Viking Armor and Weapons: What the Norse Actually Carried

The popular Viking is a man in a horned helmet with a huge axe. The real one, on the evidence of graves, sagas and the few surviving pieces, carried a spear and a round shield, wore a padded coat or a mail shirt if he could afford one, and treated a sword as the most valuable thing he owned. This guide goes through Viking armor and weapons piece by piece, what each was made of, who carried it, and what to look for in a reproduction.

Shields and the shield wall

The round shield was the one piece of equipment every Viking warrior had. It was made of thin planks of linden, pine or fir, roughly 80 to 90 cm across (the Gokstad ship shields are about 94 cm), butted edge to edge, with a central iron boss covering the hand and a leather or rawhide rim to stop the planks splitting. Faces were painted, often in halves or quarters. The shield wall, overlapping shields in a line with spears over the top, was the basic Norse formation on land, and a shield was used offensively as well as defensively, to bind an opponent's weapon and to strike with the boss. The kite shield that appears in some illustrations is 11th century Norman equipment, not Viking. Our shields collection holds the round Viking patterns, including the 24 inch Viking dragon shield.

Helmets: the one that survives

No Viking helmet had horns. The image comes from 19th century painting and opera costume. Only one complete Viking Age helmet has ever been found, at Gjermundbu in Norway: a rounded iron cap of four plates with a spectacle-shaped guard over the eyes and nose, dated to the 10th century. Simpler conical iron caps with a nasal bar, the spangenhelm construction inherited from the Franks, were the common form for those who had a helmet at all; many warriors had a leather cap or nothing. The helmets collection has the Gjermundbu in steel and in leather, and the historical helmets guide compares it with the Spartan and knightly forms.

Mail, leather and padding

A mail shirt, thousands of riveted iron rings, took a smith months and cost accordingly, so mail was worn by chieftains and their professional retainers, not by the men who filled the shield wall. Most warriors fought in a thick padded or quilted coat, or a leather jerkin over wool. Lamellar armor of small laced plates is attested at Birka in Sweden and almost nowhere else, probably imported from the east. Mail was iron; the bronze and silver mail of fiction did not exist. The breastplates and body armor collection has leather and steel pieces, and the full suits collection includes the Valhalla Vanguard Viking suit.

The sword: the prestige weapon

A Viking sword cost roughly what a farm cost, and it was the weapon of chieftains, landowners and men who had inherited one. Broad, double-edged and one-handed, 90 to 95 cm overall with a fullered blade and a lobed or disc pommel, it was carried with the shield and named, decorated and passed down. Rich hilts carried silver, gold or niello inlay, and the elite blades bore the Ulfberht inscription. There was no separate class of king's sword: kings and chieftains carried the same types with richer fittings, and the Viking King in our range is a modern product name rather than a historical category. The famous Viking swords article covers the types and the finds, the buying guide covers what to check, and the Viking swords collection holds the range, including the 37 inch Carolingian in Damascus.

The axe: the everyday weapon

An axe needed a fraction of the iron a sword needed, took a fraction of the forging time, and doubled as a tool, which is why it was the weapon most Vikings actually owned. The bearded axe, with its long lower edge hooking down toward the haft, was the common one-handed form. The Dane axe, a broad thin blade on a haft of five feet or more, was the two-handed weapon of the huscarls of the late Viking Age. Small throwing axes existed but were secondary. Hafts were ash, birch or hickory. The Viking axe guide covers the types, and the Viking axes collection holds bearded and Dane axes in 1095 and Damascus.

Spears and javelins

The spear was the most common weapon of all, carried by warriors of every rank and by Odin himself in the myths. The thrusting spear had a broad leaf-shaped or angular iron head on an ash shaft of six to ten feet and was the weapon of the shield wall. Lighter javelins were thrown before the lines met, and some heads were barbed so they could not be pulled out and thrown back. The spears collection holds the leaf-bladed war spears and the short javelins, including the 39 inch Damascus javelin.

Bows and arrows

Viking bows were self-bows of yew or elm, and the Hedeby find in Denmark is the best surviving example. Iron-tipped arrows opened raids and sea fights and covered the shield wall before it closed. Archery was not a specialist arm the way it became in later medieval England; it was one more thing a warrior did.

The seax

Every free Norseman carried a seax, the single-edged knife that ran from a few inches to the length of a short sword and hung horizontally from the belt. It was a tool as much as a weapon, and for a man without a sword it was the sidearm. The seax collection and the spatha and seax article cover it.

Putting a Viking display together

The historically coherent set is a sword or a bearded axe, a spear, a round shield and a Gjermundbu helmet. The whole Norse arsenal is gathered in the Viking weapons and armor collection, and the Ulfberht bundle pairs a sword with an axe, shield and helmet in one order.

Frequently asked questions

Did Vikings wear horned helmets?
No. The horned helmet is a 19th century invention. The only complete Viking helmet ever found, from Gjermundbu in Norway, is a rounded iron cap with a spectacle guard.

What weapons did Vikings use most?
The spear first, then the axe, then the seax. Swords were expensive status weapons. Bows were used in raids and at sea.

What armor did Vikings wear?
Most fought in padded or leather garments. Mail shirts were for the wealthy. Lamellar armor is attested only at Birka.

How big was a Viking shield?
Round, roughly 80 to 90 cm across, made of wooden planks with a central iron boss and a leather rim.

Was there a special Viking king's sword?
No. Kings and chieftains carried the standard sword types with gold, silver or niello decoration on the hilt.

Can I buy a matching Viking weapon set?
Yes. The Viking weapons and armor collection has swords, axes, spears, shields, helmets and bundles that combine them.

About the author
Owen Juarbal is Director of Marketing and head writer at Battling Blades. He has been with the company since 2021 and writes or reviews every guide the team publishes. Read more about Battling Blades.