The Anglo Saxon Broken Back Seax
An article by Frank Docherty
The origins of the seax are difficult to determine, but early forms of the weapon have been found in 5th century Frankish graves. This is surprising in
The Anglo Saxon Broken Back Seax
An article by Frank Docherty
The origins of the seax are difficult to determine, but early forms of the weapon have been found in 5th century Frankish graves. This is surprising in as much as the weapon gave its name to the people known as "Saxons" who were one of three Germanic tribes who settled in Britain.
The term "scramaseax" is sometimes used in modern descriptions of this weapon, but it occurs only once in an historical account. In his History of the Franks, Gregory of Tours describes how sixth century Frankish king Sigibert was assassinated by two young men using "strong knives commonly called scramaseax" (cultris validis quos vulgo scramasaxos vocant).
The blade of the knife terminates in an iron tang by which the grip was attached. The grip was made of perishable material such as wood, horn or bone, and does not generally survive. The majority of knives have quite short tangs, between 3cm and 7cm long, although occasionally it is much longer, suggesting the grip was suitable to be gripped in two hands. The tang is usually a plain iron bar tapering towards the end. It can therefore be presumed that the grip was bored out to hold the tang which was held in place by friction, perhaps aided by softwood wedges or glue. It is possible the tang was heated and burned into place although this would tend to weaken the fabric of the grip. Occasionally knives have metal hilt fittings, either a pommel or both a lower-guard and pommel.Beyond this basic description, the typological classification of the weapon follows the system 