Viking Encampment

Our sails are set and the long ship leaves tomorrow! Visit us at the this Saturday June 6th and Sunday June 7th 2026 at the 25th Annual Siouxland Renaissance Festival.

Performance Schedule:
- Viking Shield Wall Demonstration 1pm and 3pm in the Combat Arena
- Story telling with Vikings 2pm at the Court Pavilion
- Crafting and weapons demonstrations throughout the day in the Encampment

Photo: a graphic with the Viking Encampment banner and schedule of performances.

On this months Freya’s Favored we have a small but mighty young ruler by the name of Queenie. She is dainty but has a purr that is loud and full of heart. She loves when you play with her using a feather wand toy or throw a little ball for her to chase. She wanted to make it known that if you give her affection, she will reward you with cuddles and purrs and a view of two little cute black nose dots.

To learn more about how to adopt Queenie or other kittens available check out bittykittybrigade or go to https://bittykittybrigade.org/adopt/available-kittens/

Sound the horn and get your sails ready! Visit us this coming weekend at the 25th Annual Siouxland Renaissance Assoc. and Festival. We will have our encampment ready with a weapons tent, crafting tent, and performing shield wall demonstrations as well as skaldic story telling.

Schedule coming soon!

Of all the tools used by early medieval Scandinavians, one of the often overlooked would be the whetstone. Whetstones - just like today - were used by early medieval people to keep their tools and weapons sharp and in good condition. While not a luxury or exotic good, whetstones were clearly an important aspect of life in early medieval Scandinavia.

Within archeology, whetstones are a very commonplace find in excavations and graves. Whetstones have been found in a variety of sizes with many being found with small holes drilled into one end so the stone could either be worn as a pendant, or tied to a belt for easy carrying.

Most whetstones found in an early medieval Scandinavian context appear to come from Norway around the modern day city of Trodheim as well as from modern day county Telemark. These stones - identified by geologists as Norwegian Ragstone - have been found as far as France, Germany and Poland with large concentrations found in the trade cities of Kaupang, Ribe, and Wolin. This wide spread of finds, along with the concentrations in urban centers is indicative of these whetstones being a lucrative trade good in the Viking age trade networks.

Picture:
A whetstone quarry from Eidsborg Norway where Viking age whetstone was sourced

It’s always “Loki, what did you do?!” and never “Amazing job, Loki!” - Loki

Earlier this month while on a first grade field trip in central Norway, a young boy made the find of a life time, a 1300 year old single edged sword from the early Viking age.

Swords found from the Viking age are predominantly double edged and built not just for delivering devastating blows, but also for deft maneuvering. However, there are rare examples (such as the recent discovery in Norway) of single edged Viking swords, built with heavy blades to hack into opponents with very little opportunity for finesse.

Single edged Viking swords have been found predominantly in western and central Norway, with some examples found in Denmark. These single edged swords are seen by historians as a mark of transition from the military technology of the migration period (4th to 7th centuries AD) to the technology of the Viking age (Mid 8th - late 11th centuries AD)

The metal working of the single edged swords appears to be of lower quality - more akin to that of a large knife rather than the double edged swords found in the same period. This appears to indicate local smiths practicing new techniques that had been used in knife making, and adapting them to sword crafting.

Pictured: The single edged sword found by first graders in Innlandet Norway

Sources:

Short, William. “Sword.” Chapter. In Men of Terror: A Comprehensive Analysis of Viking Combat , 82–83. Yardley, Pennsylvania : Westholme Publishing, 2021.

Hjardar, Kim, and Vegard Vike. “Viking Weapons.” Chapter. In Vikings at War, 171. Oxford , United Kingdom: Castemate , 2020.

Peirce, Ian, and Ewart Oakeshott. Swords of the viking age. Boydell Press, 2012.

“Bet I can out run this” - Odin.. probably

Not all that glitters is gold, sometimes its silver.

A recently discovered hoard of silver coins from different regions of Viking age trade, mostly German & English, were found in the middle of a field near Rena, Norway and aptly named the Mørstad Hoard. This is Norway’s largest discovery of Viking age coins at over 3,000.

Why would silver be so vital and so desired by the Norse? One reason, amongst several, is that it allowed people without access to land or livestock, often considered traditional forms of capital, to accumulate and distribute their wealth. Silver was mined and imported from distant countries, moving through long-distance trade networks, and made their way into Viking age Scandinavia. Survival of Viking age silver hoards displayed evidence of imported coins from 9th and early 10th century showed clear Islamic and Western European minting, German and Anglo-Saxon coinages from the 10th and 11th centuries.

Another reason was because of silver’s ability to be transformed into whatever the owner of the precious metal desired it to be; anything from jewelry, to ingots, to coins. Silver was good that held value in whatever form or shape it was in. It was a commodity, often recycled by means of melting, reworking, casting, and modifications, even recirculation and reliquidation, within the Scandinavian economy to better work between different spheres of trade.

Through continued discoveries, such as burial sites in Birka, the Spillings Hoard, Täby burial, and the most recently discovered Mørstad Hoard, archeologists are able to further understand the complexities that silver played in the lives of Norse in the Viking age.

Photo: a hand holding a coin found from in the Mørstad Hoard

But it’s a really GOOD hammer! - Thor… probably

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Hneftafl the game that sounds funny. (This is the very abridged version of its story)
Hnef (Fist or King perhaps) Tafl (tavl) (board or table for gaming)

The name refers to a plethora of early European games that predated chess in northern Europe. In modern times it most often refers to one version.

The origins are based on earlier greek and roman games (e.g. Ludus Latrunculorum - A checkers like game involving capturing your opponent’s pieces on 2 sides). The sagas, specifically Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, hint at how hneftafl of the game was played with many different versions of potential rules and board layouts. All open to interpretation as they were discussing the game obliquely, but still aligning with what ended up being played and documented in Wales (Tawlbwrdd) and Sweden (Tablut) several centuries later. Fundamentally it comes down to different sized armies between offense and defense, with a singular piece as the object to capture (king, chief, etc.)

The nature of the game: It is one of disparate forces. More attackers than defenders with the defenders having the piece to be captured. All the pieces moving on a square board (varying sizes from 7x7 to 15x15 from examples found) as a rook in chess. The individual defenders and attackers are captured by having opponent pieces moved (one at a time) to bracket them. The captured piece is removed from the board. The king must be surrounded on all 4 sides. The goal of the attackers is to capture the king; the goal of the defenders is to get their king to the outside border and thus escape.

Photo: an illustration of a Ballindary board (Ireland 10th Century)