Note 1158 — Chapter VI · THE DANISH KINGS IN ENGLAND.[818] 1017–1042. (continued 2)

Henry of Huntingdon (M. H. B. 728 E) arms both West-Saxons and Mercians at Burford “gladiis et securibus Amazonicis.” The Amazons are of course a flourish of Henry’s own out of Horace; but the axes may very likely come from a ballad. The axe, as antiquarian researches show, was in use almost everywhere from the earliest times, but the earlier axes are something quite different from the vast two-handed weapons wielded at Stamfordbridge and Senlac. This last clearly supplanted the sword as the characteristic English weapon from about this time. See above, pp. 273, 391.