[SCA-BMDL] Norman axes

[Tujague Gordon]

You say I should go with a height of 5ft.  Thanks

----- Original Message -----
From: sca-bmdl-bounces at lists.andrew.cmu.edu <sca-bmdl-bounces at lists.andrew.cmu.edu>
To: a1onzio at bellatlantic.net <a1onzio at bellatlantic.net>; Sca-bmdl at lists.andrew.cmu.edu <Sca-bmdl at lists.andrew.cmu.edu>
Sent: Wed Jun 25 16:57:10 2008
Subject: Re: [SCA-BMDL] Norman axes

The height could vary due to the typical construction method which went something like this:

1. Find the nearest Saxon.
2. Rip his head off.
3. Jam it on a stick
4. Beat the next Saxon with it.

Seriously, I can only speak off the top of my head to my period when I followed my Lord and Duke William to Hastings.  There are lots of other Norman periods as the second sons became Italo-Norman and the like.  

By the time we started shaving and stopped thinking like "Vikings" we had gotten away from the war axe.  We traded boats, axes, and round shields for horses, swords, and kites to protect the horse's flank from damn dirty archers.  In fact, by 1066 we had become such stinky sailors that William used the likely death on the return trip across the channel to motivate the troops to win or die.

When you talk about two handed war axes and Hastings you're mostly talking about Saxons.  We had horse and offense, they had foot and defense.  

Before that, anything that would look at home on a Viking is appropriate for an early period Norman.  I think it's fuzzy exactly when we started favoring swords and awesome haircuts.

Late period is something I'm not familiar enough to generalize about.  After we cut up England like the pie it was the rest of the Norman mafia, particularly the next generation, spread out and were influenced by the regions they ended up in.

Hope that helps,
Bors


-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Tujague <a1onzio at bellatlantic.net>
To: Sca-bmdl at lists.andrew.cmu.edu
Sent: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:58 pm
Subject: [SCA-BMDL] Norman axes


Greetings,

    Those Norman types in the group, could someone tell me the standard height
of a norman war axe?

    Alonzio

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