Lamellar armor consists of hundreds of small rectangular iron, leather (rawhide), or bronze plates (scales or lamellae) which are pierced in various locations and laced together into horizontal rows to the proper length needed to construct a particular armor item. When the lamellae are made of leather they can be hardened by a process such as cuir bouilli or lacquering. The rows of lamellar armor resemble scale armor, but differ by not needing a cloth or leather backing for the lamellae, and the lamellae are pierced in many more locations. Lamellar armor eventually overtook scale armor in popularity as lamellar restricted the users movements much less than scale armour. Once again, only a single fragmented but possibly complete mail shirt has been excavated in Scandinavia, from the same site as the helmet – Gjermundbu in Haugsbygda. Scandinavian Viking age burial customs seems to not favour burial with helmet or mail armour, in contrast to earlier extensive armour burials in Sweden Valsgärde. Probably worn over thick clothing, a mail shirt protects the wearer from being cut, but offers little protection from blunt trauma. The difficulty of obtaining mail armour resided in the fact that it required thousands of interlinked iron rings, each one of which had to be individually riveted together by hand. As a result, mail was very expensive in early medieval Europe, and would likely have been worn by men of status and wealth. The mail worn by Vikings was almost certainly the four-on-one type, where four solid (punched or riveted) rings are connected by a single riveted ring. Mail armour of this type was also known as a byrnie or brynja. Expensive mail armour was also seen as cumbersome and uncomfortable in battle. Traditionally, Vikings have been thought to have opted for leather body armour—or none at all—as it was both more flexible and cheaper. However, there is no archeological evidence to support leather armour. Given that Vikings on a raid tried to avoid pitched battles, its possible that mail was primarily worn only by the professional warriors going into battle, such as the Great Danish Army(also known as the Great Heathen Army) of the mid-9th century in England or Harald Hardradas invasion of Northumbria in 1066. More than thirty lamellae (individual plates for lamellar armour) were found in Birka, Sweden, in 1877, 1934 and 1998-2000. They were dated to the same approximate period as the Gjermundbu mailshirt (900-950) and may be evidence that some Vikings wore this armour, which is a series of small iron plates laced together or sewed to a stout fabric or leather cats shirt. There is considerable debate however as to whether the lamellae in question were in the possession of a Scandinavian resident or a foreign mercenary. Quilted cloth (a gambeson) is conjectured as possible options for lower-status Viking warriors, though no reference to such are known from the sagas. Such materials survive poorly in graves, and no archaeological finds have been made. Some rune stones depict what appears to be armour which is likely not maille. The armour in question may have been the lamellar armour mentioned above, or may not have been armour at all. Several layers of stout linen or hemp canvas would provide a good level of protection, at reasonable expense, as would winter clothing made from thick woolen cloth. Practical experience with maille also suggests an undergarment of some sort would have been worn between the maille and the regular tunic, to protect the latter from dirt and excessive wear, but the descriptions of the effect of axes in the Sagas indicate such garments were lightly padded if at all. Leather was far pricier during the period than today, and thus less affordable for the casual warrior. In St. Olavs saga, the kings bane Thorir Hund is said to have worn a tunic made from reindeer fur, enchanted by Finns (Sami), defending him from sword blows. The tunic is described as magically enhanced which may indicate that it may not represent a typical example of such a garment. Leather clothing does, however, occasionally turn up in archaeological finds, and would have offered some degree of protection in combat. All in all, the case for non-metal forms of armour remains inconclusive. It is likely that the average Viking fought whilst wearing ordinary clothing, with the shield as the only form of protection.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 06:07:16 +0000
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