Corsair Raiders

Helmets and mail appear to be the preferred armor for richer vikings. Shields were common for al classes.   Shields were actually rather interesting compared to what I expected when I started looking into them. The basics are that they were round with leather and sometimes iron reinforcing the outside. They were 18–47 inches in diameter but 30–35 inches seemed to be the norm. The interesting part for me was the wood used. Fir and poplar were preferred over oak. This was partially due to the fact these woods were more common. But, they are also very light woods, an important factor for equipment you need to carry for long distances and fight with. Even more beneficial is the fact that these woods are less prone to splitting than oak. They also could bind to sword blades, meaning much more pressure was needed to break through the shields.   As for the rest of their protection, they tended to rely on rather simple armor. Metal helmets were rare, but they frequently wore some form of cap helmet with a nose guard. Mail was rare due to how much it cost. As a result, gambesons appear to be more common. Professional soldiers and the elites seem to be the only ones that used mail. Lamellar armor appears to have been used as well. This type of armor is small plates of armor held together with thick cloth or leather. Due to the fact that leather and the cloth for gambesons do not hold up well in graves over centuries, their use is something of conjecture. We have no evidence for their use, but it seems highly illogical that they would not. After all, gambesons are good cold weather clothing and provide protection in combat. Both of those whole be highly beneficial to a raiding culture in Scandinavia.   Hayward, John (2000). Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc. ISBN 0-500-01982-7.   Holman, Katherine (2003). Historical Dictionary of the Vikings. Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-4859-7.

At sea and in opening stages of land battles, bows were used. But they were seen as less honorable, so not used much. Spears and axes were the primary weapons. The spears were 2-3 meters long and could be used one handed to either thrust or throw. Knives were common as a side arm. This makes sense as these are easier to fix on long trips and could have dual uses.   Axes also could be thrown or swung traditionally. The Vikings appear to have used two handed axes. Their heads were L shaped with 8 and 12 inches of cutting area. The cutting edge could be as thin as 2 mm and reinforced with better quality steel. Handles were 3.0 and 3.9 feet long. It was quite popular in Viking society due to its use as a tool on top of combat.   Swords were rare, normally a status symbol more than anything. They probably were too poorly made to be used in real combat. Meanwhile, spears took less metal and skill to make. Those that did exist appear to be double edged, single handed and about 90 cm long. Due to their role as status symbols, they were highly decorated.

Great Ships, Longships and Triremes - their ships were perfect for the style of raiding I predict. Their high speed meant they could arrive without warning. Even with their masts they were incredibly small. This size allowed them to land directly on sandy beaches and sail under bridges. Thus, practically any area next to water could be hit suddenly. British ships at the time were much better at direct naval encounters but were much slower. Since Vikings preferred to run from these ships, the technically better British ships were at a severe disadvantage.   They had 10 of their largest ships in the movies and 50 “great ships” in the books (plus “countless” others). I suspect that their medium ship would be the trireme. How many of these triremes can we expect them to have? Well, I would assume that their Great Ships would only be used in rare occasions, and as a result their slave rowers would not be needed most of the time. At best, a caretaker group would be all that would be needed – probably taken from the slaves in too poor health to handle field work or rowing. If we take the full 12,500 rower force and devote it to triremes, we would be able to man a solid force of 73 triremes with 90 men available for reserves.   For Long ships, crew numbered (depending on size) between 41 and 80. With an estimated crew of 4,234, fleet of 53 and 106 long ships could be in operation.

Larger fleets did occur, but they were led by many chieftains and formed from several different groups. Thus, little cohesion was present. Frankish protection money allowed for this to occur. This money also provided for hiring mercenaries to join these rare full scale viking armies. Apparently though communications were quite good, at least for the era. This allowed these diverse groups to form fleets of hundreds of ships able to attack large cities.

Ramming was the center of tactical thinking, where the ship was intentionally crashed into the side of the enemy ship. Skilled crews were able to pull off amazing ramming attacks that were variations of this theme. Instances of hair pin turns to hit the enemy stern, tilting the ship forward so the bow hits lower and sideswiping the target ship to break all the oars have been recorded. Ramming attacks were ideally to approach from behind, then swipe a long of a hole down the side of the target as possible. At the same time, greater speed was needed when tighter angle approaches were used. Breaches at 30 degrees required a speed of 8 knots, compared to the 4 knots when the angle of attack was 60 degrees.   However, there were normally around 10 to 20 marines. The marine contingent at the Battle of Salamis was 14 hoplites and 4 archers. This was primarily defensive – should another ship attempt to board, some defenses would be needed to prevent the massacre of the rowers. Sometimes, if boarding was desired, up to 40 hoplites could be on a ship. Though this was rare, as such extra weight could result in destabilization of the ship. When boarding was attempted, the trireme would attempt to pull up along side the enemy and break the targeted ship’s oars. Grappling hooks would be fired over to get the hoplites across, assuming they didn’t just jump over. Swords were the primary weapons in these attacks. The less confidence a captain had in his crew, the more boarding actions were relied on and thus more hoplites were built in.   Now, the real life Barbary Corsairs were notorious slave raiders, even using similar methods to what I expect the Corsairs to follow. They too would attack coastal villages and sailing ships. Goods were looted, while the people were taken captive. Those who could be ransomed were while the rest were enslaved.   The raids that the Barbary Corsairs would conduct were impressively long ranging and brutal. In one raid, 5,000 people were beheaded and another 6,000 enslaved. In one attack, almost the entire population of the village was sold into slavery. The elderly populace took shelter in the church – just to have the church burned down. Other attacks hit as far as England and Iceland.   Towns and churches became fortified. Many areas became depopulated from the raids and the rest fleeing. Another response important for us was the development of watchtowers. These would raise the alarm, the local population would shelter in a fortified stronghold then rally their forces to deal with the raid. Basically the Mediterranean coast responded to a similar threat to what the Byzantines faced and responded in a similar manner. Perhaps my interpretation of Gondor’s defensive doctrine is sound.   Mercati, Angelo (1982). Saggi di storia e letteratura, vol. II. Rome.   Davis, Robert (17 Feb 2011). "British Slaves on the Barbary Coast". BBC.   Carroll, Rory; correspondent, Africa (2004-03-11). "New book reopens old arguments about slave raids on Europe". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-12-11.   Other interesting points to me on the shields revolve around their use and cultural significance. Shield walls would be formed so that soldiers would be protected in a way that allowed them to thrust their spears towards enemies at the same time. However, shields were also vital to the “boar-snout” - a wedge shaped version of the above formation used to penetrate enemy lines via infantry charge. Shields were also hung on the sides of ships to add extra protection from the sea and wind. Then there were shield poems. Literally, people would write poems about shields with exceptional paintings on them.   These attacks would be pretty by the numbers raids. Small units and specified targets were the norm. They would sail to an area, land and ransack the area. What could be carried and the people who could be captured were carried back to the ship. Everything else was destroyed. Now, the raiding party could not handle a strong response, so the action needed to be as short and brutal as possible. Raiders needed to hit hard enough that they got as much loot as possible in the time available, while going so fast a real response is unable to materialize. For the Vikings, these were often private affairs with a small number of ships. Larger fleets could be organized to essentially extort protection money from potential targets.   Due to the fact that the Vikings had a speed advantage and desire to avoid pitched battle, deception was common. One such tactic was to sail close to a village so they would see the ships – then the Vikings would keep going. Once the ships were gone, the village would assume that they were not the target and relax. The raiders would then land and work their way back up the coast hitting everything on the way. Once they entered combat, shock tactics were used. They would form the wedge formation, throw their spears, then charge to engage in melee combat. The famous Berserkers would engage in frantic, reckless, high intensity and disorganized attacks. They were described as entering almost a trance like state. This state was possibly fueled by booze and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Though other commentary I have seen suggests this behavior was normal acting by the Vikings to scare their enemies without actually losing control of their emotions during battle.   Such tactics were quite successful due to their violations of the norms of war at the time. Ruthlessness, stealth and deception were values for Vikings, but were frowned on by their enemies. Their enemies also liked to arrange ahead of time the the time and place of battles – compared to Vikings attacking without warning when and where they chose. Naturally Christians tended to avoid attacking churches and monasteries, thus they were almost never protected. Pagan Vikings did not have such taboos, and a desire for revenge against Christians was one theory for why the raids took place. Thus, the high wealth of the Church was a frequent target as well.   Fasulo (2011), Viking Warfare.

One thing the Barbary Corsairs did was essentially form corporations. Lower class adventurers would secure investments in ships and supplies in exchange for returns from the loot. Apparently this is a similar relationship to ones formed between pirates and warlords in Somalia. Ten percent of the proceeds of raids would go to the government. I have no information regarding the normal distribution of loot afterwards for the Barbary Corsairs, but there is records for Atlantic pirates. Average sailors would receive a standard single share. Specialists (like the doctor or gunners) would get between 1.25 and 1.5 shares. The captains and quartermasters would get 1.5 to 3 shares each.