British and Foreign Arms & Armour

by Charles Henry Ashdown

The chief authorities for Saxon arms and armour are (a) the illuminated manuscripts preserved in the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, &c., some of which date back to the eighth century or even earlier; (b) the written description of the equipment of certain warriors of a still more remote period; and (c) the sagas, most of them of a warlike nature, which not only laud the heroic deeds of warriors but constantly refer to the weapons and armour borne by them. But these details, necessarily crude and by themselves to a certain extent unreliable, are fortunately supplemented by actual examples which have been found in Saxon barrows all over the country and preserved in many museums, from which we are enabled to verify the illuminations and descriptions.

A spear is found as a rule in all Saxon interments, or more strictly speaking the iron head, the wooden portion having generally decayed. From numberless references to the latter we find that it was invariably made of ash, and the warrior is often poetically referred to as the “ash-bearer.” The shorter kind is found in barrows, doubtless because of limitation of space, and so commonly do they occur, that probably every Saxon, from freeman upwards, was interred with one. They are sometimes found reversed, with the iron head near the feet, and the hollow shoe or button which protected the end of the shaft near the skull. From many measurements taken from the head of the spear to the shoe, the total length of the shorter kind has been found to be about six feet.

In some places portions of the wood have been found still preserved; these have been tested and proved to be of ash wood, but in no case have these remains demonstrated that the shaft was excessively thin as is represented in illuminations, where as a rule only a narrow ruled line is drawn for the shaft. Judging from the numerous illustrations of mounted horsemen with which the MSS. abound, the length of the longer variety was about nine or ten feet. The accompanying illustration ([Fig. 62]) represents various forms of spear-heads copied from Saxon MSS. in the British Museum, from which it will be seen that no stereotyped pattern was in vogue, but that almost every variety of possible form was brought into use. That which at once attracts the attention is the form of guard invariably used below the spear-head, and which was doubtless intended to ward off sword-cuts which might possibly sever the shaft. They were of iron, and sometimes as many as three were in use. In two of these examples the barbed form of head is shown, which is the most uncommon, both in illustrations and also in actual finds in barrows. Probably this form was generally in use for javelins, the other variety being easily withdrawn after inflicting a wound. In [Fig. 63], which presents examples of actual spear-heads found in Great Britain, we notice that the shaft is fixed in a socket which is always furnished with a longitudinal slit. Nails or rivets were used to fasten it to the shaft. The absence of the cross guards should be noticed; probably they were inserted in the shaft and formed no integral part of the spear-head. In the Tower Collection, however, is a spear-head, with a cross-piece similar to the guards shown in illustrations, which was discovered some time since near Nottingham. The short spear was not carried singly but generally in pairs, and at times three are represented; for instance, in a British Museum MS. the destroying angel is shown with three javelins, one in flight, one poised for throwing in the right hand, and one grasped in the left.

Fig. 62.—Anglo-Saxon spears, &c. (Add. MS. 11695; Tib. c. vi. &c.)

Fig. 63.—Saxon spear-heads.

The Sword.—Swords were essentially cavalry weapons among the Anglo-Saxons, and were not carried by any person beneath the rank of thane. The earliest of those found in England have no quillons or cross-pieces, but merely pommel, grip, and blade. The latter was long, straight, rounded at the point, and double-edged, 30 inches long and 2 inches wide at the hilt; the grip was of wood and with but little swell. The total length is generally about three feet. Irish swords of the same period are about six inches shorter; both kinds were provided with wooden scabbards. Undoubtedly this sword was fashioned from classical models. During the later Saxon occupation a cross-piece was added to the weapon; it became more acutely pointed, and the pommel occasionally showed signs of ornamentation. No. 2 of [Fig. 64] is a sword found in Cambridgeshire, and shows the quillons in an incipient form, while the addition of a knob to the pommel relieves the monotony seen in No. 1. No. 3, from the same find, has the cross-piece enlarged, while the other swords show various stages of development. The two swords, Nos. 5 and 6, are from MSS. of the eighth century. A rare example of the sword of this period is preserved in the Wallace Collection, and is shown in [Fig. 65]. It has a flat, crown-shaped pommel, with five small lobes and short, straight quillons rounded at the ends, the grip being missing. The blade is grooved, measures 30¼ inches in length, and shows traces of an inscription or ornament.