Seax

Some Merovingian seaxes

The remains of a seax together with a reconstructed replica

Seax (also Hadseax, sax, seaxe, Scramaseax, Scramsax and Sachsum – lat.-) in Old English means knife or cutting tool. The name of the roofer's tool, the zax, is a development from this word. In modern archaeology (and further in this article), the term seax is used specifically for the typically large knives that were worn by men in the 5th to 11th century, in the region roughly enclosed by Ireland, Scandinavia and Northern Italy. In heraldry, the seax is a charge consisting of a curved sword with a notched blade, appearing, for example, in the coats of arms of Essex and the former Middlesex.

Description

Amongst the shape and construction of seaxes there is a lot of variation. The most frequent characteristics are:

• A tang in the centerline of the blade, inserted into an organic hilt (wood, horn)
• A large single edged blade
• The blade is worn horizontally inside a scabbard attached to the belt, with the edge of the blade upwards.

In Germany, the following types are defined for seaxes between roughly 450 and 800 AD, in chronological order:

• Schmaler Langsax (narrow long seax)
• Kurzsax (short seax)
• Schmalsax (narrow seax) – Often have braided bands or snakes engraved in the blade, and frequently include metal bolsters and pommels. Both the edge and the back are curved towards the tip, which is generally located above the centerline of the blade.
• Leichter Breitsax (light broad seax) – Similar to narrow seax, but frequently lack metal hilt parts, and have simpler decorations on the blade, such as parallel lines. Both the edge and the back curve towards the tip, which is generally located at the centerline of the blade.
• Schwerer Breitsax (heavy broad seax) – Have simple decorations on the blade if any, and long single-part organic hilts (>20 cm). Both the edge and the back curve towards the tip, which is generally located at the centerline of the blade.
• Atypischer Breitsax (atypical broad seax) – Same as heavy broad seax.
• Langsax (long seax) – Blades are 50 cm or longer, often with multiple fullers and grooves, patternwelded blades, and long hilts similar to broad seaxes. The edge is generally straight, or curved slightly towards the tip. The back either curves gently, or with a sharp angle towards the tip, which is located below the centerline of the blade.

The general trend, as one moves from the short to the broad seax, is that the blade becomes heavier, longer, broader and thicker. Long seaxes, which arrived at the end of the 7th century, were the longest of the seax. These were narrower and lighter than their predecessors. Initially, these weapons were found in combination with double-edged swords and were probably intended as side arm. From the 7th century onwards, seaxes became the main edged weapon (next to a francisca), sometimes in combination with small side-knives.

The rest of Europe (except for parts of Scandinavia) followed a similar development, although some types may not be very common depending on location. In England long seaxes appear later than on the continent and finds of long seaxes (as opposed to knives) remain very rare in comparison to finds of swords throughout the period.

Broken-back seax from Sittingbourne in Kent

Another typical form of the seax is the so-called broken-back style seax. These seaxes have a sharp angled transition between the back section of the blade and the point, the latter generally forming 1/3 to 3/5 of the blade length. These seaxes exist both in long seax variety (edge and back parallel) and in smaller blades of various lengths (blade expanding first, then narrowing towards the tip after the kink). They occurred mostly in the UK and Ireland, with some examples in Germany around 8th-11th century. Some examples have patternwelded blades, while others have inlays of silver, copper, brass, etc.

Unlike swords from the same period, many examples of Seaxes hint at having long grips, suitable for two-handed use. This would've allowed greater force to be put behind blows, supporting the notion that such weapons were secondary, for use following the loss of shield and spear.

Additional information

A seax in modern times is often called scramasax or scramaseax, from scrama "wound" (cf. German Schramme "scratch", Dutch schram "scratch") and sax (cf. German Sahs "dagger"). However, as the word scramasaxi is only used once in early medieval literature (in Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks), the general use of the term when referring to all short knives of this type is erroneous. The Saxons may have derived their name from seax (the implement for which they were known). The seax has a lasting symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex, which both feature three seaxes in their ceremonial emblem.

Reference in culture

• In the epic poem Beowulf, Grendel's mother uses a seax when fighting Beowulf and later Beowulf uses a seax to nearly hack a dragon apart as it dies.
• The scramasax is one of many knives in the GBA game Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
• The game Breath of Fire III features the scramasax near the start of the game.
• The PSX role-playing video game Vagrant Story features the scramasax as a type of knife.
• Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem character Anthony is given a scramasax for personal defense early in his chapter.
• In John Flanagans's Ranger's Apprentice series, the saxe knife is the primary duty knife of the Rangers. It is also employed by the Skandians for both battle and everyday use.
• In World of Warcraft, a scramseax item can be made through the secondary profession Archaeology by collecting fragments from the Vrykul race.

See also

• Francisca
• Kragehul lance
• Migration Period sword
• Migration Period spear
• Seax of Beagnoth
• Zax (tool)

External links

• The Anglo Saxon Broken Back Seax (myArmoury.com article)
• Regia Seax
• British Museum:Seax of Beagnoth