Did VIKINGS use AXES and WHY?

Did the 'vikings', or rather, the people of Scandinavia, really use axes more than other cultures of the time? And if they did, why might they have chosen to?

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[jlworrad]

“I’ll just grab a Dane axe to illustrate the point” is an evergreen sentence.

[Incandescentiron]

Known as skilled woodworkers and boat builders, axes may simply have been comfortable to use as muscle memory would likely make them confident to wield. If I worked with a tool on a daily basis, that happened to be deadly, it would likely be my weapon of choice.

[jasonmiller]

My opinion is pretty simple, I blacksmith; I can repair a wooden haft a lot quicker and dirtier then I can repair a cracked, chipped, bent, or blunted blade. As they where always on the move and trying to do hit and run scenarios as much as they could, simply stopping to repair a broke or damaged sword was not an option I bet, a slightly chipped or dull axe could be ground and a new haft could be mounted, but axes are by and large more durable and easy to repair then swords.

[TheGREYPELT]

Probably the same reasons everyone else used them. Axes are relatively cheap, relatively easy to maintain, are quite effective weapons, double as a really useful tool, and are fairly useful against armour.

[balaurbondoc]

The Scandanavian penchant for axes seems to go a long way beyond the viking age. The 1274-1276 laws of Magnus Lagobote of Norway specified that a spear, shield and either a "half-thinned axe" or a sword were the basic weapons, with pieces of armour to be added based on income. Men who had received their first wages and couldn't get a full set of weapons in one go were to get an axe first, then a shield, then a spear.

Christian IV's 1604 militia law requires various income levels to equip themselves with different combinations of muskets, halberds, spears, tessacks or axes.

17th and 18th century Norwegian boarding axes tended to have much longer hafts than their southern counterparts, sometimes to the point that they were two-handed, could be fitted with a top spike, and the Swedish axes sometimes had their blade curve up into a thrusting point. That suggests to me that they were much further on the weapon side of things compared to continental and British boarding axes.

[Wastelandman]

RE the armor issue: also remember the Vikings traveled by boat on the ocean. Unless you keep it practically coated with lard, mail will rust, and those thin links will rust through VERY quickly on a long campaign.

I remember seeing a video of one island off the coast of New England and in 20 years every bit of iron in the abandoned village was rusted away. So, I suspect being in an open boat on a salt sea had a lot to do with the lack of armor.

[JeffreyGirard]

Imagine if your history teacher stopped midclass to tell you about Raid Shadow Legends.

[emikke]

The Danes were primarily interested in raiding, so they fought more like pirates, they were more interested in taking slaves and property. If a fight was more costly than it was worth, they would retreat. If you're not interested in losing your life or taking land, it makes sense to retreat. They were also essentially Marines

[ungainlytitan]

As an added benefit for raiders the axe is relatively low maintenance. Considering the vikings were operating in salt water a lot in a ship with no deck and a lot of ship related maintenance to carry out. It is a weapon, a tool, and easily replaceable.

[konsyjes]

I would say it's also a tool that is intimately familiar to a shipbuilding culture. They probably got so much "mileage" with an axe outside of any battle, what with building, and camping, logging, etc. that it felt near and dear. An all-purpose tool par-excellence, so it felt comfortable and secure to use it for battle.

[.k]

“This isn’t going to be an exhaustive video just about [video’s topic], it’s about the *context* of [video’s topic].”
— every Matt Easton content since 2007

[EmilReiko]

Im a fan of the, because its offensive, argument. That they fought in a rush style. Damage on shields and shield fragments also suggest their fighthingstyle was far from the passive shieldwall that has been popuralized by hollywood. I in all seriousness think people should look at the zulus for an idea on how a viking age scandinavian warhost would engage its enemy.

[saulgoodman]

All good points but remember many going Viking were also younger, poor men lacking land or younger sons away to make their fortune and starting out having limited resources - not having inherited Dad or Granddads sword. Similar to the weapons used by the Fyrd in Britain at the time - A good Axe was probably the best choice to go with a sharp knife and once you have experience you can acquire more Armour or weapons if successful. But remember if you started out and became good with an axe changing to using a sword also needs training in fighting with a sword you might not live long enough

[JesseP.Watson]

I just spent eight months living in a tent, I made a lightweight hatchet, similar dimensions to the smaller axe he has here. It got me through the winter in Cornwall (not too harsh but cold enough).

...While there, this question popped into my head (as my beard grew) and it just seemed obvious that, if you want a lightweight kit, for trekking, surviving in the wild and raiding, an axe is by far the most practical weapon/tool to carry. ...If you carry a sword, you're likely to need an axe too, but if you fight with an axe, that's literally all you need to carry.

...And that means more loot too - rather than going into a raid already carrying a full load.

An axe could also be potentially be useful for running repairs to a boat (well, perhaps, more useful than a sword anyway - could carve an oar for example with an axe) and, obviously, building a shelter.

[johnsteiner]

It seems many viking raids should be seen less as lightning raid warfare and more like armed robberies.

[eirikronaldfossheim]

We even have texts saying that the Norse had to pay their taxes in axe blades under the rule of Sweyn Knutsson.

[silverjohn]

The great myth about the Vikings is that they were "all" dedicated warriors and as well trained and equipped as a modern professional soldier. Some of the Housecarl bodyguards of the lords leading the raids would match that description and would have dedicated war axes but the majority of the Vikings on the raids were younger sons of peasant farmers who weren't going to inherit their family's land. Think of them as being "sharecroppers" who were pulling an oar and carrying a shield for the promise of a share of the loot or a farmstead if the raid they were with decided to settle down. They were a prime example of the adage "quantity has a quality all of it's own".

They'd have minimal weapon training beyond throwing spears while hunting or scuffling with other boys in their local community. As you mentioned their primary weapon set would be a spear and shield and if they had to carry another weapon it would be a seax style long knife or a hatchet that was as much for chopping wood for firewood and building shelters as it was a weapon.

For untrained and inexperienced troops, having a weapon that has limited options works to their advantage as they're less likely to freeze up in a stressful situation as they try and figure out which of the dozen or so options to use that a more advanced weapon like a sword would offer. "Get in close. Body slam them with the shield. Then hit the Saxon pig like you're chopping kindling for you Gran'. " is advice that will keep a novice alive a lot more often than showing them all of the different guards and parries that a sword would offer.

[chadwboyer]

Matt: You might consider locking down your ISO at the acceptable level because, in your current set-up, as you move in and out from the camera and, in particular, tilt the shield, the light levels rise and fall due to the the auto ISO feature you're employing. Just a suggestion.

[jamess]

The information and analysis on weapons and armour is great, but more I'm just impressed by how long and flowing and natural sounding a talk you put into a single take. most people, and I've been to a shoot from a fellow historical youtuber you know well, might take 5 hours of takes to get 20 mins of edited 'discussion' footage.

Its an undrerated skill that you just bang this out in mostly one take without stopping.

[aaronsanderson]

The Great Axe has another advantage you don't mention. With a Great Axe I can hook and manipulate the opposing side's shields to create an opening for the spears on my side. It can also reach past my first rank if I am in the second rank as a response to my spears getting rushed. See this often in larger battles in the SCA and Jomsviking type styles.