I am writing this article because there is definitely a need
for laying out the facts concerning the Vikings and what kind of
Martial Arts they mastered and trained. Over the years I have noticed
that a lot of misinterpretations and wrong information flourishes
in the Martial Arts community all over the World, mostly outside
the Nordic countries – but sadly to say, false facts can also
be found in Scandinavia.
Many people have asked me to write a short text in English so that
even people that lives outside Scandinavia can learn something of
the Way of the Vikings. And so, here it is – the history of
the Viking warriors and the Martial Arts that the trained.
In the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland)
we call a certain historical period that spanned between the years
750–1100 A.D. – the Viking Age, because that was the
age of the Viking achievement. Over a time period of more than 300
years the Vikings of the North became known in many parts of Europe,
Asia, Africa – and even in North America as fearsome warriors
that seamed to be unstoppable in every kinds of warfare. The Vikings
behaved like kings all over the World and did never recognise any
foreign power to rule over them.
Since the age of the Vikings became history, it has been debated
by the scholars, what gave the Vikings such a good self-confidence
that they had no problem to adapt to different styles of warfare
or other fighting-styles that they met on their travels. How come
the Vikings never felt insecure of their Martial Arts skills or
never tough that their enemies were unbeatable? The answer can be
found in the way that they trained, that is – both with and
without weapons.
The Viking community was ruled by the sword and you had little to
say if you could not protect your rights with a weapon in your hand.
In their society the family and the kindred was the most important
thing – even more important than the man himself. If a relative
was killed, his family or kindred was supposed to revenge his death
by killing a member of the killer´s family. This was called
“blood-revenge”.
If you had a dispute, it did not matter if it was a minor or a
major one, you could always settle it by challenging the opponent
to a duel. The outcome of the duel decided who had won the dispute.
This was the common way to solve a dispute in the Viking Age and
this was also what the Law recommended if two persons or families
was of different opinions. As one can see – the males had
an utmost need for a good Martial Arts schooling, or otherwise they
were an easy target for any person who wanted to gain from their
losses.
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