“The same evening Pálnatóki came to the island with twenty-four ships. He laid his ships on the other side of the cape, and there tented over his host (on board). Thereupon he went ashore alone with his bow and arrows, and his sword at his belt. Now it must be told of King Harald that he went ashore with eleven men. They walked into the wood, made a fire there, and warmed themselves at it. They sat on a felled tree, and it had become dark as the night fell on. Pálnatóki went into the wood opposite where the king sat, and stood there. The king warmed himself at the fire, and came with his back close to it. Clothes were laid under him. He was on his knees, and stooped forward so low while warming his back and shoulders that the hind part of his thighs stood out. Pálnatóki heard the king’s voice, and recognised that of his father’s brother, Fjölnir. He laid an arrow on his (bow) string and shot at the king, and, it is told, that the arrow hit the king straight between his thighs and came out of his mouth. The king fell dead, as was to be expected. When his followers saw what had happened, Fjölnir said: ‘A great mishap has occurred to the man who has done this deed, or caused it to be done. A strange wonder is the way in which this deed has been committed.’ He asked what should be done. They left to him to decide that, for he was the wisest of them. It is told that he took the arrow out of the king’s mouth, and put it by as it was. It was easy to know, for it was bound with gold. Fjölnir said to the men: ‘I think it advisable that we all tell the same tale about this event, and it seems to me we cannot do better than say he was shot in the battle to-day. That is more likely than the wonder which has occurred here.’ They all bound themselves firmly to tell the same story” (Jomsvikinga Saga).

The most celebrated mythical arrows^[99] of the Sagas were the Gusi arrows, which had come into the possession of Ketil Hœng, and were owned afterwards by his grandson, Orvar Odd.

There are several accounts of these wonderful arrows in the Sagas.

“Grím (father of Orvar-Odd) followed them (Odd, Gudmund, Sigurd) to the ships and said: ‘Here are the costly things which I want to give thee, Odd, my kinsman; they are three arrows which have a name and are called Gusi’s nautar (Gusi’s followers).’ He gave the arrows to Odd, who looked at them and said: ‘They are very costly.’ The feathers were gilded, and the arrows flew off and on the string by themselves, and one never needs to search for them. These arrows Ketil Hœng took from Gusi, the king of the Finnar; they bite everything they are aimed at, for they are forged by Dvergar. Odd said: ‘No gifts have I which I think equally fine.’ He thanked his father, and they parted with friendship” (Orvar Odd’s Saga, c. 4).^[100]

Slings and stones thrown.—Stone-throwing was an important means of attack. Stones were sometimes thrown by hand, but oftener with slings, particularly in sea-fights, and the art was brought to great perfection. Slings were also used on land by bodies of men who had no other weapons.^[101] The stone-throwers are mentioned as occupying the flanks in King Hedin’s army; and the slingers stood in the last ranks of King Hring’s order of battle on Brávalla heath.

As heavy stones could not be thrown any great distance by mere muscular strength, machines were employed, called Valslöngva.

The chief Sturla Sighvatsson was attacking his enemies, who defended themselves inside a high wall.

“Sturla walked about outside, and took a stone; he threw stones better than any man, and usually hit the mark. He said: ‘It seems to me if I wished to throw a stone, that I, rather than you, would choose where it should hit; but I will not try it now,’ and he then threw down the stone” (Sturlunga, v., ch. 17).

“Búi (the son of Andrid, in Brautarholt) would never carry any weapon but a sling, which he always wore tied round him. Búi was outlawed because he did not want to sacrifice. Once when he was on a journey, Thorstein, a son of the chief Thorgrim, attacked him with eleven men. Búi had come to a hill called Kleberg, where he saw them pursuing him; he stopped and gathered some stones. Thorstein and his men went fast, and when they had passed a brook which was there, they heard the sling of Búi whistle and a stone flew; it struck the breast of one of Thorstein’s men and killed him. Búi sent more stones, and hit a man with each one. By this time Thorstein had almost come up to him; Búi retreated down the hill on the other side” (Kjalnesinga Saga, ch. 3).

Defensive weapons.—The shield, the form of which, as we see from the finds, was always round, and somewhat convex. Almost all shields were probably covered with leather. They were of wood, the boards surrounded on the rim by a ring of metal, sometimes of gold, and they were braced and furnished with a boss and handle of iron or bronze. Many were painted in different colours, or richly ornamented, and sometimes covered with gold.

Many figurative names were given to them:—

Thjódolf of Hvin, one of Harald Fairhair’s scalds, got as a gift from the Norwegian chief Thorleif^[102] a shield. The shield was painted with subjects from Norse mythology. On these Thjódolf wrote the poem Haustlöng (autumn-long), which is preserved in the later Edda in two parts. The first part tells about the journey of Odin, Loki, and Hœnir; how on their way they met the Jötun Thjassi; and it also describes the rape of Idun, and Thjassi’s death. This part of the poem winds up thus:—

The second part of the poem tells the fight of Thor with the Jötun Hrungnir, and Thjódolf ends it with these words:—

“When the jarl heard the poem, he gave Einar a most costly shield. It was painted with old Sagas, and all the spaces between the paintings were covered with plates of gold and set with stones.

“When he was ready he went to the seat of Egil, and hung the costly shield there, telling the servants that he gave it to Egil, and then rode away.

“It is said that Egil took the shield on a bridal journey to Vidimyri, where it was spoiled by being thrown into a tub of sour milk; he had the ornaments taken off, and there were twelve aurar of gold in the plates” (Egil’s Saga, ch. 82).^[103]

“Sigurd rode away, his shield had many layers, and was covered with red gold, and on it was painted a dragon. It was dark brown on the upper part, and light red on the lower, and in the same way were coloured his helmet, saddle, and armour. He had a gold coat-of-mail (gullbrynja), and all his weapons were ornamented with gold and marked with a dragon, so that every one who saw the dragon might know who the man was, if he had heard that Sigurd slew the large dragon which the Vœrings call Fafnir” (Volsunga Saga, ch. 22).

The shield of Bragi Boddason, presented to him as a gift by the famous Ragnar Lodbrók, seems to have been divided into four sections, each containing a separate subject:—Sörli and Hamdir killing Jórmunrek and avenging Svanhild;^[104] Gefjon ploughing Selund out of Sweden;^[105] Thór fishing the serpent (Midgardsorm); the everlasting fight between Högni and Hédin, which last is as follows:—

“King Hédin, son of Hjarrandi, took Hild, daughter of King Högni, away while he was absent from home. When Högni heard this he pursued him, and found him on Háey (Hoy, High Island), one of the Orkneys. Hédin offered him much gold as indemnity, but Högni said: ‘Thou offerest peace too late, for now I have drawn the sword Dáinsleif, which was made by the Dvergar, which causes a man’s death every time it is unsheathed; the wounds cut by it are never healed.’ Hédin said: ‘Thou boasteth of thy sword, and not of victory; I call every sword good which is faithful to its master’ (owner). Then they began the battle called Hjadninga-fight, and they fought all that day, and at night went to their ships. During the night Hild went to the field of the slain, and with witchcraft called all the dead to life again. The next day the kings went to the battle-field, and all those who had been killed the day before fought with them. Day after day the battle went on, and all the slain and all the weapons in the battle-field and the armour changed into stones. But at daybreak all the dead men rose and fought, and all their weapons could be used. It is told in songs that the Hjadnings shall remain thus till ragnarök (the last fight of the gods)” (Later Edda, Skaldskaparmál, ch. 50).

From some passages in the Sagas it seems that some of the shields were so large that men could be laid on them, and that some were oblong, as represented in wood-carvings and on the Bayeux tapestry.

“Then the king made ready and went along the valley; he selected a resting-place for the night where all his men came together and lie in the open air under their shields” (St. Olaf’s Saga, ch. 219).

“When Olaf was in the Syllingar (Scilly Islands) a hermit prophesied to him ‘that he would get severely wounded in a fight, and be carried on a shield on board his ship; that he would be cured in seven nights, and then be baptized;’ and this proved to be true” (Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga (Heimskringla), ch. 32).

Brynja, or ring coats-of-mail, are often alluded to, and the benches in Odin’s hall were covered with them. We have seen from the finds that Brynjas were used at a very early period, probably even before the Christian era. They were made long and short—some, in fact, were so short as not to cover the stomach. Only in two instances is the spanga-brynja, or plate coat-of-mail, mentioned. Occasionally brynjas are described as being made of gold. We read that the loss of the famous battle of Stamford Bridge by Harald Hardradi was attributed to his men having left their coats-of-mail on board their ship. Many coats-of-mail are described as being impervious to weapons, owing, no doubt, to their wonderful workmanship and the hardness of the rings.

Some of the poetical names given to brynjas are:—

From the following account we see that some of these coats-of-mail were made thicker than others:—

“Hjálmar said: ‘I want to fight Angantyr, for I have a brynja in which I have never been wounded; it is set with fourfold rings’” (Orvar Odd’s Saga, ch. 14).

In the sea-fight between Olaf and Svein jarl—

“The latter had more men, but the king had picked men on his ship, and they were so well equipped that every one had a brynja; and on this occasion they did not get wounded” (St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 47).^[106]

Helgi Hardbeinsson, was told by his herdsman that he had seen many armed men, who had come to kill him, and he thus described the war-dress of one of them, as they sat in a circle taking their morning meal (day-meal):—

“He had on a coat of plate-mail^[107] and a steel cap, the brim of which was as wide as a hand’s breadth, and a shining axe on his shoulder, the edge of which seemed to be two feet long. He had black eyes, and was very viking-like in appearance” (Laxdœla Saga, c. 63).

Helmets (hjálm) are often mentioned; they were generally gilt, or of gold. On the front of them was a herkumbl (war-mark). From several bronze plates we see that they were sometimes made in the shape of animals. The Saga says of King Adils that he had a helmet called Hildigölt (war-boar). In the finds they are extremely rare; one of silver has been found, and a fragment of another inlaid with gold, and one or two of iron.

The viking Framar is thus described: “He wore a helmet on his head, and was girt with a sword; had a gold-enamelled gull-smeltr shield, and a spear in his hand” (Sturlaug Starfsamis Saga, ch. 11).

Olaf Haraldsson, when he was about to fight the battle at Ness against Svein jarl:

“Had on his ship one hundred men, and they had on ring coats-of-mail and Welsh (foreign) helmets. Most of his men had white shields, and on them was the holy cross in gold, but some were painted with red or blue; he had painted crosses in white on the front of all helmets. He had a white standard which was a serpent” (St. Olaf’s Saga, c. 47).^[108]