[Connor Ruebusch]

Wait, I just realized you said southern Danelaw. Which would mean you'd be living in England, correct? So would a langseax not be too far out of the question, since the culture of the Danelaw was as much Anglo-Saxon/Briton as it was Norse, right? What do the other fellows think?

Edited to fix a spelling error

[Andrew W]

I was thinking the same thing as I read through the thread. I don't see any reason why a man born in Denmark but living in England couldn't have purchased or traded for a local knife.

[Connor Ruebusch]

Right. If langseaxes were still in vogue in England at the time, and the population of the Danelaw was largely British/Anglo-Saxon (as I do believe they were, with substantial mixing in of Norse blood), then there's no reason why a Norseman wouldn't have a knife. What might be really helpful to Nick is some information about where extant seaxes were found, particularly the 9th century Anglo-Saxon ones. The location of the artifact's discovery would tell us a lot about who last owned it--i.e. whether it was found within the historical Danelaw or not.

[K J Seago]

talking about the langseax and sword being apart, im pretty sure they were together in one of the other graves at prittlewell, i think it was called the grave with two swords.