Weapons & Warriors: The Daneaxe of the Norsemen

Art by TL Jeffcoat

Legends often describe the Norsemen wielding a huge double bladed axe and a skullcap with horns on their head. The description of that conjures terrifying berserker giants bearing down on their enemies. Although there are many records of single bladed axes as tall as a man, there is no account of a Norsemen wearing a horned helm in actual battle or of the popular double bladed battle axe.

The horns would have only unbalanced the helm and gotten in the way of swinging his weapons. The extra blade would have been clumsy and impractical. Norsemen trained using the axe with techniques that would have not required an extra blade anyway. They were lethal enough with one simple blade. The danger it posed to its own wielder was also a reason Norsemen did not design these fantasy based axes. If a shield was rammed into their arms while holding the axe forward, the force of the shield could push the axe against them and that extra blade suddenly becomes their own demise.