Literary notes about seax (AI summary)
Literary works depict the seax as a versatile, short-edged blade that is essential both as a weapon and as a cultural emblem. It often appears as a tool of personal defense and combat—worn at the belt and drawn in moments of readiness or desperation ([1], [2], [3])—yet it also carries symbolic weight, evoking the martial traditions of its Anglo-Saxon origin. Authors describe its varied forms and functions, from the weapon sharpened on a stone before battle ([2]) to the blade that distinguishes honor in conflict ([4], [5]), demonstrating its dual role as a practical instrument and a marker of identity in both everyday life and warfare ([6], [7]).
- The jarl's signal had been heard by a man upon whom was only a belt, to which hung a sheathed seax and a war horn.
— from Ulric the Jarl: A Story of the Penitent Thief by William O. Stoddard - He said no more, but seated himself and began to sharpen his seax on a smooth, hard stone.
— from Ulric the Jarl: A Story of the Penitent Thief by William O. Stoddard - So I leaned my staff against a tree, and drew the sharp seax from my belt.
— from A Thane of Wessex Being a Story of the Great Viking Raids into Somerset by Charles W. (Charles Watts) Whistler - It is mentioned in Beowulf:—he— “drew his deadly seax, bitter and battle sharp, that he on his byrnie bore.”
— from Scenes and Characters of the Middle AgesThird Edition by Edward Lewes Cutts - Wulfhere drew his seax, and threw himself in front of the women and children.
— from A Maid at King Alfred's Court: A Story for Girls by Lucy Foster Madison - pl. wäl-sceaftas, 398 . wäl-seax , st. n., deadly knife, war-knife : instr.
— from I. Beówulf: an Anglo-Saxon poem. II. The fight at Finnsburh: a fragment. - A Seax is the term employed to denote a curved scimitar, or falchion, having a notch at the back of the blade (Fig. 517).
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
