Many different weapons were created and used in Anglo-Saxon England between the fifth and eleventh centuries. Spears, used for piercing and throwing, were the most common weapon. Other commonplace weapons included the sword, axe, and knife—however, bows and arrows, as well as slings, were not frequently used by the Anglo-Saxons. For defensive purposes, the shield was the most common item used by warriors, although sometimes mail and helmets were used.
Weapons also had symbolic value for the Anglo-Saxons, apparently having strong connections to gender and social status. Weapons were commonly included as grave goods in the early Anglo-Saxon burials. The vast majority of these weapons were buried in graves of men, but they also were buried in the graves of women. In a non-funerary context, weapons were occasionally deposited in the ground or near rivers. However, the establishment of a literate Christian clergy in Anglo-Saxon England resulted in the production of several textual sources that describe weapons and their use in battle. Some of these literary sources include the poems Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon.
Evidence
Evidence for arms and armour in Anglo-Saxon England derives from three types of sources — archaeological, textual, and illustrative — all of which raise different interpretation issues and are not evenly distributed in a chronological manner. Due to the frequent inclusion of weapons as grave goods in the early Anglo-Saxon period, a great deal of archaeological evidence exists for Anglo-Saxon weaponry. According to historian Guy Halsall, the "deposition of grave-goods was a ritual act, wherein weaponry could symbolise age, ethnicity or rank; at various times and places a token weapon might be used to illustrate such concepts." In addition, some late Anglo-Saxon weapons have been found at riversides. The popular historian Stephen Pollington proposed that this was either a return to the prehistoric practice of "deposition in sacred waters" or a reflection of the fact that battles were being increasingly fought at fords, which is confirmed by contemporary sources such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Archaeological evidence for Anglo-Saxon weaponry allows the documentation of the chronological development of weapon styles over time and the identification of regional variations. However, questions have been raised as to how representative these items, specifically deposited with a purpose, are of the wider array of weapons used in Anglo-Saxon life.
Scholarly knowledge of warfare itself relies mostly on literary evidence, which was produced in the Christian context of the late Anglo-Saxon period, from the eighth to the eleventh century. These literary sources are almost entirely authored by Christian clergy, and thus they do not specifically describe weapons or their use in warfare. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People mentions various battles that had taken place, but gives few details. Therefore, scholars often draw from literary sources produced by neighbouring societies, such as the continental Franks and Goths, or later Vikings. Some poems, including Beowulf, Battle of Brunanburh, and The Battle of Maldon, also refer to the use of weapons in combat; however, these sources are difficult to accurately date and it is unclear to what extent such descriptions are the creation of their authors' imaginations. The law codes and wills authored in the tenth and eleventh centuries also provide some insight into the military equipment used by the Anglo-Saxon nobility in this period.
Artistic depictions of soldiers bearing weapons can also be found in some Anglo-Saxon sculpture. Such depictions also appear in manuscript illustrations and in the embroidered Bayeux Tapestry. However, the artists may have been following artistic conventions concerning the depiction of warriors and weapons rather than accurately portraying the use of such items in their society.
In Old English, the primary language of Anglo-Saxon England, multiple words were often used to denote the same type of weapon. The Beowulf poem uses at least six different words for a spear, suggesting that these terms actually had slightly varying meanings. In Old English and other Germanic languages, which were spoken across much of Northwestern Europe, tribal groups often had names that appear to be based upon the names of weapons; for instance, the Angles may have taken their name from the Old English term angul (meaning "barbed" or "hook"), the Franks from the word franca ("spear," or possibly "axe"), and the Saxons from seax ("knife").
Literary evidence from later Anglo-Saxon England indicates that only free men were permitted to bear arms. The law codes of Ine (King of Wessex from 688 to 726 CE) stipulate the imposition of fines for anyone who assists the escape of another's servant by lending them a weapon. The amount of the fine depended upon the weapon—the fine was greater for a spear than for a sword. Pollington asserted that the "Germanic peoples [which includes the Anglo-Saxons] took great pride in their weapons and lavished much attention on them, in their appearance and in their effectiveness."
Weapon types
Spears and javelins
Spears were the most common weapons in Anglo-Saxon England. They have been found in about 85% of weapon-containing early Anglo-Saxon graves. Overall, approximately 40% of adult male graves from this period contained spears. In many Northern European societies (likely including Anglo-Saxon England), spears could only be carried by a freeman, with law codes prescribing strict punishments for any slaves discovered to possess one. In Old English, they were most commonly termed gār and spere, although some texts contain more poetic names, such as æsc ('[item made of] ash wood'), ord ('point'), and þrecwudu ('[thing of] wood for harming'). When used as a throwing-spear or javelin, it was typically called a daroþ ('dart').
The spear itself consisted of an iron spearhead mounted on a wooden shaft, often made of ash wood, although shafts of hazel, apple, oak, and maple wood have been found. There is little evidence as to the ordinary length of these spears, although estimates based on grave goods indicate that their length ranged from 1.6 to 2.8 metres (5 ft 3 in–9 ft 3 in). The end of the spear was sometimes protected with an iron ferrule, forming a hollow (or, less commonly, solid) cone which fit over the shaft. However, there was much diversity in the sizes and shapes of spearheads. Spearheads were sometimes decorated, with bronze and silver inlay placed on the blade and socket; in such instances, a simple ring-and-dot motif was most common. Occasionally, the ferrule was decorated to match the spearhead. It is possible that the shafts were also decorated, perhaps by being painted. Evidence for decorated shafts has been found in Danish contexts.
In battles, spears were used as missiles and as thrusting weapons during hand-to-hand combat. In most cases, it is not possible to identify for which of these two purposes a spear was specifically designed for. An exception is angons, or barbed spears, which were used as missiles. Once the spearhead had penetrated an enemy's body, the barb caused much difficulty in removing the weapon, thus increasing the likelihood that the pierced individual would die as a result of the wound. If the spearhead penetrated an enemy's shield, it would have been difficult to remove, thus rendering that shield heavy and difficult to use. It is possible that these angons developed from the Roman army's pilum javelins.
Underwood suggested an effective range of 12–15 metres (40–50 feet) for spears thrown as javelins, depending on the skill of the individual throwing it and the javelin's length and weight. The Battle of Maldon poem describes the use of javelin spears in a fight between Earl Byrhtnoth's forces and a group of Vikings. In this account, one of the Vikings threw a javelin at Byrhtnoth; the Earl partially deflected it with his shield, but he was nevertheless wounded. Byrhtnoth then retaliated by throwing two javelins at the Vikings—one pierced a Viking's neck and another penetrated his chest. The Vikings threw a javelin again, wounding Byrnhoth once more, but one of the Earl's warriors pulled the javelin from the wound and threw it back, killing another Viking. Following this exchange, the two sides drew their swords and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
When used in hand-to-hand combat, a spear could be held either under-arm or over-arm—the former method is depicted on the eighth-century Franks Casket, while the latter method is depicted on the eleventh-century Bayeux Tapestry. In some instances, spears may have been held with both hands. An eighth-century relief carving from Aberlemno in Scotland depicts a Pictish warrior holding a spear in this manner, and the Icelandic Grettis saga also describes a spear being used in this way. However, doing so would have required the warrior to relinquish the protection offered by a shield. To be more effective, ranks of spearmen would stand together to form a shield wall, mutually protecting one another with their shields while pointing their spears at the enemy. Such formations were also known as scyldburh ('shield-fortress'), bordweal ("board-wall"), and wihagan ("war-hedge").
Spears may have also had symbolic associations. In an account by Bede, the Christian priest Coifi cast a spear into his former pagan temple so as to defile it. In Anglo-Saxon England, the male side of one's family was known as "the spear side".
Swords
Pollington describes the sword as "the most symbolically important weapon" of the Anglo-Saxon period, and historian Guy Halsall referred to it as "the most treasured item of early medieval military equipment." In Old English, swords were termed sweord, although other terms used for such weapons included heoru or heru, bill or bile, and mēce or mǣce. Anglo-Saxon swords comprised two-edged straight, flat blades. The tang of the blade was covered by a hilt, which consisted of an upper and lower guard, a pommel, and a grip by which the sword was held. Pommels could be elaborately decorated with a variety of styles. Examples include the Abingdon Sword or the pommel found in the Bedale Hoard, which was decorated with inlaid gold. These Anglo-Saxon blades, the tang included, typically measured in length, and in width. Larger examples have been found, with some reaching up to in length and in width.
Rather than being able to melt the iron ore into a complete billet, the furnaces of the period were only able to produce small pieces of iron, which were subsequently forge welded into a single blade. To accomplish this, the pieces would either be beaten into thin sheets that were then hammered together as a laminated blade or placed together as thin rods and then welded together. Additionally, some of these blades were constructed using pattern welding. With this method, the iron was beaten into strips, which were twisted together and then forge welded. The twisting removed much surface slag, which could cause weaknesses in the finished blade. Pattern welding also produced patterns in the finished blade, most commonly a herringbone pattern. Such patterns are often referenced in Anglo-Saxon literature—they are described using terms such as brogenmæl ('weaving marks'), wundenmæl ('winding marks'), grægmæl ('grey mark'), and scirmæl ('brightly patterned'). Therefore, Pollington stated that the decoration produced by pattern-welding was important and desired in Anglo-Saxon society. Many blades also had a fuller, which was a shallow groove that ran the length of the blade. The fuller reduced the blade's overall weight while not compromising the thickness. Fullers were produced by hammering into the blade or chiselling out a section.