Ragnar Lodbrok was a legendary Viking king who reigned in the ninth century, in the territories of the current Sweden and Denmark, and was part of numerous raids, both on the European continent and in the British Isles He is remembered in the Scandinavian tradition for being bloodthirsty, rebellious and having wreaked havoc with the handling of his ax in the territories of present-day England and France. The sight of Vikings handling this type of weapon caused terror. Accompanied by a shield, the Viking axe was an especially devastating resource if the enemy had no cavalry, or they didn’t have a large contingent of archers. Initially, it was used as a tool to build boats, houses or cars, but given its versatility, its use extended to the battlefield. Without any doubt the battle axe is the most characteristic weapon of the Viking warriors although there were different kinds of axes, the materials were always the same: wood for the handle and iron for the leaf. It was a key element in some major medieval battles.Reproduction of an ornamented axe made of metal and wood. The battle-axe was used for many centuries by different cultures. The medieval battle-axe was used as a close-combat weapon in the early medieval period. There was an eleventh-century Viking battle-axe with an ornamented socket found in the Thames river near the London bridge that archeologists have taken to mean a battle did take place there. Most historians have been debating if there was a Viking attack on the London Bridge led by Olaf Haraldsson. The battle axes found might have been lost in battle or even thrown into the river by the victors of the battles, for celebratory purposes. There were many battles that took place along the Thames River and the London Bridge. In the 1920s there were many battle-axes found during the building works at the north end of the London Bridge. However, Richard I of England used a battle-axe to save the Templars from defeat at the hands of the Muslim cavalry. Sometimes the axe was engraved with different designs.īetween the 11s the battle-axes were replaced in Europe by swords. There was metal on the wooden handle to prevent it from being harmed and wrecked during combat. The battle-axes used in medieval Europe had thicker blades and the end of the blade had an opening for a wooden handle to be attached into it. Robert I of Scotland used a battle-axe to defeat Sir Henry de Bohun in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Battle-axes were popular through the eleventh century to the fourteenth century.
The Tapestry shows the Norman mounted knights fighting the Anglo-Saxon infantrymen. The battle-axe was pictured on the eleventh-century Bayeux Tapestry. It was powerful enough to significantly injure a knight in his armor. The handheld axe was still a favored weapon throughout the rest of the Middle Ages. The throwing axe was very important to the barbarians until the seventh century, when fewer barbarians were able to skillfully throw them than there were skillful archers. Barbarian axes were made from a single piece of iron, the upper head was S-shaped, the lower edge of the blade had a simple elbow, the lower part of the head swung strongly to the handle, and the upper edge of the blade formed into a point or wounded. The axe head was about seven inches high and it has been estimated that the handles were about sixteen inches.
It was on a wooden shaft with a short iron spike at the rear. The iron head was leaf-shaped and two to three feet long. The pilum was a heavy spear, used for thrusting or throwing. Roman infantry soldiers used a weapon, the pilum. The first stone axes were produced in 6,000 B.C.E. The battle-axe was made of iron, steel, sometimes bronze, and also wood (for its handle). The medieval battle-axe was a weapon made by a blacksmith. It is from the Saxo-Norman era and dates to roughly the early eleventh century. The center of the object is four millimeters thick. This particular battle-axe displayed at the museum of London is 225 millimeters high and the blade is 240 millimeters long.
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