The Viking World: A History in Objects

Prick Spur

When the Great Heathen Army landed in England in late 865, the different groups which made up the army decided to spread around the country by land rather than by sailing around the coast. The Viking raiders would capture horses from farms, homes, and enemy forces to travel around the surrounding lands swiftly. The Viking warriors were actually able to bring horses on their boats but they chose not to because of risk of seasickness[1] so they took them from the East Anglians when they landed on the shores.[2] The Vikings in England would use horses to plow their fields because they were faster than oxen which would leave them with time to raid in the summer. Like the purpose of their boat’s design, hit and run battle tactics, spurs worked to speed up everyday actions of the Vikings. Spurs were important to the riders as they would make their speedy transports go a little faster for whatever task was in front of them.

This prick spur is dated to be from the 9th century and it was found in Norfolk County which is part of East Anglia. The U-shaped spur was found with the help of a metal detector on November 7th, 2016. It is primarily made of a copper alloy but it is missing its iron goad. The prick spur is 79.80 mm long and its shorter arms are 16.95 mm long. The spur weighs 43.28 grams. Each end of the prick spur has the form of a fierce open mouthed animal. The animal form is shaped by circular carvings that look like eyes and a horizontal slit for the mouth. One side of the prick spur shows more wear on the surface than the opposite end which tells us that one side was used more than the other. The spur sides are decorated with scrolls of silver twisted into S-like shapes. This type of decoration can be found in other spurs found in this area, which leads experts to believe that this decoration format was concentrated in the East Anglia territory.

The reason why Vikings were able to be effective in battle, raiding and invasions, was that they had technological innovations no one else had. Their extremely versatile boat design which allowed them to sail on shallow and deep water at high speeds as an example of creations that opened the way for a way of life that many of the Vikings couldn't have even imagined. These people adapted to their circumstances and the prick spurs were evidence of that. In fact their entire equestrian setup was evidence of battlefield adaption for the great invasion of England. Innovations like prick spurs allowed warriors to fight and travel at high speeds while other innovations like stirrups allowed a warrior to fight with a strong base to shift his weight and fight with a more stable purpose. Any advantage in the battlefield can mean the difference between life and death and the viking warriors certainly took advantage of that.

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