He forgot to mention that vikings had horns on their helmets. These horns were magnetic and would attract any pommels thrown at them rendering the most effective weapon of its time useless.
Somebody needs to specialize in making helmets specifically for testing at a reduced cost. Something made using the proper materials and techniques but not so nicely finished since it's just going to be destroyed.
Fur or soft leather caps were common. People didn't generally want freezing iron directly on their skulls. My guess is that they'd layer it up a bit. Lol.
@@Myepicapple They knew the pattern, and apparently there was a small figurine found that had braided hair or a braided beard. It's also believed that King Sweyn Forkbeard braided his beard
@@joemama-ib2lh yes but names such as Tveskæg and Hårfager should be seen as distinguishable traits not common traits - Most gravesites are found with combs and the like - not pairable with braids. I’d like to hear your source on this figurine thing
@@Myepicapple Finehair was a name given to Haraldr after his hair was cut because he grew it out long and it was probably tangled, so when it was cut he would of been named finehair. And forkbeards probably weren't very common at the time which is probably why Sweyn was given the name. Hair beads were found in viking graves aswell which very well could be for braiding, and combs are needed for braiding hair because it is very difficult to do it when it's tangley.
"If I got hit to the face this would break my nose" Well, Skall, if I got hit to the face I'd take a broken nose over a blade/mace in my skull. Just my 2 cents :P
@Shades 1.1 Your grammar is dumb af. You don't even have an object in your first sentence. Skall only pointed out what kind of protection the helmet gives.
@Shades 1.1 Says the keyboard warrior with an edgy profile picture. I don't find Skall's huge beard particularly feminine, although meatheads like you are never very smart anyway. Not that it matters if someone is feminine or masculine, you're trying to be an asshole and that makes you a sad human being. Nobody thinks you're cool because you act ''tough'' on the internet, you're making yourself a clown in front of everyone.
Kinda gives me the vibes of maybe a Jarl's huscarl or something along those lines. Someone important enough to be given a helmet, and expected to wear it often... But not important enough to deserve something richly engraved or decorated. Considering it was found in what was presumably a little hidden loot cache... Maybe a raider managed to murder a huscarl and plundered his gear, and hid it. Either got caught and killed or never came back to England on another raid to get it.
@Fishy Vagina It's probably the reason that iron was so valuable. You can't smelt and repurpose wooden nails or toenails. It may take a lot longer to mine and process it to begin with, but then you can morph it to your will forever! In all seriousness, it makes some sense, but we don't really see it in the iconography. Most warriors are shown either with a nasal helm or with a bare head. That's not to say that nobody wore lesser head protection (in fact, good luck finding period iconography of a spectacled helm, yet all of the generally accepted viking helmets/fragments found do have spectacles), but it shows that in the popular imagination, the main types of head protection for battle were nasal helms and invisible helms.
Well, before the game launched they were nobodies (and probably didn't have the money?), and now they've sold 5 million copies so I think they're good 😆
Educated guess that knob on the top helped to secure a gambison or hard leather "beanie" to help cushion blows. Padding or leather would likely have been painted / decorated and help protect the iron.
The only possible weaponization of it I can see is if you were using the helmet as a melee weapon. But holy crap, talk about an absolute last-ditch desperation move, to punch with your little helmet spike. Very unlikely. If you're to that point you're done for anyway. A plume or other decoration is much more likely.
I think that arc on the helmet is just decorative, it kind of resambles the longboat upside-down, vikings used to build longhouses the same way with that arc on center of the roof. Very cool design and I'm taking inspiration from the viking age, when I'm decorating my home
Hiya skall I’ve seen this helmet first hand at the Preston on tees museum it’s such a beautiful piece of history and it’s mad that I live so close to the museum. Also they have such a beautiful collection of swords, daggers and Victorian clothes.
I still dont know why people like the horned viking helmet. I always thought it looked silly, unauthentic and cringe. When I was I child, I actually clipped the horns off of my playmobil viking helmets with a scissor. Looked way better afterwards. And stepping on it in the middle of the night on my way to the toilet didnt hurt as much.
horns only add unnecessary weight and instead of glancing a blow it will actually "fork" a weapon in between the horns which actually helps the guy hitting it.
I like that kind of helms with the mail added, it makes it look more "bad ass". I was going to play with you about the "horns", but didn't want you to think I was serious 😉
Yarm is the next town along from me and the museum it's kept in is a 20 minute walk from my house. It's amazing the reach this artefact has had that a youtuber half way across the world decides to create a video about it.
I've thought about the whole spikes-on-helmets phenomenon, and I realized a strategic benefit I haven't seen talked about otherwise. In combat between armoured opponents, balance is probably one of the foremost defensive factors determining whether or not gaps or weak spots in the armour are exposed and available to strikes. In a lot of martial arts styles, leveraging the head -- (as you mentioned a large spike providing a disadvantage that way, and rightfully so) -- is intentionally done to take the opponent off balance for a moment. Often the head would be grabbed with a free hand and pulled to expose the neck as well as throw off the balance, part of the reason Norse warriors cut the backs and sides of their hair. The big (and really only) advantage I see to having that spike there is it wards off the hand from grabbing a moving head, especially with the often unprotected palm of the hand. That spike really presents a problem to all ways you might grab and opponents head effectively with one hand, and it also offers a quick and effective way to attack the wrist of anyone who successfully does.
@@johan.ohgren, some various depictions mostly, such as the Bayeaux Tapestry, as well as some descriptive references which may have arguable interpretations in terms of translation. Not entirely conclusive, but there is some evidence for it. The Bayeaux Tapestry certainly does seem to corroborate the idea that Norse warriors undertook this effort in its depictions, for sure.
Another argument for the spike on top just being decorative is that the same design keeps showing up throughout history with no known practical application. I found this article that talks about why there are helmets with spikes on the top, from 13th century Mongolian helmets all the way to 19th century Pickelhaube. The article: www.militarytrader.com/militaria-collectibles/why-spiked-helmets Keep in mind I don't know if the article is historically accurate but the fact that "pointy thing on top of my head" is a design feature that keeps popping up all around the world is just hilarious to me. It seems humanity just can't resist putting a spike on top of a helmet.
5:30 this is where a padded coif comes in, and I mean substantial padding not a leather or wool cap. Skall often forgets about padding when it comes to armor.
Well, alotof helmets actually were with thin padding and just suspension and spacing to absorb shock, heavy padding isn't a rule, Knight errant channel did a video on this.
@@PJDAltamirus0425 yeah but with helmets like these that don't have liners you would wear a thick padded coif unless you want a concussion. Like Skall said, they didn't have liners in this period.
AKSHUALLY..... Yea, I wanted to comment about spectacles being a distinct viking feature. I agree that the type of spectacles presented may be distinctly viking, but you have spectacle helmets fros Scandinavia to the Pontic steppe. Slavs have some of their own type of spectacles, as did the Kipchaks and some other steppe cultures. I don't know where that style originated from, but it was widespread across north and eastern Europe, meaning the spectacles in general. Great video! I like videos that discusses archaeological finds!
Great vid, good to see the Yarm helmet getting some love! Gather there's some debate whether spectacle guards were better or worse for protecting the wearer's eyes?
When I made my helmet, I thoght it's too heavy (3,5 kg) and real ones were probably lighter, because they were made out of hardened steel, ergo they could be thinner. Now hearing they were made out of iron and were pretty thick, my mild steel helmet looks pretty realistic
Perhaps the knobs and spikes distinguished rank among the Viking raids? With the addition of streamers and decorations that you mentioned Lord Skall, perhaps, similar to the combs on the helmets of the Centurions in the Roman Legion formations, which legionares followed to determine who their specific commander was, the knobs and spikes helped the lower ranks on a Viking determine who was who in the heat of battle and which specific leader they were assigned to follow. And given the qualities of the helmet you have reviewed here, I might armchair archeologist deduce, that this helm might have belonged to a lower ranking, but still important leader, such as a second in command or someone to that effect. Your thoughts m'lord?
The top panel at 04:39 - You can see that the soldiers on the left have been painted(?) to appear as if they're having a grand old time like fighting the vikings on the right is some kind of a game to them and that they're having absolutely no trouble slicing through a the viking's helmet and head (one handedly) while his fellow vikings are scared/horrified at what they see.
@Fenris B To this very day soldiers scavenge useful items from battlefields. There are literally thousands of photos from WW2 of soldiers carrying weapons or pieces of kit from the other side. If Skall is correct that a lot of the raiders didn't have helmets, they would have been unique in military history to leave them rather than taking them for their own use.
Helmets just simply don't survive well when buried. Swords barely survive it and they're generally much thicker and better compressed within the soil. A buried helmet usually is buried with alot of oxygen and so on because of the nature of the hollow shape, so the thin plates they're made out of rot away quickly.
Skall just to be picky Yarm isn’t in North Yorkshire. Yarm is in Teeside (I use to travel to Middlesbrough which is the main area of the Teeside Borough).
I suspect that the spikes or knops on the tops of historical helmets was intended to help deflect blades away from the very top of the head, and even deflect blunt objects that would otherwise impact the top of the wearer's head. A strike to the top of the head, in my opinion, would be very hard to deflect. The helmet (and skull) are rather flat (by comparison to the side of the head) in terms of a direct downward strike. Anything helps when being struck there.
when skal explains, how there are only 2 complete helmets from the viking age...I somehow, for a second, thought he'd say: "And one of the 2, is ON MY HEAD RIGHT NOW!!!"
@@vodkalover4204 and the viking age is not related to the norse culture at all, its measured from Lindisfarne to Stanford bridge. The norse did not magically appear at that date in England. Its just an anglocentric telling of it. In scandinavia the culture was around long before that and a good while after. There is no functional difference in the vendel culture of 792 and the vikings of 793.
You know, the knop might also be something intended as a hook point for things like a hood as well as plumes or similar. If you're raiding or in a colder/wetter climate, having a hood to pull up with the helmet might be a reason to have something there that would catch it to keep it in place, freeing some of your hands. The cloth would also add to the protection of the helmet there without taking that much away if you're going to be fighting in the rain or similar since it would also dampen the noise issue there. Even bike helmets can be a pain in the rear noise wise in the rain. And if you're on a ship going raiding, you don't get to pick the weather when you get to the target area and are probably safer attacking during the storm than waiting it out despite everything with the ships of the time. Same with defenders or even local guard, you're going to be out in the rain anyway.
pretty sure the knop is there to use the helmet as a defensive weapon if you are caught off guard or unprepared for an attack you could grab that helmet by the face guard and swing it or use it as like a shielded push dagger.
I'll bet that wearing very old helmet was quite common, especially ones that where inherited. It's a shame (for our current research) that people back then where quite fond of recycling metals, so most of the usual arms and amours where repurposed. A lot of people forget about that and fall for the survival bias, thinking that very high end, decorated items where the standard.
I think the top spike on that helm is mostly decorative, however it could be for handling. This most likely makes no sense, but it would slighter easier to put the spike in between your fingers when holding the helmet to your body when you're not wearing it. Without out it, it would be slicker to hang on to, especially when your hands are sweaty. And people that went on raids did travel a lot. You wouldn't want to wear it the whole time. I don't know, kind of a silly idea.
i think the spiked helmet belonged to a shorter warrior who was tired of his taller fellows mocking his height by pating his head, so he ordered the spike placed on top of the helmet to prevent it xD
I like this answer, as a short guy who has been a soldier it makes total sense. I just had to out perform every one else to get around it. A spiked helmet would have been a help XD I had to ask a mate for help to get my helmet down from its place on the top of the locker if we where in a hurry, still made it as 1. of the company though ;)
About those knot(s) at the top of helmet(s), maybe in a rare position one might hit another with the helmet? at least smaller impact point could make some sense. but yea, most likely you attach something on it for decoration or for identification reasons on the battlefield.
Maybe the spike is for stoping it rolling away when you put it down from experience i find that helmets can be a pain in the arse for rolling down a hill when you take it off and place it on the ground
Interesting, because this seems to confirm that, far from being an "outdated" style, the spectacle-helmet was THE dominant helmet style for the 10th century warrior, simply because the longevity of the design would've meant that there were so much more of them in circulation, as opposed to the newer "nasal" design, which seems to have only appeared in the 9th century.
It'd be cool if you teamed up with the modern history guy from England who tests alot of old armors, hema, horse riding skills, food and various other stuff.
Just wanted to say that I received a hard head blow from a polearm while wearing a mild steel helmet i was testing out during a battle in reenactment. It didn't punch through (the fact that the polearm wasn't sharp surely helped), but it deformed enough to cover the gap of the internal leather support and hit my head, provoking a cut. Still, the worse part of it all was my chin bouncing against the chestplate breaking several teeth. Well, and still having problems with my neck to the day. Remember, always wear your helms while in battle!
The top-spike may be to deflect downward sword strikes from horse-mounted warriors. The Mongol/Turkic “turban helmet” have an even more exaggerated top-spike. The spike actually thickens the helmet over the brainpan, without adding excessive weight. There is an aspect psychological warfare with spikes on helmets. When the warriors form up prior to battle, the spikes would create an illusion of twice as many “spear-points”, than the actual number. It also makes your warriors look taller and more intimidating.
My theory is still that the spike could have been used to end someone's life rightly, so to say 😅 you can still use the helmet as a hand held blunt force weapon to punch through mail and still do mutch damage with it.. lets visit this scenario: You been in battle for some time, in the defence of your village. You have one enemy left to finish off, you see your village burned, scortched to the ground! You feel rage and despair, and the last foe is laying there, between your legs. You remove your helmet, its bloody, and you think just a bit more blood upon your helmet does not matter. You grab the helm firmly and lift it over your head, the spike is down towards your enemy! You cry out in pain! and bash the living shit out of your enemy! The enemy that have stripped away so mutch of your life! You are victorious, but to what cost? Your family's life!? Your village? or your humanity?! none the less... your enemy's blood is yet again upon your helmet, for all to see. And you are still victorious! Nor with shame or honour, and everytime you lay eyes upon the spike you remember that event, it has become a part of you.
If the top of the helmet is flat, it will be weak. If you can hit that weak spot with an axe, you can break the spanga, which converge there and the helmet will spring apart, opening to the head for a death blow. You also have to remember that houses in this time would have a hole at the top of the roof to let smoke out, because heat rises and putting it anywhere else is not so effective. In order to stop overheating in this helmet, which would have a mail face mask, it makes sense to put a hole at the top. They had this technology and would surely see the application, so we have to accept that there would probably be a hole in the top of helmets like this. They put a top spike so that the infinitesimal flat point on the dome is instead pointed, critically protecting both the spanga and also the thermal exhaust port. This can also be used to mount a trophy, like someone else's head. A viking with 2 kills would add another spike, much like traditional native American eagle feathers (if they killed 2 eagles they could have more feathers).
Do you reckon instead of horns on the helmet a sort of Warhammer head attachment to the fore head could be a useful thing if the warrior was up close the could have a effective headbut against the other armoured opponent?
I feel like that top spike on the helmet could possibly be an offensive aspect. Say, one's weapons get broken in battle (which was common of the day, considering the poor quality metals they had), so if nothing else take off your helmet and use it as a bludgeon? I could see someone looping their fingers through the eyelets and getting leverage in an arced swing to deliver that spike like the tip of a horseman's pick. It might not bite deeply, but it could definitely concentrate the force. Helmets as last ditch weapons are not unheard of.
Using some imagination and seeing how boxing and MMA fights go, I think these were more effective than we give them credit for. Not every blow was a wide open, full force, prepared and aimed haymaker like you see in test videos. Real world battlefield application in life or death fights might have seen someone doing a left handed back slash while trying to escape. In all actuality, it was a soft and poorly aimed desperation swing, but the chainmail prevented a slit throat.
Could you do a video about the Valsgärde helmets or Vendel era armour in general, it's not only masterfully cradted and absolutelly beautyful, but also has a really interesting oriental look.
16mm sounds like just right for a thick padding mostly made of pressed wool with leather on top. The spike/knob on top, i would say that it looks more like it was meant to use as a way to attach something. But why just assume decorative? Have you ever tested putting some felted wool or maybe leather on top of a helmet when test-hitting it? Also, why should we expect ALL viking helmets to be "pretty"? The vast majority most likely were simply just "plain", because most people needed the protection, not the fancy. The fancy ones just happen to be more likely to survive over time because they were fancy looking.
I know you've done a video on blade and sorcery, but do you think you can make more? Like showing off some techniques (no matter how bad its translated into the game😅)
the knop can be used to tie a crest onto. i have seen reenactors with horsehair or foxtail decorations. may not be a stretch to think overly showy dark age warriors might do something similar, perhaps to signal allegiance with visual cues such as coloured cloth?
should consider what was the primary attack that the helmet was aimed to protect against - was it melee?? I think ranged attacks was (and still is) helmet's first purpose. Sometimes a thin helmet did just fine. Whether you are sword and board or 2-handed it is doubtful that you would seriously see a situation in which "taking one on the head" is ok, regardless what helmet you got on. The little knob or spike on top - why not same usage as firefighters use right now? That is if someone drops a rock on your head straight down it goes glancing. Plenty of running around castle walls for that to occur. As far as that elongated nose guard... well, blocking the mouth could be a disadvantage to the wearer if he intends to put something into it. Like mushrooms. And overall the shield line - that is where the top of the shield ends and your eyes begin is a very technical area. Warriors get tired and shields get pushed in.
I had a good laugh when the Yarm Helmet was pronounced to be a probable Norse Helm. Then members of my society started producing copies and suddenly it didn't look quite as rediculous. Helmets are one of those items very rarely found in the UK. I think there have been 6 or 7 from the Anglo Saxon to Viking period. A bit like Sword finds they are rare.
I sped up the video a little bit because I was annoyed by how slowly I ended up talking, and then I adjusted to not sound weirdly high-pitched. I thought I got it pretty close to my actual pitch.
@@Skallagrim It's pretty noticeably not the same pitch, it's a lot deeper like almost as deep as your shopkeeper videos, and the sound quality degrades a tonne due to the speeding up and pitch shift so that made me realise immediately. Good to hear that you had a practical reason for it, not some strange masculinity thing
Cool how you're willing to point design flaws in historical helmets, even ones you like and own out instead of only bashing fantasy helmets and saying historical helmets were perfectly practical; it shows a keen understanding of human tendencies towards appreciating aesthetics even if they're not always the most desirable thing from a standpoint of what's purely practical in that situation.
He didn't really point out any design flaw. The decorative ridge/nob on top of the helmet? I dare anyone to try to grab it in the middle of a fight (not even a skirmish, raid, or battle) and come out alive, sounds like a really good way to get a knife stuck in your throat. The noseguard? Sure any amount of protection comes with its own amount of discomfort and loss of mobility. But I'd rather have a broken nose than a nose cut in half, even if I end up K.O in both situations, at least one of those injuries is much more preferable to the other. These things aren't so much design flaws as they are choices people made at the time, which comes with pros and cons. But in this case, the cons aren't much of an issue.
@@Knoloaify getting knocked out in a life or death fight kinda means DEATH, cause if you're knocked out, you can't defend yourself from your opponent's attacks. I suppose you're right though, in that every design choice has its pros and cons, but that kinda means you have to make the same argument for horns and wings on helmets that you do for a knob on it; THEORETICALLY you could grab it, but in attempting to do so, you open yourself up to your opponent's counterattack, whether it be some sort of strike, or a grappling attack; same with trying to grab long hair, a beard, a cloak, or a cape. That doesn't mean it'd be THE most practical thing to do, but NEITHER is it COMPLETELY impractical like a lot of people claim; they're just design features with their own pros and cons as well. If you look on the Horned Helmet wikipedia page, you'll even see an image of an Indo-Persian horned helmet that actually might HAVE been worn in combat.
@@ezrafaulk3076 I absolutely think that the whole thing about the practicality of horned helmets and helmet decorations is kind of overblown. Is there a point where it's not practical at all? For sure, some kawari-kabuto certainly look like they'd be a liability in a fight. As you said, it's a trade-off. You're trading some practicality to look cool. And if some people went with knobs, ridges, winged horns, or horns (like on that kulah khud you talked about) then it's probably because being grabbed wasn't as much of a risk as people would like to think.
@@Knoloaify plus, OUTSIDE of combat, I can actually think of a VERY practical use for a helmet with MASSIVE horns on it; on Hurstwick, on a page discussing Norse horned helmets, they bring up and show an image of the Oseberg tapestry, which shows a man wearing a helmet with huge horns on it leading a caravan. They think it's most likely some religious ceremonial precession, but considering that he carries a spear, there're other figures dressed for combat, and lots of the carts have weapons in them, I actually think he's leading a military supply caravan to its destination, and he's wearing that helmet with MASSIVE horns on it so that the people in the BACK of the caravan can still see where he is, and naturally, where THEY need to go, even if they can't see HIM exactly. Whaddya think about THAT interpretation?
@@ezrafaulk3076 I do think that kind of helmet would be useful outside of combat, but leading caravans wouldn't be one of it's applications in my book. And that's simply because a lot of people let caravans back in the day, and they didn't need massive decorations for their hat or helmet. You don't need the people at the back to see the guy leading the caravan, they only need to see the people following him. That's how it works. Use outside of combat has been covered a lot on the HEMA channels. The main one being prestige, another one being able to use those beautiful objects as diplomatic gifts, and of course they can also beused for parades (which also is prestige).
I heard a story about certain regions where memorial masks were made where a king's barrow would be, the place where his family could go to remember him and sort of show respect for the great kings who had died. So it really wasn't a place filled with treasure. Those masks usually were carved of wood, bone, or horn, and some of them had actual horns. A helmet with horns wasn't common at all. Adding more weight to a helmet is pretty dumb. You want it to be light and strong with a cap to protect your skull. Adornments was more of a southern European thing, following the Romans, who wore their ranks based on the brush on the helmet. I have heard a couple of stories, or just one story told two different ways, of Viking men wearing a memorial mask into battle, though. I don't know why. I like to speculate it's a personal thing. If I were to write about a Viking who had horns on his helmet, it would be because he'd integrated the memorial mask of a friend or loved one into his battle gear. A warrior's solidarity, or grief, or vengeance, or something. And Skal, maybe not a regular longsword, but an axe with a narrow bit or a beard can definitely cleave into a thin helmet. You kind of lose that axe, though, since prying it free would be tough. The knop would be good at keeping the hood of your fur cloak on your head in a high wind. Lol
Very interesting. I had seen pictures of one Vikng age helmet w. spectacles but didn't know there were others. A guy I used to know who ws really into viking age stuff told me that Viking helmet often had cheekpieces like Roman helmets, but they were often thick hardened leather rather than iron. Possibly they didn't survive. Also i have read that most Viking helmets had iron bands and hardened leather plates between the bands. Your opinion on that?
I've been wondering for quite some time, why are there several helmets / artifacts from the Vendel period, but so little from the Viking age? If anyone has an answer for that I'd love to hear it.
Are EpicLootShop and VkngJewelry (one of your earlier sponsorships) associated with one another or is it just coincidence that a fair few of their products overlap each other?
He forgot to mention that vikings had horns on their helmets. These horns were magnetic and would attract any pommels thrown at them rendering the most effective weapon of its time useless.
off topic, but very cool profile picture there
Useless? It would transform a pommel in a guided projectile lol. It's the helmet you would wear if you can't wait to see the Valhalla
@@MaterialMenteNo well it would hit the horns and nor your body or face
@@prismaticc_abyss yeah, but if the attacker misses you, the horns would let you be hit anyway
So a horned helmet rail gun?
I can never get enough of seeing skall bonking helmets
Honestly
Bonk
Somebody needs to specialize in making helmets specifically for testing at a reduced cost. Something made using the proper materials and techniques but not so nicely finished since it's just going to be destroyed.
@King Of Scorn And we all know that he can't get enough of bonking them either
@@Riceball01 I totally agree this has been a thought in my head for many months now I'm glad to know im not the only one
That ridge in the nasal guard would certainly add more rigidity to the nasal as opposed to being just flat
Casually wearing a helmet while going about your day is a whole mood. Keep rocking that look, Skall.
Wonder if a Plexiglas shield could be loosely attached to provide modern protection from wild virii.
Surely a mass of strands of knotted and braided hair would add to the impact absorption of the cap and helmet.
Fur or soft leather caps were common. People didn't generally want freezing iron directly on their skulls. My guess is that they'd layer it up a bit. Lol.
There’s no evidence of Scandinavians braiding their hair in the 7-8-9th centuries. Yet another myth procured by Hollywood.
@@Myepicapple They knew the pattern, and apparently there was a small figurine found that had braided hair or a braided beard.
It's also believed that King Sweyn Forkbeard braided his beard
@@joemama-ib2lh yes but names such as Tveskæg and Hårfager should be seen as distinguishable traits not common traits -
Most gravesites are found with combs and the like - not pairable with braids.
I’d like to hear your source on this figurine thing
@@Myepicapple Finehair was a name given to Haraldr after his hair was cut because he grew it out long and it was probably tangled, so when it was cut he would of been named finehair.
And forkbeards probably weren't very common at the time which is probably why Sweyn was given the name.
Hair beads were found in viking graves aswell which very well could be for braiding, and combs are needed for braiding hair because it is very difficult to do it when it's tangley.
"If I got hit to the face this would break my nose"
Well, Skall, if I got hit to the face I'd take a broken nose over a blade/mace in my skull. Just my 2 cents :P
@Shades 1.1 Your grammar is dumb af. You don't even have an object in your first sentence. Skall only pointed out what kind of protection the helmet gives.
@Shades 1.1 ‘feminine’ that comment was pointless my g
@Shades 1.1 try defending from a second strike after getting your nose smashed and see how manly you are hahaha
@@zXPeterz14 adrenaline is pretty good at numbing pain till later where it will REALLY hurt
@Shades 1.1 Says the keyboard warrior with an edgy profile picture. I don't find Skall's huge beard particularly feminine, although meatheads like you are never very smart anyway. Not that it matters if someone is feminine or masculine, you're trying to be an asshole and that makes you a sad human being. Nobody thinks you're cool because you act ''tough'' on the internet, you're making yourself a clown in front of everyone.
Kinda gives me the vibes of maybe a Jarl's huscarl or something along those lines.
Someone important enough to be given a helmet, and expected to wear it often...
But not important enough to deserve something richly engraved or decorated.
Considering it was found in what was presumably a little hidden loot cache...
Maybe a raider managed to murder a huscarl and plundered his gear, and hid it.
Either got caught and killed or never came back to England on another raid to get it.
@Fishy Vagina It's probably the reason that iron was so valuable. You can't smelt and repurpose wooden nails or toenails. It may take a lot longer to mine and process it to begin with, but then you can morph it to your will forever!
In all seriousness, it makes some sense, but we don't really see it in the iconography. Most warriors are shown either with a nasal helm or with a bare head. That's not to say that nobody wore lesser head protection (in fact, good luck finding period iconography of a spectacled helm, yet all of the generally accepted viking helmets/fragments found do have spectacles), but it shows that in the popular imagination, the main types of head protection for battle were nasal helms and invisible helms.
the colour of the helmet you're wearing reminds me of the 'Pickelhaube'
"hey pirate joe, what do you knit with?"
"Yaarrn"
😖
I'm surprised the creators of Valheim haven't sponsored you to talk about the game
Well, before the game launched they were nobodies (and probably didn't have the money?), and now they've sold 5 million copies so I think they're good 😆
Educated guess that knob on the top helped to secure a gambison or hard leather "beanie" to help cushion blows. Padding or leather would likely have been painted / decorated and help protect the iron.
"Some people think the knop on top was used as a weapon"
_bursts into laughter_
Wait... you're serious?
Unfortunately, yes. I've literally seen people claim that the top spike on the Gjermundbu helmet is supposed to be a weapon.
*Picklehaub flashbacks intensifies*
@@Lo-tf6qt : Helm mit Spitze please, Pickelhaube was not the official term.
The only possible weaponization of it I can see is if you were using the helmet as a melee weapon. But holy crap, talk about an absolute last-ditch desperation move, to punch with your little helmet spike. Very unlikely. If you're to that point you're done for anyway. A plume or other decoration is much more likely.
@@brittakriep2938 Didn't know that before, cheers
I think that arc on the helmet is just decorative, it kind of resambles the longboat upside-down, vikings used to build longhouses the same way with that arc on center of the roof. Very cool design and I'm taking inspiration from the viking age, when I'm decorating my home
6:58 Skall: "...the wearer got lucky, I suppose..."
Viking wearing the helmet: "I took an arrow in the knee"
Well, at least he didn't need to be an adventurer anymore...
Funny because "arrow to the knee" means basically same as "ball in chain" as in getting married instead of getting literal arrow to the knee.
Hiya skall I’ve seen this helmet first hand at the Preston on tees museum it’s such a beautiful piece of history and it’s mad that I live so close to the museum. Also they have such a beautiful collection of swords, daggers and Victorian clothes.
I still dont know why people like the horned viking helmet. I always thought it looked silly, unauthentic and cringe. When I was I child, I actually clipped the horns off of my playmobil viking helmets with a scissor. Looked way better afterwards. And stepping on it in the middle of the night on my way to the toilet didnt hurt as much.
I always thought the new use of "cringe" was embarassing.
Maybe it poplar media that made it look cool like 80s fashion trend when it was dumb and stupid looking
horns only add unnecessary weight and instead of glancing a blow it will actually "fork" a weapon in between the horns which actually helps the guy hitting it.
I always thought that the horns were something added in artistic stylizations of vikings to make them seem more devilish.
@@caseydubois3645 probably demonization by some christians
I like that kind of helms with the mail added, it makes it look more "bad ass". I was going to play with you about the "horns", but didn't want you to think I was serious 😉
About the spike. Perhaps the practical use would be to prevent an enemy from "palming" your helm to rip it off your head?
Yarm is the next town along from me and the museum it's kept in is a 20 minute walk from my house. It's amazing the reach this artefact has had that a youtuber half way across the world decides to create a video about it.
I've thought about the whole spikes-on-helmets phenomenon, and I realized a strategic benefit I haven't seen talked about otherwise.
In combat between armoured opponents, balance is probably one of the foremost defensive factors determining whether or not gaps or weak spots in the armour are exposed and available to strikes. In a lot of martial arts styles, leveraging the head -- (as you mentioned a large spike providing a disadvantage that way, and rightfully so) -- is intentionally done to take the opponent off balance for a moment. Often the head would be grabbed with a free hand and pulled to expose the neck as well as throw off the balance, part of the reason Norse warriors cut the backs and sides of their hair.
The big (and really only) advantage I see to having that spike there is it wards off the hand from grabbing a moving head, especially with the often unprotected palm of the hand. That spike really presents a problem to all ways you might grab and opponents head effectively with one hand, and it also offers a quick and effective way to attack the wrist of anyone who successfully does.
That's quite plausible actually. Although I don't think there are much evidence about what hairstyles vikings prefered.
@@johan.ohgren, some various depictions mostly, such as the Bayeaux Tapestry, as well as some descriptive references which may have arguable interpretations in terms of translation.
Not entirely conclusive, but there is some evidence for it. The Bayeaux Tapestry certainly does seem to corroborate the idea that Norse warriors undertook this effort in its depictions, for sure.
Another argument for the spike on top just being decorative is that the same design keeps showing up throughout history with no known practical application. I found this article that talks about why there are helmets with spikes on the top, from 13th century Mongolian helmets all the way to 19th century Pickelhaube.
The article: www.militarytrader.com/militaria-collectibles/why-spiked-helmets
Keep in mind I don't know if the article is historically accurate but the fact that "pointy thing on top of my head" is a design feature that keeps popping up all around the world is just hilarious to me. It seems humanity just can't resist putting a spike on top of a helmet.
Yes, absolutely. A lot of things that were simply ornamental are sometimes over-analyzed when people try to find a practical purpose for everything.
@@Skallagrim Maybe we should ask The Metatron if it might be just ceremonial ? LOL
5:30 this is where a padded coif comes in, and I mean substantial padding not a leather or wool cap. Skall often forgets about padding when it comes to armor.
Well, alotof helmets actually were with thin padding and just suspension and spacing to absorb shock, heavy padding isn't a rule, Knight errant channel did a video on this.
@@PJDAltamirus0425 yeah but with helmets like these that don't have liners you would wear a thick padded coif unless you want a concussion. Like Skall said, they didn't have liners in this period.
AKSHUALLY.....
Yea, I wanted to comment about spectacles being a distinct viking feature. I agree that the type of spectacles presented may be distinctly viking, but you have spectacle helmets fros Scandinavia to the Pontic steppe. Slavs have some of their own type of spectacles, as did the Kipchaks and some other steppe cultures. I don't know where that style originated from, but it was widespread across north and eastern Europe, meaning the spectacles in general.
Great video! I like videos that discusses archaeological finds!
Maybe the Spike was good for the man behind you to put his shield on it so he doesn't has to hold the entire weight for a long time 😅
Great vid, good to see the Yarm helmet getting some love! Gather there's some debate whether spectacle guards were better or worse for protecting the wearer's eyes?
When I made my helmet, I thoght it's too heavy (3,5 kg) and real ones were probably lighter, because they were made out of hardened steel, ergo they could be thinner. Now hearing they were made out of iron and were pretty thick, my mild steel helmet looks pretty realistic
Perhaps the knobs and spikes distinguished rank among the Viking raids? With the addition of streamers and decorations that you mentioned Lord Skall, perhaps, similar to the combs on the helmets of the Centurions in the Roman Legion formations, which legionares followed to determine who their specific commander was, the knobs and spikes helped the lower ranks on a Viking determine who was who in the heat of battle and which specific leader they were assigned to follow. And given the qualities of the helmet you have reviewed here, I might armchair archeologist deduce, that this helm might have belonged to a lower ranking, but still important leader, such as a second in command or someone to that effect. Your thoughts m'lord?
The top panel at 04:39 - You can see that the soldiers on the left have been painted(?) to appear as if they're having a grand old time like fighting the vikings on the right is some kind of a game to them and that they're having absolutely no trouble slicing through a the viking's helmet and head (one handedly) while his fellow vikings are scared/horrified at what they see.
I would imagine Viking scavenge helmets off the battlefield
If that were the case we would still likely have more than two confirmed finds (lots of fragments suggest helmets)
I'm almost certain they would but many of them wouldn't have been identifiable as Viking helmets since they originally were Saxon, Frankish, etc.
@Fenris B To this very day soldiers scavenge useful items from battlefields. There are literally thousands of photos from WW2 of soldiers carrying weapons or pieces of kit from the other side. If Skall is correct that a lot of the raiders didn't have helmets, they would have been unique in military history to leave them rather than taking them for their own use.
Helmets just simply don't survive well when buried. Swords barely survive it and they're generally much thicker and better compressed within the soil. A buried helmet usually is buried with alot of oxygen and so on because of the nature of the hollow shape, so the thin plates they're made out of rot away quickly.
@Fenris B vikings werent nomads. They were travellers with fixed homesteads they returned to.
Skall just to be picky Yarm isn’t in North Yorkshire. Yarm is in Teeside (I use to travel to Middlesbrough which is the main area of the Teeside Borough).
I suspect that the spikes or knops on the tops of historical helmets was intended to help deflect blades away from the very top of the head, and even deflect blunt objects that would otherwise impact the top of the wearer's head. A strike to the top of the head, in my opinion, would be very hard to deflect. The helmet (and skull) are rather flat (by comparison to the side of the head) in terms of a direct downward strike. Anything helps when being struck there.
when skal explains, how there are only 2 complete helmets from the viking age...I somehow, for a second, thought he'd say: "And one of the 2, is ON MY HEAD RIGHT NOW!!!"
That's a vendel helmet from the 8th century
@@vodkalover4204 and the viking age is not related to the norse culture at all, its measured from Lindisfarne to Stanford bridge. The norse did not magically appear at that date in England.
Its just an anglocentric telling of it. In scandinavia the culture was around long before that and a good while after.
There is no functional difference in the vendel culture of 792 and the vikings of 793.
Immediately thought of the Rohirrim when I heard that there might have been a horse hair plume xD
You are not the only one.
People have been hiding bug out caches for quite a while. Lol, Viking preppers!
Fuck yeah, the vikings were way smarter then most people think.
@@peachtree2579 And ancient people in general. They were just as intelligent as us or even more, despite having less inventions and stuff.
You know, the knop might also be something intended as a hook point for things like a hood as well as plumes or similar. If you're raiding or in a colder/wetter climate, having a hood to pull up with the helmet might be a reason to have something there that would catch it to keep it in place, freeing some of your hands. The cloth would also add to the protection of the helmet there without taking that much away if you're going to be fighting in the rain or similar since it would also dampen the noise issue there.
Even bike helmets can be a pain in the rear noise wise in the rain.
And if you're on a ship going raiding, you don't get to pick the weather when you get to the target area and are probably safer attacking during the storm than waiting it out despite everything with the ships of the time. Same with defenders or even local guard, you're going to be out in the rain anyway.
I didn't know or had forgotten that there are so few examples.
Yeah, comffort vs. survivability is a big thing.
pretty sure the knop is there to use the helmet as a defensive weapon if you are caught off guard or unprepared for an attack you could grab that helmet by the face guard and swing it or use it as like a shielded push dagger.
I'll bet that wearing very old helmet was quite common, especially ones that where inherited. It's a shame (for our current research) that people back then where quite fond of recycling metals, so most of the usual arms and amours where repurposed. A lot of people forget about that and fall for the survival bias, thinking that very high end, decorated items where the standard.
Pirate Skall isn't real, he can't hurt you
Skall: 6:15
Love the old intro/title card!
The under appreciated Yarm helmet
Hi, Skall. You really look like a viking with your beard. Very nice.
He is a Viking, just modern/civilised. Though I've never seen him on a boat.
Looks like the consensus about viking helmets is: spangenhelm (top divided in plates), and spectacled
I think the top spike on that helm is mostly decorative, however it could be for handling. This most likely makes no sense, but it would slighter easier to put the spike in between your fingers when holding the helmet to your body when you're not wearing it. Without out it, it would be slicker to hang on to, especially when your hands are sweaty. And people that went on raids did travel a lot. You wouldn't want to wear it the whole time. I don't know, kind of a silly idea.
i think the spiked helmet belonged to a shorter warrior who was tired of his taller fellows mocking his height by pating his head, so he ordered the spike placed on top of the helmet to prevent it xD
I like this answer, as a short guy who has been a soldier it makes total sense. I just had to out perform every one else to get around it. A spiked helmet would have been a help XD I had to ask a mate for help to get my helmet down from its place on the top of the locker if we where in a hurry, still made it as 1. of the company though ;)
About those knot(s) at the top of helmet(s), maybe in a rare position one might hit another with the helmet? at least smaller impact point could make some sense. but yea, most likely you attach something on it for decoration or for identification reasons on the battlefield.
Maybe the spike is for stoping it rolling away when you put it down from experience i find that helmets can be a pain in the arse for rolling down a hill when you take it off and place it on the ground
Interesting, because this seems to confirm that, far from being an "outdated" style, the spectacle-helmet was THE dominant helmet style for the 10th century warrior, simply because the longevity of the design would've meant that there were so much more of them in circulation, as opposed to the newer "nasal" design, which seems to have only appeared in the 9th century.
It'd be cool if you teamed up with the modern history guy from England who tests alot of old armors, hema, horse riding skills, food and various other stuff.
Just wanted to say that I received a hard head blow from a polearm while wearing a mild steel helmet i was testing out during a battle in reenactment. It didn't punch through (the fact that the polearm wasn't sharp surely helped), but it deformed enough to cover the gap of the internal leather support and hit my head, provoking a cut.
Still, the worse part of it all was my chin bouncing against the chestplate breaking several teeth. Well, and still having problems with my neck to the day.
Remember, always wear your helms while in battle!
The top-spike may be to deflect downward sword strikes from horse-mounted warriors. The Mongol/Turkic “turban helmet” have an even more exaggerated top-spike. The spike actually thickens the helmet over the brainpan, without adding excessive weight.
There is an aspect psychological warfare with spikes on helmets. When the warriors form up prior to battle, the spikes would create an illusion of twice as many “spear-points”, than the actual number. It also makes your warriors look taller and more intimidating.
“Owner was lucky, I suppose”
Owner: gets an arrow straight in the eye
My theory is still that the spike could have been used to end someone's life rightly, so to say 😅 you can still use the helmet as a hand held blunt force weapon to punch through mail and still do mutch damage with it.. lets visit this scenario: You been in battle for some time, in the defence of your village. You have one enemy left to finish off, you see your village burned, scortched to the ground! You feel rage and despair, and the last foe is laying there, between your legs. You remove your helmet, its bloody, and you think just a bit more blood upon your helmet does not matter. You grab the helm firmly and lift it over your head, the spike is down towards your enemy! You cry out in pain! and bash the living shit out of your enemy! The enemy that have stripped away so mutch of your life! You are victorious, but to what cost? Your family's life!? Your village? or your humanity?! none the less... your enemy's blood is yet again upon your helmet, for all to see. And you are still victorious! Nor with shame or honour, and everytime you lay eyes upon the spike you remember that event, it has become a part of you.
I got a Valsgarde 6 replica. That huge nose guard can break a nose if it catches a blow, but still badass.
nice video. Also Skallagrim, here in Denmark they just found a bronze sword around 3000 years old and 80cm long.
They have good designs and patterns to them for better seeing while travelling and going to battle
If the top of the helmet is flat, it will be weak. If you can hit that weak spot with an axe, you can break the spanga, which converge there and the helmet will spring apart, opening to the head for a death blow.
You also have to remember that houses in this time would have a hole at the top of the roof to let smoke out, because heat rises and putting it anywhere else is not so effective. In order to stop overheating in this helmet, which would have a mail face mask, it makes sense to put a hole at the top. They had this technology and would surely see the application, so we have to accept that there would probably be a hole in the top of helmets like this.
They put a top spike so that the infinitesimal flat point on the dome is instead pointed, critically protecting both the spanga and also the thermal exhaust port.
This can also be used to mount a trophy, like someone else's head. A viking with 2 kills would add another spike, much like traditional native American eagle feathers (if they killed 2 eagles they could have more feathers).
Do you reckon instead of horns on the helmet a sort of Warhammer head attachment to the fore head could be a useful thing if the warrior was up close the could have a effective headbut against the other armoured opponent?
I feel like that top spike on the helmet could possibly be an offensive aspect. Say, one's weapons get broken in battle (which was common of the day, considering the poor quality metals they had), so if nothing else take off your helmet and use it as a bludgeon? I could see someone looping their fingers through the eyelets and getting leverage in an arced swing to deliver that spike like the tip of a horseman's pick. It might not bite deeply, but it could definitely concentrate the force. Helmets as last ditch weapons are not unheard of.
Using some imagination and seeing how boxing and MMA fights go, I think these were more effective than we give them credit for. Not every blow was a wide open, full force, prepared and aimed haymaker like you see in test videos. Real world battlefield application in life or death fights might have seen someone doing a left handed back slash while trying to escape. In all actuality, it was a soft and poorly aimed desperation swing, but the chainmail prevented a slit throat.
Could you do a video about the Valsgärde helmets or Vendel era armour in general, it's not only masterfully cradted and absolutelly beautyful, but also has a really interesting oriental look.
The spike on the top of the helmet could be decorative and used for placing an enemy skull or head on top of it. Brutal..
What do you think about the Sutton Hoo helmet?
16mm sounds like just right for a thick padding mostly made of pressed wool with leather on top.
The spike/knob on top, i would say that it looks more like it was meant to use as a way to attach something. But why just assume decorative?
Have you ever tested putting some felted wool or maybe leather on top of a helmet when test-hitting it?
Also, why should we expect ALL viking helmets to be "pretty"? The vast majority most likely were simply just "plain", because most people needed the protection, not the fancy. The fancy ones just happen to be more likely to survive over time because they were fancy looking.
I know you've done a video on blade and sorcery, but do you think you can make more? Like showing off some techniques (no matter how bad its translated into the game😅)
Sound is mildly disturbing. Like my speakers or audio interface is dying.
I guess I can stop looking through my setup now...
Yeah, weirdly bubbly audio on this video.
I was getting worried about my headphones. Phew.
Can't say I've had any issues with the sound myself.
I noticed it with headphones, but was nothing I would complain about.
You're totally correct, I've never even heard of this helmet. What a great video!
You need one of the Housecarl axes of the Norman invasion era to try out on the Norman helmet. Betting you can cleave it with a good strike.
nice informative video!!!
why does sound sometimes sink? like being underwater?
maybe only on my device...
I wonder if the knob was for storage or carrying reasons. Tie a length of cord to it and hang it from a hook somewhere etc.
the knop can be used to tie a crest onto. i have seen reenactors with horsehair or foxtail decorations. may not be a stretch to think overly showy dark age warriors might do something similar, perhaps to signal allegiance with visual cues such as coloured cloth?
What helmet are you testing at 5:35? Looks badass
"Not 100% confirmed". Did you just put nuance in the title of a piece of online media? You absolute madman.
should consider what was the primary attack that the helmet was aimed to protect against - was it melee?? I think ranged attacks was (and still is) helmet's first purpose. Sometimes a thin helmet did just fine. Whether you are sword and board or 2-handed it is doubtful that you would seriously see a situation in which "taking one on the head" is ok, regardless what helmet you got on. The little knob or spike on top - why not same usage as firefighters use right now? That is if someone drops a rock on your head straight down it goes glancing. Plenty of running around castle walls for that to occur. As far as that elongated nose guard... well, blocking the mouth could be a disadvantage to the wearer if he intends to put something into it. Like mushrooms. And overall the shield line - that is where the top of the shield ends and your eyes begin is a very technical area. Warriors get tired and shields get pushed in.
What do you think of Bannerlord's arms and armor? Not sure if you've talked about it. I'm playing 1.5.5 with complete troop overhaul mod that I love.
Maybe the guy that had the helmet found a better one and just threw it over his shoulder like “YEET”
I had a good laugh when the Yarm Helmet was pronounced to be a probable Norse Helm. Then members of my society started producing copies and suddenly it didn't look quite as rediculous. Helmets are one of those items very rarely found in the UK. I think there have been 6 or 7 from the Anglo Saxon to Viking period. A bit like Sword finds they are rare.
NO! Everyone's so dumb. The horns weren't attached to the helmets, they were attached to the vikings themselves. Come on pepol
My favourite type of medieval helm is the anglo saxon sutton hoo one
Thank you Skal i enjoyed the video very much.
I believe the origin, function and purpose of the spike on the top of the helmet was to hold a hood up in icy winds.
Armor could also be supported by a spike.
I’m now picturing a Viking doing the Naruto run, thanks Skall 😂
That nose-piece, was it a standard feature of the Viking helmets of those days?
it is Sad how their are only 2 Surviving examples of a Viking Age Helmet
Nice to see that they not only sell Thors hammers but also Ukkos hammer or axe for all the finns.
Could the spike be for keeping the helm off the ground when not in use? Stick it into a tree branch so water doesn't get in?
Why did you feel the need to deepen your voice in the video editing software?
I sped up the video a little bit because I was annoyed by how slowly I ended up talking, and then I adjusted to not sound weirdly high-pitched. I thought I got it pretty close to my actual pitch.
*[in deep voice]*
Becuase he is going viking, my lad. An' he needs to disguise himself.
@@Skallagrim It's pretty noticeably not the same pitch, it's a lot deeper like almost as deep as your shopkeeper videos, and the sound quality degrades a tonne due to the speeding up and pitch shift so that made me realise immediately. Good to hear that you had a practical reason for it, not some strange masculinity thing
Could those knobs been used as hangers? Stabbing them upwards into softer wood?
Could a knop be functional in shield formations? Such as knowing where your shield is while having it raised, any thoughts?
Cool how you're willing to point design flaws in historical helmets, even ones you like and own out instead of only bashing fantasy helmets and saying historical helmets were perfectly practical; it shows a keen understanding of human tendencies towards appreciating aesthetics even if they're not always the most desirable thing from a standpoint of what's purely practical in that situation.
He didn't really point out any design flaw. The decorative ridge/nob on top of the helmet? I dare anyone to try to grab it in the middle of a fight (not even a skirmish, raid, or battle) and come out alive, sounds like a really good way to get a knife stuck in your throat.
The noseguard? Sure any amount of protection comes with its own amount of discomfort and loss of mobility. But I'd rather have a broken nose than a nose cut in half, even if I end up K.O in both situations, at least one of those injuries is much more preferable to the other.
These things aren't so much design flaws as they are choices people made at the time, which comes with pros and cons. But in this case, the cons aren't much of an issue.
@@Knoloaify getting knocked out in a life or death fight kinda means DEATH, cause if you're knocked out, you can't defend yourself from your opponent's attacks.
I suppose you're right though, in that every design choice has its pros and cons, but that kinda means you have to make the same argument for horns and wings on helmets that you do for a knob on it; THEORETICALLY you could grab it, but in attempting to do so, you open yourself up to your opponent's counterattack, whether it be some sort of strike, or a grappling attack; same with trying to grab long hair, a beard, a cloak, or a cape. That doesn't mean it'd be THE most practical thing to do, but NEITHER is it COMPLETELY impractical like a lot of people claim; they're just design features with their own pros and cons as well. If you look on the Horned Helmet wikipedia page, you'll even see an image of an Indo-Persian horned helmet that actually might HAVE been worn in combat.
@@ezrafaulk3076 I absolutely think that the whole thing about the practicality of horned helmets and helmet decorations is kind of overblown.
Is there a point where it's not practical at all? For sure, some kawari-kabuto certainly look like they'd be a liability in a fight. As you said, it's a trade-off. You're trading some practicality to look cool. And if some people went with knobs, ridges, winged horns, or horns (like on that kulah khud you talked about) then it's probably because being grabbed wasn't as much of a risk as people would like to think.
@@Knoloaify plus, OUTSIDE of combat, I can actually think of a VERY practical use for a helmet with MASSIVE horns on it; on Hurstwick, on a page discussing Norse horned helmets, they bring up and show an image of the Oseberg tapestry, which shows a man wearing a helmet with huge horns on it leading a caravan. They think it's most likely some religious ceremonial precession, but considering that he carries a spear, there're other figures dressed for combat, and lots of the carts have weapons in them, I actually think he's leading a military supply caravan to its destination, and he's wearing that helmet with MASSIVE horns on it so that the people in the BACK of the caravan can still see where he is, and naturally, where THEY need to go, even if they can't see HIM exactly. Whaddya think about THAT interpretation?
@@ezrafaulk3076 I do think that kind of helmet would be useful outside of combat, but leading caravans wouldn't be one of it's applications in my book. And that's simply because a lot of people let caravans back in the day, and they didn't need massive decorations for their hat or helmet.
You don't need the people at the back to see the guy leading the caravan, they only need to see the people following him. That's how it works.
Use outside of combat has been covered a lot on the HEMA channels. The main one being prestige, another one being able to use those beautiful objects as diplomatic gifts, and of course they can also beused for parades (which also is prestige).
I heard a story about certain regions where memorial masks were made where a king's barrow would be, the place where his family could go to remember him and sort of show respect for the great kings who had died. So it really wasn't a place filled with treasure. Those masks usually were carved of wood, bone, or horn, and some of them had actual horns. A helmet with horns wasn't common at all. Adding more weight to a helmet is pretty dumb. You want it to be light and strong with a cap to protect your skull. Adornments was more of a southern European thing, following the Romans, who wore their ranks based on the brush on the helmet. I have heard a couple of stories, or just one story told two different ways, of Viking men wearing a memorial mask into battle, though. I don't know why. I like to speculate it's a personal thing. If I were to write about a Viking who had horns on his helmet, it would be because he'd integrated the memorial mask of a friend or loved one into his battle gear. A warrior's solidarity, or grief, or vengeance, or something.
And Skal, maybe not a regular longsword, but an axe with a narrow bit or a beard can definitely cleave into a thin helmet. You kind of lose that axe, though, since prying it free would be tough. The knop would be good at keeping the hood of your fur cloak on your head in a high wind. Lol
Very interesting. I had seen pictures of one Vikng age helmet w. spectacles but didn't know there were others. A guy I used to know who ws really into viking age stuff told me that Viking helmet often had cheekpieces like Roman helmets, but they were often thick hardened leather rather than iron. Possibly they didn't survive. Also i have read that most Viking helmets had iron bands and hardened leather plates between the bands. Your opinion on that?
I've been wondering for quite some time,
why are there several helmets / artifacts from the Vendel period, but so little from the Viking age? If anyone has an answer for that I'd love to hear it.
Caus the bronze age trade colapsed
0:40 I see they sneaked in two Marvel Thor pieces there too.
Hey skall, just here to say you are awesome. I hope you don't take the random negative comments personally.
Thanks. And no worries, I don't. :)
Are EpicLootShop and VkngJewelry (one of your earlier sponsorships) associated with one another or is it just coincidence that a fair few of their products overlap each other?
Skall with Helmet on: viking boi, Skall with helmet off: ARRGH WHERES YE BOOTY ME LADS
Nice panning effect on the audio there
Viking helms: didn’t have horns because they were impractical.
Samurai helms: hold my sake.
Seeing a lot of people talk about long hair being a natural padded cap. Any thoughts on this?
As a fellow with long hair... it kinda sucks as a cap...