Do you think the lone viking from the Stamford Bridge battle was real? Both Norse and Saxon sources talk about him but that '' climbed into a big barrel and floated under the bridge with a long spear and stabbed the viking up through the wooden slats'' part seems weird. Is it even possible to fucking float in a barrel? Where did he get that barrel from? Also ''shrugging off arrows'' is suspicious to say the least.
>>1036573
Why that? It's certainly within the realm of possibility and I know of at least a few occasions where folks shot with arrows just ripped them out and continued fighting.
Sort of related
>At the Battle of Garigliano he single-handedly defended the bridge of the Garigliano against 200 Spaniards, an exploit that brought him such renown that Pope Julius II tried unsuccessfully to entice him into his service.
>Shrugging off arrows
I call bullshit. It would be easier to shrug off getting stabbed than getting shot with an arrow.
>>1036596
Remember how Henry V was shot in the fucking face with a longbow and was more or less okay or how the Swiss ripped crossbow bolts from their body to continue fighting?
>>1036601
Was Henry V also supposedly killing 40 men and being blasted by multiple archers at once?
>>1036607
Nope.
>>1036596
what? No. Getting stabbed usually involves whatever stabbed you to be wrenched out of your body, causing you to bleed freely. An arrow is stuck in you and will plug up your bleeding somewhat. If the shaft gets in the way of your swinging, you break it off and try to remove the arrowhead after the battle (which is where infection killed you)
>>1036573
It would seem odd for both sides to invent such a character. It seems likely that the accounts are embellished stories about a badass warrior who actually existed and fought in the battle.
>>1036595
>against 200 spaniards
yeah sure he did I bet there were guys who held the bridge against milion aliens as well
people back then really loved to exaggerate numbers just like Hollywood know tries to make every historical event look more flashy and badass than it really was
>>1036615
It's confirmed by both sides though.
Keyword is Bridge or Chokepoint.
>>1036596
If you wear armor, an average arrow has a high chance to get stopped by the first bone or even some layers of muscle, which basically surround your vital organs. If it doesn't hit a vein or you don't shit yourself from the sheer pain, you can pull it off like a carrot from the soil.
Heimskringla doesn't mention any lone warrior and if Norwegians themselves didn't recognize the guy then he was fucking bullshit.
>>1036617
If you wear armor, the average arrow has a high chance to be stopped by the fucking armor before it penetrates your skin.
>>1036617
Oh and a sidenote. If you are unlucky and get your veins sliced open by an arrow, you may survive because the arrow itself seals the wound. That's why medieval soldiers used to broke off the arrowshaft at the level of their skin, so it would prevent them bleeding out,
>>1036633
No, it doesn't have a high chance. Only plate armour can efficiently deflect arrows and Vikings didn't wear plate armour. They wore fucking chainmails, which excelled at protecting the body from cuts by seaxes and swords, an arrow would mostly still penetrate it.
>>1036634
>veins
Do you mean arteries?
>>1036647
You forget the padding vikings may or may not have worn and shields.
>>1036651
Hell I know, my mother language refers to these differently. You still got what I wanted to say, no need to bitch around.
>>1036652
>shields
We are talking about what happens when you get hit by an arrow. Shields are irrelevant to this discussion.
>m-muh padding
Yeah, padding was to absorb the shock of the blows hitting you, not to stop arrows. They did slow them though, that's why arrows didn't go straight through one's body and were eventually stopped, just as I said.
What I meant to say was that getting hit by an arrow wasn't insta-death. It was quite common to survive it.
>>1036652
In the battle of Stamford Bridge vikings left their armor in the ships for some reason and that's a well known fact so no padding there.
>>1036647
>Only plate armour can efficiently deflect arrows
You should look up the battles of Arsuf, Towton, and Platea; you have lots and lots of shit throughout history that held up to pre-plate armor.
You have considerably detailed accounts talking about how mail would often block arrows. Seriously, go look up crusading accounts.
>>1036615
The bridge was likely thin and long enough so he could force them to come one or two at a time, and assuming he was a skilled enough fighter its certainly possible although extremely unlikely. Considering both sides confirmed it I would believe it.
>>1036651
Either one could bleed out and kill you
>>1036684
What about his stamina? He would have to be Hulk to hold it for that long.
>>1036601
To be fair, it is a badass story, it was a ricochet off of someone else's armour. Not a full velocity direct hit and he was lucky to make it.
Still so cool to read about
>>1036699
Adrenaline makes people do crazy shit
>>1036647
>an arrow would mostly still penetrate it
not from some poverty fowling bow that your average fyrdsmen would have access to. A chainmail shirt would stop an arrow from one of those stone dead
>>1036573
There have been plenty of cases in modern battlefields where people have shaken off losing limbs or multiple bullet wounds and killed dozens of people alone.
So it's completely plausible.
>>1036783
Name some examples of guys going on despite losing a limb.
>>1036573
Yes, that and the barrel thing is what makes the whole thing at Hastings so goddamn hilarious.
>>1036596
>easier to shrug off getting stabbed than getting shot with an arrow
l
o
l
>>1036699
>He would have to be Hulk to hold it for that long.
Not really.
>>1036808
Lachhiman Gurung. Fought for the British in Burma in the 40's.
Lost a hand and the use of his right arm in an explosion and fought off 200 indians for around 4 hours.
Was awarded the Victoria Cross for it, which is the highest medal in the British Military.
>>1036664
Except padding was fucking excellent against arrows,and thick padding with mail rendered your torso nearly impervious.
>>1036861
*Japanese
Not Indians.
>>1036861
>>1036867
>Gurung was born in the village of Dakhani, in the Tanahu District of Nepal, the son of Partiman Gurung.[3] He joined the British Indian Army in December 1940, permitted to enlist in wartime although he was only 4'11" tall and so below the peacetime minimum height.
>On 12/13 May 1945 at Taungdaw, Burma [now Myanmar], Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung was manning the most forward post of his platoon which bore the brunt of an attack by at least 200 of the Japanese enemy. Twice he hurled back grenades which had fallen on his trench, but the third exploded in his right hand, blowing off his fingers, shattering his arm and severely wounding him in the face, body and right leg. His two comrades were also badly wounded but the rifleman, now alone and disregarding his wounds, loaded and fired his rifle with his left hand for four hours, calmly waiting for each attack which he met with fire at point blank range.
Jesus fucking Christ, I´m trying to picture this glorious manlet covered in his own blood, shooting japs with one arm, but I can´t. Not trying to disregard his efforts by any means, but the overall idea is just bizarre
RIP
>>1036683
But why the hell are you arguing over this, the main point of my comments was not that mail is shit or something, I never said it couldn't protect you, I said that in the worst case, when an arrow actually manages to penetrate you, you have a high chance of surviving.
It's not hard to believe a lone bad ass dude could hold a narrow bridge for awhile.
Granted, shit may not have gone down exactly how they said it did, but the claim isn't that extraordinary.
>>1036647
>and Vikings didn't wear plate armour.
they did wear lamellar though
>>1039381
You're retarded.
>>1036684
Bridge would have been wide enough for carts.
This whole history is weird to me as i live in the area, the Norwegians would have marched past my house, i went to College where they landed, and i work on the site of the battle of Fulford.
>>1039408
at least my grandpa didn't tear my ass apart with his cock daily like yours. fag.
>>1036573
Back then it was just stamford the bridge came later. "Stam ford" means something like "foot crossing"
>>1039519
Sorry for destroying a nice story worthy of a touch of blind harry o.p
>>1039516
lol
>>1040338
Found him
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Inouye
>As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, coming within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade, a German soldier inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade, which struck his right elbow, nearly severing most of his arm and leaving his primed grenade reflexively "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore".[12] Inouye's horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. While the German inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. As the enemy soldier aimed his rifle at him, Inouye tossed the grenade into the bunker and destroyed it. He stumbled to his feet and continued forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge. He awoke to see the worried men of his platoon hovering over him. His only comment before being carried away was to order them back to their positions, saying "nobody called off the war!"[13]
>>1040379
How can a guy that fucking badass turn into a baby killing Demorat?
