Very interesting presentation. You should do a presentation on all the historical items that you have as there seems to see quite a few behind you on your wall. I wouldn't like to break into your house!
I fear I have too many items in my collection for that!! I am slowly getting through doing reviews and brief history studies of certain items though, my axe, Messer, and now my Seax...plenty of armour reviews to come in the future too!
There are many different genres and subgenres which often seem to clash with each other due to no real measurement limits between each one so I just decided to name it what the maker, Tod Cutler, named it 😊
@AlexTheHistoryGuy Serious question. The seax has a long cutting edge, so it must have been used for cutting, and it has a sharp point, so it must have been designed for thrusting as well. Why are they always presented as having nothing to stop the hand sliding forwards on a thrust? Any police officer or doctor will tell you that people who stab with a kitchen knife always cut their own fingers as the hand slides forward on impact. The bowie knife had a small cross guard to prevent this. The rondel dagger had a disc to prevent this. The bollock dagger had the decorative balls in the right position to prevent it. The Roman gladius had a single wide ball in place of a guard. The ball wouldn't catch on the user's own shield, but it would stop the user's hand sliding forwards when stabbing. Even the Gurkha kukri had a wider spot part way down the hilt to stop the hand slipping. Yet the seax is nearly always shown with a simple handle and no guard. As far as I am aware all or most surviving examples are blade only, so it is entirely possible that the organic parts of the hilt had something to stop the hand sliding forwards. Why is this never (or very seldom) shown on modern reproductions?
It's a great thought experiment - I'll be honest with you I simply haven't done enough research to answer that reliably, and the research I have done shows no evidence of a crossguards of sorts haha
I believe it depended on how wealthy the owner was. Most farmers just brought whatever they had into battle. So like he said they came in many sizes and varieties. The more wealthy the more decorative and more handle material and most definitely there were hilts/cross guards and pommel on some versions.
Thank you, I'm a big fan of your videos, in fact I got some of the history for this video from your videos :) will you be attending Hastings next year? Would be lovely to chat to you guys in person.
I was recently testing out how to fight someone with a round shield and seax versus my round shield and arming sword and it was quite tricky to keep them out of dangerous melee distance! My longer sword had the reach but wasn't particularly dangerous if they were pressed up against my shield and could get their seax in close.
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy Short; stabby and sharp. I did reenactment for a while and once the wall began to break, these little Erics would be in and behind you with the seax in no time. An incredibly handy weapon for its time
This is mostly bunk. Too bad, for a guy who claims to be doing history. This is a utility knife, which incidentally was used as a weapons, as any knife can be used. The etymological link between seax and Saxon is a made-up bit of nonsense from the Victorian era. If you check art from the age, knives of the seax types are represented as civilian tools, not weapons. So pretty much every assertion you make amounts to a popular misconception, contrary to evidence. Oh, and physical objects don't "want" to do anything. Why do wannabe "scholars" insist on spreading nonsense on the internet?
Thanks Alex. You're one of my favourite UA-cam channels -- I really enjoy the history you share.
Thank you, that means so much to me and inspires me to make more videos 😊😊 much appreciated
Very interesting presentation. You should do a presentation on all the historical items that you have as there seems to see quite a few behind you on your wall. I wouldn't like to break into your house!
I fear I have too many items in my collection for that!! I am slowly getting through doing reviews and brief history studies of certain items though, my axe, Messer, and now my Seax...plenty of armour reviews to come in the future too!
Not a Lang sax, as they were longer than the scrama sax and up to almost sword lenght.
There are many different genres and subgenres which often seem to clash with each other due to no real measurement limits between each one so I just decided to name it what the maker, Tod Cutler, named it 😊
@AlexTheHistoryGuy Serious question. The seax has a long cutting edge, so it must have been used for cutting, and it has a sharp point, so it must have been designed for thrusting as well. Why are they always presented as having nothing to stop the hand sliding forwards on a thrust? Any police officer or doctor will tell you that people who stab with a kitchen knife always cut their own fingers as the hand slides forward on impact. The bowie knife had a small cross guard to prevent this. The rondel dagger had a disc to prevent this. The bollock dagger had the decorative balls in the right position to prevent it. The Roman gladius had a single wide ball in place of a guard. The ball wouldn't catch on the user's own shield, but it would stop the user's hand sliding forwards when stabbing. Even the Gurkha kukri had a wider spot part way down the hilt to stop the hand slipping. Yet the seax is nearly always shown with a simple handle and no guard. As far as I am aware all or most surviving examples are blade only, so it is entirely possible that the organic parts of the hilt had something to stop the hand sliding forwards. Why is this never (or very seldom) shown on modern reproductions?
It's a great thought experiment - I'll be honest with you I simply haven't done enough research to answer that reliably, and the research I have done shows no evidence of a crossguards of sorts haha
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy Thanks for responding. :)
I believe it depended on how wealthy the owner was. Most farmers just brought whatever they had into battle. So like he said they came in many sizes and varieties. The more wealthy the more decorative and more handle material and most definitely there were hilts/cross guards and pommel on some versions.
Love everything about this video. Thanks man this is exactly what I was looking for. You got a subscriber here buddy!
Ayy glad to hear it! I'm currently working on a full early medieval Saxon/Viking kit review which may be out later today 👀
The Seax originated when warriors had broken swords and repurpose the sword into a Seax. This spread into many different sizes and styles
Do you have a reliable source for this?
Lovely video Alex. That's a really nice seax as well. I quite fancy one from Tod Cutler! Hail the Seax! Hi from Northworthy!
Thank you, I'm a big fan of your videos, in fact I got some of the history for this video from your videos :) will you be attending Hastings next year? Would be lovely to chat to you guys in person.
The grandfather of the Bowie knife.
Possibly! Not yet if there was a direct link between the two styles but it wouldn't surprise me
i love seax,awesome dragon mat
Seaxs are amazingly fun to use
Awesome dude
Appreciated 😊
They had cross guards too.
Some may have, but not many that we've found
Name being “Sean” I can’t help but read it as “shocks”.
cross guard means nothing a good firm grip will stop it slipping,
Some times! Can't always rely on it though. Your hand could be sweaty or the knife could be knocked out of your hand a bit 👀
Maybe it had a handle ring or what ever you call it in english
Perhaps!
Al, are you from Norfolk?
I am indeed!
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy Same here, I'd know that twang anywhere! Great video mate, just subscribed and going to check out some more 👍
Ayyy thanks mate I really appreciate it
In a shield scrum the seax would be far more useful than a ponces sword.
I was recently testing out how to fight someone with a round shield and seax versus my round shield and arming sword and it was quite tricky to keep them out of dangerous melee distance! My longer sword had the reach but wasn't particularly dangerous if they were pressed up against my shield and could get their seax in close.
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy Short; stabby and sharp. I did reenactment for a while and once the wall began to break, these little Erics would be in and behind you with the seax in no time. An incredibly handy weapon for its time
This is mostly bunk. Too bad, for a guy who claims to be doing history. This is a utility knife, which incidentally was used as a weapons, as any knife can be used. The etymological link between seax and Saxon is a made-up bit of nonsense from the Victorian era.
If you check art from the age, knives of the seax types are represented as civilian tools, not weapons.
So pretty much every assertion you make amounts to a popular misconception, contrary to evidence. Oh, and physical objects don't "want" to do anything. Why do wannabe "scholars" insist on spreading nonsense on the internet?
No, this information is true. Thank you :)