Original Item: One of a Kind. A bearded axe, or Skeggøx (from Old Norse Skegg, "beard", and øx, "axe") refers to various axes, used as a tool and weapon, as early as the 6th century AD. It is most commonly associated with Viking Age Scandinavians. The hook or "beard", i. e. the lower portion of the axe bit extending the cutting edge below the width of the butt, provides a wide cutting surface while keeping the overall weight of the axe low. The "beard" of the axe would also have been useful in battle, for example to pull a weapon or shield out of a defender's grasp.

This is an outstanding example of a 9th-10th Century Bearded Battle axe with a shaft that is likely not period and an early replacement, as it shows very heavy age & wear with some woodworm holes. The shaft is certainly at least 200+ years old and could be older. The entire ax is about 20½” long with the head measuring 4½” long. The head is in fantastic non-dug condition with some great patterns along the sides. This is truly one of the most well-preserved viking weapons we have offered. 

A wonderful display piece, ready to add to your collection!

The Rus' were a people in early medieval eastern Europe. The scholarly consensus holds that they were originally Norsemen, mainly originating from present-day Sweden, who settled and ruled along the river-routes between the Baltic and the Black Seas from around the 8th to 11th centuries AD. In the 9th century, they formed the state of Kievan Rusʹ, where the ruling Norsemen along with local Finnic tribes gradually assimilated into the East Slavic population, with Old East Slavic becoming the common spoken language. Old Norse remained familiar to the elite until their complete assimilation by the second half of the 11th century, and in rural areas, vestiges of Norse culture persisted as late as the 14th and early 15th centuries, particularly in the north.

The history of the Rus' is central to 9th through 10th-century state formation, and thus national origins, in eastern Europe. They ultimately gave their name to Russia and Belarus, and they are relevant to the national histories of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Because of this importance, there is a set of alternative so-called "Anti-Normanist" views that are largely confined to a minor group of East European scholars.