Viking Type M Axe with Etched Norse Design (Dane Axe)

Petersen's Type M is the classic 'Dane axe' - introduced around 950 AD and used so widely that examples turn up from England to Russia, remaining in service into the 13th century. Old Norse sources never actually called it a 'Dane axe'; contemporaries used the broader term breiðøx ('broad axe'), while the 'Danish axe' label comes from later English and Latin chroniclers, appearing as early as the reign of Harthacnut around 1040, when Earl Godwin of Wessex famously gifted the king a ship crewed with warriors bearing gilded Danish axes on their shoulders. Type M's development is closely tied to the rise of maille and helmets among Viking Age elites - a bigger, broader blade was needed to answer better-protected opponents, and archaeologists consistently find Type M axes in graves alongside other high-status equipment: spears, shield bosses, swords, and riding gear. Decorated examples carry engraved crosses, punched dot-and-groove patterns, and even silver or gold inlay and overlay, all pointing to an axe that marked its owner as a person of real standing. Named Type M axes appear in the sagas too - Hel, carried by King Olaf Haraldsson and later his son Magnus the Good at the Battle of Hlýrskógsheiðr in 1043, and Rimmugýgr, wielded by Skarphéðinn Njálsson in Njál's Saga.

The largest axe in Deepeeka's Petersen typology range, sized in the tradition of this two-handed Dane axe form, with both faces of the head etched in Norse knotwork.

Overall Length: 32 1/4"
Edge (Blade) Length: 6 5/8"
Weight: 3.075 lb
Edge: Unsharpened (blunt, safe for display and re-enactment handling)
Head Material: Cast iron
Haft: Ash hardwood
Culture: Viking
Manufacturer: Deepeeka
Country of Origin: India