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The shield wall or skjaldborg was a main formation in which accomplished Viking warriors would create a line of interlocked shields and thrust spears at adversaries. Other notable tactics included the svinfylking "boar battle formation", in which warriors would create a wedge configuration and attempt to burst through the front line of nearby foes.
The shield-wall was commonly used in many parts of Northern Europe such as in England and Scandinavia.. A mention of "ſcild ƿeall" (shield-wall) in Beowulf. In the battles between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes in England, most of the Saxon army would have consisted of the inexperienced fyrd, a militia composed of free peasants.
a shield before the shining god. mountains and oceans I know should burn, if it fell from in front. Arvak and Alsvith up shall drag Weary the weight of the sun; But an iron cool have the kindly gods Of yore set under their yokes. In front of the sun does Svalinn stand, The shield for the shining god; Mountains and sea would be set in flames
Shields also appears to have been covered in thin leather, preventing them from splintering. In addition to this, the weapons of their enemies sometimes became stuck in the shield, giving the Viking an opportunity to kill them. [63] Shields had its hand grip hidden behind an iron boss and measures about 1 m in diameter. [54]
Lagertha as imagined in a lithography by Morris Meredith Williams in 1913. Lagertha, according to legend, was a Viking ruler and shield-maiden from what is now Norway, and the onetime wife of the famous Viking Ragnar Lodbrok.
The term Shield-maiden is a calque of the Old Norse: skjaldmær.Since Old Norse has no word that directly translates to warrior, but rather drengr, rekkr and seggr can all refer to male warrior and bragnar can mean warriors, it is problematic to say that the term meant female warrior to Old Norse speakers.
Related to the wedge formation, it was used in Iron Age Scandinavia and later by the Vikings. [2] It was also used by Germanic peoples during the Germanic Iron Age and was known as the "Schweinskopf" or "Swine's Head". [3] Its invention was attributed to the god Odin. [3] [4] The apex was composed of a single file.
Birka grave Bj 581 held a female Viking warrior buried with weapons during the 10th century in Birka, Sweden. Although the remains had been thought to be of a male warrior since the grave's excavation in 1878, both a 2014 osteological analysis and a 2017 DNA study proved that the remains were of a female.