VIKING BOWS!!!

[Dane]

Last word from me: Of course not, they wanted the men to look dorky, of course. We tend to do fine on our own, though in that respect. When was the last time you were right?

Dane

[Loki]

1.  The work was commissioned by a Bishop (big hint here...I could rest my argument on this alone).

LOL,did Monk's build his palace?or make his jewels?

Pax

[uwe]

I have just taken a look at the Bayeux`s tapestry. Some years ago I bought a minimized printing of it in the British Museum in London. All scenes are to be seen and there are all those weapons in "correct size". There seem to be used different bows indeed and so we get other dimensions of bows, too. I see recurved bows as well as longbow styles. But the length is the same. the archers draw the bows and they have a length from the heads down to the knees.

[JackCrafty]

LOL,did Monk's build his palace?or make his jewels?

Did monks write his music?  Write his bibles?  His prayers? His financial statements? His history?  Yes.

Relevance, Loki, relevance.

[Young Viking]

Bow-Toxo....
You make some funny statements, a persons blood does surely give them a historical knowledge, IF they are raised with some culture. How dare you compare me to Indian children!!! We Vikings will NEVER need a foreigner to tell us about our peoples past. Furthermore, the Indians have been nearly destroyed, Vikings, we are strong and doing just fine, the only thing that got in our way is that pathetic cross and wretched christian dogs who came to Norway and launched a bloody crusade to convert FREE people into useless, sheepish, soul-less fools. So you see, it is useless to argue about the past. We must build our future with knowledge of our un-tainted past(pre-christian times).
This is why I am looking for people to respond to me who only have positive things to say, not to debate, to tell. If you don't know then please don't question where someone got the information, unless you want to read it yourself, don't sound like a pompous know it all. Be a friend, not a braggart...

I wish to not argue. I only want people to post things about Viking bows(no talk of tapestries or medals on the new page). I will start A NEW VIKING BOW PAGE.
This time, only people who are making or have made the bows will post on it(please)
I think maybe I might just focus on making only viking bows, as it would be natural and logical for me to master one thing at a time(or try)...haha

I feel this page was a success though, you guys helped me alot and got me into this website even more!
I learned all the basics I need to start my own project(building a viking bow) So, thank you all again!

And believe me, I have toooons more questions to ask!

-Dankeschoen!

[bow-toxo]

Bow-Toxo....


I wish to not argue. I only want people to post things about Viking bows(no talk of tapestries or medals on the new page). I will start A NEW VIKING BOW PAGE.
This time, only people who are making or have made the bows will post on it(please)
I think maybe I might just focus on making only viking bows, as it would be natural and logical for me to master one thing at a time(or try)...haha

-Dankeschoen!

=I have made three. Good luck !

[Dane]

Young Viking, how come you said thank you in German if you are a Viking?

Do you know even what a Viking was? Hint: it wasnt a race, but to declare something specific, based upon economic and social realities of a time and place. Do you know about the history of a vary diverse peoples who we now call Vikings? Do you know the Sagas, or will you read them?

Some advice, if I can. This is one of the most generous places you can go for help in your bow making quest. People here want to help, and bringing up the Tapestry and other aspects of this history is part of it.  But it seems you kind of went into a tizzy here. Relax and enjoy the place, or you will alienate folks really fast.

I have started one Viking bow, based upon the Hedeby finds, but put it aside a while back. Do I quaify to be part of YOUR thread now?

Hail Thor.

Dane

[Young Viking]

Dane,
I am German, Norwegian and a little English.... strangely all of viking anscestory..Its hard to believe anyone nowadays has just one nationality(ok Finland......what about russians? they visited you before ), its nearly impossible. perhaps you just might not know. people move around...ehh rape and pillage i mean! ..... stuff happens....
Have you heard of the Hiddensee area in Northern Germany? It has many islands, I guess some had fortress towns on them started by vikings and germanic folk... my Oma and Opa are from Rostok, Germany(really close to that area)...on my fathers side (and before that the family came from Rijukan, Norway.)
I have a medal of Ullr, god of the hunt from that region of Hiddensee, im not sure how old it is though, maybe from like Prussian era?

As for the english, on my mothers side. And my Grandmum and Grandfather are from Sandy England, now my grandmum's mother was from Norway, and im not actually sure where, a shame, we think maybe Bergen....and my grandfathers family was living in England for awhile so they are Norman by heritage....
Theres the vikingness summed up for you all....

O yeah and we(my family) ALL SAIL, keep massive gardens, and fish often too. so we keep the traditions alive, brings us all together you know.
Now... ARE YOU JUST ANOTHER DANE?! hahahaha just kidding M8! My girlfriend is Danish, sweetest girl i'v ever met(listens to more heavy metal than i do too)..I want to move to Finland with her!

Now that i have fully introduced myself and my dead relatives too, hahaha.....ehem...
NEXT THREAD = VIKING BOWS 2!

And lets try to make it very specific, for example id love it(and im sure everyone else would too)...if...
Someone who has built a certain type of Viking bow would maybe try and document their work along the way and post it with pictures..wow, that would be so sweet!

I really want to build along with someone, so if anyone would want to guide me... we could go cut the tree in the same week, and then you could walk me through the whole process.... if someone has the skill to do that....oo jaa! 5 stars (double horns !!!) To thy name!

Dankeschoen!!!! !!!!

[Young Viking]

o yeah, and im really sorry if i offended anyone...(Bow-Toxo) Dane said I went into a "Tizzy"....
apologies to all..
you guys are the greatest, I just was in a bad mood maybe because i haven't had too much free time to start my bow!!!!
Asatru is teaching me to be more peaceful, here I am apologising.....I have read some of the sagas, yes...Odin traveled far so many sons could trace their anscestory to him...

NEW THREAD STARTING SOON!!!
VIKING BOWS 2!!!

Blessed Be.

Hail Thor!

[Loki]

.and my grandfathers family was living in England for awhile so they are Norman by heritage

Is your Grandfather's family a part of the English Aristocracy then? I suggest you take a look at the recent Oxford University DNA study.
The Study show's that England's DNA make up is a mash of People's
South West England =Brythonic (No they WERENT Celts!)
Middle England and South East= Saxon
Noth East England=Saxon and Danish but mostly Danish(Does that make me a Viking ?)
Lowland Scotland=Saxon and Brythonic
Highland Scotland and the western Isles=Brythonic and Norwegian (More Vikings!)
Ireland= Brythonic and Norwegian
South Wales=Saxon
North Wales= Brythonic

Note that Roman and Norman invaders made little to no mark's on the English make up.The only people who are directly related to the Normans are the Arcane Aristocratic 'toff's'who can trace their ancestors back to William the Conqueror and his rabble of Mercenery's.
My home town was given to Robert De Bruc by William 'The bastard' in the108o's (It took the Conqueror ten years to control the North and he did it by Genocide!!!),he later fell out with the rulers of England so moved further North to Scotland,he was the great Grandfather of the famous Scottish King Robert d'Bruce.

PS.like Dane said,Viking is a activity NOT a race of People,anyone could 'go' Viking!
So what type of Bow are you trying to make?

Funny

[Dane]

I am afraid that Loki is right, Young Viking. You are no more Viking than I am. A Viking was not simply someone from Norway, Denmark, or Sweden. Otherwise, everyone during that time period from those countries would have been a Viking. To go “a-Viking” was to go on a voyage of piracy, mixed in trade, exploration, colonization, etc.

Usually, second and subsequent sons would go on raiding voyages, as they could not inherit land in a society that was nearly 100% agricultural, and hence would sail off to plunder churches, burn towns, enslave the young for sale at slave markets, and do the other stuff Vikings were known for doing.

And to just have German or English in your family tree doesn’t cut it. I too have those in my family tree.

You should be aware that the Nazis in the 1920s and 1930s tried to create all sorts of myths about the indomitable Norse, using runes for letters, having quasi-religious, sometimes orgiastic rallies based on their weird brand of Viking pseudo-history and occultism. Germans and Vikings just don’t mix, and to do that now invokes something quite evil.

All that being said, my understanding is that the Norse were not a bow culture, preferring spear and sword in battle, so perhaps that is why there are so few examples of bows used by Vikings. It was probably more popular as a hunting weapon. The long or D bow was most likely the kind of bow used by the Norse, as is also true all across Europe at that time. If you have made a yew longbow, odds are you have made a bow a Viking warrior would have been happy to shoot a fleeing monk in the back with.

Dane

[Young Viking]

Good gods you guys wont stop talking about my Vikingness..
loki,
not to sound liek a know-it-all. But my English family is actually from William the conquerers line, and yes we have records and have passed our bloodlines history down through the generations..........my family are ALL SAILORS, FISHERMEN OR FARMERS, also carpenters.....
I have sailed through the Caribbean Islands(my uncle is a captain), through the north sea, the north atlantic, every shore jsut about in New England......
o yeah and we have ALL been in the military of some sort(every man so far)........
I am not oblivious to all these facts, I know who I am, where I come from and where I'll go. I appreciate all your knowledge though, and am in agreement..
If you would like to talk about our heritage and our vikingness then send me a personal message...
I am a lumberjack.......have a huge red beard, long dirty blond hair, (6'1'' tall) green/blue eyes...... would you like to challenge me to an axe throwing competition, iv won 3 so far....... Viking enough yet? good gods, let it be. let it be. hahaha
and for ***** sake, I know viking isnt a race..... JED ER STANDIG VIKING..
Now I am officially done with this page!!
 the new rule says; no talking about non bow related stuff, I am going to do a little more homework on the subject and figure out what type of bow(easiest) is to build and make the NEW THREAD: VIKING BOWS 2..
hope to see you all there!!
Good hunting!
-Dankeschoen!

[a finnish native]

Man.. Finally someone had the guts to shout that historical thing aloud. Finland has also had it's share of battles with the hounds of Christian Europe. Actually Finnish tribes (or actually tribes and people living on Finland's territory) were the last ones to be settled into Christianity by sword (in Europe that is).
I have to say that if a persons bloodline goes to the time between 700-1000 and locates in norway or denmark or other places the vikings were settled, there is a great possibility that the bloodline and blood of that person is Viking blood. After all, the vikings dominated the north western Europe at that time.
And especially if the bloodline has been examined and followed thus telling and pointing the signs to being of Viking ancestry, I believe it holds true.
Even I have some Viking blood in my veins, or so we believe. My mothers side of the familyrtee dates back to the region of Trondheim norway as far as to the 9th. century.
Young Viking: I know what you are talking about, but as I have seen it, the Native Americans are more traditional than the majority of people who have viking ancestors. Norway for example is one of the most Christian countries in Europe. The vikings as almost all the other people in northern Europe crumbled under the pressure of the Christian sword. If not in battle, in beliefs and traditions. Christianity was mainly brought to vikings by vikings them selves. This because with a religion such as Christianity it is easier to rule a great bunch of people, and this was noticed by some of the Viking kings.And everybody knows, that Vikings made war with other Vikings very frequently. it was in these wars that the still Pagan Vikings lost to the greater number of Christian "vikings" or should I say Europeans.

[Jaro]

The idea that viking bows were drawn to the chest is older idea based on medieval iconography, which hovever stylistically depicts archers so, that their head is visible. That is something we call canon and the artists of the time did obeyed it.
English bows are also drawn to the chest or shoulder when shooting for distance, but the "anchor" changes as the need dictates.
If you read heimskringla youll find out that the bow mentioned very frequently is drawn to chest and ear which would support that the viking or early medieval style wasnt so primitive as we previously thought.
(This makes even more sense, when we realise that the bow are meant for long draw, heavy weight).

Altough typically heavier than earlier germanic longbows, viking bows with thick tips arent very good shooters. They have very low width taper, which makes easy to get heavy weight, but also carry lots of mass towards the tips. They are sort of oxen, if you want animal to compare.
If you start reconstructing the arrows, youlll easy arrive at arrows in 50-70 gram range, something which wont fly very well from anything less than 100#.

English bows arent actually much different from viking, the english archery synthethic in composition, carried further both saxon and later scandinavian influence. But the english, once they entered the arms race found out that such bow wven if you make it stronger and stronger wont be shooting very far, due to heavy limbs and the law of dimnishing return and thus narrowed the tips and used the horn nocks as refinement of older weapon - this and the battle tactics is their biggest achievemnt.

Jaro

[son of massey]

   another post is probably not necessary-it may take a little sifting but people are posting opinions on viking archery and bows within this thread.   the problem is that there is not a ton to say, as jaro pointed out-and as the first few threads said-archery for the vikings pretty much meant straightstave, man tall bows of things more like white woods than osage or ipe.   norse archery is a little more diverse as this would include for instance holemgaard type bows and not just those archery artifacts proven to be of "viking" origin.   i would be interested to hear anything from anyone who has built a replica-or been inspired by-a specifically viking or norse bow.   
   as far as anyone's vikingness is concerned, that is a pretty silly thing to start a new thread because of.   as was pointed, genetic heritage does not transfer factual knowledge. if it did subsequent generations of mice would be able to complete the maze in continuously shorter times, all native americans could survive on their own in the wild, and all those from the regions around arabia would be mathematicians or doctors.   having a sense of culture may make on more interested in skills from their "past" which may translate into a shorter learning curve for that skill, but that isn't due to the genetics at all.   if it did there wouldn't be any reason to ask about viking bows-the viking descendant should just "know", somehow, what was done.   SOM