Shepherd's Axe - History and Usage

History and Usage

In the ninth century, Hungarian warriors used light axes on long shafts, called fokos, before them, the Bulgars and also the Alans used a very similar type of that.

In the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries, shepherd's axes were brought into Central Europe from Wallachia, (today's Romania), along the Carpathian Mountains by Romanian shepherd migrants called Vlachs as part of their culture. These sticks were mostly used by shepherds as versatile tools, providing a small axe, a supplemental hammer and a walking stick. Although a shepherd's axe could not be used to effectively cut down heavy trees, it was still able to cut smaller branches.

In Slovakia and Poland, shepherd's axes were inseparable tools of Slovak and Polish shepherds, together with heavy decorative belts. In the Slovak culture, the shepherd's axe was popularized by local historical legend Juraj Jánošík.

In Hungary, modified axes were also used as martial weapons by Hungarian warriors in the medieval age, used for example in the 18th century in Rákóczi's War for Independence against Austrian soldiers. In the 17th and 18th century, Hungarian Kuruc leader Imre Thököly and his soldiers used shepherd's axes as weapons. Hungarian shepherds in the northern regions used it also as a tool.