5.2 Weaponry and Armour

The main weapon of the period was the spear, not only for the peasant but also for the professional soldier and even the nobility. It was the traditional weapon that Woden used and remained the weapon par excellence among the Germanic peoples even during the tenth and eleventh centuries.

The spear was, without doubt, the commonest weapon of this period and its almost universal use within all ranks and cultures testifies to its effectiveness. It is a weapon that can make an untrained man fairly dangerous very quickly. It keeps your enemy at a fair distance, and most importantly cheap to make. The ash shaft being easy to acquire, and a relative small amount of expensive iron necessary for the blade. Even a poorly made spear could be dangerous. This cannot be said of the other weapons available then.

Almost all warriors, from the highest to the lowest carried a single edged knife known as a scramseax (the spelling varies, with scramseaxe or scramaseaxe, with an 'e' or an extra 'a' or not is rather arbitrary as were the Saxons were with their spelling). Indeed, it seems that wearing a knife may have actually been a symbol of freemanship. Although primarily an everyday tool, in battle it could be used to finish off a felled opponent, and in the case of some ceorls [ʧeɜlz], a mid to large sized scramaseaxe could have taken the place of a sword.

Small hand axes tended to just be wood-axes which were used for combat. The construction of all axes followed the same general principal.

Although bows were widely used by the continental Saxons, the Anglo-Saxons seem to have used the bow mainly for hunting, displaying a certain disdain for its use in battle. The bow was more widespread as a weapon amongst the Vikings, but even then was not terribly common.

Although used primarily for hunting small game the sling could have been used in war. Against an armoured man it would have little effect unless a lucky shot hit his face. Against an unarmoured target at close ranges it could break bones and crack skulls.

The most prized and lauded weapon, but not the most common one, was the sword. These were very valuable and were often handed down from generation to generation, or were received or given as gifts by great warriors and kings. Swords were considered to have a greater value if they had a history or had belonged to a famous warrior; perhaps because they were seen to have been imbued with the previous owners’ bravery. The blades were between 72 - 80cm (29" - 32") long and about 7.5cm (3") broad at their widest with a shallow but broad groove or fuller down the centre of both sides to lighten the blade without losing any strength. At the time of the migrations from Germany to England some warriors might still have been using swords of the late Roman pattern, the so called “spatha”.

The main type of body armour in Anglo-Saxon times was mail, the term “chainmail” not being coined until the 1700’s. Mail of the period was made by cutting thin strips of iron from a piece of sheet, or drawing iron wire through a draw-plate, and winding this around a cylindrical former. It was then cut off with a chisel to form the links. The links would then be compressed so that the ends overlapped.

Head armour of the period consisted of helmets sometimes including a mail coif. Helmets were made in a variety of ways and from several materials, with the single objective of deflecting or completely withstanding a blow from a sword. One of the most famous is the parade helmet found at Sutton Hoo, probably belonging to King Raedwald of East Anglia circa 625. Based on a Roman parade helmet design (of a general class known as spangenhelm), it has decorations like those found in contemporary Swedish helmets found at Old Uppsala.

Shields seem to have been used universally by all warriors. From the 1st to the 10th century round shields seem to have been the norm, being either flat or 'watchglass' shaped in cross-section. They are always shown with a boss and often have wooden or metal bands on the back to strengthen them. All the examples found have been of planked construction although there is some evidence to suggest a plied construction would make the 'watchglass' shape easier to make. Some shields were edged with a rim of sewn thick leather or hide to strengthen them whilst others were possibly faced with leather or rawhide. However none of the shields excavated demonstrate this even though 'leather covered' is a phrase writers used from that period.