Viking Axes

Say “Viking” and most people picture an axe, with good reason. Swords were the prestige weapon of the age, costly and prized, but axes were everywhere: archaeologists find them in Viking graves far more often, and in more varieties. Later art, like the Bayeux Tapestry, shows the fearsome long-handled “Dane axe” in battle. As for King Eirik Bloodaxe, the name may have less to do with his weapon than with his reputation: the sagas remember him for killing his own brothers, and one medieval chronicle simply calls him “fratricide.”

Viking Axes for Fighting

Battle axes weren’t just wood-choppers pressed into service. A war axe was lighter and faster, and over the Viking Age it evolved into the long-handled Dane axe, with a broad, thin blade up to a foot long. Wielded with both hands, it was reputed to cut down horse and rider in a single stroke; English chroniclers describing Hastings in 1066 were clearly impressed. (A lone Norwegian with an axe held the bridge at Stamford Bridge three weeks earlier.)

Why Axes

The Norse had names for their axes, too. The skeggøx, or “bearded axe,” had a lower edge that hooked down below the head. The breiðøx, or broad axe, was the wide-bladed weapon we now call the Dane axe.

There are several theories about why Vikings used axes. Each expert has a favorite couple of ideas. Vikings may have used axes because they were cheaper to make than swords. Axes could also be useful as tools; even if they weren’t used for chopping wood, they would still work better against wooden doors and shields than swords. Viking axes could do more damage to armor than a sword could. Vikings may also have used axes simply because they liked to or because they were fashionable at the time. (What they wore on their heads is another story, told in Viking Helmets: Did They Have Horns?)

Viking Axes Today

Any of these reasons could be valid, and more than one could apply to the Vikings’ choice of weapons. Viking axes have seen a resurgence in popularity, and axe throwing is on our Viking Summer list. Our store carries Viking-inspired gifts made for Alaska, and every purchase supports our Viking Village dream.