A forest in a shower of arrows
iron red.
Eirik from the fields stung
shook glory"
(Egil Skallagrimsson. Translation by S. Petrov)
Last time, the material called "Board Shields" caused a lot of comments, although not all of them dealt with this topic. One of the readers suggested that it would be more correct to call it "shields from wooden planks" and, perhaps, one can fully agree with this, since it would be more accurate. Because, yes, indeed, the shields of the Assyrians (not all, or rather not all the soldiers, but some), and the shields of the Roman soldiers of the era of the decline of the empire - they were all made of wooden planks glued together. But the name "has already taken hold", so let's leave it as it is.
And it is also necessary to note the complex structure of such a "boardboard". Sheathing outside - canvas or leather. And be sure to have a metal conical or hemispherical umbil that covers the cutout for the handle. Moreover, it is interesting that such shields spread primarily in Europe, while shields woven from rods were popular in Asia. And although the peoples of the East now and then, wave after wave, rolled over Europe, the borrowing of this element of weapons never happened.
Painting on the wall of the castle of Carcassonne. European warriors are fighting with the Arabs, and both have round shields.
By the way, very little is known about what caused the migration of nomadic peoples from Asia to the West, and there is still no consensus on this issue. Whether it was a long-term, catastrophic drought or, on the contrary, everything was flooded with torrential rains and covered with snow, which made nomadic animal husbandry almost impossible, today it is very difficult to determine. But on the other hand, a little more is known about the reasons that caused the campaigns of the northern Vikings. We will talk about the so-called "catastrophe 535-536", which was the result of the strongest eruption of either one or several volcanoes, such as Krakatoa or El Chichon, when so much volcanic ash got into the Earth's atmosphere, which led to a sharp cooling in the area the entire Mediterranean basin and, accordingly, in Scandinavia. The harsh winters now continued year after year, causing famine to be addressed.
Siege of Jerusalem in 1220. All warriors are depicted with round shields. Miniature from a Spanish manuscript from the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York.
And it was this event that greatly influenced the character of the inhabitants of Scandinavia, who not only began to everywhere bury treasures of gold things in the ground and throw them into lakes and swamps, but also changed their attitude towards the priests. Before the catastrophe, they played a very prominent role in the societies of the “people from the North”. But “when the sun was eclipsed,” and their prayers and sacrifices to the gods did not bring the expected effect, faith in their power, although not immediately, fell. The authority of the local priesthood replaced the authority of the military leaders, since at this time only with a sword in hand could a person fight for survival despite the whims of evil nature. And, perhaps, it is precisely in the events of this time that one should look for the roots of that warlike "imbalance" in their culture, which later found a way out in the Viking campaigns …
Modern reconstruction of the equipment of one of the commanders of the Roman legion of the era of the decline of the empire.
A Roman helmet from the era, found in Serbia.
From a military point of view, the attacks of the Vikings on the lands of England and France resulted in a confrontation between the well-armed infantry of the "northern people" and more or less heavily armed aboriginal horsemen, who needed to arrive at the scene of the attack as soon as possible and punish the arrogant invaders. Moreover, even in the era of the decline of the Roman Empire, a large round shield, glued from wooden planks and brightly painted, became dominant in Europe.
Drawings on oval Roman shields from Notitia Dignitatum.
Modern reconstruction of the appearance of the warriors of the era of the decline of the Roman Empire.
It should be noted that the shields were painted not somehow at the request of the owner, but with the image of the emblem of his unit, that is, the legion. That this was so is evidenced by the Notitia Dignitatum ("List of positions") - an important document from the era of the late Roman Empire (late 4th or early 5th centuries).
A page of a medieval copy of the Notitia Dignitatum depicting the shields of the Magister Militum Praesentalis II, a list of Roman military units. Bodleian Library.
Another reconstruction of the equipment of a dragonifer and a private legionnaire.
The drawing on the shield of the legion of Quart Italica (formerly the Fourth Italic Legion) c. AD 400 Notitia Dignitatum Or. Vii. Bodleian Library.
The drawing on the shield of the Fifth Macedonian Legion. The beginning of the 5th century AD Notitia Dignitatum Or. Vii. Bodleian Library.
Roman warrior of the 5th century AD Drawing by Giuseppe Rava.
Roman soldier of the 5th - 6th century AD Legion of Quinta Macedonia. Drawing by Gary Embleton.
The traditional protective weaponry of the Viking warrior consisted of a round shield glued together from wooden planks, the material for which was usually linden wood (by the way, it was linden that served as the basis for the poetic kenning "War Linden" - that is, the allegorical name of the shield), with a metal a convex umbil in the middle and approximately one yard (91 cm) in diameter; a conical helmet with a nosepiece and less often a half mask, and chain mail with short, elbow-length sleeves. In the Scandinavian sagas, it is often said that the Viking shields were brightly colored. Moreover, each color on them occupied either a quarter of the circle, or half of its surface. The shield was assembled from smoothly rounded lime planks, about 5-6 mm thick, by gluing them crosswise. In the middle, a round hole was always cut out, which was covered from the outside by a metal umbilical. The handle of the shield ran inside and across this hole. The Gokstad shields were made of seven or eight planks of soft coniferous wood, apparently pine. It was she who was used in most cases, although not always and at the same time of different widths and thicknesses. Multilayer shields, like the Romans, the Vikings did not have!
The device of the Viking shield on the back side. Modern renovation.
Viking Age Shield from Trelleborg. Denmark. Diameter about 80 cm.
The Vikings reinforced their shields around the edges with leather or metal fittings. During excavations in Birka, Sweden, a shield was found, trimmed with small bronze plates. The shield had a diameter of 75 - 100 cm (or about 90 cm). Their surface was usually painted. At the same time, the Vikings considered the most beautiful shields painted in red, but shields of yellow color, black, and even completely white shields were also known. But green or blue were not popular among the Vikings. It can even be assumed that such their shape and relative fragility of the structure are a consequence of the fact that they were supposed to be used in a burial, that these were hardly real battle shields. Researchers note the similarity of the Gokstad shields to the shield found in a peat bog in Tirskom, Latvia (Tirsk peatbog). Interestingly, the shield umbon from the Tyrian peat bog was made of wood, although in shape and size it was identical to the local iron samples.
Interestingly, all 64 found shields from the famous Gokstad ship were painted in a contrasting black and yellow color. In this case, the plane of the shield was simply divided in half or painted in a checkerboard pattern. There were shields with drawings of explicit mythological content, for example, runes, a figure of a dragon or some other fantastic animal were painted on them. In the battle of Nesyarev, for example, which happened in 1015, many warriors had shields of different colors on their shields, and not only painted, but also made of gilded metal. Usually, the bollards were attached to the shields with the help of iron nails, the points (ends) of which were either bent or riveted on the back of the shield. In the town of Birke, shields were found with embossings fixed with four nails; there are six of them in Gokstad shields. There are also cases of finds of fastening umbons with five rivets.
The handles that held the shield were made of wood. But on more beautifully and painstakingly made shields, a curved iron plate could be superimposed on a wooden base, usually ornamented with an engraved bronze sheet or even silver inlay made on it.
In the shields found on the ship from Gokstad, the edges of the shields were reinforced with leather rims. For this, small holes were drilled in them at a distance of about 2 cm from the edge with an interval of 3.5 cm. But the rim itself, alas, was not preserved. One can only assume that along the edge of the shield there was a strip of leather attached to a wooden base either with stitches, or nailed to it with thin metal nails, which were then bent from the inside in the shape of the letter "L" and hammered into the base.
Reconstruction of the shield from the ship from Gokstad.
The Vikings were great lovers of poetry, and not just poetry, but metaphorical poetry, where ordinary words had to be replaced with flowery metaphors that convey their meaning, conveying the meaning of this name. Only those who heard them from childhood could understand such verses. For example, the shield could well have been called by one skald, that is, the composer of the sagas and the poet, "Board of Victory", "A network of spears" (and the spear itself, in turn, could have the name "Shield Fish"), while the other - " The tree of protection”(a clear indication of the material and purpose!),“The Sun of War”,“The Wall of Hilds”(that is, the“Wall of the Valkyries”),“Country of Arrows”and even the“Lipoy of War”. The latter name was a direct reference to the material from which the Vikings also made their shields, that is, to linden wood. That is, the Vikings did not know any "oak shields". The Romans did not know them, and if so, then … and no one knew them, because they are not among the archaeological finds, and the textual materials of their presence also confirm!
Another linden wood shield from the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.
Having such shields, the Vikings used appropriate techniques in battle. It is well known that, defending themselves, the Vikings stood on the battlefield with a "wall of shields" - a phalanx of warriors lined up in five or even more rows, in which the most well-armed fighters were in the front ranks, and those who had worse weapons were in the back … Historians are still debating how this "wall of shields" was built. It is questioned that the shields could overlap each other, as this would hinder the freedom of movement of the warriors in battle. But there is a 10th century tombstone at Gosfort of Cumbria, depicting shields overlapping one another for most of their width. This arrangement narrows the front to a width of 45.7 cm for each person, that is, about half a meter. The 9th century Oseberg tapestry also depicts the same shield wall. But modern filmmakers and reenactors, studying the construction of the Vikings, noticed that warriors need enough space to swing a sword or ax, so such closed structures hardly made sense! True, there is an assumption that they were closed, approaching the enemy, and when entering into contact with him, the phalanx was "distributed" so that each Viking could freely wield a sword or ax.
The main battle formation of the Vikings was the same "pig" that the Byzantine horsemen used then - a wedge-shaped structure with a narrowed front part. They believed that Odin himself invented such a construction, which speaks of the antiquity and the importance of this tactical technique for them. It consisted of two warriors in the front row, three in the second, and five more in the third. A wall of shields could also be built not only along the front, but also in the form of a ring. So Harald Hardrada, by the way, did in the battle at Stamford Bridge, where his warriors met with the warriors of King Harold of England. As for the commanders, they were also defended by an additional wall of shields, with which the warriors holding them deflected the arrows flying at them. Lining up in a line, the Vikings could repel the attack of the cavalry. But the Franks managed to defeat them at the Battle of Soucourt in 881. Then the Franks made the mistake of disrupting the formation, which gave the Vikings the opportunity to counterattack. But their second onslaught threw the Vikings back, even if they kept their formation. But the Vikings realized the strength of the Franks' cavalry and had riders at their disposal. But they could not have large equestrian formations, because it was difficult for the Vikings to transport horses on ships! Well, but in general, neither helmets, nor chain mail, nor even more so the shields of the Vikings were in no way inferior to the protective weapons of the same Frankish horsemen. By the way, the obvious fragility of the Viking shields may have been given to them initially. The relatively thin field of the shield was easily split, which, quite possibly, was conceived so on purpose, so that the enemy's weapon would get stuck in the wood of the shield.
Viking chess pieces from the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. These are probably the oldest chess pieces found in Europe. They were made from walrus bone, and probably in Norway, in 1150 - 1200. In the 11th century, this island belonged to Norway, so it is not surprising that they ended up there. The main thing is the skill with which they were made. A total of 93 figures from four sets were found. Eleven not very well preserved figures are in Edinburgh (National Museum of Antiquities), while the rest are on display in the British Museum in London.
Round shields of the Picts. Rice. A. Sheps.
Bas-relief depicting Pictish warriors with square shields. But there were also mysterious shields in the shape of the letter "H" - that is, these are the same square, but with rectangular cutouts at the top and bottom. Rice. A. Sheps.
Interestingly, on the territory of Britain, shields similar to those of the Vikings had many peoples who lived there, including the same Pictish. They also formed a wall of shields in battle, although their shields themselves were different from the shields of the "peoples from the North." They also had metal braces, but were smaller in diameter. But the most interesting thing is that, again, only the Picts had plank shields with an umbilicate resembling the shape of the letter … "H" with two cutouts at the top and bottom. But where and why such a form came from and what was the meaning in it is still not clear …
