The angon is a spear or frank javelin whose iron has the shape of a harpoon. It was used as a weapon of war or hunting. The discovery of this weapon in the tombs of the people of the Angles and the Thuringians suggests that it was not the exclusive domain of Frankish warriors.
It was however one of the rarest but also the most unique weapons of the Frankish period. The first presumed author who mentioned this weapon is the Byzantine historian Agathias who describes in the second volume of his History of the time of Justinian, this throwing weapon in these terms:
“The angon is a pike, neither too long nor too short, which can be thrown when needed, but which is also suitable for defense and attack. This javelin is almost entirely made of iron, and only the hilt is made of wood. At the upper end of the weapon (the point), are two kinds of hooks curved towards the shaft and quite similar to the hooks of a fish hook. »
“When the angon is hurled at an enemy and penetrates the flesh, it becomes so engaged that it cannot be drawn out without rendering the wound mortal; if this weapon strikes a shield, it crashes into it so deeply that its "fangs" make any extraction impossible:it then remains suspended there, sweeping the earth by its extremity:the Frankish warrior only has to rush forward, step on the handle of the javelin to discover the body of his opponent and kill him with his sword. »
"Sometimes, the angon is attached to a rope, serves as a harpoon and all that remains is to pull on it to bring the enemy within reach of the swords. »
(Account of the battle of Casilinum in 555, won by Narses over the Franks and the Alamanni).
Etymology of the term angon
The word is not attested before the 15th century in French. It is a "kind of hook". Then it appears in the 16th century in the sense of “a kind of weapon equipped with two hooks, used by the Franks”. This term is attested in Latin by Du Cange in the form angon(es) and in the sense of “weapon of the ancient Franks”. The etymology of this Low Latin word is poorly understood:it may be a borrowing from the Old Frankish *ango "hook", the existence of which is postulated by the Old High German ango, German derivative Angel of Same direction. In the end, the Low Latin angon(es) would be of popular origin and would directly represent the Old Frankish Low *ango, as the existence of the Walloon angon "stick with hooks" seems to show, whereas in the sense of " gond" specific to the dialects of eastern France and French-speaking Switzerland, it would come from a cross between the Latin gomphus "ankle, nail", to which was added the prefix en-, hence the verb engoner "to put a door on its hinges", hence perhaps a deverbal *engon, which became angon by influence of angon "hook", of Old Frankish origin.
The Old French (soi) angler "to take the hook" comes from the Westic Germanic angul (cf. Old English and Old High German angul> English angle "hook" and German Angel, same meaning), via from Norman, perhaps reinforced by Old Scandinavian angul-, Old Norse ongull, of the same meaning. Furthermore, the same Westic etymon a?g- is found in the Norman noun angue (aingue variant) "hook", itself from the Saxon anga or the Anglo-Saxon anga "hook, hook", the same word as the old low frankish ango (old high german ango).
Angon archeology
Until the 19th century, the idea that we had of this weapon was only based on the stories of ancient authors, since archeology had never brought it to light. Also, the graphic reproduction of the object was problematic and sometimes fanciful.
However, several discoveries had been made in Frankish cemeteries from the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century, without them being able to be directly identified as angons, either due to lack of knowledge of the actors of the discovery and of the scientific authority. or because of the poor condition of the items found, making it difficult to interpret them.
We end up authenticating this weapon almost simultaneously in Germany and France. Indeed, five finds were made in the Rhineland and entered the museums of Wiesbaden, Mainz and Darmstadt. Two were also discovered in Normandy, in the Frankish necropolis of Envermeu between 1854 and 1856.
The two angons of Envermeu are one meter long. They are entirely made of iron, but they have a socket at the bottom of their shaft which shows that it ended in a wooden handle. This handle had to be about as long as the shaft, that is to say around one meter.
Shortly after (1859), a new angon was found in Kent, England, a prelude to a long series of discoveries to the present day.