Fior Akusen
The Four Axes
The Fior Akusen, or Four Axes, is the holy emblem of Thia Frankisk Aldsido.
Its formal description in New Frankish is:
Fior akusen geld al rôd andlitti twêfold ûtlinon tesamen halfhefti Ing rôd at ovarleggen sama witherospêgal tesamen at halfhefti Ing at middan hulwa TFA geld al at uvar miniskular at under runiskar scrîvan. (NF)
In English, the description specifies four gold axes with red faces, arranged in mirrored pairs, leaning outwards and meeting halfway along their hafts. Their arrangement forms an Ing-rune around a central hollow, with a red Ing-rune superimposed. The letters “TFA” appear in gold, in minuscule script above and runic script below.
The emblem brings together four franciscas, whose hafts outline an Ing-rune through the space between them. This hollow, intangible yet essential to the design, expresses the relationship between Wald, wielded power, and Hailago, the sacred potency emanating from Mâro-Ing, Famed Ing. The axes represent the Kuning’s wielding of Wald, while their shared form recalls its sacred source.
Beyond their symmetry, the four axes recall four episodes in Gregory of Tours’ History of the Franks. Within TFA, these accounts are interpreted through the relationship between the Kuning, Wald, and Hailago.
I. The Vase of Soissons
After a campaign, Clovis and his followers gathered at Soissons to divide their spoils. A churchman requested the return of a vessel taken from his church. Clovis asked his men to grant him the vessel in addition to his allotted share. One warrior struck it with his axe, insisting that the king should receive only what fell to him by lot.
A year later, during a military inspection, Clovis singled out the warrior and criticized the condition of his weapons. He threw the man’s axe to the ground and, when the warrior bent to retrieve it, fatally struck him with a blow from his own axe, recalling the treatment of the vessel at Soissons. (History of the Franks, II.27.)
Interpretation: Within TFA, this episode illustrates Wald as the assertion of wielded power. The warrior’s defiance is understood as a challenge to Clovis’s Hailago, haleness. Through his response, Clovis asserts the greater potency and legitimacy of his kingship, giving expression to the Kuning’s right to uphold order.
II. The Binding of Ragnachar
Ragnachar, king at Cambrai and a kinsman of Clovis, alienated his followers through his conduct and favouritism towards his counsellor Farro. Clovis offered Ragnachar’s men gilded bronze ornaments, which they accepted as gold, to secure their betrayal.
Following Ragnachar’s defeat, his men brought him and his brother Ricchar bound before Clovis. Clovis rebuked Ragnachar for dishonouring their family by allowing himself to be bound, then fatally struck him with his axe. He likewise did the same to Ricchar, accusing him of failing to help his brother.
When the betrayers discovered that their rewards were not solid gold, Clovis told them that such payment suited those who betrayed their lord. They accepted their survival as sufficient reward. (History of the Franks, II.42.)
Interpretation: This episode presents failures of generosity, loyalty, and mutual support. Ragnachar neglects his relationship with his followers; his men betray him; and Ricchar fails to uphold his brother. Within TFA’s understanding, these broken obligations diminish royal Hailago, while Clovis’s exercise of Wald asserts his own authority.
III. The Death of Magnovald
At his palace in Metz, Childebert II summoned Magnovald while watching dogs bait an animal. Unaware of what awaited him, Magnovald joined the spectators in laughter. At the king’s command, a man fatally struck him on the head with an axe .
The reason for his fate may well be for having his wife murdered, or perhaps, some betrayal or attempts at usurpation. (History of the Franks, VIII.36.)
Interpretation: Within TFA, the episode illustrates royal Wald exercised through a subordinate. Magnovald, whose name is understood here as Great Power, remains subject to the Kuning’s greater authority. The spectacle provides a symbolic setting for this relationship between power and subjection. The precise cause of his execution remains unknown.
IV. Fredegund Ends a Feud
A violent feud arose among related families in Tournai after a man killed his brother-in-law over the latter’s mistreatment of his wife and visits to a prostitute. Retaliatory killings followed, and Queen Fredegund repeatedly urged the families to reconcile.
When her efforts failed, she invited the feuding men to a feast. After prolonged drinking, three of them, Charivald, Leudevald, and Valden, remained seated together. At Fredegund’s command, three armed men stood behind them and fatally struck them with simultaneous axe blows. (History of the Franks, X.27.)
Interpretation: In TFA’s understanding, Fredegund exercises the Kuning’s Wald against a feud that threatens the wider community. The names Charivald, Leudevald, and Valden are read as expressions of War-Power, Folk-Power, and Wielded Power, all brought beneath her authority. The episode gives force to the principle that, when Fredus fails to restore Frithu, Wald must uphold it.
V. The Axe and the Holy Stead
A final episode gives the axe particular religious significance. In the Liber Historiae Francorum, Queen Chlotilda advises Clovis to establish a basilica in honour of Saint Peter, seeking his aid in the coming war against the Goths. Clovis agrees and throws his axe before him, marking the place where the church is to be built upon his return with God’s help. (Liber Historiae Francorum, 17.)
Interpretation: Within TFA, this act is understood as the Kuning establishing a place of worship through Clovis’s wielding of Wald. The axe marks a place for sacred use and provides a historical image through which we understand its role in hallowing a holy stead.
Together, these episodes inform the Fior Akusen’s meaning — the relationship between sacred potency and wielded power, the obligations that sustain communal order, and the establishment of places where the Hêlen — Holy Ones — are honoured.