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Vikings most commonly carried sturdy axes that could be thrown or swung with head-splitting force. [20] The Mammen Axe is a famous example of such battle-axes, ideally suited for throwing and melee combat. [21] An axe head was mostly wrought iron, with a steel cutting edge. This made the weapon less expensive than a sword, and was a standard ...
The Dane axe or long axe (including Danish axe and English long axe) is a type of European early medieval period two-handed battle axe with a very long shaft, around 0.9–1.2 metres (2 ft 11 in – 3 ft 11 in) at the low end to 1.5–1.7 metres (4 ft 11 in – 5 ft 7 in) or more at the long end.
An ornamented, 7th-century Merovingian battle axe head on display in the British Museum. [2] [3] Battle axes were very common in Europe in the Migration Period and the subsequent Viking Age, and they famously figure on the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts Norman mounted knights pitted against Anglo-Saxon infantrymen. They continued ...
The peasant axe has a mostly straight shaft with a distinct curve towards the blade. [1] The blade is crescent-shaped blade and single-edged. It is assumed that the axe is a further development of the Viking axe, also known as the Danish axe. The shape of the shaft favors a cutting effect from the blade.
An artists view of a votive offering taking place in Illerup Ådal. Some of the excavated weapons (axes) can be glimpsed in the exhibition case on the right. From a former exhibition at Moesgård Museum. According to Forte, Oram, and Pedersen, "The Illerup Ådal site is one of twenty-five in Denmark and southern Sweden where weapons were ...
The Battle Axe culture is believed to have brought Indo-European languages and Indo-European culture to southern Scandinavia. The fusion of the Battle Axe culture with the native agricultural and hunter-gatherer cultures of the region spawned the Nordic Bronze Age, which is considered the ancestral civilization of the Germanic peoples. [9]
However, various medieval authors used the term to refer to hand axes as well as throwing axes. [69] The archaeological record indicates that the throwing axe was no longer in use by the seventh century, and it does not appear in the Frankish Ripuarian Law. This decline in usage may indicate the rise of more sophisticated battle formations. [70]
The halberd was inexpensive to produce and very versatile in battle. As the halberd was eventually refined, its point was more fully developed to allow it to better deal with spears and pikes (and make it able to push back approaching horsemen), as was the hook opposite the axe head, which could be used to pull horsemen to the ground. [7]