Introduction
At the end of 2024, the author discovered in the literature a potential depiction of a perforated axe in a manuscript from the second half of the 10th century, specifically in the famous Fulda Sacramentary from Göttingen (SUB Göttingen, 2 Cod. Ms. theol. Cim. 231). The author shared this finding with some leading researchers in the field of early medieval axes. As part of further investigation, the author contacted the Lower Saxony State and University Library (Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek) at the University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen), which holds the manuscript and which provided a high-quality images of the relevant pages. It turned out that the perforation theory could not be proven.
This article serves partly as an apology to colleagues, partly as a compilation of notes for future researchers who might notice the supposed perforations. Our goal is to testify that original manuscripts carry some small details that can disappear when reprinted due to lower resolution and changes in the colour spectrum. To preserve the maximum informative value of the illumination, the researcher should use digitized folios in high resolution, or ask the responsible institutions, rather than blindly trusting secondary literature.
Initial assumption
The Fulda Sacramentary from Göttingen (SUB Göttingen, 2 Cod. Ms. theol. Cim. 231) is a valuable and richly illuminated manuscript from the Ottonian period, which was created in the 970s in the Benedictine monastery of Fulda, present-day Germany. It is believed that the hands of three different illuminators and scribes participated in its creation (Mayr-Harting 1991: 156; Winterer 2009). As of 2025, the manuscript is not digitally accessible on the Internet.
In the second volume of the publication Ottonian Book Illumination, a part of folio 15v, which depicts the death of John the Evangelist, is reprinted in black and white (Mayr-Harting 1991: Il. 81). This scene depicts two men with tools, namely a shovel and an axe. The axe, which is proportionally one-handed in length, is held with both hands. Its head is visibly attached from below, has a narrow blade without a beard with an indicated edge line and is equipped with a cap-shaped butt without lateral thorns around the shaft hole. In the middle of the blade there is a prominent dot, the position of which could not be accidental. An identical axe, but in one-handed usage, is depicted on folio 4v of the same manuscript. This axe also appears to have a dot in the middle of the blade in one reprint (Richter 1912: Taf. 7).
Fig. 1: Folio 15v according to Mayr-Harting 1991: Il. 81.
Fig. 2: Folio 4v according to Richter 1912: Taf. 7.
If there were indeed dots in the centers of the axes, they would correspond very precisely to the finds of perforated axes that are currently known in more than 350 examples (Vlasatý 2023). This would be the first depiction of similar perforated axes. The greatest similarity is shown in particular when matched with Kotowicz’s combination types IB.1.19 and IB.1.21 (Kotowicz 2018). Perforated axes with an cap-shaped butts began to establish in Central and Eastern Europe in the second half of the 10th century and remained in fashion until the 12th century; their perforations most likely served to secure the organic sheath (see Vlasatý 2015). In the area of present-day Germany, we know of only one perforated axe (site Warder; Heindel 1992: Fig. 23g; Struve 1972), that can be considered an Eastern European import from the 11th-12th century (see Drozd – Janowski 2007). This naturally raises the question how the knowledge of perforated axes arrived in Fulda precisely at the time when this phenomenon was emerging in the area of present-day Poland, the Baltics and Russia, including several sub-questions:
- Did one of the authors of the manuscript have close ties to these regions? The connection between the Benedictines and the early Piast state is a difficult topic. In the past, there has been speculation about the presence of the Benedictines in the Polish kingdom since 966 (see Skubiszewski 1965: 323), but current research does not develop this idea further (Strzelczyk 2021).
- Isn’t this the author’s attempt to indicate the origin or character of the figure wielding the axe?
Fig. 3: Axe from Brzóstowa, Poland – an example of a perforated axe.
Source: Kotowicz 2018: Cat. no. 53.
Map 1: Distribution of axes with one circular perforation.
Reality
Detailed scans provided by the Lower Saxony State and University Library in Göttingen, which we publish with the permission of the aforementioned institution, did not confirm the initial assumption. Folio 4v does not show any dot in the area of the axe blade. There is indeed a dot in the middle of the axe blade on page 15v, but it is a random ink blotch, unintentionally created at the location of the perforations of the physical finds. There are many similar dots on the illustrated pages of the manuscript, some of which are larger. Both axes are typologically difficult to classify, because the combination of a narrow blade and an elongated cap-shaped but was used for many centuries in European history (e.g. Malonaitis 2002).
Another axe is depicted on page 250v. The scene depicts a typical activity in the month of January – a carpenter working with a wide axe and elongated protrusions on both sides of the shaft hole. This shape has a number of parallels in the Merovingian period, specifically corresponding to Hübener’s forms G and H, which date to the 6th-7th century (Hübener 1980: Fig. 25-6). The survival of similar axes into the 9th-10th century horizon in German territory cannot be ruled out (Kirmeier et al. 2002: 246). Based on this axe, it seems that there is no need to look for the inspiration source for the axes depicted in the manuscript in Central or Eastern Europe. On the contrary, it is likely that the inspiration was either local contemporary axes or axes several hundred years older.
Fig. 4: Axes in the manuscript SUB Göttingen, 2 Cod. Ms. theol. Cim. 231.
Source: Lower Saxony State and University Library in Göttingen.
Appendix
In accordance with the agreement between the author and the Lower Saxony State and University Library in Göttingen, we are publishing the original versions of the digitized folios 4v, 15v and 250v. These can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the following link:
Acknowledgment
The author thanks the Lower Saxony State and University Library in Göttingen, especially the staff members Rolf Röper and Dietlind Willer, for the exemplary communication that led to the refutation of the initial assumption.
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Bibliography
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