Seax

This page is for combat seaxes. See Metal Tableware for information on eating knives.

Seaxes are separated into 3 categories based on size: Short Seax, Hadseax, and Langseax.

Seaxes in the Vikings Society

Basic Specifications - Seax This box will be updates with seax specifications More in depth specifications available here.

Restrictions and Notes on Use of Seaxes Battlefield Safety Assessment (Primary Weapon) is required. May be used to make both cuts and thrusts. A Short Seax may be used in the off-hand as a defensive weapon in conjunction with a primary side arm by warriors who have passed the Advanced Combat Assessment. A Short Seax may be used in the back hand with a 2H Spear but it requires the thumb and the first three fingers to touch when holding the spear and seax together. The Short seax is not classed as a primary side arm and therefore may not be used to take the Battlefield Safety Assessment (Primary Weapon/Off-Hand), and may not be the only weapon carried onto the field by a warrior. The Hadseax is restricted to use by C11th Norman characters only. The seax may not be used in the overhand “ice-pick” style. A pair of Short Seax’s is not a valid weapon combination and may not be used

Lengths of seax

Single-edged knives, called seaxes, were common as eating and kitchen equipment, tools an weapons. They fall into four broad categories, based on their blade length.

• Small eating knives (blades up to 6” long)
• Seaxes (blade up to 14” long)
• Hadseaxes (blade around 18” long)
• Langseaxes (blade at least 21” long)

Seax construction

Since men and women were frequently buried with knives, we have a good range of evidence for seaxes. In the period covered by the Vikings Society, seaxes were made as one-piece metal blades.

The blade was inserted into a handle usually made from antler or bone, often by drilling a pilot hole, heating the blade and burning it in, creating a very snug fit. There is no evidence for metal fittings on seax handles from our period.

Illustration of a seax

Seax typologies

Seax classifications

Seax sheaths

See here for further information on seax sheaths.

Primary Sources for the Seax

"Then again the king himself gathered his wits, drew a slaughter-seax bitter and battle-sharp, that he wore on his byrnie; The Helm of the Wederas cut through the wyrm in the middle."

-Lines 2702 to 2704, Beowulf

The Battersea Seax, now in the British Museum Collection. Dated to the 10th century, the futhark inscription is an Old English name, Beagnoth.

The Repton Rider, an Anglo-Saxon carving of a cavalryman, shows an example of a horizontally hung seax.

Short Seax

Short seaxes may be up to 14" long, and were a multi-purpose tool rather like a machete, used for preparing food, butchering, pruning, woodcutting etc. Examples of seaxes from burials in seventh-century northern France show considerable wear, suggesting that they were immensely practical agricultural implements.

While short seaxes may be used as melee weapons, they should never be used as primary combat weapons. Any combatant who finds himself only armed with a short seax should either vote with his feet and flee, find a proper weapon (if he's determined to die with honour), or listen to the sound of the Norns about to snip the thread of his life...

Don't say

There is a tendency to refer to a knife as a “scramaseax” or “scram”. We really would prefer you to call it a “seax”. The word “scramaseax” is extremely unusual, only appearing once (in Gregory of Tours' sixth-century History of the Franks, where it refers to an assassin’s weapon). Since knives were worn and used daily, it isn’t appropriate to suggest that most of the population are honourless killers!

Wearing short seaxes

They are suspended horizontally from the belt, worn at the front. Partly this was to display the decoration on the front of the sheath, but also for ease of drawing. Drawing the seax from its sheath will mean your right hand pulls back, which isn't very handy if you want to bring it up to a guard position, but is perfect for stabbing an enemy in the stomach. You don't draw a seax to start a fight - you use it to finish one!

See here for further information on seax sheaths. Note that seax sheaths should always be made with a sharp point at the end, even if the actual weapon is a combat blunt with a rounded end.

The cathedral treasury in Aachen includes 'Charlemagne's hunting knife', in fact a tenth-century Anglo-Saxon seax with its decorated sheath.

Hadseax

Hadseaxes are a specific type of seax.

Hadseaxes were popular in the Continent into the eleventh century. At around 18” long, they combine the benefits and shortcomings of both a short seax and a langseax. Frequently having sharp points, they were useful for punching through maille to finish off a fallen opponent.

Hadseaxes should really be restricted to Norman and Frankish warriors. They may be a primary or secondary combat weapon for lower-status Normans. Higher-status Normans are usually shown carrying a spear or sword, with no seax visible. While it is possible that a hadseax is concealed under a mail shirt, it seems unlikely and uncomfortable. It would be more reasonable to expect that opponents injured by a mail clad troop would be captured or finished off by more lightly-armed troops following behind.

Wearing hadseaxes

It may not be practical to wear a hadseax horizontally across the belt. Instead, it can be slung from the belt at around 45 degrees, from one or more suspenders, in the same way as a sword or langseax.

See here for further information on seax sheaths. Note that seax sheaths should always be made with a sharp point at the end, even if the actual weapon is a combat blunt with a rounded end.

Langseax

Langseaxes are longer than Hadseaxes, measuring at least 21".

Langseaxes may be primary combat weapons, particularly for lower-status combatants.

Wearing langseaxes

It may not be practical to wear a langseax horizontally across the belt. Instead, it can be slung from the belt at around 45 degrees, from one or more suspenders, in the same way as a sword.

See here for further information on seax sheaths. Note that seax sheaths should always be made with a sharp point at the end, even if the actual weapon is a combat blunt with a rounded end.