There are few more iconic images than that
of a mighty Viking warrior, a hulking berserker with a horned helmet cleaving foes in two
with a mighty axe. But history actually paints a different picture
of Vikings than what modern media has romanticized -- for starters, no Viking ever wore a horned
helmet. And instead of a big, muscle-bound warrior
hardened by the frozen north, most Vikings were actually malnourished. What other misconceptions about Vikings exist? Hello and welcome to another episode of The
Infographics Show. Today we're asking, “What was life like
for a Viking warrior?” Life in the Viking age was tough -- really,
really tough. For starters, Vikings inhabited Scandinavia
and spread across northern Russia and Europe, land that was difficult to farm and produced
little food. This meant that despite popular fiction, most
of a Viking warrior's life was actually spent on the farm instead of chopping people's heads
off. This is because if crops weren't planted and
harvested, everybody would starve. It turns out that across much of the ancient
world raiding and pillaging was more of a luxury. Very few villages could afford for their menfolk
to leave for weeks or months on end instead of minding the farms. With most Viking villages numbering at their
largest from between 15 to 50 households, Viking communities were tightly knit but maintained
pretty low populations. The difficult land of northern Europe was
the Viking warrior's number one foe. Its low yields meant that Vikings couldn't
stock up enough food for the winter to feed themselves and their livestock, so most livestock
was slaughtered every fall right before winter. There's many things you probably would never
have wanted to be throughout history, and given their incredibly short life expectancy,
being a Viking cow should probably be high on that list. Labor was split up between men and women,
but men had the lion's share of the exterior or farm work. Men were needed to tend to the fields, slaughter
animals, and prepare the meat for winter storage. To make things even more difficult, Vikings
used wooden plows to tend their fields, which needed to be replaced every two days. Metal plows wouldn't be introduced until after
the Viking age. Slaves made up a big part of Viking life,
with many slaves taken during raids and traded or sold as far as North Africa. Slaves, who were also called thralls, obviously
had no rights, and they could be killed without repercussion. In fact, during particularly difficult years,
slaves may have been slaughtered along with the livestock if there wasn't enough food
to go around for all. Vikings were not cannibals, though, so at
least slaves didn't have to worry about being eaten. Above the slaves was the main body of Viking
society, the Karls or farmers and craftsmen. These were the common people of Viking life
and lived under the rule of Jarls, who made up the upper crust of Viking society. Women did enjoy a greater degree of freedom
than in most societies of the time, and in 2017 the discovery of a Viking grave with
what was assumed to be a high-ranking female warrior seemed to indicate that women could
even be high-ranking members of the military. However, doubts about the veracity of the
claims that the grave was indeed of a woman almost immediately arose, and today it seems
unlikely that the skeleton discovered inside and DNA tested was actually that of a warrior. So perhaps the tales of Viking Shieldmaidens
are just that -- tall tales. Although warfare for men may have been far
more infrequent than what we've come to believe, it was still a part of life for some Vikings. Living in resource poor lands, raids against
much better off and more southern neighbors necessitated the development of advanced seagoing
ships and men to navigate them. One of the few myths about ancient Vikings
that historians do agree on is that they were accomplished sailors, and they would have
needed to be able to navigate the dangerous waters of the North Atlantic and North Sea. Despite these stormy and challenging waters,
Vikings managed to reach as far west as North America and as far south as North Africa. For exploration and warfare, Vikings developed
the longship, an iconic vessel consisting of a large sail and a handcrafted head post
on the front of the ship. Oars helped the ship navigate when there was
little or no wind, and they gave the vessel extra speed when used in conjunction with
the ship’s sail. They also included a Viking innovation called
a beitass, which was a spar mounted on the sail that let their ships sail against the
wind. High-ranking Vikings would often be buried
along with their ships and with dogs, livestock, or slaves. Though far more infrequent than popular culture
indicates, raiding and fighting were a part of Viking life. Viking custom stated that all free men were
required to own weapons and were permitted to carry them at all times -- a sensible custom
given the violent nature of post-Roman Empire Europe. Exactly what weapons a Viking owned and carried,
though, were indicative of their status within their society. Wealthy Vikings often had a complete ensemble
of helmet, shield, mail shirt, and a sword, but poorer Vikings had to make do with shields,
spears, and axes. Swords were actually rarely used in battle,
which is likely due to a lack of skilled craftsmen in Viking society. Viking swords were mostly ornamental. They were not sturdy enough for warfare, and
they were worn as symbolic or decorative items. Instead of swords, a Viking would wield a
spear and shield, with a seax or large knife as a sidearm. Spears were simple to craft and thus plentiful,
and they required very little skill to use. Bows and throwing spears were also weapons
of Viking warriors, often used in the opening moments of combat both on land and at sea. The Vikings did not have many skilled archers,
however. Bows were seen as less honorable than melee
weapons because the average Viking preferred to get up close to an enemy rather than seem
cowardly by striking from afar. About the one thing that popular culture has
gotten right about Viking warriors was their use of the axe. Vikings were one of the few ancient societies
that featured axes as main battle weapons. This is again not surprising as axes were
also far easier to make than swords and doubled as farm tools. However, the Huscarls, an elite guard of king
Cnut, preferred to wield large two-handed axes that would split shields and metal helmets
with one blow. Another Viking myth that has some basis in
truth is that of the berserker. Known as “heathen wolves” or “wolfskins”
sometimes due to their affinity for wearing animal skins, these were warriors who had
a deep religious connection to their god Odin, and they took bears or wolves as their totem
animals. These warriors believed themselves to be endowed
with the spirit of their totem animal, fueling their ferocity in combat. For centuries, researchers assumed that berserkers
achieved their legendary battle rage state with the aid of toxic mushrooms or other herbs. However, aspects of berserker life have been
well documented in writings and carvings, and there is no mention of the use of mushrooms
or other intoxicants amongst any of them. Instead, researchers nowadays believe that
this battle rage was a psychological state that berserkers achieved through ritual processes
carried out prior to a battle. Stories of berserkers biting their shields
and attacking trees, boulders, and even killing each other before a battle can be explained
by the entering of a self-induced hypnotic state. In a dissociative state, berserkers lost control
of their actions, which became directed subconsciously, and people in this state can seem remote,
have little awareness of their surroundings, have reduced awareness of pain, and increased
muscle strength. Critical thinking and normal social inhibitions
weaken, leading to the blood-crazed battle rage of legend. This condition of psychomotor automatism is
also followed by a major emotional catharsis in the form of exhaustion, often followed
by deep sleep. In effect, a lifetime of brutality let berserkers
enter a self-induced hypnotic trance that made them stronger, resistant to pain, and
remorseless in their violence -- a pretty neat trick to have in the brutal life of ancient
Europe. It turns out that many myths about Viking
warriors are exactly that -- myths. Instead of lumbering men hardened by the Arctic
cold, most Vikings suffered from varying degrees of malnourishment. Rather than living a life of looting and pillaging,
most Vikings lived as traders, craftsmen, sailors, and farmers whose lives were infrequently
punctuated by brief violent skirmishes. However, at least one myth about Vikings -- the
berserker -- was a reality, so hopefully we haven't ruined Vikings for you completely. What do you think happened to the ancient
Viking berserkers? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our other video
called Why Living On A Submarine Sucks! And as always don't forget to like, share,
and subscribe for more great content! See you next time!
Stop....now......no.....not huscarl.......jarl......ofcourse
Well it's not what we wanted to hear, but all the same I am now more informed than I was before.