German Horsemans axe of 16th century?
 

I respectfully appreciate any help members of this Forum have in authenticating and identifying what I have been told is a battle axe. The weapon was purchased from the estate of a sixth generation military family from Texas in the United States. The wife told me her deceased husband taught military history at West Point and was a major collector of military weaponry. His father was a graduate of West Point. The wife called it a battle axe but had no other history. I am hoping it is authentic and not a fantasy piece as it has become a favorite within my blade collection. In advance my thanks for advice and guidance.

Bump.

Conan the Barbarian or Xena warrior princess
:rolleyes:

Glad somebody bore the bad news, nice story though :) .

Reminds me of a boarding axe. I would advise you to make more pictures and ask again in the European weapons subforum.

Regards
Robin

It seems very well and robustly made to be a fantasy piece ? :shrug:

Let's give it a try, then :cool:

TxHunt,

Welcome to the Forum!

Would you mind posting some dimensions of this piece? Also, some pictures of the writing that appears on the shaft just below the head of the axe would be helpful. That may offer some clues as to origin.

Is there something written?

Reminds me of an Imperial German (Prussian) Fire service presentation or parade axe, as below, but older, maybe another German state or another European nation further east. European fire axes tended to be smaller, hatchet size, than American ones. I can't make out the marking on the side languet, can you post a better macro photo of any markings. Other German guilds (like miners) used fancy parade axes, and very uniquely headed ones too. Polish Nobles liked small headed (but longer) axes, most as rank symbology, such as my Obuzek also below with a heavy spike opposite the axe head end.

Yours Looks too fancy and short for a weapon or a boarding axe, more a status item. Still wouldn't like being hit with it.

Dimensions and weight would help...

Yeah, this one throws me a bit. If the construction were slightly different, I might suggest a 'Halberd-style' tomahawk ax from the trade period. Believe me, there are some real odd ones out there that many would assume were fantasy pieces but in fact real. The thing is, the langet on the end of the haft, the cut-out to the bottom of the blade that Wayne has succinctly shown resembles Euro dress fire axes, the grip resembling a military type battle axe, makes me wonder. Just not so sure on this one! :shrug: :shrug:

I vote for it being Indian, some sort of ankus (elephant goad) type item or similar.

I considered the 'Halberd' style, but the apparent size is wrong, my Indian Sindh spike/dagger axe (the pommel unscrews into a dagger) looks about the right size head - some came with back spikes instead of spikey trunk elephants, but has a much longer haft. It's top spike is also fairly useless.

Doubt it's an Ankh, they were very specifically made with a spike and hook, no axe blade. The Hook was for guiding an elephant's trunk, while the spike was used to euthanize the elly if it went berserk and attacked its own side, it was driven into the elephant's spine just behind its head with a hammer which was part of an ankh weapon system. Again, OP's axe is too small & the haft end unsuitable for hammering and the spike wouldn't kill anything -it'd likely make an elly rather angry... The chain on a pommel ring is another anomaly. who want's a sharp axe with pointy spikes swinging around on the end of a chain near them? If it had a weight on the end of a longer chain, would it be a Japanese kusari-ono? :rolleyes:

I add my French fire axe below, probably also of similar size to the OP one, it looks almost exactly like a french boarding axe, but doesn't have the belt hook and the haft is a few inches too short.

(don't have or want an ankh because it is sole purposed to kill elephants.)

All in all indeed an enigma hidden inside a conundrum.

p.s. - if the OP's axe turns out to be 2-3ft. long in the haft and weighs a kilo or so, I may be more inclined to refer to it as a 'battle axe'. :D for now, i'll think of it as a Texas battle-tomahawk.

Has anyone already suggested a pole weapon head... adapted to a shorter handle ? The possible (modern) writing on the langet is not a good sign, though.

Agree with the others. It appears to be a weapon but I've not seen anything like it. A close up of the chain might give some clues.

Welcome from another Texas member. What part of the state are you in? I'm in B/CS.

pictures from the theme about the weapons of the landsknechts.
gorgeous tool.
with respect.

Interesting pry bar finial, presumably for prying open a gap to skewer an opponent inside their armour.

Looks a lot bigger than the subject Texas tomahawk. Looks like it has a rather nasty crack in it too.

I wonder how that guy breathes in that fancy suit. Reminds me of a Victorian whalebone corset.


.

Beautiful picture from the 15th century

Warhammers. beq de corbin/lucerne hammers

Would help to have some identification of the painting, artist, date. To rule out it being, say, a Victorian-era historicism.

That implement the guy is carrying reminds me of a slightly fancier version of a box hatchet, complete with the pry/nail puller finial, in the catalog of a tool distributor who imports them from India.

Haha, breathing in that outfit ... maybe, like ladies in the antebellum South, they carried vials of smelling salts to revive themselves after frequent swooning due to lack of air!

:D :D :D

How I still wrote boarding axes are more or less similar to the showed piece, too. Here is an interesting side about boarding axes: https://www.boardingaxe.com/
Under "AXES by NATION" you can see many different models.

Regards
Robin

Mostly LESS similar, at best only vaguely similar.

None of which remotely look like the one originally posted -except the fire axe i'd mentioned earlier. Even the 'halberd' axes were not similar. Except for one with a similarly short spike which was described as 'useless' as a weapon.

Dimensions would be more revealing. And so would a decent photo of that inscription.

The axe looks legit to me, just new to us on the forum. I would say worst case is a 19th century presentation or decorative axe, and best case Eastern European battle axe of the 17th C or earlier.

Regarding armour, the stuff was made to fit, weighed less than a current grunts full kit, and most of the weight borne by the horse. Here is me in my old harness, it gets hot as hell and you sweat like a pig,but no worse than that it is for the guys in Iraq.

Horses sweat like we do, but not pigs. That's why they need to immerse themselves or wallow in puddles to cool off.

... Which makes us think they like to rollabout in dirt puddles ... for the fun of it ;) .

On a very hot day it might be a matter of survival for them.
This is an animal that tends not to thrive in environments like the depths of the Sahara desert.

I know a lady with what was once a 'micro-pig' house pet that puts sunscreen on her 300 lb. 'baby' now that it lives outside. The boar, George, of similar size that lives in the pasture next door is pure black, but there is shade available & i've never seen him wallow. He lives in a herd and prefers staying near them. The herd consists of two Alpacas,two retired thoroughbred horses, and George.His owner hugs him and squeezes him and calls him George even tho he is not a bunny rabbit.

Most of the religions in North Africa and the Middle East do not like the little rotund bacon factories and one especially fears touching them in any form or even looking at them, another reason you seldom see them there.

With ref. to post 16, the painting is a portrait of a knight of the Rehlinger family, done in 1540 by Master LS and now residing in Berlin. Following that how about this portrait of the Marquess of Brandenburg in 1520, complete with battle axe!
Neil

I wonder how long it takes for your lady friend to apply sunblock on a 300 lb piggy (by the way, how old is it -- if still a young 'un I wonder if he be a Hogzilla in the making, or perhaps a reincarnation of the Calydonian Boar of Greek legend, waiting for another Meleager and Atalanta to come and dispatch it with their spears).

Maybe she might be interested in the gadget that currently occupies a spot in my kitchen -- a cast-iron rotating hog oiler made by the Columbian Co. ca. 1900. Medicinal oils (to repel bugs) are poured into the tray and pigs are supposed to get the stuff splashed onto their skins as they rub against a suggestively porcine-shaped object. Ag equipment collectors love these since dozens of patents were issued in the US; they fell out of use when efficient sprayers became available.

Re: religious objections to Wilbur, you can see these raised as far back as the Old Testament. No animal that didn't chew cud AND have a cloven hoof was kosher, but Mr Piggy was singled out as being especially objectionable. Maybe because of wallowing in mud? Or the habit of sows of eating their newborn in panic if they feel threatened while nursing? Dogs are likewise frowned upon, was it because that they lick their privates and many like to eat scat? I once read an anthropologist's economic take on the anti-porcine stance of Scripture, which in essence states that since pigs are not suited to being raised in a hot arid climate by nomads always on the move, they represented a needless luxury and inconvenience. in a social-economic system that ran pretty lean to begin with. Interesting. I think it was a multiplicity of things.

Anyway, to Jews and Mohammedans, a pigless life must not have been such a hardship. More bacon and sawsidge for the rest of us! As a Jewish friend once told me, an observant member of his tribe would have been forbidden to play football, but nothing in the Torah would bar him from owning the team.

But if pigs can’t sweat, why do we have the expression “sweat like a pig?” The term is actually derived from the iron smelting process in which hot iron poured on sand cools and solidifies with the pieces resembling a sow and piglets. Hence "pig iron". As the iron cools, the surrounding air reaches its dew point, and beads of moisture form on the surface of the "pigs". "Sweating like a pig" indicates that the "pig" (ie iron) has cooled enough to be safely handled. And that's a "pig" you wouldn't want to eat.

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health/sweating-pig#:~:text=But%20if%20pigs%20can't,Hence%20%22pig %20iron%22.&text=And%20that's%20a%20%22pig%22%20yo u,wouldn't%20want%20to%20eat.

... And that does it; with pigs, i mean :shrug: .

GERMAN STREITAXT (horsemans axe) mid 16th century
 

I recently had the opportunity to view and handle this amazing example of a German horsemans axe, and quite frankly knew the second I held it that it was a sound and formidable weapon. Looking closely at the workmanship and nuanced details it was clear it was VERY old, my first thoughts 17th century.

It seemed to me I had seen something like this, thinking of the langets running the full length of the haft. After some 'excavation' later, I found the reference I was looking for......"European & American Arms", Claude Blair, 1962.
Most here will recognize the late Mr. Blair as one of the foremost authorities on arms in the UK over many decades. In this on p.113 (item K) is a horsemans axe like this shown as S. Germany, EARLY 16th century. This seemed quite in place as ensuing research indicated influences for this type 'axe' had come from N.Italy in the previous century, and Boeheim ("Waffenkund" , 1890) indicated a similar type with the full langets in time of Maxmilian I, (c.1500).

In previous posts here, the 'landsknechts' were mentioned, who were of course German and Swiss foot troops who were mercenary forces. In about mid 16th c. the mounted arm of mercenary forces were formed, known as 'Schwarz Reiters" (=black riders) referring to the unburnished dark armor they wore (often treated to prevent rust). These horsemen were known for their use of guns (wheellocks) and swords, and it seems the focus on the guns overshadowed mention of incidentals such as battle axes.
One reference did note that the axes were attached to the saddle bow, probably by the chain (seen on this example).

* here I would note that there are examples of battle axe with similar configuration of axe blade and crow beak which have added a wheellock mechanism, and with the advocasy of these firearms by the reiters, it is tempting to see the combination with that in mind.

It seems quite likely this 'robust' example (as well put in an earlier post) was of the form used by these 'reiters'. It seems the axe was favored more in German areas, while other areas used the war hammer (also with beaked poll).

This example has an 8" wide head (blade to beak tip) and is 18" long (excluding ring for chain) . In checking with others more proficient in assessment of the character of steel, patination etc. consensus was this example is soundly of period consistent w/ 1550-1600.

What is most remarkable is the apparent rarity of this form of horsemans axe with langets, heavy axe head with crows beak (falcon beak as termed in Victorian writing) and fluke at top. While mostly war hammers, maces and other axe forms are seen in some degree, nothing comparable to this appears through the years of auctions and references I have checked. The closest was the Blair reference, though there are some reasonably close.

I must admit to not having a great deal of familiarity with 'fantasy' weapons :)......but I did some checking on reproduction items as well as those of the well known Ernst Schmitt of Munich (1880s-1920s) who made remarkable reproduction armor and weapons. None were even close to this.

In my opinion, as supported by research and other consultation, I feel this is an authentic horsemans axe, Germany, mid 16th century and possibly earlier. I will say it is one of the most exciting weapons I have handled in many years, and I congratulate TXHunt on its acquisition. Also thank him for posting it here, and regret the very belated update.

Attached: current photos of the axe
next two entries, "European & American Arms", Claude Blair, 1962,N.Y., p.113, item K. '
next two from, Wendelin Boeheim, "Waffenkunde" ,Leipzig, 1890
then "Arms & Armor", Auguste Demmin, London, 1877

Note that the Blair example is with steel haft. In the one example from Boeheim, from c.1500 it has the four post langets and hardwood haft. .....suggesting earlier date on this......the steel haft seems to have come in later.

ADDENDUM: RE: ROSETTES
Regarding the rosettes surrounding the faces of the beaked poll, I have found that in Eastern Europe, often in Carpathian regions, the six petal rosette is a key device often found in local architecture as a protective device on cross beams. While six petaled (and I have seen this on sword blades) it seems quite possible that similar talismanic value might apply with the strategic addition of this five petaled form, which seems to conform with the style of ecclesiastic quatrefoils.

Note the rosette shape studs on the haft of the axe illustrated in Blair (1962).

Battle Axe
 

It is well-seen why TXHunt approached you personally Jim.
Reading through this thread makes me wonder if this is actually an arms and armour forum.
I'm all for pertinent digression - but really!
Well-done, you have upheld the faculty as you so often do.
I would love to have owned this piece, even though it is far outside my field of interest.
Keep up the good work.

Keith, thank you so much for posting on this, and the kind words!
I will say that I too would love to have this amazing horsemans axe regardless of it being out of my areas! Its unique character and well established antiquity makes it extremely interesting.