Why didn't the Viking use cavalry?

Your question makes two assumptions that are incorrect. You are assuming that the “Vikings” didn't use cavalry, and that the term meant the same thing now that it meant then. “Viking” is not a race or person, it's an act. read more

Your question makes two assumptions that are incorrect. You are assuming that the “Vikings” didn’t use cavalry, and that the term meant the same thing now that it meant then. “Viking” is not a race or person, it’s an act. read more

Vikings' frequently used horses. True, when travelling by ship they seldom took many horses with them, but they did use them. If the question is did they use effective cavalry, the answer is 'not very often'. Although some Viking centres could deploy sizeable mounted contingents (eg York), they preferred to dismount to fight. read more

The Vikings did deploy a cavalry contingent at least once in battle though, at the Battle of Sulcoit in Ireland in 968. They may not have been very good cavalry. At least at the Battle of Sulcoit, the Vikings were lured into an ambush by the Irish, and lost both the Battle and the town of Limerick. read more