Norwegian Shield Bosses for Reference

Display at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, Norway

I decided to begin to learn raising by making shield bosses based on examples in museums in Norway dating from the heyday of the Viking era. The boss is a round iron fixture that is important on almost any center-gripped shield, as it protects the hand that grips the shield and has many ancillary uses. It is also an important part of a shield's aesthetics, and attractive examples show the metal worker's skill and tie the shield's proportions together. These links are about archaeological evidence and general use of shields.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Age_arms_and_armour

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/shield/shield.html

Since there are not detailed instruction manuscripts about fighting from the Viking era when these shields were used, recreation of Viking shield use is based on clues from other kinds of sources. There are many exciting theories and hypotheses and there is no doubt that these shields were used because they were good and effective. These links are about reconstruction of Viking combat using the shield, which is necessarily speculative but is being done by some very smart people.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/viking_shields.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhpqAGdZPc

These are some of the bosses that I want to replicate. My source for the images is http://www.vikverir.no/museum_gallery.html

Telemark, Norway 10th Century

Grave find from Torshov, Norway 9th Century.

Fossesholm, Norway 10th Century.