Editing Vikings (section)

==Weapons and warfare==
{{Main|Viking Age arms and armour}}
[[File:Viking swords.jpg|thumb|{{center|[[Viking sword]]s}}]]

Knowledge about the arms and armour of the Viking age is based on archaeological finds, pictorial representation, and to some extent on the accounts in the [[Norse sagas]] and [[Norse law]]s recorded in the 13th century. According to custom, all free Norse men were required to own weapons and were permitted to carry them at all times. These arms indicated a Viking's social status: a wealthy Viking had a complete ensemble of a [[Viking helmet|helmet]], [[shield]], [[Mail (armour)|mail]] shirt, and sword. However, swords were rarely used in battle; they were probably not sturdy enough for combat and most likely only used as symbolic or decorative items.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.livescience.com/58654-viking-sword-scans-reveal-norse-culture.html|title=Scans of Viking Swords Reveal a Slice of Norse Culture|work=Live Science|access-date=15 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414224454/http://www.livescience.com/58654-viking-sword-scans-reveal-norse-culture.html|archive-date=14 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fedrigo|first1=Anna|last2=Grazzi|first2=Francesco|last3=Williams|first3=Alan R.|last4=Panzner|first4=Tobias|last5=Lefmann|first5=Kim|last6=Lindelof|first6=Poul Erik|last7=Jørgensen|first7=Lars|last8=Pentz|first8=Peter|last9=Scherillo|first9=Antonella|date=1 April 2017|title=Extraction of archaeological information from metallic artefacts—A neutron diffraction study on Viking swords|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports|volume=12|pages=425–36|doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.02.014|bibcode=2017JArSR..12..425F |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3452314}}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

A typical ''bóndi'' (freeman) was more likely to fight with a [[spear]] and shield, and most also carried a [[seax]] as a utility knife and side-arm. Bows were used in the opening stages of land battles and at sea, but they tended to be considered less "honourable" than melee weapons. Vikings were relatively unusual for the time in their use of axes as a main battle weapon. The [[Housecarls|Húscarls]], the elite guard of King [[Cnut]] (and later of [[Harold Godwinson|King Harold II]]) were armed with two-handed axes that could split shields or metal helmets with ease.

The warfare and violence of the Vikings were often motivated and fuelled by their beliefs in [[Norse religion]], focusing on [[Thor]] and [[Odin]], the gods of war and death.<ref name="Grimbly2013">{{cite book|author=Shona Grimbly|title=Encyclopedia of the Ancient World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZJ4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA121|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78688-4|pages=121–|access-date=17 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101203825/https://books.google.com/books?id=zZJ4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA121|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="GreenSiegmund2003">{{cite book|author1=Dennis Howard Green|author2=Frank Siegmund|title=The Continental Saxons from the Migration Period to the Tenth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MThYNoTutLkC&pg=PA306|year=2003|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-1-84383-026-9|pages=306–|access-date=17 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101203825/https://books.google.com/books?id=MThYNoTutLkC&pg=PA306|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Violence was common in Viking Age Norway. An examination of Norwegian human remains from the Viking Age found that 72% of the examined males and 42% of the examined females had suffered weapon-related injuries. Violence was less common in Viking Age Denmark, where society was more centralized and complex than the clan-based Norwegian society.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bill |first1=Jan |last2=Jacobson |first2=David |last3=Nagel |first3=Susanne |last4=Strand |first4=Lisa Mariann |title=Violence as a lens to Viking societies: A comparison of Norway and Denmark |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |date=September 2024 |volume=75 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101605 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416524000369#b0870|hdl=11250/3148868 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

The Viking warrior is often associated with violent fits of rage and frenzied fighting in modern popular culture, as reflected in meanings attached to the words ''berserkergang'' and ''[[berserker]]'' that would not have been the meanings understood by medieval Norse society.<ref name="Dale2021">{{cite book |last1=Dale |first1=Roderick |title=The Myths and Realities of the Viking Berserkr |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-65036-9 |pages=72–75, 85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ufFUEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=6 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206045500/https://books.google.com/books?id=ufFUEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |url-status=live }}</ref> Such a fighting style may have been deployed intentionally by [[shock troops]], and it has been proposed that the berserk-state may have been induced by consuming large amounts of alcohol,<ref>Robert Wernick. The Vikings. Alexandria VA: [[Time-Life Books]]. 1979. p. 285</ref> or through ingestion of materials with [[psychoactive]] properties, such as the solanaceous plant [[Hyoscyamus niger]], as speculated by Karsten Fatur<ref>Karsten Fatur, Sagas of the Solanaceae: Speculative ethnobotanical perspectives on the Norse berserkers, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 244, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2019.112151 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414031020/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874119322640?via%3Dihub |date=14 April 2023 }}.</ref> or by consumption of the [[hallucinogenic]] mushroom ''[[Amanita muscaria]]'', as first hypothesised by the Swedish theologian Samuel Ødman in 1784 and later by the botanist F.C. Schübeler in 1885.<ref>Howard D. Fabing. "On Going Berserk: A Neurochemical Inquiry." Scientific Monthly. 83 [Nov. 1956] p.&nbsp;232</ref> The Norwegian battlefield archaeologist Are Skarstein Kolberg asserts that "...Ödman's hypothesis is not supported by the saga literature or by the archaeological record",<ref name="Kolberg2018">{{cite journal |last1=Kolberg |first1=Are Skarstein |title=Did Vikings Really Go Berserk? An Interdisciplinary Critical Analysis of Berserks. |journal=Journal of Military History |date=July 2018 |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=905, 908 |url=https://web-p-ebscohost-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=363dc534-a0ed-421f-82a8-2db6dc98b79e%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=130321457&db=a9h |access-date=6 February 2023 |issn=0899-3718 |archive-date=14 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414031051/https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/?next_url=/ezproxy/r/ezp.2aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIucC5lYnNjb2hvc3QuY29tL2Vob3N0L2RldGFpbC9kZXRhaWw.dmlkPTYmc2lkPTM2M2RjNTM0LWEwZWQtNDIxZi04MmE4LTJkYjZkYzk4Yjc5ZSU0MHJlZGlzJmJkYXRhPUpuTnBkR1U5WldodmMzUXRiR2wyWlElM0QlM0Q-#AN=130321457&db=a9h |url-status=live }}</ref> and according to Roderick Dale, there is no evidence for it from the Viking Age or from Old Norse literature.<ref name="Dale2021" />