Costume designer Carl Emil Doepler famously incorporated horned helmets into the costumes worn by the Viking characters in Wagner’s opera Der Ring des Nibelungen during the late 19 th century and scholars believe this is the likeliest source of the captivating, albeit completely false, notion that the Vikings wore helmets with horns on them.So, where did the idea of Vikings’ horned helmets start? Here are the most likely sources for this historical inaccuracy: Depictions from the Middle Ages of Vikings wearing headgear resembling helmets also lack horns. Norse poems and sagas are often looked to by Viking scholars for insight into the lives of Vikings, and not one makes mention of horned helmets. The one complete helmet to be discovered thus far (more on this later), verified by historians to be Viking in origin, was recovered from a warrior’s grave in Gjermundbu, Norway, and horns were noticeably absent from this piece of headgear. To date, very few Viking-age helmets have been recovered by archeologists, and most of them consist of fragments. Modern-day depictions of Vikings often include horned-helmets Where did the Vikings’ horned helmet originate? Keep reading to learn more.Īlso see The Seax: A Viking Weapon to learn more. Horned helmets are as much a part of the Viking mystique as their long manes of hair and scraggly beards, and for this, the world has a 19 th-century costume designer to thank. So few Viking-age helmets have been found at all that there is reason to believe that not many Vikings wore them, and if they did, theirs were basic, protective headgear fashioned from iron or leather.ĭespite the historical inaccuracy of Vikings wearing helmets with horns strikingly adorning the sides, they are a common feature in contemporary depictions of these Norse warriors, in everything from film and television to video games. The Vikings did not have horns on their helmets, at least not the helmets they wore to battle. But one iconic image of the Vikings is completely wrong. When thinking about the Vikings, many things come to mind: their majestic longboats, fierce warrior spirit, and many conquests throughout Northern Europe. The Vikings are among the most legendary figures in the history of humankind, with a two-and-a-half-century long reign during the Middle Ages.
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