Viking Fighting Moves from the Sagas: 5

A speculative reconstruction of one-on-one Viking combat based on fighting moves described in the Sagas of Icelanders, including:

---attempting to get past a spear: Brennu-Njáls saga, ch. 145
Kári Sölmundarson kom að þar er fyrir var Bjarni Brodd-Helgason. Kári þreif upp spjót og lagði til hans og kom í skjöldinn. Bjarni skaut hjá sér skildinum ella hefði spjótið staðið í gegnum hann. Hann hjó þá til Kára og stefndi á fótinn. Kári kippir fætinum og snerist undan á hæli og missti Bjarni hans.
Kari Solmundarson came up to Bjarni Brodd-Helgason; he grabbed a spear and thrust it at him, and it hit his shield. Bjarni jerked his shield to the side - otherwise the spear would have gone through him. He swung his sword at Kari's leg, but Kari pulled back his leg and turned on his heel, so that Bjarni missed him.

---kick a shield into an opponent's face: Grettis saga, ch. 40
...slær hann fæti sínum neðan undir skjaldarsporðinn svo hart að skjöldurinn gekk upp í munninn svo að rifnaði kjafturinn en kjálkarnir hlupu ofan á bringuna.
...he kicked the bottom of the shield up into his mouth so hard that his face ripped open and his jaws fell down to his chest.

---a spear pins a man to a snowdrift by his scrotum: Droplaugarsona saga, ch. 10
Og er hann kom í skaflinn skaut Helgi Droplaugarson til hans milli fótanna og í gegnum kyllinn og féll hann á bak aftur en spjótið festi í skaflinum og hékk hann þar á skaflinum allan daginn.
But when he came into the snowdrift, Helgi Droplaugarson hurled a spear between his legs and pierced through the scrotum, and he fell backwards, and the spear stuck fast in the snowdrift, and he hung there on the snowdrift for the whole day.

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Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Viking
• combat
• saga
• Sagas of Icelanders
• fight
• sword
• shield
• axe
• spear
• sax
• historical martial arts
• HEMA
• Hurstwic
• Higgins Armory Sword Guild