That ‘Viking’ Knife…

The following is a modified version of a commentary piece I wrote for the upcoming 'Iron Trillium', the quarterly newsletter of the Ontario Artist Blacksmith Association.

by ‘Krak’ of Wulflund Jewelry (Prague, Czechia - taken from that Etsy site)

This is a design commonly seen these days - and just as commonly described as a ‘Viking Knife’.  As Mick Smith demonstrated at the November OABA meeting, it is a fairly easy to make, simple, one piece, object. You could find literally hundreds of these offered for sale on the internet.

But it is definitely not anything like actual historic knives known from anywhere that could be considered from ’the Viking Age’.

I first saw the design in the late 1970’s, well before the recent ‘Vikings’ craze. Back then it was most often found in the hands of Black Powder re-enactors, those portraying Fur Trade or ‘Mountain Man’ characters. As the shape started to be re-branded as ‘Viking’ I got interested in if there was any actual artifact evidence to support the profile’s use historically.
It turns out the shape is very loosely based on a very early Iron Age sample uncovered in Denmark, dated to circa 1000 BC. Clearly some 2000 years before the 800 - 1000 AD period known as the Viking Age.


So what do actual historic Viking Age knives look like?

The Coppergate excavations at York, England (as an example), uncovered about 225 individual knives from the early 900’s.
The image above illustrates the general range of shapes and most importantly sizes. Generally, the majority of knives found have blades in the range of  7 - 10 cm long. ( 3 ) About  1 out of 20 found are in the 20 cm size. Only 1 out of 100 are clearly ‘fighting’ knives, in the range of 30 cm or larger.
All of these knives have thin tangs, intended to be inserted into a block of mainly wood (sometimes antler) for the handle. Most typically, the end of the tang was peened over a disk, serving to hold the handle in place.

What about the Seax?

In the reference image above, second from the top (#2759) is a classic seax blade shape.
‘Seax’, as defined historically and within archaeology, refers to a quite specific blade profile :
- straight line to the cutting edge
- a sharp, straight, diagonal line from the back towards the point.
- typically the length of the diagonal is 1/3 or less of the total blade
- back is straight, either parallel to the cutting edge, or sometimes slopping up from the tang to a widest measurement just where the diagonal starts wider.

In the language of the tribes living in South Denmark / North Germany in the post Roman era, ‘seax’ was their word for ‘knife’. These people used this very distinctive blade shape, so distinctive that they became known by this word. The Saxons who would invade England in the 500 and 600’s.

There is some indication from burial finds that blade shapes in the Viking Age were sex linked / really task linked. The more robust seax shape is found primarily in male burials (suited for heavy farm tasks like cutting rope, splitting kindling). The slender ‘triangle’ profile is most typical in female graves (suited for fine cutting like textile work or food preparation).


Of course HISTORY should not limit CREATIVITY.
As I tell my own students : ’Steal ideas from dead guys - they will never complain!’






I could be considered as close as you are likely to find (at least here in Ontario) to an ‘expert’ on Viking Age objects.  I have personally viewed hundreds of artifact blades from the Viking Age. I have slowly been working up a commentary ‘Knives of the Viking Age’, a topic for which there is currently not a single comprehensive overview.

I have commented on / referred to this design in earlier postings here :
June 2007 : A Re-Encator's Design