in
Kent Amongst the shape and construction of seaxes, there is a great deal of variation. The most frequent characteristics are: • A
tang in the centerline of the blade, inserted into an organic hilt (wood, horn) • A large single-edged blade • The blade is worn horizontally inside a
scabbard attached to the belt, with the edge of the blade upwards In the continental
Germanic area, the following types are defined for seaxes between roughly 450 and 800 AD, in chronological order: • Narrow long seax • Short seax • Narrow seax – Often have braided bands or
snakes
engraved in the blade, and frequently include
metal bolsters and
pommels. Both the edge and the back are curved towards the tip, which is generally located above the centerline of the blade. • Light broad seax – Similar to narrow seax, but frequently lacks metal
hilt parts, and has simpler decorations on the blade, such as
parallel lines. Both the edge and the back curve towards the tip, which is generally located at the centerline of the blade. • Heavy broad seax – Have simple decorations on the blade if any, and long single-part
organic hilts (>). Both the edge and the back curve towards the tip, which is generally located at the centerline of the blade. • Atypical broad seax – Same as heavy broad seax. • Long seax – Blades are or longer, often with multiple fullers and grooves,
pattern welded blades, and long hilts similar to broad seaxes. The edge is generally straight or curved slightly towards the tip. The back either curves gently or with a sharp angle towards the tip, which is located below the centerline of the blade. The general trend, as one moves from the short to the broad seax, is that the blade becomes heavier, longer, broader, and thicker. Long seaxes, which arrived at the end of the seventh century, were the longest of the seaxes. These were narrower and lighter than their predecessors. Initially, these weapons were found in combination with
double-edged swords and were probably intended as a sidearm. From the seventh century onwards, seaxes became the main edged weapon (next to a
francisca), sometimes in combination with small side-knives. Another typical form of the seax is the so-called broken-back style seax. These seaxes have a
sharp angled transition between the back section of the blade and the point, the latter generally forming 1/3 to 3/5 of the blade length, exactly like a large version of a modern
clip-point blade. These seaxes exist both in long seax variety (edge and back parallel) and in smaller blades of various lengths (blade expanding first, then narrowing towards the tip after the kink). They occurred mostly in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with some examples in Germany around the eighth to eleventh centuries. Some examples have pattern-welded blades, while others have inlays of
silver,
copper,
brass, etc. == See also ==