever made
it to real life. Most Vikings preferred double
edged swords ranging in length from 24 to 36 inches long and
1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches in width. For older Vikings, a 40
inch sword wasn't uncommon. They were relatively light. They weighed anywhere
between two to four pounds, depending on length. Of course, Hollywood likes
to portray Vikings slashing their victims while holding
their swords with a two fisted stranglehold. But that's not how it went down. If you look at the grip of
a sword from the Viking Age, you'll see that it
was made for one hand. There was no need for an
extended grip on a Viking sword because it would throw off
the weight of the weapon. Plus, their other hand was
busy holding a shield anyway. While these swords were usually
passed from father to son as heirlooms, there is
evidence that some Vikings were buried with him. In these cases, the Viking sword
was ritualistically killed, which means the blade was
bent so that it was unusable. This served two purposes. It acted as a way to retire
the sword with its owner, and it deterred grave robbers
from stealing the weapon. [MUSIC PLAYING] When it came to a
Viking raid, a warrior had two means of defense. His cunning and his shield. Even though they were made
of wood-- usually fir, alder, spruce or poplar-- like Micky Ward, a Viking shield
could take quite a beating in battle. A few shields have survived
from the Viking Age. And they vary in size from
32 to 36 inches in diameter. It was also noted that
a shield was often custom made for a warrior. It was sized to fit the
dimensions of his body and his fighting style. A shield needed to be big
enough to provide protection, but not too big that it threw
off the balance of the warrior. Too small would expose
additional lines of attack that an opponent could exploit. Too large would slow
the defensive response and exhaust the
warrior unnecessarily. [MUSIC PLAYING] There's been great debate about
the role of shield maidens in Viking culture. Namely, whether these
powerful women even existed in the first place. Scandinavian folklore
mythology have always been there with tales of bravery
and cunning battle prowess. But archaeologists from Uppsala
University and Stockholm University have found
new DNA evidence that shows female
warriors have roots in actual historical events. Technology recently caught
up with the excavation of one of the most
well-known graves from the Viking Age, a
mid 10th century grave in a Swedish Viking
town named Burka. The tomb was excavated
in the 1880s revealing the remains of a female warrior
surrounded by an ax, a bow and arrow, a sword, armor
piercing arrows, and two horses. But like we said, the
folklore of mythology have always been there. According to the Greenland
saga, when Leif Erickson's pregnant half sister-- [INAUDIBLE] Eric's
daughter-- was in Vineland. It was written that she grabbed
a sword and, bare breasted, scared away the
attacking stray lings. In another instance,
Viking leader, Lagertha, commanded a band of
120 ships of warriors. When her ex-husband,
Ragnar Lothbrok, faced near certain
defeat in a fight, Lagertha sailed to his rescue,
launching a surprise attack on the enemy from behind
reportedly causing Ragnar's opponents to panic. Shield maidens also
reportedly fought while disguised
in men's clothes. Thus, they were sometimes
indistinguishable from male warriors. Yep. Shield maidens existed. And they were as bad ass
as their male counterparts. [MUSIC PLAYING] A hird was made up
of elite bodyguards with the sole
purpose of protecting the Viking chief at the back
of the wedge during battles. A wealthy and
skilled chief might have as many as 60
hirdmen protecting them on the battlefield. These hirdmen were smart,
always armed warriors. And they guaranteed
their leaders safety. In the Vikings
pecking order, you could think of them
as the Navy seals. Of course, a hirdmen's
job wasn't only reserved for battles and raids. Due to the fact that an
influential Viking chief had enemies looking
everywhere, a hirdmen was on the clock 24/7. And while a hirdmen put his
life on the line every day, he was rewarded greatly
for his services and lived a privileged life
that young Vikings envied. A member of a hird was as
close to being a celebrity as a Viking could become
without actually being Royalty. [MUSIC PLAYING] You never knew what you were
going to get in a Viking raid. Sometimes a tribes
attack was nothing more than a smash and grab
affair with the sole intent of grabbing some loot food and
returning to their own village. In cases like these,
a raiding party could consist of anywhere
between 35 and 300 Vikings. But a full scale
battle was different. Full scale battles meant
entire Viking armies showed up against each other. Bigger Viking armies could
contain between 4,000 7000 men. And as the Viking Age wore on,
the armies only grew in size. In the early 850s, attacks
on the English cities of Canterbury and
London reportedly involved 350 Viking ships. If we're to believe
these figures, this Viking army may have
been, at least, 10,000 strong. Oh, man. Imagine drinking
your morning tea and seeing 10,000
Vikings heading your way. Gulp. [MUSIC PLAYING] You've seen the
Minnesota Vikings helmet. The 1993 Nintendo
Classic, The Lost Vikings, Hagar the Horrible comic strip,
and the Bugs Bunny cartoon called What's Opera
Doc with Elmer Fudd and his magic helmet. Despite all these iconic
cultural influences, a real Viking helmet
never had horns. In reality, a Viking helmet
was a simple, practical piece of equipment. It was made of iron. And many historians believe
that, due to cost, only the elite warriors owned them. Most Vikings fought
without headgear. In fact, there have only been
five Viking helmets recovered. Most of which are just
fragments and deteriorated pieces of iron. The only full Viking helmet is
called the gjermundbu helmet, which now is on display at
the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo. So how did the horned
Viking helmet myth begin? You can pin that on costume
designer, Karl Amiel Doppler. When composer, Richard Wagner
staged his [INAUDIBLE] opera cycle in the 1970s,
he turned to Doppler for the productions costumes. Doppler created horned helmets
for the Viking characters, and a Nordic
stereotype was born. [MUSIC PLAYING] While Vikings owned
horses, you'd rarely see one at a raid or battle. The problem with
horses was that they were difficult to transport in
ships when Viking's sailed off for a raid. Strangely enough, a
good number of horses that were acquired
by Vikings were taken either by looting
them or by stealing them from their defeated
enemies, as we know from the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. Most Viking horses were
used for farming purposes. The Vikings are
even thought to have introduced plowing with
horses to the British Isles. The Vikings adopted
horses for plowing because they were quicker
and more agile than the more commonly used oxen. It's theorized that the
Vikings could plow and plant their fields quickly
with their horses. And then, go off
raiding for the summer before returning home
in time for harvest. There is record of,
at least, one battle where Vikings used horses. But the results
weren't so great. During the Battle of
Sulcoit in Ireland in 968, the Vikings of Limerick,
led by Ivar of Limerick, deployed a cavalry of
warriors on horseback. These Vikings were lured into
an ambush by the Irish and lost, both, the battle and
the town of Limerick. [MUSIC PLAYING] Even though Viking raids
were bloody and brutal, warriors still found the
opportunity to swipe right. Proof of this happened
in the 9th century when Ragnar Lothbrok
led an attack to avenge the death
of his grandfather at the hand of a rival king. According to passages in
the ninth book of the Gesta Danorum, a 12th century
work of Danish history by the Christian historian,
Saxo Grammaticus-- King Fro killed Ragnar's
grandfather, Sigurd, and forced the dead King's
surviving female family members into a brothel as a
form of public humiliation. When he heard about this, Ragnar
came with an army of warriors to avenge his grandfather. Many of the women
Fro had ordered into the brothel dressed
themselves into men's clothes and fought on Ragnar's side. One of those women was
Lagertha, a shield maiden whose fierce fighting
had attracted rag Ragnar's attention. After the battle, Ragnar pursued
Lagertha and proposed to her. Lagertha feigned
interest, and Ragnar arrived to seek her hand. However, Lagertha released
a bear and a hound to attack Ragnar, which,
according to Saxo, he had to kill before
he could marry her. Huh. Who said romance was dead? Ragnar killed the
bear with a spear and choked the hound
to death, thus, winning the hand of Lagertha. The couple had a son, Fridleif,
as well as two daughters. But eventually, Ragnar
divorced Lagertha because he, apparently,
still harbored bitterness about the whole bear
and hound attack. Totally understandable. Right? Let us know what you think. Would you want to
be on a Viking raid? Share your thoughts
in the comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other stories on our weird history. [MUSIC PLAYING]
