Experience the savage power of the Vikings and explore the history and legacy of these ancient weapons! Bearded axes, also known as Skeggox, were more than just weapons of war, they were multi-purpose tools that played an integral role in the everyday life of the Vikings. In this video, we'll uncover the true purpose of these fearsome instruments, from the design of the blade, advantages, disadvantages, to the role they played in Viking culture and the legacy they left behind. Unearth the secrets of their intimidating strength and discover the epic tales of the Vikings who wielded them!
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the longer the beard, the more protection for the haft against damage, when the haft is accidentally struck, when swung into a shield, or whatever. ** the longer the beard, the longer the edge for hacking blows, or for drawing-cuts; the longer the drawing-cut, the deeper the cut.** the longer the edge, the less likely the 'head' is to get stuck in a cranium, like a tomahawk will, as, the longer edge will SPLIT the cranium, not just stick INTO the cranium. ** the longer the beard, the more protection for the wielding-hand, when choked-up on the haft, for wielding in grappling, eg, striking the tip into the back of the cranium or neck. ** the longer the beard, the more easily you can 'trap' a spear, or sword, in a parry, prior to entering shield-clashing range, to work behind the opps' shield
The bearded axes was only used for about the first 100 years of the viking age, they were quickly replaced by purpose built axes. In Norway the consensus is that the bearded axes are 2 handed wood working axes that are reshafted with shorter 1 handed shafts for war use. of course, the viking age had been going on in scandinavia for hundreds of years before the attack on Lindisfarne that is the "start" of the viking age, and these axes were likely purpose built for possible dual use. At the start the scandinavian countries and the vikings really were poor, and the viking age started because they learned to put sails on their ships, and what happened in scandinavia could now spill out over rest of europe. And so they no longer raided poor neighbours but rather far riches people. As soon ar they had the resources to make purpose built war axes, they changed shape to a shape fare more like the tomahawk. It is funny how at the start of this video he is showing a woodworking axe, and is talkingt about it like its a weapon.
@@ysteinrefsahl1004 ^THIS..
@@patriotpioneer As there is no reference to this I wouldn't take it at face value! That being said, it could be possible that some axes was dual purpose for a very short period. You can test this, simply try to swing any woodworking axe and see how slow it is,
@@tomasschmidt8090 Swing it everyday for 5 years and see how fast it is ... Iron was ridiculously Expensive... All the Other Ax Swinging from the age of 10 Vikings are Laughing at you
Just keep repeating everything to make a longer video.
god bless you for not having ads!
Also for carpentry and making planks. Some of the oldest artifacts are in the style of a hewing axe with the longest flat beards to mill out planks. They were commonly well preserved because the craftsmen would take care of their tools and they were usually wrapped or encased.
At one point, he says that the beard makes the axe lighter. Then he says that the beard makes the axe heavier.
Lighter then a full axe that doesn't have the open area. Then it is also heavier then a tomahawk type hand axe that have smaller heads.
The Vikings were said to have smelting technology with a 100 degrees Celsius higher temperature than others allowing better, purer steels.
Wrong. The beard was so make it possible to grab the axe up by the head for fine work. Most Scandinavians did not have separate tools for work and war, aside from their shield, which was made of wood and easily constructed/repaired. The axe and a knife was what they had for both work and war.
Not true! There is a HUGE difference between tools and weapons!
@@tomasschmidt8090 Every archeologist will laugh at you. Only the very wealthiest Vikings had separate tools for work and war.,
@@gatocles99 I don't think so. You simply cannot fight effectively with a tool or do woodwork with a weapon. And Scandinavians wasn't poor. You have been mislead! Ask a pro: kzhead.info/sun/e5ZumMyxmWd7fWg/bejne.html
@@tomasschmidt8090 Yeah... I don't listen to LARPers. But nice try! Your mom says your hot pockets are ready.
The beard (also) creates a longer edge which make it easier to actually hit moving body parts with a chopping blow. This while still keep the head relativly light and manuvrable.
interesting video
see it was for me an interesting video 👍 some of it i did know, and some not, thanks for making it 😀 just subscribed
Thanks for an interesting video.
Wow! I never knew that Vikings used modern mono steels to make bearded axes!
LOL, Nice one!😎
honestly a sword is a MUCH better weapon. But if you only have access to low quality iron it's hard to make a reliable sword. No viking wants to be the goofy sucker with a useless bent sword in the shield wall. Every body had an axe, it was a common tool so it's an easy low cost way to arm lots of people with a weapon they kindda already know. .
Norse iron was of prime quality and were exported all over europe. But yes an axe is an more cost effective weapon compared to a sword. One of the benefits of the axe though is its effectivness against mail armour compared to a sword.
@@sirseigan Some Norse Iron might have been good. But mostly i think people used what they had where they lived. Most people did not wear mail cause it's hard to make in a ``primitive´´ forge time consuming and expensive. That is why they used big shields, made from materials that where cheap easy to make out of readily available material.
@@sirseigan This is not right. At the start of the viking age the vikings used multilayered steel, what we in modern day call damascus steel. This means You layer soft steels and hard steels to improve the quality of the end product. But the only reason whay You would do this is because You dont know how to control the level of carbon in Your steel. Metallurgic experts will tell You that it works up to 150-200 layers, after that there is no benefit. Viking swords typically had 300-400 layers, Japanese swords typically have 3000-4000 layers, so either they did not have a clue, or seremony was more important, I think seremony was more important. As soon as the vikings got access to better steel they stopped doing this multilayered lay up. In museums in Norway we have thousands of viking swords stored, and You can do metalic analysis of the steel and by looking at the impurities, You can figure out where the steel come from. and for 70-80% of the swords, the steel used in Norwegian viking swords come from France or Spain. That is where the good steel is from. So how about the Ulfberth swords? These are swords with a superior steel quality. Well, Ulfberth is not a scandinavian name, its frankish. in the authentic once the "t" is always written as a christian cross. That is not a scandinavian thing. The steel in these swords are from India, not Europe at all. Thing is Viking warriors bought their own gear, they were not given to them by a lord somewhere, so vikings serving av mercenaries or as part of a raiding party was simply the kind of warriors that could afford to buy this class of weapons.
You are not wrong. But claiming the sword is much better implies You dont really understand the nature of these weapons. See, the sword is not great at anything. It is by far the most versatile weapon, it is the weapon with the most techniques and options, and with the fewest disadvantages. And even when against plate armor where they seem almost useless they still have a use. See, with very few exceptions swords are never the main weapon of a warrior. They are always side arms. Exceptions are Japan, but that was a honor thing. The samurai started using any weapon available to them, but later they changed that to using katanas as main weapon. We think of the samurai as the japanese warriors, but as japans armies grew the main part of the army was ashigaru (peasant army) . and as the achievements and honor of the ashigaru grew, the samurai, in an attempt to protect their status made a law stating that the samurai should not use the weapons of the peasant army, and forbidd the ashigaru from using katanas. The other exception are officers, that really only used swords for self defense, they were never front line warriors. The main weapon of the viking is the spear. Shure the spearman is at a disadvantage in a duel against a swordsman. But warriors on a battlefield will avoid fighting duels as much as possible. It will very rarely be the man in front of You that kills You. His job is to keep You busy so opportunities open up, and then its the guy to the left or right of him that gets to use the opportunity and poke You with their weapon. So once there is 2-3 spearmen versus equal amount of swordsmen, the swordsmen will be the ones at a disadvantage. Axes have an armor piercing capability that swords does not have. In fact axes develope into pollax'es which will be the armored knights main weapon fighting other armored knights for hundreds of years, as their 2 handed option, next to maces and shields instead of the sword. Swords are the armored knights most important weapon, but that is because the knights primary use in reality is beating down peasant uprisings, that are unarmored, and not fighting armored knights in war. So how are swords useful against plate armor? well, fighting that knight you need to separate him from his friends, drop him to the ground and wrestle him. At this range no mace, spear or warhammer works anymore, but a long dagger or short sword, using half-swording, will give a sharp point and a steel bar for leveraging, exactly what you need to find a hole in the armor and force the sword tip in. - Weapons are made for a specific use. Most have things they are great at, but also disadvantages. There are many weapons that are better than swords on a battlefield, but swords is the one that always have a use and almost no disadvantages. It is never great against armored opponents, but it is also never useless. The perfect side arm, but never the main weapon. Axes sometimes are the main weapon. so there are times that the axes are superior to the sword, but dueling the sword is probably a much better weapon. - And the cost. The metal working skills in scandinavia during the viking age was not great, and metals were rare. Starting the age the only way they could make a functioning sword was thru layered damascue forging. This was a rare skill, and steel was a rare resource. It is estimated that a sword at that age would cost 50.000-100.000 USD in todays money. Damascue forging requires a lot of skill and understanding of steel that very few had. Axes are far less particular about the steel quality used, and even making it from iron will give you a weapon that works. this makes them cheaper and easier to make and maintain and repair. a bent sword means its iron, not steel. They quickly got access to better steel and at the end of the viking age "everybody" had swords. But axes were still used, often more and before swords. and scandinavian armies continued using axes far longer than other eropean armies.
@@ysteinrefsahl1004 plate mail or armor was not really a common thing in the viking age so i doubt that played a real role in what weapon people chose. So why bother spending a ton of money one a sword. Also if your tactics when raiding is based upon surprise you would not really expect to go up against organized armed resistance. Cause armor takes some time to put one. In that sense maybe the axe has another underestimated use as a breaching tool to break down doors or when facing equal opponents in a shield wall to destroy shields and break enemy formation.
Why is this channel so underrated????
because it's just random statements, narrated like a machine. Half of it is pure fiction
@@tomasschmidt8090 ^THIS..
There were no bearded axes left in North America.
Great narration
sarcasm? monotone bots reading some kid's script...can't take any of this info seriously
This guy keeps contradicting himself and spouting false information.
A sword is only useful in a fight,
So repetitive....
Was this entire video ENTIRELY generated by an Artificial Intelligence? I had to leave 3 minutes in. It was insulting my ACTUAL intelligence.
Who the heck made this video? Obviously doesn't know anything about axes.
you know you're listening to some automated bullshit info when the guy calls the axe the goated choice. 😞
It actually says “go to choice” as does the captions. I will try to make this more clear in future videos. Thank you for your feedback.
@@DawkedUpProductions Now that's a classy way to respond to a comment!