Viking Raider Sword    $51  Expedited Shipping Available! E-mail service@strongblade.com or call 866-7SWORDS On Sale!    Please select the model that you would like to purchase, Then click on the Add to Cart button. Viking Raider Sword   Model# SBA-VIKINGRAIDER  $51       Out of Stock   Viking Raider Sword, Tempered What\'s this?   Model# SBA-VIKINGRAIDER-T  $85       Out of Stock   Sharpened Viking Raider Sword, Tempered   Model# SBA-VIKINGRAIDER-T-S  $99       Out of Stock   Scratch and Dent Viking Raider Sword. Minor scratch on blade   Model# SBA-VIKINGRAIDER-SD  $39       This item is no longer available.   Accessories Belt-Hung Sword Frog   Model# SBA-BELT-SWORDFROG   $11   (Originally $22) |     In Stock - Ships in 1-3 days   Additional Care and Cleaning Kit (All SBA swords come with one standard)   Model# SBA-CAREANDCLEANINGKIT   $3.5       In Stock - Ships in 1-3 days   The Vikings had every advantage that one could think of in combat. Their ships were some of the fastest on the oceans. Their weapons were some of the finest in the world, and their culture provided the perfect background for fine warriors. It's no wonder that they conquered so much of the known world (and that so many American football teams are names after them). The Vikings were fierce fighters and could survive against very strong opposition, as they proved time and again throughout history. But with their fast longships, the Vikings didn't have to face strong opposition. They could reach coastal villages and get out again long before the villagers had time to call for assistance from surrounding lands. This was the ideal method for vikings: strike quickly, take what you could, then leave again before organized resistance could form. It was only when the Vikings started making permanent outposts in England that they were defeated, and it wasn't through military defeats either. The Vikings, settled and defensible, no longer were raiders and conquerers, they became a part of England, assimilated into the population. To wax poetic for a moment, the Vikings were assimilated into the country as a sunken ship is assimilated by coral in a coral reef, becoming itself an important part of the reef. All right, so it ain't Shakespeare; The Vikings weren't into the whole flowery poet stuff anyway (you ever read Beowulf? Not exactly Lord Byron type stuff). Swords from the Viking lands (including Northern Germany) have a long and distinguished history through the middle ages, and still have some prescence there today. The city of Solingen was the Toledo or Damascus of Northern Europe; swords that came from Solingen, particularly from the family of swordmakers known as Ulfberht, were revered, and many counterfeit sword makers stamped the word “Ulfberht” on their blades to give them more value (often misspelling the name). In fact, the early viking swords are often said to have been the predecesors to the knightly broadswords/arming swords of the middle ages. Many Viking blades have similar features, which makes them farily easily to identify: A distinctive three-lobed “wave” pommel, long straight double-edges, wide fuller (groove that runs down the blade), and a short grip. Viking swords usually were a little shorter than the arming swords carried by knights later on in history (possibly because the Vikings were always on the move and often raided from ships; it’s difficult to make lightning fast raids with large, cumbersome swords). Like knightly swords, though, Viking swords often bore engravings upon the blades, usually featuring important or sacred phrases and pictographs.

The flintlock pistol was the greatest advance in pirating since the wooden leg. The concept was fairly simple: gunpowder was stuffed into the barrel. A lead ball, usually wrapped in some sort of fabric, was stuffed in. A hammer was then pulled back half-way and left that way until the gun was ready to fire. The pistol technically was not meant to fire in this position, although sometimes they were known to go off half-cocked (and yes, that is the origin of that expression). When the gun was ready to be fired, the hammer was pulled back all the way and the trigger was squeezed. If you're feeling flinty, go check out the Strongblade selection of flintlock pistols, blunderbuss pistols and flintlock rifles.

Keywords: Viking, Norse, sword, gothar, 13th warrior, Grendel, Beowulf, raid