Norse shield weights

olaf haraldson · Post by **olaf haraldson** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 8:26 pm

I am curious about weights of viking shields... Web searches have proven fairly useless. Any help?

Vogeljager · Post by **Vogeljager** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 11:06 am

There are some fairly good articles on the construction of viking shields online. Probably the best thing to do is make one and weigh it. Unless you are a clever bastard and just weigh the materials

Just note that the suviving remnants of viking shields are believed to be decorative in nature and may not have been constructed the same as combat shields.

Rizzo · Post by **Rizzo** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:40 pm

The Tirscom shield

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/shield/shield.html

would weigh in at 2,5 kg (5 lbs) if made by spruce. Wood only. Add leather, straw and boss.

Greenshield · Post by **Greenshield** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 2:06 pm

Don't forget that the ship find is thought to be for decoration only. I've found most shields range from 6-8lbs(closer to

once all the 'furniture' has been added.

C

olaf haraldson · Post by **olaf haraldson** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 2:11 pm

OK, thanks all. I have been making plywood Viking shields for SCA combat, and was wondering how they compared in weight to one made in a period fashion.

Rizzo · Post by **Rizzo** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 4:01 pm

Nothing beats what you call Norway Spruce (Picea abies) for autenticity. They grow it in Labrador, from what i read, and it might be possible to obtain. Those danes might have used other things, but norse would have gone pine or spruce.

I would not bring such a shield to an sca event though. ItÂ´s extremely soft.

Buran · Post by **Buran** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 11:26 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by greenshield:
Don't forget that the ship find is thought to be for decoration only. I've found most shields range from 6-8lbs(closer to

once all the 'furniture' has been added.

C<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's what they thought about the ships until somebody built a replica and sailed it across the ocean!

------------------
Free Companions - live-action roleplaying in the Hyborian Age

Halvgrimr · Post by **Halvgrimr** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 4:52 pm

Buran

the shields greenshield is refering to (the Gokstad Shields) are ungodly big.

he is correct, from what I have read, most folks 'in the know' subscribe to this theory (ie the ones actually working on the project)

Halvgrimr

Rizzo · Post by **Rizzo** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 5:09 pm

At 37 inch, they are not the biggest around. Even if they were not made for combat, they might be very close to the real thing. ItÂ´s not like you are a cheapskate if you are burying some guy together with a ship..

Egfroth · Post by **Egfroth** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 12:19 am

Each one had an iron boss about 4mm thick, each one had a wooden "handle" across the diameter of the shield, each one had had (before it got rotted away) some kind of rim (perhaps leather?). Sounds like a lot of work to go to for something that served only a decorative purpose .. .

------------------
Egfroth

"I hope all your chooks turn to Emus and kick your dunny down."

see my webpage at www.geocities.com/egfrothos

DWolfhunter · Post by **DWolfhunter** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:33 am

First of all, I am still trying to figure out why Egfroth wants ostriches to destroy my outhouse??

On the other subject...the Gokstad burials provide several weapons and other items of questionable use. Many of the weapons in particular were so decorated that their usefulness in combat would have been doubtful. Could not the shields have equally bad utility?
Thirdly, it is unlikely that a rounded, mobile shield like the norsemen used would've weighed more than 6-8 lbs. The human arm, even strengthened by years of oarwork can only support the dead weight of a sheild for so long before tiring and leaving the weilder open.
Fourthly, there are enough graves of norsesmen who died in combat to show that the sheild ( 32" to 36") at best, would protect the torso of a middling to short man.
many of the corpses showed no torso wounds. Many showed broken arms consistent with being battered through a shield.
Many more showed head and lower limb wounds that would've killed due to trauma or shock. But torso wounds were a definite minority.
Finally, the norseman's sword was a sharpened crowbar...not a hightech sword of war. Shields that survived a battle would almost certainly have been so battered as to merit disposal. In fact at no time in period are there extant examples of "War" shields being preserved. Almost all the examples we have are "funerary" sheilds.
Your sword might be passed on to your great grandkids. But your shield was unlikely to make more than one afternoon's fighting intact. They threw 'em out folks. Just like war lances...they were meant to get broken and be thrown away.
Baron Hamish

------------------
To stand fast against the coming darkness, and not yield.

[This message has been edited by DWolfhunter (edited 10-15-2003).]