Posted on 08/31/2020 6:41:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Two battle axes used in hand-to-hand fighting at the Battle of Grunwald over 600 years ago have been found by detectorists during a sweep of the famous battle site in northern Poland.
The find, which has astonished archaeologists, is all the more important as the melee weapons are in remarkably good condition.
According to Dr. Szymon Dreja, director of the Museum of the Battle of Grunwald, the discovery of the battle axes are an archaeological sensation.
"In seven years of our archaeological research we have never had such an exciting, important and well-preserved find," he stressed.
According to the director, there is little doubt that the axes come from what many historians say was the largest battle of the middle ages in Europe.
"The context of these finds, the preliminary dating to the fifteenth century and the type of axes clearly indicate that they are directly related to the Battle of Grunwald of July 15, 1410," he said.
The Battle of Grunwald was fought in 1410 and saw the joint forces of Poland and Lithuania defeat the Knights of the Teutonic Order.
Over 50,000 knights, gunners and infantry clashed on the fields near the village of Grunwald in what was possibly the biggest battle of medieval Europe.
The battle marked the end of the order's expansion along the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea and the beginning of the decline of its power. It also marked the emergence of Poland-Lithuania as one of Europe's most powerful states.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefirstnews.com ...
:^) Nice!
The battle of Grunwald or in German, Tannenburg, was a pivotal moment in the development of the Polish state. It is eulogized even today and made into a grand Slav vs Teutons story, which it wasn’t quite.
It cemented the Lithuanian(which contained most of modern Belarus as well) Polish commonwealth that lasted until 1793.
Your ancestors may very well have been on BOTH sides of the battle!
I suspect it did not end well for the 2 guys who were using the axes.....
Your ancestors may very well have been on BOTH sides of the battle!
Heh... that's one of the risks ya take, just by bein' born. :^) It's probably true of many, many battles throughout the ages, including currently unknown prehistoric ones.
Battles in the Middle Ages were up close and personal. The winners didn't necessarily come off much better than the losers, just alive.
They have been mostly peaceful for hundred of years.
Cool :D
your welcome!
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I recall a (GGG?) article on a cache of similar-appearing bronze axe heads -- most/all of which were broken -- supposedly collected for re-casting. IIRC, by far the weakest points (sites of the breaks) were the sockets -- and, of those, the closed-end sockets were the weakest.
I believe one of the theories for the weakness was that it was difficult to get a close fit of the wooden haft in the closed-end socket -- causing local force concentrations (where the wood did fit tightly) -- that resulted in socket breakage...
Do you remember that article/discussion?
TXnMA
I once had a boarding pass checked for Gdansk Poland and the Lufthansa clerk replied with a cold steel gaze: “DAAN-TSIHKH” (Danzig). No doubt in his mind the borders there have not been forgotten and resentment is deep.
It was German from its founding around 1200 until 1945.
That does sound familiar, didn’t turn it up in a search. Here’s something that’s basicaly unrelated, from 2011, well, technically it’s from more than 3000 years ago...
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/tollensevalley/index
Valaška - Shepherd's Axe
Sharp Blades
In Eastern Europe mostly Carpathian region, axe used by shepherd for self defense. Very Common in the mountains even today.
That is too cool!
That is a great website! Those axes just itch to be collected.
I am into 3D printing, I may try to print some of those and find a way to paint them that looks right...
I may use a magnifying glass on a hot day to burn them in, as I did this for my wife:
Nice!
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