Viking Axes, Viking Clothing, Viking Shields, Viking Helms and Viking Swords from Dark Knight Armoury

The Vikings were Norse or Scandinavain people that were famous for being pirates, explorers, and merchants who raided and colonized areas in Europe. Norsemen used their longships or Viking ships to travel as far east as Constantinople to as far west as Iceland. This period of Viking exploration is known as the Viking Age. By the end of the Viking age the word viking refers to pirates and robbers operating by sea. Viking weapons and armour indicated a Norsemans social status. A wealthy Viking would own a Viking helmet, Viking shield, chainmail shirt and a coat made from animal skin or reindeer hides. A poorer Viking would only own a single weapons and a shield. The Viking shield and spear were the basic armaments of a Viking warrior. Vikings would have a knife known as a seax, and might carry a bow or a Viking axe. Dark Knight Armoury has the typical Viking armament such as the Viking helms, shields, daggers, axes, spears and jewelry. All our Viking weapons and armour are historically accurate and fully functional.

Viking Spears
The most common and important weapon to a Viking warrior was the spear. Viking spears have metal heads usually on wooden shafts of 6 to 10 feet long. The head of a Viking spear was about 7 to 24 inches long with a tendency towards longer heads in the late Viking age. Some of the Viking spear heads had wings called krokspjot or barbed spear. Viking warrior used the spears for both throwing and thrusting with one hand. Dark Knight armoury has many functional and authentitic spears heads available. We carry the Viking thrusting spear, Viking throwing spear, short bladed spear and the long war spear in our collection of Viking spears.

Viking Helms
Viking helmets were made of iron during the Viking Age. The helm was in the shape of a rounded or peaked cap made from four plate and a simple noseguard. Some Viking helms could have had a mail aventail. Other names for the Viking helmet are Norse helms, Gjermundbu helm, Spangenhelm, Viking horned helmet and the Coppergate helmet. Dark Knight Armoury has many authentic and fully functional Viking helmets. Viking helmets will complete your armour set of those Viking re-enactments or parties.

Viking Swords
Vikings owning a sword was a matter of high prestige and wealth. The Viking sword was a single handed weapon that was in conjunction with a Viking shield. The sword was typically 23 to 37 inches long and the shape was the same as the swords from the Dark Ages. The Viking sword had a tight grip, long deep fullers running almost the length of the blade and a had a lobed or crocked hat style pommel. The fuller increased the strength and flexibility of the Viking sword while reducing the weight. Viking were able to swing faster and have harder strokes, while at the same time, allowing the Viking sword to bend and not break. Dark Knight Armoury is proud to carry functional Viking swords from the Viking Age. We have the popular Norman sword, Godfred sword, Trondheim Viking sword and the practical Viking sword.

Viking Axes
Axes of the Vikings were also called the Danish Axe, that were an early type of polearm. Viking Axes are made light enough to withstand throwing with there forged heads and hardened edges. Another use of Viking axe was for punching through any armour or cleaving helms in close combat because of the relatibely short cutting edge. The Viking axe also were used on farms and cutting timber for their Viking ships. Dark Knight Armoury carries many types of Viking axes such as the Danish axe, Viking throwing axe, Mammen axe, bearded axe and the Francisca axe. All our Viking axes are authentic to the Viking Age and fully functional for reenactments.

Viking Daggers
Vikings used daggers called a seax for for extreme situations and like close combat fighting. Other names given to the seax were hadseax, sax, seaxe, scramaseax and the scramsax. The Viking dagger was a single edged and had a length from 7.5 cm to about 75 cm. Vikings wearing a seax indicated a free man, since only free people had the right to bear arms. Viking wore their knife horizontal at the front of their belt. Dark Knight Armoury has many variations of viking daggers and they are full functional. Our Viking dagger are very affordable as well as very authentic to the Viking Age.

Viking Clothing
Viking used more wool than anything else for making clothing. Viking men were a long woolen Viking tunic and long trousers, which were held up by a belt or sash. In cold weather, Vikings were cloaks or sleeved jerkin. The cloaks were fastened at the shoulder with a brooch or a pin. For feet protection, they wore Viking boots that were made of leather. The Vikings made their own clothes from cloth woven from a loom by women and children in their own home. Most men wore long hair and beards as a protection from the cold weather.

Viking Shields
The use of Viking shields went far beyond a mere means to parry blows from an opponent. The Viking shield was typically round, being a successor to earlier Germanic shields with a diameter of around 80–90 cm or more. The Viking shield was made of planks of woods such as fir, pine, willow or linden. It usually contained a hole at the center that supported a hand grip at that point, covered by a metal boss. The Gokstad ship has places for shields to be hung on its railing, and the Gokstad shields have holes along the rim for fastening some sort of non-metallic rim protection. Towards the end of the Viking age, the Norman kite shield came into fashion.