+IIICOOLINGIII What you tell me the times is true. OTOH I rarely mind the ads and YT seem to have cut back on voice-recognition ones, possibly due to negative feedback.
+Vito C Is that chiefly a British thing? I've always heard the term "ball & chain" used in that way, but that usually specifically refers to a spouse or significant other.
Haha, this guy reminds me of my history teacher when I was a freshman, except english (my old history teacher was french) He used to jump around with a sweater on and have imaginary sword fights and make sound effects. Good times.
NorseHorse I've actually gained quite an appreciation for the design of actual axes thanks to folks like Lloyd showing me examples. I agree, nice looking indeed. :)
NorseHorse The worst part is that a danish waraxe is pretty large and intimidating by itself, and completely functional. Seen the norse axemen in medieval 2: total war? Those things are really frightening, without going to fantasy proportions.
eople thonk of a executioners axe which was heavy & enormous - & often extremely inexpertly wielded. Jack Ketch (who was admittedly drunk as a skunk at he time) took 7 blows to kill the Duke of Monmouth & still had to use a knife to sever the head. He on;y got the job as hangman because he was "good at knots" - evidently not the same skill set at all. It took even more to kill Lady Elizabeth Pole - although that was because she kept running away.
I feel that if two swords were better than sword and shield, then the world would not have been one in which almost everybody from revolting peasant to professional soldier chose sword and shield.
Of course this man of medieval RU-vid was there at the time, but consider his biases. He and his popped collar are just trying to confuse his enemies, because he-having the world’s longest neck-would have been extra vulnerable to a felling axe.
Because if the effect of the wounds caused by the heroes' arrows were realistic, those heroes might seem cruel. Better that the bad guy's minions die peacefully and quickly.
Lindy, you are just fabulous. The enthusiasm you have for the things you talk about just makes the videos even more gripping. I love listening to educated people who speak with a passion. I also love learning about real history. Thanks
I doubt that they were shaped that way specifically for that purpose, but it was a thing you could do with an axe. I've tried it and it isn't a very useful move on your own, but it can help to open up an opponent to an attack by a friend of yours. Most axes could do this - it wasn't something unique to Viking ones.
I just love to watch your vids! Truly entertaining and informative! The information that you give us is also spot on 99% of the time. It would be great to see you have a 30min or so TV show here in the U.S. (BBC America perhaps?). As an edged weapon collector and an old guy (60) I actually have learned quite a bit from you in regard to my fairly new hobby (26months), keep up the great work, looking forward to other vids! Dan, Landers, CA USA
Yes, you could make one very heavy bash with a heavier axe, although the enemy would see it coming a long way off. If the axe is too light it becomes ineffective. The equation seems to balance at optimum efficiency with an axe head smaller than fantasists imagine.
This is why when I played an axe-wielding dwarf who made his own weapons and armor I declared all my axes were bearded axes - you get the wide blade, thinner weight, yet the axe head still looks intimidating, plus a dwarf with a beard with beards on his axes just makes for the perfect dwarven imagery.
HowDo ILogin Nice, I assume they were some form of poleaxes for the extra reach due dwarves having short arms? Say, a dwarven longaxe from pathfinder? Preferably with a spike on top for stabbing those uppity humans.
angelowl89 Dwarven Poleaxe > Spiked Chain. Gimme 2d6 damage, reach, x3 crits, set vs. charge, and trip over that 2d4 no special crit gimp fetish garbage.
@Nickkraw The Normans were famed for their cavalry. Most Viking soldiers who used horses used them for getting to the fight, but then fought on foot. Some were perhaps a bit like dragoons.
Twohanded axes had the advantage of being able to strike the sword-arm side of an enemy, making it much harder for him to defend himself or attack without exposing himself greatly. Other than that, they would use the ''beard'' of the axe to pull the enemy soldiers shield, ankels and so forth. It has the advantage of being able to cleave unarmored enemies, crush armored enemies and scare the willies of everyone else. Their range could also make them quite efficient againts cavalry and such.
@jaskamakkara Not really. One could argue that the development of the late halberd was a way of getting through better armour, but that was making the haft linger, not making the head heavier.
@Thane4 In a a two and a half minute video, I can't deal with everything, nor even all aspects of one thing. I struggle enough sometimes to make one point about one thing. I've never used a bardiche.
I'm a Dark Ages - Middle Ages nerd, and I've never heard many of your facts. So I'm very glad to see these videos, because they're a SUPERB source of knowledge that I can't find anywhere else. Keep them up, they're EXCELLENT!
I noticed that war hammers were way smaller than you see in movies and TV shows and figured the same thing. It must not take much at all to drop a soldier with one, and any weight above what's necessary is just wasted.
They don't take long to shoot. They take far longer to edit. When I get the opportunity, I set the camera up and shoot between four and ten at a time. It's just a bloke talking.
@Nickkraw Based on the fact that it was the commonest battlefield weapon in near enough all cultures throughout the entirety of of the pre-gunpowder period all round the world, the spear. For single combat, it isn't so clear but the sword was a successful weapon.
A Very nice summary of the use and appearance of real battleaxes. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who try to argue that huge fantasy style axes, dual wielded weapons etc have a basis in reality.
Gooooooood point. Been chopping wood blocks in my village of a little less than a million since my teens on and off with an axe that is doing most of it's work with weight instead of edge. Of course (when nobody was watching) i would attempt to fight invisible enemies with it. The only way i could move relatively quickly with this tool is to use it two-handed. And it'd still be slow to turn around right after a swing and prepare a parry or attack.
2 words for you: hydrostatic shock. Bullets make a shockwave when they enter the body and slow down. A 9mm doesn't have much of one when compared to, say a .45 cal or a 5.56mm round, and no, there are only a few places on the body where a gunshot would be immediately fatal.
A guy i play D&D with uses his axe to chop down trees and have them fall on the enemy. The first time he did this i was like "You're telling me he can chop down a tree in 6 seconds?" and the rest of the table was like "Ugh yeah, it's a greataxe" while looking at me as if i was a moron.
One big (no pun intended) advantage of a battle axe was cost. In the ages where metal was at a premium, they were an effective alternative for a less well-off man at arms.
And then, in the late medieval period, they had all-steel axes, to go with their all-steel maces. They were tired of the wooden ax handles breaking. And the guy who made modern carpentry hammers with a long steel tuning fork inside a lightweight fiberglass handle was --a GENIUS! Swing an old iron and wood hammer all day and your arm and shoulder are ruined, but these modern hammers are great on reducing weight and vibration.
Yup. Norman Light Cavalry was very effective, and was often the only way they could intercept the quick raids of Vikings. Some of the reasons Vikings/Norsemen did not use horses for combat was that Scandinavia does not have good conditions for mounted combat. Forests and mountains. They also had horses that were built for colder climate and heavier work, instead of the more agile horses from further south.
I read a book in my library while ago. it said the viking axe came about when they were farmers and they got raided, they use their wood axe. Some vikings used that still cause they were dirt poor but others made it really light. Designed for a quick blow to a skull. The Danish axes i read were more lethal pulling out of the enemy than the chop itself.
@Oiaku They were used for hooking quite a bit. You would hook someone's shield away, sidestep, blade to the neck. Or, anything really, once you eliminated their shield, you could do pretty much whatever.
Actually, viking berserkers used "Bearded Axes", a war axe with a long "Beard" (The blade extends downward) on the blade. They usually wielded two of these (Talk about ambidextrous) and would either pull down a foes weapon and shield and headbutt them, or pull down a shield and go for a killing blow. It was a very effective battle strategy, especially since it meant they could attack fanatically whilst still defending themselves.
Thanks for the information! I just was on a kind of vikings festival and there were guys fighting with really small axes and I was wondering :D btw: best quote: They wasnt there for felling trees, but for felling people xD
Now, while you do make a great point, and you are absolutely right, the axes that the vikings used were exceptionally well made and well blanced, which allowed for a greater weight than if the axe was poorly balanced and had a wider axe head. What is also important to remember is that the Skeggöx, or bearded axe, used by the vikings were thin, rather small closer to the handle, but the head was very wide when looking at it from top to bottom which allowed for greater hacking power
Makes sense. Look at what the DOG brothers fight with. It's a tool to hook over the top of a shield or pull a spear shaft or something. And the striking point could just as well be a spike. Thanks for making this video I enjoyed it.
On the other side, for a siege (hacking gates, breaking doors, opening ways into palisades or barricades or whatever), the big, double axe is quite useful - and in the world of (even early) firearms assaulting a fortification, the only bladed weapons you'll ever see are bayonets and siege axes. And I totally agree that the axe I'm talking about is a tool, not a weapon - but it's almost exactly what's depicted in games, fantasy movies, and so on.
