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7TH CENTURY SCANDINAVIAN CHIEFTAIN
An extract from Armies of the Dark Ages 600-1066by Ian Heath
64. 7TH CENTURY SCANDINAVIAN CHIEFTAIN
He wears an unusual cross-over mail coat with richly decorated edging, metal greaves, vambrace on sword-arm only, and decorated, boar-crested helmet. He is armed with 2 long javelins and a sword, the scabbard for which hangs from a baldric. His white-washed shield is relatively small, about 24 inches in diameter, with a prominent iron boss.
64a, b and c show alternative helmets from the graves at Vendel and Valsgarde in Sweden. 64a is very eastern in style and has a mail aventail hanging all round, while 64c has a neck-guard of hinged metal strips. The cheek-guards of b and c join in front of the chin. 64d, from a decorated plaque, has a stylised eagle crest. Skull-caps, cheek-guards and neck-guards are iron, all decorated with plates of patterned bronze and gold inlaid in copper and silver.
