How Fast Were Viking Longships?

How Fast Did Viking Longships Sail? While modern replicas offer us good evidence for the top speeds of Viking longships, it remains a debatable subject.

In The Two Lives of Charlemagne, by the biographer Notker the Stammerer, we encounter a deeply troubled Charlemagne who witnessed an unusual event in southern France. A fleet of Northmen sailed up the coast to raid but seeing a garrison of Franks stationed where they had hoped to strike, they fled. The Franks sent a fleet to pursue them but could not match the Northmen’s speed. Notker tells us Charlemagne recognized the imminent threat of the Vikings on his empire when he said, “I do not fear that these bandits will do me any harm; I am sick at heart to think that, even in my lifetime, they dared to attack this coast, and I am horror-stricken when I think of the harm they will do to my descendants and their subjects.”

Already in his lifetime, we learn that the Vikings’ longships had a reputation for sailing much faster than those of the Franks. The longship was an innovation that struck terror in the hearts of their victims, and it has become a symbol synonymous with the Viking Age. Ye…