Hank Reinhardt's The Book of the Sword (19 page)

A string spear.

The string spear is quite interesting, and a kind that I have made and played with. The shaft has a string wrapped around the center near the balance point, and as the spear is thrown, the string is held and as the spear is released, the string is pulled sharply, giving additional momentum and spin to the spear. This should increase the range and accuracy of the throw. In our experiments, several of my friends were able to get an additional 15–30 feet in distance, and their accuracy was much improved. It didn't help
me
at all. I'm one of those people who can't throw, not a rock, baseball, football, or spear. The only thing I can throw is an axe, but the arm motion is different.

Hooked spears were also used. Hooks can be most useful. You can pull someone off of a horse, catch their leg and trip them, or better still, hook the shield, pull it down and then thrust with the spear. In
Egil's Saga
there is the following description of Egil carrying a hooked spear:

Antique hooked spear, circa 1475-1575, head 39 inches long, with shaft 94 inches overall length. HRC4.

"It was seen from the Thing that a body of men rode down along Gljufra River, and that shields glittered there. When these arrived a man in a blue cloak rode foremost; he had a gilt helmet on his head and a gold ornamented shield at his side; in his hand a hooked spear, the socket of its head was inlaid with gold; he was girt with a sword. This was Egil Skallagrimsson."

The head of a barbed spear.

Another very popular spear was the barbed spear. From the grave finds these appear to be javelins, which makes a great deal of sense. If you're using the spear as a hand weapon, you don't want to get it stuck. But if you're throwing it, then it stands to reason that you want to do as much damage as possible, and don't want the spear thrown back at you. If the spear hits anything the barbs will prevent or delay its being withdrawn.

Medieval spears were frequently pattern welded. Often a broken sword might be salvaged and re-forged into a spear, as was done with the sword "Greyflank" when it was broken. The spear was a well loved weapon, and often named, such as Odin's spear, "Gungnir." The kennings describing spears in the sagas are also delightful, and the spear was oft referred to as a serpent: the serpent of the shield, the serpent of battle, wound serpent.

The lance was a horseman's weapon, and dominated the battlefield for several hundred years. It took the English longbow and the Swiss pikeman to finally put an end to its dominance. But in its heyday it was a fearsome weapon. Essentially a stout spear ranging from nine to twelve feet in length, it presented a really frightening picture when you had to face it. I think it was in the Real De Armeria in Madrid when this first hit me. There was a fully armored knight on display, with his lance lowered as if in the charge. When I looked at it closely I thought of what it would be like to be standing in a line of infantry and seeing this coming at me. I really did yearn for a pike or a longbow. (Truthfully, I would have preferred a .50 cal., but that would have been cheating.) I felt the same way in the Tower of London looking at the suit of plate armor that is about 6 feet 10 inches! The thought of this coming at you on a battlefield is positively disconcerting!

The Bayeaux Tapestry shows the lance being used both overhand, being thrown, and underhand, couched. The stirrup had made its way to Europe several hundred years before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but it took a long time for people to realize how effective a couched lance could be. Not long after Hastings it became the preferred method for using a spear or lance.

Mounted knight with leveled lance.
Photo by Peter Fuller.

Because the English used the foot archer to such telling effect, many people think that the longbow was unknown except in Wales. It is frequently stated that the English borrowed the longbow from the Welsh and made it their own. Certainly Edward III used it to great effect in his wars against France. However, attributing the
invention
to the Welsh is a little bit suspect. The longbow was in use in many areas and much earlier than most people realize. The Vikings were using it a great deal as early as the ninth century and considered it a very important weapon.

The famous warrior, Gunnar of Hlildarend of
Njal's Saga
, was noted for his skill with his bow and is mentioned using it on several occasions. When he was finally overcome it was only because his bowstring broke, and his wife (a really nasty type of person) wouldn't let him use a lock of her hair to plait another. All through the sagas the bow is very prominent, again described by some really beautiful kennings. Arrows are referred to as "the rain of the string," "the herrings of the corpse," "the hail of battle," and "rain storm of the wounds."

The bow itself was made of ash, elm, witch hazel or yew, and was about 6 feet in length. We can tell from the thickness of the bow staves the draw weights were probably around 80 to 120 pounds, similar to those of the bows taken from the
Mary Rose
, a ship of Henry VIII's that was recovered from where it sank and is now on display. In many of the Viking grave excavations the remains of similar longbows have been found.

 
Bodkin arrow point (left) and broadhead (right).

Arrow heads were pretty much the same as you would expect: thin bodkin points for battle, and broadheads for hunting. Shafts were usually about 30–36 inches in length.

The longbow does not lend itself to ornamentation. The Eastern recurve was frequently decorated, but the longbow, being essentially a stick, was not. Of course it is possible that some of the bows were painted, but that is not known for sure, and such decoration would not have survived.

 
Eastern recurve shape (left) and Viking bow shape (right).

Curiously enough, the sling was also used during the Viking Age. Although not as popular as the bow, it was still an effective weapon. In
Kjalnesinga Saga
we read how the outlaw Bui, attacked by twelve men, defends himself by gathering stones, standing on a hill and killing some of the attackers. Slingers are also mentioned as being on the flanks of some of the battles. Personally, I would rather have a bow and a good axe.