Viking bow

Viking bow and arrow

Bows were used by the Vikings primarily for hunting, but they were also used in combat in situations where men wanted to attack their opponents from a long distance. In massed battles, archers would open the battle before the opposing sides closed to engage at close range.

Perhaps the most notable use of a bow in the sagas is Gunnar's defense in his house, Hlíðarendi, against an attack led by Gizurr hvíti, described in chapter 77 of the Brennu Njáls saga. From an attic on the upper floor of the house, Gunnar killed or wounded ten of his opponents with his bow before one of the attackers cut his bowstring.

In the Battle of the Ice at Vigrafjörður, described in Chapter 45 of the Eyrbyggja Saga, Þorbrandr's sons took up a defensive position on a rock above the ice, where they had a good footing. Steinþór and his men had a difficult time on the ice against such a strong defense. Two Norwegians with Steinþór ran a short distance across the ice, where they were able to shoot arrows at the rocks, making things very dangerous for Þorbrandr's sons.

Bows were used in nautical battles. Once captured, men on opposing ships fired arrows and threw spears from one ship to another to clear the decks of men so the ship could be captured. Chapters 106-111 of the Olaf's saga, Tryggvasonar, describe the naval battle at Svölðr in the year 1000, in which King Olaf was killed.

The saga says that the king most often shot with his bow, but also sometimes threw spears.

With him was Einar, who was described as the best shot of all. Einar fired two close-range shots at Earl Eiríkr before Eirík's archer, Finn, fired an arrow that struck Einar's bow.

Like other weapons, bows were used to threaten. Before the Battle of Svölðr, Úlfr, one of King Ólaf's men aboard Örmurinn langi, questioned the king's command and implied cowardice on his part. Ólafr put an arrow to the bow in his hand and pointed it at Úlfr, who said, "Shoot in another direction, king, where the need is greater."

Bows and arrows

Bows were made from yew, ash, or elm wood. They were typically 1.6 to 2 meters long. A complete bow found in Hedeby was made of yew and was 192 cm long.

Arrowheads were made in various shapes and sizes. The shortest is 12 cm long. Arrowheads are not commonly found in warrior graves, suggesting that bows were not considered solely warrior tools. Most arrowheads are found at domestic sites, which may indicate that bows were intended as household tools used for hunting.

Arrowheads had a peg driven into a hole in the shaft and secured with rope and pitch. Although evidence is very limited, the arrows were probably 70 to 80 cm long and perhaps 10 mm in diameter. Arrows were probably made of hardwood to hold the peg.

The estimated draw weight of a 10th-century bow is 40 kg (90 lbs), and the effective range of this weapon was about 200 m (650 ft).

Medieval Icelandic law, however, gives a different estimate. The flight distance of an arrow, ördrag (bowshot), was a unit of measurement frequently used in Icelandic law. For example, Grágás, the medieval Icelandic legal code, requires that the court empowered to confiscate an outlaw's property be held within one bowshot of the outlaw's house. A later addition to Grágás defines the bowshot as 200 faðmar (approximately 480 m).

It's likely that archers used bows with draw weights appropriate to their abilities. Therefore, the draw weights of the bows must have varied. After Einar's bow was broken at the Battle of Svölðr, the king threw him his own bow and urged Einar to continue shooting. Einar fitted an arrow and was unaccustomed to the king's light bow. He pulled his head behind the bow. "Too weak, too weak is the king's bow."