What did real viking shields look like?

[@fibber2u]

Just to say you are still informing people 3 years on with this video. I like the no pretensions and direct fact based style of presentation. Thanks.

[@vishmonster]

You are doing us a real service with presenting this evidence.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

That is great to hear! Hope it is of good use!

[@tacticalbadger5196]

This is super helpful! I've been doing a course where we had to make a historically accurate looking viking shield and man its difficult to find this much good information in the same place! Keep up the good work man!

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thanks, I am glad I could help! What kind of course is this, sounds awesome :D

[@tacticalbadger5196]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat Its a course in prop making for film and theatre :)

[@Ciek0Karanthus]

Excellent compilation of archaeological information! I love this kind of presentation.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thanks man! I really tried my best and while I am no historican, my scientific background helped a lot.

[@Ciek0Karanthus]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat i think so. You are very clear and concise as a presenter. I've been sharing this with my reenactment friends.

[@TheShieldery]

very nice! I will mention you in the video in which I'll craft a viking shield replika! thanks!

[@paavohirn3728]

Fascinating! Thank you for the clear and well documented presentation which really adds to the information value of the video!

[@PresidentoftheManosquare]

Great video. Love the deep dive into the different finds. So interesting

[@geoffthecarpenter]

Very clear description of viking age shields, full of interesting facts backed up by images a modern pagan man can reflect apon while building his own Wiking shield, SKAL.

[@abeldasilva9368]

Thank you Alexander for making this video.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

You are welcome, hope it helps!

[@ShueperDan]

Your English is very good. I'm impressed by your delivery of such technical information

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thank you very much! I am currently working on my pronunciation and I try to extend my terminology! However, I think my German accent is still very prevalent.

[@texasbeast239]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat - Feel proud of your accent, Alexander. It adds to the flavor of the presentation. Your message comes across clearly, but you still show some of your own heritage and personality too. It's certainly a more appropriate accent for Viking topics than my Southern US one!

[@MrNitrox91]

Superb presentation. 10/10

[@merlesson1164]

Thank you! Excellent presentation.

[@igneous061]

Woah, pretty underrated chanel, a lot of amazing info

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thanks pal, it was a lot but rewarding work so far :D

[@igneous061]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat keep it up battlebrother, you are doing good job

[@Sinderfolm]

Hallo Alexander, sehr schönes Video und super Recherche und Quellensammlung. Danke für deine Mühe und ich hoffe es werden noch einige ansehen! Grüße aus dem Schildwall.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Vielen Dank lieber Patrick! Kann es kaum erwarten wieder mit dir im Wall zu stehen!

[@Thetankfal]

Great video. Any information on linden wood used for shields? I didn’t hear it mentioned.

[@tardiscommand1812]

About to start a shield build and this video is very helpful. Thanks eh!

[@lunausity]

Amazing job very well researched and interesting video.

[@plattecitypaul9983]

Very cool! Thanks for putting this together.

[@timothyahern9476]

Thanks so much for this video. We have a shield making day fast approaching at my reenactment club and this is going to help me make something better than my terribly clunky first attempt. :)

[@aeronmikal2337]

This is wonderful. Thank you for this information.

[@rentkriticky1290]

Thank you, your video was very helpful!

[@andrealexandresoares3912]

This video is very very important. Tank you so much!!!

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Always happy I could help with my work, thanks a lot!

[@Meevious]

2:03 Spruce is also a softwood. Btw, fir is pronounced not as "fear", but as "fur", ie. with a vowel sound that would be written with "ö" in Swedish or "ø" in Norwegian.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thanks mate, you are right! Rolf Warming also pointed out that mistake to me. Probably I should correct that via subtitles. Good to know, I will do it better the next time!

[@Meevious]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat No problem! I'm sure everyone can understand well enough, I just thought you might like to know. =)

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

@@Meevious Indeed, I do!

[@mr.brettparks2938]

Just made my own shield a few weeks ago and hung it on my wall. I had a great time making it. I'm now making a smaller one for my 6-year old.

[@less3117]

Very informative. Thamks!

[@danpeterson114]

This was an excellent overview of the real Germanic/Viking shield remains in the archaeological record, though a bit disappointed that it completely ignored the facet of the fully documented use of metallic decorative elements placed on the face of some shields of the period, the best known being from Valsgard and Sutton Hoo. Besides their decorative quality, some of these pieces, notably the iron ones, would clearly enhance the strength of the shield boards. We briefly saw in the video that one of the original shields from Gokstad apparently had pieces of flat sheet iron in a round shape mounted several inches from the edge of one of the excavated shields, (and apparently on the inside since there was a raised portion to conform to the wooden grip), but in a similar fashion to so many typical, commercially available "Viking" shields which have this same kind of flat metal mounted right on the edge. Due to how the shield pieces have become "puzzle pieces" now, is it possible that this round edged, flat iron material could have actually been mounted on the edge of a slightly smaller shield, and would resemble the iron edged "reenactment" Viking shields. It would seem that this kind of banding would be more practical mounted on the edge of the shield (like the original archaeological finds of flat metal clips, and 'U' shaped gutters), rather than a few inches below the edge as seen in your video of the original museum pieces. Has anyone studied this particular Gokstad shield iron to any degree, or to your knowledge is there any other surviving archaeological evidence for this kind of flat iron sheeting around the edge of original period shields that we see so commonly done on shields made for the reenactment community?

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thank you for the compliment. I did not include the pre-Viking age metal applications (from Vendel-Period), since I do not think they are relevant for Viking age shields in general. The Gokstad iron bands you see in the picture do not belong to the original shields but are a very early approach to reconstruction. In fact, the planks you see on that shield do not even belong to the same original shield but the museum put together the best-looking planks from what was left of all the original shields, to get at least a handful of shields for display. As far as I know, this has been done many centuries ago and methods/techniques to protect the wooden shields were not established yet/did not have a high priority. Very sad actually, what now is lost to us. So far there is no evidence that would suggest iron band usage to reinforce shield structure.

[@dutifulanglo6614]

Do you know what tool they would have used to cut the shield round? I'm guessing some kind of pull saw? I'm just curious because I've only ever seen people use a jigsaw (powertool) to cut it out.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

I would argue they simply used wood saws. Here is an nice article about evidence of woodwork tools: www.vikinganswerlady.com/wood.shtml

[@dutifulanglo6614]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat Excellent, thank you very much!

[@chrismead1464]

Any knowledge on what their glue for the hide consisted of? Pine resin, Pine tar, or something else?

[@kojkone2015]

Thank you sir.

[@levimaier9910]

What's ,,feeder wood" ?

[@filiprajecki1418]

Do You know where I can buy this beautiful copper fastenings from 13:44?

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

I am sorry, your comment slipped through my radar. You would have to contact the Authentic Viking Shields shop on facebook for such details.

[@fyrivikingcombat]

Congratullations on this video, mate!! I would really like to make Brazilian Portuguese subtitle to this video, If you can change the configurations I would really like to help.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Glad you like it! I think that would be great. But according to YT they removed community contributions.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

If you are still interested, you could simply send me the translated text. I can paste it into the subtitle function and if necessary we can do some fine tuning via video conference/shared screen?

[@fyrivikingcombat]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombatThat would be great, mate!! I will look into it. If you want you can send us a messege on instagram so we can keep in touch. @fyri.vcg

[@mionshion6087]

Video with some tips to create a history accurate shields... Keep it up.. 👍

[@borjesvensson8661]

Really god information. Just a little input on clenching nails. When clinching nails in boatbuilding you want to cut the nails to size too not leave the bent down part overly long. Maybee one inch maximum not counting the tip that goes back into the wood. As the nails are soft iron this can bee done with the same type of nail cutting pliers that a farrier uses and leaves a semisharp edge that if driven in crossgrain lessens the risk of splitting compared to the pointed nail. A lot of the reconstructions seemed to have overly long clencings and maybee oversized nails. I dont think i saw a example of original clinched nails, is there such examples from the finds?

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thanks for the interesting input! There are a few examples, I cannot remember all of them right now but for sure there were found some in britian with viking context which are stated to be clinched nails (Boast, Emma (2012) The Viking Shield in the British Isles: changes in use from the 8th-11th Century in England and the Isle of Man. Unpublished MA.)

[@borjesvensson8661]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat Interesting. But i would not trust written evidence 100%. Because of two reasons. One, Archeologist have been known to use some terms diferently than craftsmen, bronze for example often is used (at least in older Swedish texts) when refering to what nowdays is called brass. And secondly i am not shure that clinching exlusivly refers to bent over nails in english since the corresponding term in Norwegian: klinke, means riveting. Klinke is to my understanding formed after the sound made when cold riveting ships nails.

[@borjesvensson8661]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat Of course i dont mean to doubt if shields were constructed with bent over nails or that it would bee a good method, just curious since the pictures of originals i saw were riveted, kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGWTf6qPi6ihm9k Here is a good Video of how a boatbuilder clenches nails. Copper nails are of course softer but not that much than good forged iron nails. The two bend method is okay too but the length is the same as i would use.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

@@borjesvensson8661 Most which I know of are indeed riveted. It's always hard to tell for me from the pictures, since there is not much left of the nails. I am really no expert in that field. I have to rely on the statements of more educated people. That's a great link, thank you very much!

[@borjesvensson8661]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat i am not either a expert. Just dabbled in boatbuilding the traditional way.

[@HerrNiclas]

Great vid! Keep up the good work. P.S. Every letter is pronounced in the nordic language.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Thanks a lot! What do you mean?

[@manuelkong10]

great vid, thank you!

[@Just__Eric_]

great video

[@TaraHaugo-le4zt]

I liked your video thank you

[@starrcitizenalpha7847]

Hello. Very informative presentation. I recall that some round shields were apparently covered in linen instead of animal hides. Did you uncover any evidence of this in your research? I recently made a round shield by laminating two layers of 5mm plywood together (oriented so the grains of each 5mm sheet were at right angles to each other). I sanded a gentle profile towards the edge such that the board was 10mm at the edge of the boss and 5mm at the perimeter of the board. This has resulted in a surprisingly robust and rigid shield. I covered the shield in Linen and used raw hide sourced from dog chew "bones" sourced from a pet shop to line the edge. The grip was made from some local Australian gum tree growing on my property. I'm not sure how much the shield weighs, only that it weighs less than a full 3 litre container of milk. ;) Historically accurate? No, but it was a fun project and it looks great hanging on my wall next to my axe and bow. Thanks again for the informative presentation.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

There is no evidence for viking age scandinavian shields covered with linen, that I am aware of. Even high medieval triangular shields were rarley covered with linen, which is also contradicting the popular opinion. Hide most probably just worked better, however we can never be sure why they made the extra work with hide. There seems to be one shield of plywood from norway, Trondheim-Bygrund but so far no extensive information has been published. Maybe this read is interesting for you: www.patreon.com/posts/domed-round-in-28052167 Your shield construction sounds very robust and rigid! Bet it looks nice on the wall! :)

[@kaaajeee]

how do you know that the size of the round shield warried depending of the size of the person (using it)? so many other factors could dictate the size.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

I channeled the ancestors via ouija board.

[@alexandert-d59]

Fantastic video

[@scelonferdi]

I guess Ubisoft should've known this before making a certain game...

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

I agree! :D But there are way to much other stuff as well...

[@scelonferdi]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat True, it's just that the kite shields incidentally were the first thing catching my eye, alongside the uncovered boards in round shields.

[@purzelbaum19]

toller erklärt 👍

[@uliblum5690]

Hallo, gibt es eine Möglichkeit dieses auch auf Deutsch übersetzt zu bekommen. Bin der englischen Sprache leider nicht mächtig.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Ich versuche jetzt am Wochenende Zeit zu finden, eine deutsche Übersetzung einzubauen!

[@uliblum5690]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat Vielen Lieben Dank.

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

Es ist vollbracht! :)

[@uliblum5690]

@@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat danke dir🤩

[@alexandermartzok_vikingcombat]

@@uliblum5690 Gerne doch!

[@StefanKibellus]

❤

[@EREDEGELLER]

Lets say i was a viking and i my fellow viking was in a city, they put a sword in the ground, the sword edges points to NORTH the direction to the city, so i with my shield place it so that the direction alings. so i can get the fixed position on me. Purley hypothetical tho. not true at all. they used shileds and swords in combat.

[@thumbsdownbandit]

First thumbs down.