The Illustrated Guide to Viking Martial Arts

A comprehensive guide to hand-to-hand combat that re-creates strategies used by the Vikings

The Viking shield wall is a famed battle strategy, tens or hundreds of men interlocked, reliant on their neighbors for survival. What are less well known are the actual techniques used in solo hand-to-hand combat, duels, and other forms of close-quarter engagements. Based on a comprehensive analysis of Viking sagas and other period sources, this is the first book to present a step-by-step martial system. It reveals the hitherto hidden world of Viking combat, ranging from the techniques involved in thrust, block, and cut, to the weapons used, the limitations of period armor, and the range of wounds suffered by combatants. Based on the sagas and writings of the Vikings themselves, this book represents one of the earliest fighting manuals in the world, and a fascinating insight into the warriors who were the scourge of Dark Age Europe.