"Aaaand then I axed him 37 times in the chest!" "Housecaaaarl, that kills people!"

@juanpablogonzalez8528

5 жыл бұрын

Underrated comment

@azraelbatosi

5 жыл бұрын

IanMac bringing out the classics.....CAAAAARRRRLLLLL

@fatdad64able

4 жыл бұрын

IanMac: Let me axe you this: 37, or rather 38 times?

@bjornjernskjold8631

3 жыл бұрын

This is the greatest comment in the history of comments

Fun fact, Huskarls are pretty much impervious to arrows. They can almost solo a town centre

@madscientistshusta

6 жыл бұрын

OrcinusDrake until they take one to the knee and retire as a city guard!

@ivanstrydom8417

5 жыл бұрын

Yes, Gothic Huscarls used an effective combination of sword and shield. And are fast to train.

@sapiensfromterra5103

4 жыл бұрын

@@madscientistshusta Really, I thought they are counter archers?! The ones from the Hill Fort y' kno'...

@freezze12

3 жыл бұрын

Yay age of mythology reference

@edwinpoon

3 жыл бұрын

After training to elite status, they can tank a castle too. All those pew pew pew arrows coming down, only deal one dmg. Plus they come out of their barracks in ~3 seconds each like a flood after their ruler has Perfusion. Yay.

I really wanted a sound clip of Lindybeige shouting "VIKINGS!" every time Matt said it.

@GorinRedspear

6 жыл бұрын

me too

@xiezicong

6 жыл бұрын

THEY'RE NOT FUCKING VIKINGS!

@SweetMattieG

6 жыл бұрын

I wanted a berserker one.

@Vidar_Odinson

6 жыл бұрын

John Tse VIKIIIINGS!

@xiezicong

6 жыл бұрын

If you're talking to me - It's a scholagladiatoria reference: kzread.info/dash/bejne/dquB1tOOebTdhZs.html No you're fucking not! You're not a Viking!

It's truly incredible how proficient their metal work was so long ago. I mean they figured out how to forge weld a diamond-shaped high carbon edge on a softer shock absorbing center to make a perfect chopping device. Personally I think the Dane Axe is on of the most beautiful weapons ever made, it isn't ornate, it emphasizes elegance and speed but still portrays power.

"send him my axe, he'll know what it means" -ulfric stormcloak

@assumjongkey1383

3 жыл бұрын

No jarl of Whith run who said this

@jacklang3314

3 жыл бұрын

@@assumjongkey1383 If you side with the Imperials, Balgruuf says it. If you side with the Stormcloaks, Ulfric says it.

@assumjongkey1383

3 жыл бұрын

@@jacklang3314 I didn't know that 😅😅

@assumjongkey1383

3 жыл бұрын

@@jacklang3314 do u now is it pronounced jarl or Yarlington? ?

@assumjongkey1383

3 жыл бұрын

@Telvanni Magister I have then I haven't played skyrim back then

Somebody please give this man an axe. We need more Dane axe videos.

@utterlyhollow5377

6 жыл бұрын

give that Matt a dane axe, Matts love dane axes.

@wolfthornnholtzklau4913

5 жыл бұрын

@@utterlyhollow5377 bwahaha

First axe that came to hand... just reached into the axe room and grabbed one. Lol

"Frankly, ...." Too good.

@tacticalmanatee

6 жыл бұрын

I admit, I just got that after reading your comment. Very punny.

2:03 when your neighbor gets a new axe and it's comically massive.

@beardedbjorn5520

6 жыл бұрын

“OI Steve, check it out, Carl’s got an axe; it’s fecking massive bruv”

The evidence for the use of horses in actual battle by the Anglo-Saxons is very scant, but I think the issue is not as clear-cut as sometimes presented. Usually, people will look at the few battles for which we have descriptions with any degree of detail, and extrapolate. But that's usually Hastings and Maldon. Hastings was a very specific kind of battle where the English held defensive positions on top of a hill. Similarly, Maldon involved a local force fighting on and near a river crossing, not the best battlefield for cavalry. As for other battles, there's Brunanburh: Wesseaxe forð ondlongne dæg eorodcistum on last legdun laþum þeodum ("The West Saxons pursued the rear of those hateful peoples the whole day in [companies of mounted men?]") The problem is the word eorodcist. Etymologically, it means "cavalry company" (cist, "band"; eorod [eoh "horse" + rad "raid; expedition"], "[horse] company"), but it's not clear that it always retained that meaning and IIRC there's instances elsewhere in Anglo-Saxon literature where eorod might mean simply "troop, band", referring to foot soldiers. Certainly, the divergent spelling forms (eored, eorod compared to the original *eorad with a long a) point towards a weakened, shortened second syllable and an obscured compound. Still though, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contains some bits that may be interpreted as involving cavalry fighting. For example: 914: Her on geare rad se here ut ofer Eastron of Hamtune 7 of Ligreceastre 7 bræcon þone frið, 7 slogon mænige menn æt Hocenertune 7 þær onbutan. 7 ða swiðe raþe æfter þam, swa ða oðre ham comon, þa fundon hi oðre flocrade þæt rad ut wið Ligtunes, 7 þa wurdon þa landleode his gewære 7 him wið gefuhton, 7 gebrohton hi on fullan fleame 7 ahreddon eall þæt hi genumen hæfdon 7 eac hira horsa 7 hira wæpna micelne dæl. ("914: On this year, after Easter, the [Viking] army rode out of Northampton and of Leicester, and they broke the truce, and slew many men at and near (Hocenertune [Hockerton?]). And then, as soon as the others went back home, they found another mounted company that rode out against Leighton, and the locals became aware of this and fought against them, and put them in full flight and recovered everything that they [the Vikings] had taken and also a great number of their horses and weapons") Together with the fact that we know most if not all fyrdmen were required to be mounted, and that we know that among the first things the Vikings would do upon landing would be to get some horses, I think we can imagine a lot of fighting involved mounted warriors in scouting, raiding and foraging parties at the very least. It's possible that pitched battles had a different focus and that cavalry wasn't seen as a proper tool in that context, or that their contribution was simply overlooked in our scare accounts (light skirmishing cavalry is easy to overlook). Another literary nugget. Maxims I has this: eorl sceal on eos boge, eorod sceal getrume ridan, fæste feþa stondan ("a nobleman goes on the arched back of a war-horse, a troop of cavalry must ride in a body, the foot-soldier must stand fast") Note that eorod here refers clearly to cavalry, since the author says it has to ride. Moreover, a clear distinction seems to be made between horsemen and footmen in battle. Maxims is a poem about common sense and truisms (for an Anglo-Saxon point of view), so there's that. Wait, this video was about two-handed axes, wasn't it.

@Taistelukalkkuna

6 жыл бұрын

IIRC, Anglo-Saxons tried using Norman mercenaries as cavalry, but that did not go far.

@hrotha

6 жыл бұрын

Since the days of Queen Emma and even before that, there were quite a few Norman nobles in England, but personally I'm not aware of any recorded instances of Norman cavalry being hired by the English as mercenaries. There's the Battle of Hereford (1055), where the English troops of the Norman noble Raulf the Timid were defeated by the rebel Ælfgar of Mercia and his Welsh allies. Manuscript C of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says the English fled after only a short fight "because they were on horseback", but Raulf got his nickname because it was thought _he_ and his household troops started the rout. This episode has been used as evidence that the English didn't really use cavalry ("a Norman guy tried to make them fight as cavalry, against their custom, and it was a disaster"), but that doesn't tell the whole story, in my opinion. For starters, the people of the Welsh Marches wouldn't have taken to cavalry regardless of what went on elsewhere in England, on more cavalry-friendly terrain.

@Taistelukalkkuna

6 жыл бұрын

That was the episode I was meaning. Thanks for the info, since I didn´t have the context where Normans were employed.=)

@orkstuff5635

6 жыл бұрын

Unfortunately I had to get rid of all my books when I moved into a smaller flat, a couple of snippets though - 'of course, it's easy to overlook the obvious - the Vikings travelled by land as well as by sea and on land their principle aid to locomotion was the horse' (footnote in quite an old book on Vikings - sadly, can't remember the Authors name) also worth remembering that the first two named Vikings (EDIT courtesy of Badger of Death - not Vikings, they were Anglo Saxon, Doh!) we hear of in Britain were called Hengest and Horsa (stallion and horse IIRC), the Anglo-Saxon 'standing' army was called the Fyrd - 'y' and 'i' are pretty interchangeable in English so fyrd could be pronounced fird, English is a Germanic language and the German word for horse is 'pferd'? A chap (I think his surname was Glover?) wrote a fairly convincing article about the battle of Stamford Bridge in which he argued that the only way that the Anglo-Saxon army could have closed so quickly with Hardrada's men was if they mounted a surprise cavalry raid against the Viking camp forcing the Norse away from their weapons and armour, the fact that Haralds Saga describes the men forming a defensive circle brings to mind the Napoleonic era infantry square or the American wild west 'circling the wagon train' when attacked by fast moving troops - on horses. The main reason that the Anglo-Saxons rarely fought on horseback was that when cavalry fought against well disciplined infantry, the cavalry generally came 2nd.

@wierdalien1

6 жыл бұрын

hrotha wait. . . Thats why the rohan cavalry unit is called Éored. Because it looks like the proper old english word for horse company. Not sure why this surprises me.

Being a dane this is a topic I'm really interested in and I LOVE the fact that you've made a video about it!!! (Oh and please just keep calling it a dane axe, here in Denmark we are proud of that ;) )

I thought you need housecarls only for carrying your loot

@JustGrowingUp84

6 жыл бұрын

They can also be used for some (sadistic) entertainment - just make them trigger traps!

@JustGrowingUp84

6 жыл бұрын

Heh, you made me actually lol, well played, mate!

@CoffeeSnep

5 жыл бұрын

"I am sworn to carry your burdens!"

@tyrant-den884

4 жыл бұрын

The professional term is "burdens". This includes the fights you get into and listening to your complaints about life.

@Outside85

4 жыл бұрын

@@CoffeeSnep 'resinated sigh'

Can you do a video about the Varangian guard?

@antivalidisme5669

6 жыл бұрын

"Dane" axe leads to 1066 that leads to Harold Hardrada who leads to the Varangian Guard. Crystal clear! Really like the idea BTW

@junichiroyamashita

6 жыл бұрын

Axel Tenveils or the Gallowglass

@elgostine

6 жыл бұрын

wouldt reccomend it, we know a lot less about the guard then the internet would have you believe..

@pa1adin111

6 жыл бұрын

I too would be very interested in a video on the Varangian Guard. In addition to the great axes (which are a very strong interest of mine) there is at least one example of a sword with a mix Middle eastern and Scandinavian fittings and a classic type x blade.

@nathanhunt9105

6 жыл бұрын

I was gonna ask about that, but then I forgot.

I don´t know about sources from the Viking Age, but at the Battle of Hausbergen 1262 between the city of Strasburg and it´s bishop, the citys Militiamen on Foot are described in the chronicles as carrying "long hafted axes, that some call danish axes". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hausbergen

@scholagladiatoria

6 жыл бұрын

Nice!

My housecarl uses sword and shield. She is also my wife.

@riverstyxarmory9782

6 жыл бұрын

Gjallarhorn does she also not know to get out of your way? Mine constantly retrieves my arrows for me by jumping in front of them mid-flight.

@unpopularspirits829

6 жыл бұрын

River Styx Armory I tend to just shout at her so she goes out of the way

@procyonia3654

6 жыл бұрын

So your wife is not a battleaxe?

@unpopularspirits829

6 жыл бұрын

Matt Zimmel she's combative at times but i don't find her to be sharp-tongued or domineering.

@talmeretz

6 жыл бұрын

Is she sworn to carry your burdens?

One thing that you've demonstrated in an earlier video was a king using the haft of an axe to defend himself. That haft, to me, seems key to understanding the Dane Axe. A bodyguard could use the shaft to hit, pin, trip, and other non-lethal combinations. If someone is a danger, you don't necessarily want to kill them, but you may have to, depending on circumstances. This weapons lets the housecarl fight better according to circumstance in an everyday setting.

Yeah! Dane axes! Fuck yeah! And Matt, I agree that Dane Axe is a bad term for it. Here in Scandinavia we just call them long axes.

@scholagladiatoria

6 жыл бұрын

Long Axe makes a lot of sense.

@jarrettadam1490

6 жыл бұрын

scholagladiatoria Walter Sorrells can make it. A gifted blacksmith indeed. Check out his channel. You're welcome ✌️

@beardedbjorn5520

6 жыл бұрын

Jarrett Adam “Hhwhile I hhwhip up this hhwhite grip for this hhwhiny hhwife of mine, I’m gonna enjoy some cool hhwhip”. Walter Sorrels inside joke

@qvist350

6 жыл бұрын

Gaius Baltar in Denmark they are called daneøkse. I don't know about the rest of scandinavia

@laughingdaffodils5450

6 жыл бұрын

"Dane axe" is very much like "french fries." It's called that in English because that's where English (or rather, Ænglisc) speakers initially associated it with. You wouldn't expect the Danes to call it a dane axe anymore than the French would call their *pommes frites* french fries. "Bad?" Yeah, I guess so, but no moreso than many other common words and phrases.

Captain Context is back! I was afraid he'd been completely taken over by Imperator Innuendo ;)

@peterlynch1458

6 жыл бұрын

At 13:30 Imperator Innuendo tries to take over, but is quickly suppressed.

The Varangian guard is an interesting topic I think when discussing two handed axes. As far as I’ve been able to work out, the big axes were their primary weapon, and they were pretty famous for it. It’s one of those specific contexts where I think it’s a pretty clear case of axes being used for some non-monetary reason, as opposed to the popular belief that one only used an axe if they couldn’t afford a sword.

This was one of your most interesting episodes for me. I especially liked seeing the museum axe samples. I hope you find your axe soon.

This is my favorite channel to binge watch.

thank you for the danish pronunciation, you're doing it almost perfectly! Very impressed!

Thanks for the video. I've been looking for such an axe for several years, with no success, so I hope that your appeal to the community will yield some good results :)

Love the wordy intro. Oh Matt Easton, such a charmer..

So... VIKING... KATANA... AXES!! The new ultimate weapon for tweens right there. VIKING... KATANA... AXES!!

@Thetermsofservice1

6 жыл бұрын

can cleave straight through steel memes

@DoktorWeasel

6 жыл бұрын

Needs a pommel for maximum memeitude.

@penttikoivuniemi2146

6 жыл бұрын

I'm pretty sure one of those is even strong enough to cut through a thrown pommel.

@TheChuckfuc

4 жыл бұрын

The samurai and other foot soldiers did use an axe called Oho.

@TheTruth-xp2of

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheChuckfuc Japanese soldiers throughout history, including samurai, used axes. To my knowledge they were not called "Oho". Your source, likely mistransliterated 斧.

Thanks for another great axe video.

A very informative video, and a topic very well researched.

I've been waiting for a video on the Dane Axe

Arms and Armor makes the best axes that i have ever felt. Historic replicas, and extremely light.

Hit up Wieland Forge for a dane-axe- he makes great stuff, mostly re-enactment but I believe he can do sharps too. My re-enactment Dane-axe was made by him and it's a beauty.

It's such a functional and versatile weapon. When you play around with it, you realize it can be used in many ways. Almost like a spear (not as good as the Atgeir in that sense, but nevertheless), pulling enemies out of the saddle, "jerking" shields down (followed by a "stab" to the face), hook up behind the hollow of the knee and trip them over, climbing walls and what not. Lightning fast and very good for keeping multiple hostiles at a distance.

Loved this video! I know your a Sabre guy and much as I enjoy that I treasure my Dane Axe above all else! And Housecarls would be an awesome subject for a future video. Incidentally I believe the Gallowglass mercenaries of Ireland, descended from Vikings who settled in Scotland, used variants of the Dane Axe right up to 1600, along with mail shirts, in combination with more modern helms such as the Morion and the Burgonet.

"I am sworn to carry your burdens" - a housecarl

Hey Matt, great vid as always! Question: From my amateur point of view, the dane axes look like early pole arms. Is it reasonable to assume that Helberds, Poleaxes and Bardiches are descendents of the "dane axe"? Would they have been wielded in a similar fashion? Cheers mate, and keep up the good work!

Comes for the Skyrim comments. Leaves satisfied.

Good addition of video from museum.

Very good video, i think you're a great teacher

I believe King Stephen, during the siege of Lincoln, was referenced as using a Dane Axe when he was disarmed in 1141.

Thanks so much for your video!!

Food for thought. Your explanation of the two kinds of axe being for uses against different "targets" was illuminating. Might the unreinforced blades be for using against lightly armored troops, or cavalry [horses rarely armored those days], then the reinforced for going up against opponents in mail, lamellar, etc. with shields?

great video, can you please do a video on Africa armour?

Awesome video Matt. I’ve been wanting a Dane Axe for a while now. Could you do a video on the Varangian guard?

Lydia is the best housecarl/waifu. :P

@Slayer_Jesse

6 жыл бұрын

I am sworn to carry your burdens...

@wierdalien1

6 жыл бұрын

Slayer Jesse alright Lydia. . . No need for your sass.

@thatchannel195

6 жыл бұрын

Aaron Sikes Iona

@andersgjersoe4852

6 жыл бұрын

and she does not come with equipped with an axe!

@Mrtheunnameable

6 жыл бұрын

She's not Danish.

I love you Corl!!!

When you first released this video my forge was out of comission. I believe I will have the capacity to forge one in the near future. This is one of my favorite weapons, and I would like to make a test piece for myself which you could take a look at and see the stats on before placing an order. Feel free to find me on Facebook as Ryan Teeter, or Delta Forge

I think another thing that is interesting is that many of these had the upper point leading and the edge swept in to a lower point that was nearer the center line of the haft. That is they were like Francesca with the upper point acting almost like a spike.

But did they really have insanely high pierce armor making them practically invulnerable to archer, castle, and tower fire?

@duchessskye4072

6 жыл бұрын

uh... what? Is this a meme or something

@ericstoverink6579

6 жыл бұрын

The Easy Nine Age of Empires 2. The Huskarl is the Goths' unique unit. It has extremely high Pierce armor.

@TheHaighus

6 жыл бұрын

Heh, I got the reference. Honestly, I think they just wanted to find a niche for them, they shouldn't be any tougher than any of the other armoured infantry in the game when thinking historically.

@user-yf4jx6te2b

5 жыл бұрын

especially when you're pumping out gobs of them from the wall barracks three times as fast as anyone else can.

Very informative ! Thanks a lot Matt I have a question : To whom you would give the advantage in a single combat between a Housecarl using the two handed Dane axe and a Norman heavy cavalryman armed with a lance or a sword ? (Assuming that both fighters are well trained and skilfull in the use of their weapons )

One of the greater offences of For Honor is perpetuating the idea that Dane-axes were more or less axe-shaped sledge-hammers; they look perfectly cool the way they are and the vikings look perfectly badass wielding them, you don't have to insist they are swinging around 20 Pounds of steel at the end of a stick.

I would recommend James Austin for a custom made Dane axe. Or perhaps Owen Bush if your looking for someone more local.

That is a beautiful axe.

Matt, loved the lego reference! Side note, my interest in HEMA is rooted in my massive lego castle collection, you see.

@scholagladiatoria

6 жыл бұрын

Nice, I have a large collection of grey bricks and knights myself.

The hump behind the edge is to reduce wedging into a shield. A thin edge has a tendency to wedge very deep into wood. When the hump strikes, it splits the wood. When it doesn't mage to split the wood, the hump has very low surface area making a contact with the wood, as opposed to a broad thin edge. This helps free the axe more easy.

For those doubting the shape and strength effectiveness of this design- If you turn the blade side up- the axe resembles a section of an aqueduct where the "column" issues up from the socket and evenly curves both directions out. Different shapes have inherent strengths and weak points no matter the thickness of the metal. This wide blade evenly curving into the face and trunk of the battle axe is designed for evenly redistributing the pressure from blows which allows for a lighter quicker weapon. Even the cross section as described in this video uses gradual tapering as a way to more evenly redistribute the pressure of blows towards the circular socket. The stronger the shape-the thinner can be the make. Someone suggested that all the pressure onto a relatively small socket would break the wooden handle easily. These axes are not can openers but as long as they are impacted anywhere on the edge with proper blade alignment- and the hafting isn't loose- the wood should be fine- what a design!

There's a weaponsmith in Leics trading as Weiland Forge who made mine for reenactment purposes - relatively light, has the thin blade and reinforced edge. He may be up to your challenge.

Regarding two handed axes in Normandy, Wace projects them back into the late 10th/early 11th centuries as a peasant weapon. He had a habit of projecting current practices back onto the past, so it's probable that two handed axes survived in Normandy into the early 12th century.

Awesome video, now I want something like that. Hard edge like that on lever like that, the cutting power if you sharpen it to shaving blade level must be insane. Do you want one to have it differentially treated as well? That would just be drool inducing

In Njal's saga there is definitely mention of a poleaxe (spjutyxa). With the typical gallow ironic humour of those texts, one guy sneaks atop the roof of Gunnar's home, and Gunnar spears him with his poleaxe from below. The guy returns to his friends who ask "Was Gunnar at home?", and he responds "I don't know, but his poleaxe certainly was.". Then the guy falls down dead.

"King Knut brought with him lots of Danish things like bacon and Lego" Lol

Here are two blacksmiths who might be able to make your axe. Alec Steele, from Norwich, England. Torbjörn Åhman, from somewhere in Sweden. They both have channels here on youtube, and they seem focused on details. They are easy to reach and I think they would appreciate the businesses. I hope you find what you are looking for!

Dane Axe is a term people came up with about 10 years ago and then tried to retrospectively persuade everyone was a genuinely historical term in common usage.

Good talk Matt, People assume the long axe is for power and the target will be upper body. As you say though keeping it light means you can keep mobility and it can actually be used to go after peoples lower legs and feet or if swung mid section get behind the sword or shields effective guard allowing targeting of hands and lower arms.

Irish two handed Sparr axes were one such evolution but with a longer straight edge and reinforced toe. Used well into 16th century by Galloglass, probably to deal with English heavy cavalry.

The high carbon steel edge was more likely forge welded INTO the blade body. So the blade body was split and the blade edge was wedged into it, resulting in the weld interface existing "inside" the blade body. This would also explain why the blade thickness flairs just before the edge, the technique probably came before it was discovered that this was a desirable outcome.

Very interesting. I knew they were quite thin but I had never heard about the thickening near the edge again. I've also noticed some have edges with a forward bias towards the top of the blade. I would love to know what kind if difference that makes, if a drawing hooking motion can be applied to that style. Fascinating stuff. Love the videos. thanks alot.

I saw a TV programme about various weapons of history, and they did an episode on the daneaxe, in which the host mentioned that one of their uses was for breaking through shield walls. If that were true, then it could be that the reinforced blades are for that purpose, whereas the ones with the flatter blades (which strike me as being very similar to the blade on your falchion) would then be for cutting through the (probably) lightly armoured people behind the now ruined shields.

@robinchandler4870

6 жыл бұрын

Ben Kirkby do you think that this is likely?

I'd like the measurements on a historical Dane axe. It would be a fun project.

Good video .

Sounds like a reconstruction archaeology project. Make a bunch of all the styles of Dane axe and see what they were best at.

Huscarls tended to be an elite force and professional soldiers in an age of farmer or near feudal armies. I need to re-research my sources but I understand Harold Godwinson used huscarls more lightly equipped than normal to serve as faster moving horsemen on the Welsh marches. One could argue about their effectiveness as true cavalry but the point being that a huscarl would have trained as spearman; swordsman; axeman AND horseman and therefore far more adaptable than your regular fyrdman. This might explain some of the confusion as to how a huscarl was actually equipped for battle but the Daneaxe would have been the weapon he was most noted for and would have reputedly used facing impact cavalry such as the Norman Knight. Interestingly, a huscarl was suppose to be able to bring down a horse with the axe so presumaby the necessary purchase might have been as much from the length of the axe shaft rather than the weight of the blade? I am not so sure if the Select Fyrd were trained in the use of the Daneaxe to any extent and would be interested in sensible comment.

@danielpatrick3761

5 жыл бұрын

I believe generally the Fyrd would have more improvised weapons, work axes, spears, sycthes and such forth. Given the cost and workmanship required for 'dane-axes' it's unlikley many would be dispensed to Fyrdsmen as part of 'kit', no? I'd imagine spears, arrows and other weapons would be made available, but that their cost, and ultimately merit, would be significantly lower than that to which Housecarls would wield... Supposition for the most part, mind you....

Jim Austin focus only in axes and has made a couple of Dane Axes as you described.

Something I found interesting is that there are several English knights (knights of Anglo-Saxon descent) mentioned in the Cartae Baronum of 1166 with the surname housecarl. Which goes to show that many of the housecarls of the old English kings/earls continued to serve the Norman barons as knights.

@BBeowulf

9 ай бұрын

Yes because the Normans only replaced the “aristocracy” of the age. William the conqueror took titles/castles and gave them to relatives and other Normans, although the north of England held out for a while longer with Northumbria keeping an Anglo-Saxon lord for a time. The general population remained completely unchanged from before the invasion though, so the actual fighting men/“knights” were still all Anglo-Saxons and the “Danes” that had settled over the past few centuries. This is the true beginning of the class divide in England that has continued for almost a millennium. On an interesting, slightly unrelated note… in Byzantine sources there’s a story about Anglo-Saxon lords that left England after the battle of Hastings with their most loyal men, sailing the Mediterranean, plundering Muslim Spain and helping the Christian’s there, then sailing towards the Byzantine Empire where they helped Emperor Constantine X Doukas (I believe, it may have been one of his successors) win a battle against the same adversaries. They then pledged themselves to the emperor after he promised that if they could win land back for him that he had recently lost (in Crimea) that they could keep the lands for themselves. They won it back and called it Nova Anglia. The Varangian guard from 1066 until its end centuries later was said to be comprised mostly of Anglo-Saxons who preserved their language and customs in the Byzantine empire even after it had already died out in England through the introduction of French words from the Normans. They’d end up fighting the Normans again in Italy whilst part of the Varangian Guard.

The reason the centre of the blade is hollowed is the same reason as the centreline of a sword has the fuller: the middle doesn't do anything for strength or stiffness. It's the bits on the edge that do that, the bits that change length if the object tries to bend. Whatever weight you have in your budget, the best place for it is at the edges where it does the strength job, not in the middle, so clean that middle out. IIUC the difference in dihedral angle (sharp vs blunt, more or less) for Dane axe vs pollaxe (also a Danish word, ironically) is more about the edge surviving contact with armour than "hitting hard". A sharp narrow blade might be great for slicing up unarmoured opponents but as soon as it hits first rate armour a bit off-square the edge will curve over and it will become useless. He talks about edge fragility later in another context but I think it's the answer to the earlier question too.

If you dear Mr easton can give me a description of any given axe i can offer to do my best to forge as close a replica as i can manage.....

I bought a lovely Peterson type L Dane axe from Arms and Armour..The Dane axe on their website is the type M, but if you drop them an email, they will accommodate you. It's obviously not completely historically accurate, but it's great in terms of functionality

Did nobody catch him saying "war-hoe" when briefly describing the Persian axe he's holding?

Can you make a video of advantages and disadvantages of halberd vs spear and ax

*MOUNT AND BLADE MEMES INTESIFY*

@googlename3859

6 жыл бұрын

Your honey, or your life.

@JustGrowingUp84

6 жыл бұрын

That's a nice head you have on your shoulders!

@GreatKnightJ

6 жыл бұрын

Swadian Knights > Nord Huscarls

@googlename3859

6 жыл бұрын

I will drink from your skull, you nansy pants Swad :D

@aronkatona8517

6 жыл бұрын

IT'S ALMOST HARVESTING SEASON

BTW this one can be seen in the Göteborgs Stadsmuseum (lots interesting stuff there) but it might be a generic nordic fighting axe: imgur.com/a/cKuED

@scholagladiatoria

6 жыл бұрын

Great!

Your Dane axe looks to be a laminated edge of steel in an iron blade which was a Scandinavian tech, fhanks for your videos

Matt (or anybody), when you talk about different kinds of sword, axes, polearms, etc., and their different uses, are there any resources you could recommend where I could learn these? I know smallswords can't cut and spadroons are silly, but I'd love to develop the kind of in-depth knowledge you have.

I once saw Lloyd talking about the "diagonal" edge aligned polearms (like one of the axe examples from the london museum) as an edge that probably was used to chop shafts of polearms. What do you think about it?

A question, Matt, if you please. Do you think the extended end cap/pommel on many rondel daggers might have also been intended as a feature to make the grip more secure, in order to make it easier/faster to retrieve the weapon from the opponents body, in case it got stuck? Not it's primary purpose, perhaps, but just a minor aid useful in a battle with multiple opponents where you need the weapon ready to defend, and a split second might mean the difference between life or death?

Question: If somebody charges at you with a long sword and cuts at you to which you parry, after you parry you and your oppenent's weapons will take too long to recover, as you are both close to each other, would it be wise to quickly swich from a dominant grip to a reverse grip and pommel strike your oppenent's throat?

Thank you for making this video, “Dane” or great axes are a huge interest of mine. I sincerely hope you find a source for a good replica as I would be interested in obtaining one as well.

I chuckled at "frankly" =D

I know this video has been out a while, so idk if you'll see this Matt. I have been in a blacksmithing group for five years now (i know i'm not a master/expert) and my guess as to the variety of the axes probably boils down to skill of the smith, quality, and preference. The reinforced axe design is probably because of the forge wielded HC steel edge. When forge wielding the steel/iron is brought to such a high temperature it begins to almost burn the metal, and if there is not sufficient mass you can quite easily burn your work. In addition to that you also benefit from the diamond cross section for strength. I recommend watching someone like alec steele here on youtube to see how the forging works, also he could most definitely in my opinion make the reinforced axe head you want.

"Dane's axe" or "Danish axe" - three centuries late - is found in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight : lines 221-224, "And sythen he keveres bi a cragge and comes of a hole/Whyrlande out of a wro wyth a felle weppen/A denes ax nwe dyght, the dynt with to yelde/Wyth borelych bitte bende by the halme." "And then he climbed past a crag, and came from a hole, hurtling out of a hidden nook with a horrible weapon: a Dane's axe newly dressed, the dint to return, with cruel cutting edge curved along the handle."

Do you think the Dane Ax, or two handed weapons generally would be a viable weapon on board a ship during combat?

I would hazard the guess that reinforced edges are more difficult to forge and have the practical benefit of less damage when accidently hitting armour, so they probably would've been favoured by wealthier warriors while the flat edge version would have been the common cheap model where you are less able to make the mistake of missing soft targets. I imagine that using such a weapon takes a lot of skill against the more usual shields spears and swords.

Brilliant!

Matt, I don't know if you have covered it yet, but what about the feldswchwert for its anti cavalry role? I had not really thought of the dance axe for anti cavalry purposes, but I thought that if you look at the shape of the blade, it us at the perfect angle for cutting a passing horse in the chape or flank. As well as the attested point and hook. It makes a lot more sense now, many thanks, Andrew.

@Tananjoh

4 жыл бұрын

What's a "feldswchwert"?

I've sent a link to this video to a bladesmith friend specializing in exactly this sort of thing. Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian around 11thc

The swelling at the edge could be due to the forge-welding of the cutting edge. To do this, you split the base edge and embed the cutting edge, and then weld. If you only partially forge this down, you automatically get a 're-enforced edge'. I think I could make one.

Sir, two blades that is behind you, are these keris ? If yes what kind ? I've never seen something like these

There are a couple of other possible explanations for why those axes are so thin. The first is that metal was expensive, so making it light made it cheaper. The second is that the technology of the time made it difficult to smelt large pieces of steel, which is why plate armour didn't show up until later on, for example. So if you want an axe with a really large surface area, you would need to sacrifice thickness to do that. On another note, while having a thick area where the transition between steel and wrought iron is may be for aesthetic reasons, or may be to create a steeper angle and a more resilient edge, it may also be for practical reasons - that area, where the weld is, would be the weakest part, so reinforcing it may simply have been a way to reduce/eliminate failures due to a less-than-perfect weld.

It looks to me like the shape of the Dane axe head also made it pretty effective for piercing, not just for cutting and chopping. I believe it evolved as a weapon that had the advantages of both a spear and an axe. As weapon-smiths improved their skills, I believe they evolved into the more elaborate halberds.

Every time Matt says brilliant I think of the old Guinness commercials.

Well here in sweden theyre just called broadaxes(bredyxa). They were used for a long time in norway under the name farmers axe too.

I found the reference to Anglo-Saxon "one trick pony' shields wall's interesting and I wondered what inferences we might make about the Anglo-Saxons use of Roman tactics. The Romans are famous for tight blocks of men equipped with large shields and pilum or throwing spear. Surely the Anglo-Sax saw the military value in such tactics and possibly mimicked it to a degree in their own armies. There are other areas in which the Roman Empire left marks on English history, combat tactics may be one of them. Just brainstorming.