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Viking Axes - At Home, and In Battle
For people living in cold, heavily wooded lands in northern Europe, owing an axe, and knowing how to use it, was pretty much essential. They were needed for chopping trees and shrub-land to get wood for housing, fires and making household furniture and utensils. It is widely believed that one of the main reasons they became popular as a weapon was simply because pretty much everyone had one! (Swords were only for the wealthy)
In addition to their wide availability, most Vikings were also very skilled at using them due to the wide variety of uses for them in their domestic lives.
As with most tools, they evolved over the years; the axe heads would have originally been made of stone, but as skills and ‘technology’ evolved, iron and steel gradually became the norm.
There are many different styles of axe including; ‘Danish’; ‘Bearded’; Francisca’; and ‘Mammen’
The Bearded Axe is one of the best known and is a very popular design in modern day replicas and Viking inspired jewelry. The curved ‘beard’ gave it a larger cutting surface and in the hands of a skilled Viking, it could also be used as a hook to disarm enemies or pull away their shield defences.
Unlike the other ‘styles’, the Mammen Axe actually relates to a single beautiful axe of iron and silver that was found near the village of Mammen in Denmark. The fine detailed markings are believed to be a mix of both Christian and pagan patterns, and it was most likely forged somewhere around the 10th century.
We do not know who owned this original ‘Mammen’ axe, but it was no ordinary farm-worker or warrior; this was clearly the property of a very wealthy man – possibly an early ‘status symbol’ of wealth rather than a weapon. Not surprisingly, the fine design of the Mammen axe is widely replicated in modern day replica jewlery.
Please use the link below to have a browse through our axe themed products in store -