Viking Shields

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Weapons - Viking (examples) Shields

Viking Shields

Reference to Viking Battle Strategy

The use of Viking shields went far beyond a mere means to parry blows from an opponent. The Viking shield was typically round, being a successor to earlier Germanic shields with a diameter of around 80-90 cm or more. The Viking shield was made of planks of woods such as fir, pine, willow or linden. It usually contained a hole at the center that supported a hand grip at that point, covered by a metal boss. The Gokstad ship has places for shields to be hung on its railing, and the Gokstad shields have holes along the rim for fastening some sort of non-metallic rim protection. Towards the end of the Viking age, the Norman kite shield came into fashion.