Zephore wrote:no fire, just strength, small (but heavy ) axes, and huge ass shields. Lots of shouting and weapon swinging to demoralise the enemy, and the almighty shield wall.Meliva wrote:same goes with Vikings. But from what I recall they would often light themselves on fire just before raiding, though that may be myth. But if it is true I imagine most pirates would be quite frightened and shocked thinking demons were attacking them. Which would impact their aim, maybe cause some to flee. And pistols at the time were not multi shot, most pirates would have to carry multiple pistols. And I imagine since Vikings only fought with melee weapons the average Viking would be a better melee fighter then the average pirate who would normally fight with cannons first, then pistols then swords. So at the end of the day I would say Vikings would have the edge on a land battle, pirates the edge at sea.
However, they did worship fire. They believed it protected them from revenge of their evil in the afterlife. So, a Viking funeral; the dead were put in the boat with their belongings - boat for pushed out and set on fire.
Then they had human sacrifices - burned their slaves. (This... Was also some belief of protection)
They thought their enemies (who also got burned) recieved a huge honour. And then they just had a thing for burning villages, churches, castles, whatever they came across.
Actually viking shields were small compared to those who used the wall tactic most viking shields did not protect legs and the reason was quite simple they did not cower but rather had a front line of berserkers who they used to perform a wedge maneuver.
The wedge was simple you send those crazy fookers in the front who were renowned for reaching a battle state that made them fight in what some describe as a heightened battle state who somehow defended and attacked with such ferocity it broke lines and allowed those following behind to further expand on that breach.
To answer the question would they fear pirates lol they were accomplished pirates raiders and merchantmen who lived by a code that had no fear retreats were seldom and obviously they knew when a battle was lost and that battle normally sparked the following generations to continue combatting whoever it was and it essentially became a war and a rite of passage for other younger vikings to attack until they won or the viking line was ended.
No they would not bow to a pirate because of a little boom lol.
the wall that vikings used was for naval combat to stop arrows from hitting their archers and spear chunkers in the back of thier boats which is not the same wall you have seen utilized by other nations of the time.