8. Infections were commonplace in the Viking Age, with battlefield wounds often resulting in death by microbes
Scandinavia, due to its geographical location and relative isolation, was typically spared the worst of humanity’s ailments during the early medieval period. The first recorded smallpox epidemic in Iceland only arrived in 1241 CE, being transmitted from mainland Denmark, and is believed to have been introduced to Scandinavia by Viking crusaders returning home from Eastern Europe and Asia. Similarly, leprosy is believed to have spread to Scandinavia during the Viking Age via the slave trade. Leprosy is known to have been present in Ireland at least as early as the 7th century, growing to widespread prevalence by the 10th, and as a result of the abduction and transportation of Irish slaves back to Scandinavia they inadvertently brought the infectious disease back to their homeland; this issue became sufficiently problematic that both the Gulaþing Law and Borgarþing Law stated that “a promise of marriage is not binding if one of the partners was found to be leprous”.
Among perhaps the most bizarre instances of infection-related deaths is the story of Sigurd Eysteinsson, also known as Sigurd the Mighty, the second Earl of Orkney between 875 and 892 CE. In or around the last year of his reign, Sigurd challenged a rival native rule, Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed, to a 40 versus 40 man battle; in an act of great dishonor and deceit, Sigurd secretly brought 80 men and thus easily won the fight, beheading his defeated opponent. Strapping the head of Máel Brigte to his saddle as a trophy, at some point during his ride home the famed buck tooth scratched Sigurd’s leg. The resultant wound became infected as a result of close contact with the necrotic tissue, with Sigurd, ironically, dying soon after from the contracted illness.