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THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS
ANGLO-SAXONS
THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS OF THE
ANGLO-SAXONS BY
THE BARON
DE BAYE,
J.
Correspondent of the National Society of Antiquaries of France, and of the Ministry of Public Instruction.
TJUUtb
Seventeen Steel plates anO ttbirtg*one Cejt Cuts.
TRANSLATED BY
T.
HARBOTTLE.
B.
LONDON
:
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & NEW YORK: MACMILLAN & I893-
CO.
CO.
i
o
83?
PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON, AND VINEY, LIMITED,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
PREFACE. of the Barbarian peoples would be infinitely more exact if historians, in recording the various phases of the great invasions, had studied all the nations who took part in them. Inquiry into the special developments and the particular tribal
[UR knowledge
organisation of each of these numerous hordes provides us with material for a better
general knowledge of the others, while the gaps in their annals may be filled by the aid of comparisons founded on ethnographic data. In any review of their origin, of the relations which they established along the line of their migrations, the alliances they contracted, the goal they sought, the treaties by which they bound themselves, their various halting-places before
down
imperative that they should all be included in one general survey. hitherto in somewhat undecided colours, deserve to be more closely These invaders, depicted unit in turn throws light on its vast family, and illustrates its genera tribal Each studied. in character by similarities customs, language, industry, and tendencies.
finally settling
by
it is
The interest attaching to the history of nationalities, and of the transformation effected in them the incursions of the Barbarian tribes, has encouraged us to publish a sketch of Anglo-Saxon
The industrial art of these invaders has certain characteristics which distinguish archaeology. The force of the Anglo-Saxon genius it from other branches of contemporary arch;uology. one of the and constitutes most striking features in the physiognomy of the compels recognition, Barbarian nations.
We
cannot pretend to
Anglo-Saxon
offer
to English archaeologists any new or startling discoveries. it is true, been dealt with as a whole, but its various
industrial art has never,
known. It is our desire to provide archaeologists with means of comparison, to enable them to judge from a broader standOur essay may serve to render less obscure an point questions relating to the great invasions. of which in the Barbarian hardly anything is known on the Continent. Nor is epoch episode there anything surprising in our design, seeing that historians recognise this period as one of These nations were yielding to one universal general activity among the Barbarian races.
branches, in
all
their numberless details, arc
none the
impulse when they hurled themselves upon the
less
Roman
well
provinces during the decline of the
Empire. English archaeologists have collected with care the interesting remains of the industrial art Numerous learned and elaborate monographs have been published, of the Anglo-Saxon race. but they have become extremely
rare,
archaeological synthesis. are still waiting for a treatise
We
ments, and we should seek
in vain in
and no one has as yet undertaken the production of an
which
England
shall deal with the subject in its fullest developwork which would give, even in the briefest
for a
PREFACE.
vi
So numerous are the archaeological publications form, a general idea of Anglo-Saxon industries. furnish to English men of science with any fresh materials. in England that we cannot hope us think that the time is come to attempt an essay leads to matter abundance of Yet this very
an opportunity of acquiring some general idea of Saxon antiquities, the So vast is the field to be are so deeply interesting to archaeologists. peculiarities of which will be Our work will be necessarily incomplete. explored that these preliminary observations We limited to a simple but useful summary of the archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon period.
which
shall afford
1 We are have already published some notes of a similar character on Lombard industries. on a line of investigation which, with time, may be numberless amidst difficulties, starting, brought to the desired state of perfection. Meanwhile the grouping of the materials relating to
It must be admitted the industries of the Barbarian period will be of incontestable utility. that the archaeology of the invaders has been hitherto neglected in France, in England, and elsewhere. The Roman period and the Middle Ages have received much more attention, and have
The period of transition between these two epochs has been lines of history, of philology, and of ethnology the on but its the subject of investigations in oblivion. buried The Romans scornfully designated as remained archaeological side has Barbarians all those nations which did not belong to the sovereign people yet these nationalities possessed an art which did not merit the scorn poured out with too great severity upon The epoch of the invasions was the great prelude to the Middle the invaders of the Empire. our most serious attention, for it is the introduction to the study of deserves this prelude Ages been
much more
closely studied.
;
;
;
The domain of archaeology among the Barbarian nations contains immense The problems which it offers for solution are complex, covers enormous territories. it and to the vast extent of its geographical area. of the to the includes, subjects variety owing have to go back to the origin of these peoples, accompany them on their march, and trace our civilisation.
riches, for
it
We
forms assumed by their art in each of the different objects of study, the Barbarian nations are so closely
their development, in order to recognise the nationalities
which they formed.
bound up together
As
that isolated investigation is impossible. Only when it has been studied, of the invasions be epoch rightly understood.
and
interpreted as a whole, will the
In
recording the principal features of and thus succeed in reproducing
imitators,
the
the
Anglo-Saxon family we hope to find physiognomy of the Barbarian
general
peoples.
The English have been
scrupulously careful to preserve all such antiquities as had Their public and private collections are numerous, and their discoveries have supplied matter for numerous publications. As early as the last century Faussett and Douglas occupied themselves in determining relation to
their history.
the features which distinguished of the Roman occupation.
The Nenia Britannica in
various ways, the
first
Anglo-Saxon
art
from the industrial products characteristic
of Douglas, printed in 1793, is worthy of attention, as indicating, appearance of a still youthful science.
The Archceological Album (1845), an d The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, by Thomas Wright, have next to be noticed, the latter work, first published in 1852, having already The Inventorium Sepukhrale, by the Rev. Bryan Faussett, gone through five editions. written between 1757 and 1773, was published in 1856, with an introduction and notes by Mr. Roach Smith. Next comes the Hora Ferales of Kemble. Mr. Akerman
Yonge
1
Atudes Archeologiqites.
fcpoque des Invasions Barbara.
Industrie Longobarde.
Paris, 1888.
PREFACE.
vii
in 1847, an Arcfiaological Index, and in 1855 Remains of Pagan Saxondom. Roach Smith produced, between 1843 an d 1868, a series of seven volumes, called Collectanea Antiqua, in which Anglo-Saxon archaeology plays a very important part. We must further mention Mr. Neville's Saxon Obsequies, an account of the cemetery at Little Wilbraham, which appeared in 1852, and Mr. Wylie's Fairford Graves, published in the same year. The English reviews, especially Archaologia, the Archaeological Journal, the Proceedings
published,
Mr.
of
tlie
of Antiquaries of London, and the Journal of have published a considerable series of articles on
Society
Association,
These publications are
the
Britisli
Archaeological
Anglo-Saxon
antiquities.
sometimes to a county, as in the case of the Inventoriuin Sepulchrale and the Nenia Britannica, which deal specially with Anglo-Saxon barrows in Kent. Kemble's Tlie Saxon in England contains some valuable historical documents. From in general confined
to a single locality,
1
the anthropological point of view, the Crania
Britannica*
is
full
of information concerning
the bones found in Anglo-Saxon tombs. It is noticeable that the period during which the most important works on the AngloSaxons were published in England is contemporaneous with the explorations of the Abbe Cochet in Normandy. This eminent antiquary gave a great impetus to archaeological research.
Since the appearance of the Inventoriuin Sepulchrale and the Horce Ferales, though investigations have not been exactly abandoned, little has resulted from them beyond review articles.
We
have drawn upon these scattered sources of information
for
our sketch of the
The knowledge of the archaeology of the great invasion has an intergeneral position. national value for those countries in which the Barbarians have left traces of importance.
We
shall
necessarily obtain but an imperfect result, but our observations will in the study of the Barbarian epoch.
form one more factor
1
3
London, 1849. Thurnam and Davis, Crania Britannica.
London, 1865.
at least
CONTENTS. PREFACE
...
THE INVADERS OF GREAT
JSRITAIX
IN
THE FIFTH CENTURY
THE JUTES ... THE SAXONS
...
...
...
...
...
THE ANGLKS
...
...
...
THE
...
...
...
THE ANGLO-SAXONS...
...
...
FRISIANS
ANGLO SAXON ARMS
...
...
THE SPEAR
...
...
THE ANGON
...
THE SCRAMASAXE
...
THE BATTLE-AXE
...
...
...
2
...
...
...
...
...
4
...
...
7
...
...
8
...
10
...
13
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
THE SHIELD
...
...
...
...
13
...
20
...
25
...
...
27
...
...
29
...
...
30
...
32
...
...
...
37
RADIATED FIBULA
...
...
...
S-SHAPED FIBULA
...
...
...
BIRD-SHAPED FIBULAE
...
...
CRUCIFORM FIBUL.*
...
...
SQUARE-HEADED FIBULAE
...
...
...
CUPELLIFORM OR SAUCER-SHAPED FlBUL^E
...
ANNULAR
FIBULAE
...
...
...
...
T
...
THE Bow AND ARROWS
ANGLO-SAXON FIBULA
...
...
...
THE SWORD
...
KENTISH CIRCULAR FIBULAE
v
...
...
...
40
...
...
43
...
...
...
44
...
...
...
45
...
...
...
50
...
54
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
58
...
...
...
...
...
...
62
CLOISONNE JEWELLERY IN ENGLAND
...
...
...
...
...
...
68
CONTENTS.
x
PAGE
CHATELAINES, OR GIRDLE-HANGERS
74
...
...
NECKLACES AND GLASS BEADS CRYSTAL BALLS
EAR-RINGS,
HAIRPINS,
HAIRPINS
AND COMBS ...
BUCKLES...
...
...
...
...
STEELS
GLASS VASES
...
...
COMBS
BUCKETS...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
POTTERY...
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES
...
...
...
...
...
...
76
...
79
.
84
.
85 ...
87
90 ...
96
...
97
.....
104
...
...
112
...
119
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN
THE TEXT. HACK
FIG. 1.
Sword-hilt from
2.
Coombe
...
...
Sword-hilt from Reading (Berks)
...
...
...
3.
Spear-head from Homblieres (Aisne)
...
^3
4.
Spear-head from Immenstedt (Schleswig)
...
-4
5.
Knife from Beakesbourne (Kent)
...
27
6.
Umbo
...
35
7.
Fibula, in Silver-gilt, from
8. 9.
from Barrington (Cambridgeshire)
Faversham (Kent).
Fragment of Fibula from the Fibulae from
same
Faversham (Kent)
...
11.
Fibula from Ragley Park (Warwickshire)
12.
Coin of King Offa
15. 6.
17. 1
8.
19.
14.
...
...
Museum
17
19
41
...
...
42
...
44 47
Cruciform Fibulae
13.
South Kensington
locality
10.
1
...
...
(Kent)
...
5'
...
......
56
Fibulae from Fairford (Gloucestershire)
Fibulae from Livonia (Russia)
59
...
6'
Fibulae from Sleaford (Lincolnshire)
Fibula from Faversham (Kent)
Back and Side View
67
...
of a Fibula from Kingston
...
7
Glass Beads from Sibertswold (Kent)
77
Sl
Chatham (Kent)
20.
Crystal Ball from
21.
Buckle from Kingston
22.
Buckle from Gilton (Kent)
23.
Buckle from Gilton, near Ash
24.
Buckle from Smithfield
25.
Fragment from Gilton (Kent)
Down
1
9
...
1
92
...
93
...
95
...
99
...
26.
Bucket from Envermeu (Normandy)
I01
27.
Bucket from Verdun (Lorraine)
I01
28.
Glass Vase from Faversham (Kent)
...
...
29.
Glass Vases from England, France, and
Germany
...
30.
Urn from
31.
Mortuary Urns
...
Kingston, near Derby ...
...
...
...
I0 7
109 ...
114 IJ 5
LIST OF PLATES.
I.
II.
SPEARS AND ANGONS.
UMBONES.
III.
RADIATED FIBULAE.
IV.
BIRD-SHAPED FIBULA, HAIRPINS, S-SHAPED FIBUL/E.
V. VI.
VII.
VIII. IX.
X. XI.
XII.
CRUCIFORM FIBUL/E CRUCIFORM AND SQUARE-HEADED FIBULA. SQUARE-HEADED FIBULA. SAUCER-SHAPED FIBULAE.
ANNULAR FIBULA. KENTISH CIRCULAR FIBUL/E. GIRDLE-HANGERS. BUCKLES.
XIII.
SITUL/E OR
XIV.
GLASS VASES.
XV.
GLASS VASES.
XVI.
POTTERY.
XVII.
POTTERY.
BUCKETS.
xii
THE INVADERS OF GREAT BRITAIN
IN
THE
FIFTH CENTURY. THNOGRAPHY and Archaeology and
fifth
on the
aid,
facts of
A knowledge of the tribes which invaded Great Britain in and sixth centuries, must assuredly assist, in no ordinary
degree, in the study of the industrial arts of the Anglo-Saxons. general anthropology of the primitive races of England is still shrouded
The in
much mutual
their reciprocal influence throws a flood of light
history.
the
afford each other
obscurity,
but
it
is
no part of our task
to
attempt to disperse the darkness. confined to the subject which
The necessary ethnographic inquiries are of course we have to treat, and we must restrict our list to the after the retreat of the Roman armies. The Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles, are
races which occupied
the
races,
principal
from the north of Germany, which founded permanent colonies
in
England
Britain.
coming 1
The
Frisians also established settlements of a lasting character, but of less importance. This is the most generally received opinion, but it is not held by all English historians.
The
2
"
above named are those most frequently mentioned in history, but prior to the period of the invasions, the coasts of Great Britain were constantly visited by corsairs belonging to other Scandinavian tribes. Indeed, a legion which nations
was sent by Honorius
to
aid the Britons against the 3
and Scots, was also These general remarks are Picts
driving out certain Barbarian pirates. indispensable for a proper understanding of the archaeological peculiarities noticeable
employed
in
1
Paris, Pinkerton, Recherches sur I'Origine et les divers Etablissements des Scythes ou Goths, p. 321. Translated from Dissertation on the Origin and Progress of the Scythians and Goths. London, 1804.
1787. 2
whom
"One
very large body of Saxon population occupied the present Westphalia, but the tribes by Britain was invaded appear principally to have proceeded from the country now called Friesland ;
for of all the
Continental dialects the ancient Frisick
is
the one which approaches most nearly to the
" Anglo-Saxon of our ancestors (Palgrave, History of the Anglo-Saxons, chap. ii). 3 Ed. de Muralt, Essai de Chronographie Byzantine, p. 33. St. Petersburg 1855.
THE INVADERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
2
in the
The numerous
Barbarians.
burial-places of the
tribes
which started from
Chersonese, in the course of their constantly renewed attacks, left traces so various in character, that it is idle to look for any uniformity of type
the Cimbric
There can be no doubt that the groups of invaders mortuary furniture. classed as Angles, Saxons and Jutes, were in reality composed of many different and this fact helps to explain the peculiarities and special characteristics tribes 1
in their
;
which we note
in their cemeteries.
2
THE The
JUTES.
place in chronological order, among the invaders of Great Britain. They commenced the conquest by establishing themselves in Kent, and soon afterwards the Saxons obtained a foothold on the south and
Jutes occupy the
first
3
a portion of the east latter tribe
in
Kent
more apparent than
Historians
coast.'
generally place
the
settlement
of the
at a later date, but these differences
of opinion are probably matter of date no doubt
the discrepancies in the arise from the habit of describing all the invading tribes by the generic name of Saxons. The various acquisitions of the Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles real,
for
have been grouped together, and dealt with as a whole, because they have only been submitted to a cursory examination. 5
The Jutes or Juti were name assumes many different
a
Gothic
people belonging to the
forms.
The
Gioti
are
Their
family.
whose name
the Jutes,
is
7
in Jutland. They are also called Giotes or Jutes. By other historians are called Geatuni, Jotuni, or Guti, the in this name, they according to Grotius, into In the of this historian the words Guti and Gothi being changed J. opinion
preserved
G
are synonymous. 8 In some writers
we
find also the
forms Gouti, Gioti, and Giothi. 9
Guthse again refer to the same nation. 10 1
2 3
Ducange gives
nearly
all
Gothi and
these varieties,
Thurnam and
Davis, Crania Britannica, chap, vi., p. 80. London, 1865. Wylie, Fairford Graves, p. 23. Pinkerton, Recherches sur I'Origine et les divers Etablissements des Scythes ou Goths, p. 321.
Paris,
1804. 4 5 6 7
Freeman, The Historical Geography of Europe,
p.
97.
London, 1881.
Pinkerton, Recherches.
Dezobry and Bachelet, Dictionnaire de Biographie et cTHistoire. Paris, 1869. Doutes et Conjectures sur les Huns du Nord, p. 27, by Jacques Graberg of Hemso.
Florence,
1810. "
"Gutas, quod nomen
si quis a Gothis differre putat, valde fallitur (Historia Grotio, p. 17. Amstelodani, CIo loCLV. Preface). " " Florentii Wigorniensis ad Chronicum Appendix (Zeuss, Die Deutschen, Munich).
Gothorum ab
Hugone
"Gothi
et
Guthae eadem gens" (Gothorum Sueonumque Historia,
p.
5.
I.
Magnus, 1617).
THE and adds
to
"
them
Getse, the
JUTES.
3
name by which they were known
to the
Romans,
Geatas, in use amongst the Anglo-Saxons, and Joet, a word belonging to the old Gothic tongue." The word Jute is derived probably from Juto, whence also we
have Juthia and Juthonia. 2 Vits is also given as an altered form of Juti. 3 The name, under its various transformations, was used to designate the invaders of Great Britain.
4
The
Jutes,
who
came from Jutland, to which which bore the name of Saxons included
inhabited the Cimbric Chersonese,
The
their name.
united tribes they gave not only the Saxons of Ptolemy, but also probably the Frisians, the Angles and the 5 Bede also points to Jutland as the land ot their origin," and Adam of Bremen Jutes. 7 In fact the starting-point of the Jutes has never given expresses the same opinion. rise to any discussion, all the writers who have dealt with the subject being in
complete accord.
The
Jutes established themselves in Kent in 449, several historians averring that they were the first invaders who formed permanent settlements. 8 The limits of the Kentish Jutes have been clearly determined/'
The Saxons,
and other
arrival of the Jutes, is
called the
almost coincident with Franks.
10
tribes
known
the
in
England under the name of Gaul of the northern nation
appearance in united tribes which bore the name of Saxons included
The
probably Frisians, Angles and Jutes.
These
latter
have been considered as repre-
sentatives of the Teutons, having undergone a series of transformations. The Jutes were Goths, while, according to Cluver, the Angles inhabited a country which lay between the Saxons and the Giothi. The Goths, the Danes, and even the Gepides 11
came
in ancient
and belonged 1
2
to the
The
same confederation.
Jutes were closely allied with the Saxons, For example, we find among the edicts
Ducange, Glossarium. Quod cum Saxones prudentius considerassent, mox arma
"
quo Juthia Magno, lib. 3
times from Scanzia. 12
vel
Juthonia nomen
accepit) convertebant
"
in
Danos duce quodam Juthone
(a
(Gothoriun
Sueonumque Historia, auctore
I.
cap. 2). Philippi Cluverii ii.,
Germania Antiqua, p. 321. Leyden, 1616. Pinkerton, Recherches, p. 321. Henrid Huntendonensis Historia Anglorum, lib. v. Florcntii Wigorniensis ad Clironicon Appendix. 5 Thurnam and Davis, Crania Britannica, chap, vi., p. 182. London, 1865. Zeuss, Die Deutschen, 146 and 499. Munich, 1837. 4
;
pp.
6 7
8 9 10 11 12
Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Zeuss,
Die Deutschen,
p.
Gentis Anglorum,
i.,
15.
501.
Malte-Brun, Gcographie Universelle, vol. i., p. 211. Roach Smith, Preface to Faussett's Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. 411. Dr. Lagneau, Anthropologie de la France, Collectanea Antiqua, vol. ii., 1852, p. 203. Crania Britannica. Historia Gothorum ab
Hugone
752.
Quam et Jordanes Scriptor chorographici non editi ex qua insula pariterque gentes occidentales egressas sunt.
Grotio, p. 10.
sapientissimus chosmographus Sanzan appellat Nam Gothos et Danos immo simul Gepidas ex ea antiquitus exiisse legimus." :
"
p.
:
THE INVADERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
4
Edward
of isto
the Confessor
Guti similiter cum veniunt suscipi debent,
:
et
protegi in
regno Britannia; sicut conjurati fratres.
THE The names
1
Saxones,
SAXONS.
Safo^es,' are used to designate a
Germanic
tribe
which
The German
Sachs, meaning a knife, dirk or generally a 3 number of ancient writers weapon, appears to be the root of the word Saxon. have shown that the name of the Saxons was derived from that of the swords,
invaded Great Britain.
A
which they habitually carried, and which were called in German Tacitus does not mention the Saxons in his book on the customs of the
etc.,
daggers, Sachsen.
Germans. 4
Ptolemy is the first to name them, and he places them at the entrance This title, which is perfectly applicable where Tacitus locates the Fosi. of Jutland, expresses the same idea in another language, refers to the league of the five nations mentioned by Tacitus. The Cimbric word for the sword-dagger to the Saxons, for
it
Tacitus, then, might well name Fosi those whom Ptolemy called Saxons, words sacks and foss are synonymous, though from two different languages so that the two names have a common origin. 5 There seems to be no doubt of
was
/oss.
for the
;
the correctness of the etymology. The Saxon Ethnologists are in full agreement with the ideas thus suggested. Sachsen, a name derived from the German word Sachs, may fairly recall the knife or dirk which they carried as early as the second century of our era. 7 Palgrave, it is true, does not absolutely accept the opinion of the historians whom we have
quoted, but
Saxons other a rule
we
find in
differed
German
very
nations.
independent,
him
views with
their
from
little
the
Like the
but united
Eutropius, 3 4 6
'
latter,
case
in
1
2
Franks,
certain
slight
modifications.
contemporaries, or from the were split up into small tribes, as
they of war in a federal
league
of no
Am. M.
Lagneau, Anthropologie de la France. Crania Britannica, chap, vi., p. 181. Duckett's Dictionary.
Ipse brevis gladius apud illos saxa vocatur, sibi saxo nomen peperisse notatur."
Undc "
Quippe
Unde
(Gotefridus Viterbiensis, part 15, p. 363.) apud illos saxa vocatur,
brevis gladius
sibi
nomen
saxo traxisse putatur." (Engelhusius.)
7
8
The
their
Ptolemy.
"
8
Lagneau, Anthropologie de la France, p. 752. Paris, 1879. Palgrave, History of the Anglo-Saxons, chap. ii.
very
THE SAXONS.
them
However
character. 1
stringent
closely
these
5
authorities are
we
examined,
find
agreement on certain fundamental points. Seeing that the tribes which formed the league of nations known as the Saxons were settled to the south of the Cimbri, we must look for primitive in general
Anglia, the territory of the Anglo-Saxons, situated between 2 Flensburg and Schleswig, marks probably the limit of its extension northward. If the multitude of witnesses always contributed to make the verdict un-
Holstein
in
Saxony
;
The Saxon nothing could be more firmly established than these facts. nation properly so called, which inhabited the base of the Cimbric Chersonese, near
assailable,
mouth of the Elbe, may have had the Angles
the
opposite side
of the
peninsula,
in
the
territory
for
their neighbours
on the
which now forms the Duchy of Saxons are mentioned
Schleswig.
As
by Ptolemy
as inhabiting the neck, or narrow portion, of the Cimbric Chersonese,
3
which
is
early as the second century of our era, the
now known
as Schleswig-Holstein.'
1
'
Baudot, in his interesting essays, naturally turned his attention to the Saxons, " who were given to piratical incursions on the a seafaring people," as he says, 5 shores of the Elbe, the North Sea and the Baltic." "
Their customs were analogous to those of the Barbarians who established themselves in Gaul at the time when the Saxons were settling in Great Britain.
The Saxons
represented as forming part of the advanced-guard of Gothic warriors who issued from the forests of the north/ are
those
1
A
7 poet has drawn a striking reputation for unexampled bravery. fierce of nature and hard as men of iron, picture of their character, painting them 9 8 More civilised than Paul Orosius also depicts them in similar colours. of heart.
They had a
was above
warlike exercises that they excelled, having learnt discipline from the Romans, whom they had often defeated in battle. The Saxons, a nation of warriors who cared nothing for death, 10 succeeded, after the
first
1
2 3 4 5 6
inhabitants of Britain,
it
all in
Henri Martin, Hist, de France, t. i., p. 414. Malte-Brun, Geographie-Universelle, t. i., p. 211. D'Anville, Etats formes en Europe aprcs la Chute de I'Empire Remain, Lagneau, Anthropologie,
752. Baudot, Sepultures Barbares de I'Epoque Merovingienne, p. 139. Lettres Philosophiques et Politiques sur I'Histoire de tAngleterre.
p.
211.
p.
London and
Paris,
1786,
t.
i.,
letter vi. 7
Cluver,
Germania Antigua,
p.
87.
8
Henri Martin, Hist, de France, t. i., p. 116. 9 Pauli Orosii adversus Paganos Historiarum libri septem, p. 642. Cologne, 1582. 10 " Hostis est omni hoste truculentior. Improvisus aggreditur, praevisus elabitur, spernit objectos, Ad hoc exercent illos, naufragia non terrent. sternit incautos ; si sequatur, intercipit, si fugiat evadit. Est
eis
qusedam cum discriminibus pelagi non
Epist., 8, 6).
notitia solum,
sed familiaritas
"
(Apollinaris Sidonius,
THE INVADERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
6
two attempts, in establishing themselves in Great Britain in 477. Other dates have been named, but the discrepancies arise from the habit of certain historians As we have already of giving the generic title of Saxons to Jutes and Angles. said, they belonged to a league which included several neighbouring tribes on the borders of the Cimbric Chersonese.
When
they
made
their first descent in
Great Britain, the Saxon colonisation
was of very little importance indeed, some historians allege that the invaders only numbered eighteen hundred. After their first successes this small band was joined They first made good their footing, at a date which by some five thousand. ;
1
has not been definitely fixed, on the coast of Cantium or Kent, a country which had already suffered from determined hostile raids, and their landing was followed
The question whether these tribes were mercenaries, by a desperate struggle. 2 or simply invaders, is one on which there is some difference of opinion. Undoubtedly, however, the country was energetically defended by its inhabitants, and the Saxon colony had to suffer many serious reverses. The attitude adopted by the Saxons towards the Britons, is not made very clear in the historical documents what is certain is that they were obeying the general impetus which ;
3 drove the invading tribes to seek richer countries and more fertile soils. Their final success was assured by the steady flow of reinforcements from their native
and they were rapidly enabled which increased as time went on. country,
The Saxons have
to
exercise
a
predominating influence,
remarkable traces of their industrial
left
and ornaments are attributable to their
Certain weapons
art.
civilisation in particular.
We
will
only say
fully demonstrated, Saxon barrows being characterised by the presence of ornaments and other objects of a
here, however, that archa^ologically, their
existence
is
distinctive character.
The
industrial types in favour with
them were brought from
their
own
country,
though they were subject to the inevitable modifications produced by lapse of time. The Saxons also founded colonies in Gaul and in Lombardy. 4 The Lombards, in 1
D'Anville, Etats formes en "
Tune Anglorum
sive
Europe apres
Saxonum gens
autem vera
cap. xv).
Chute de
eodem
I'
Empire Romain,
p.
201.
praefato Britanniam, tribus
longis
rege,
Lettres Philosophiques et Politiques sur I'Histoire de I'Angleterre, t. i., letter vi. gens, sicut tradit antiquitas, ab Anglis Britannia incolis egressa, per Germanice litoribus studio et necessitate quserendarum sedium appulsa est, in
"Saxonum navigans,
navibus
locum manendi, quasi pro patria pugnatura, hanc expugnatura suscepit" (Bede, Historia Ecdesiastica Gen/is Anglorum, lib. i.,
advehitur, et in Oriental! parte insuloe jubenti re
la
invitata a rege
Oceanum loco
vocatur
qui
Hadulopha, eo tempore quo Thiotricus, rex Francorum, contra Irminfridum, generum suum, ducem Thuringorum, dimicans, terram eorum ferro vastavit et igni " (Trans. Sci. Alexandri, Monumenta Germanice, Pertz, ii., 574). 4 Paul Diacre, bk. ii., chap,
vi.,
and Gr. de Tours, Hist. Ecdesiast. des Franks, bk.
iv.,
chap,
xliii.
THE ANGLES.
7
Germany, formed a part of the ancient league of the Suevi, and probably also of the more modern one of the Saxons. It is hardly likely, however, that the Saxons in 1
these different countries found
invaders of Great Britain
conditions
in
all
respects
similar
to
those of the
indeed, the variations due to differences of period and locality must necessarily have been considerable. The name of Saxon, becoming more widely applied as time went on, was ;
eventually given to several different tribes. Again, Saxon colonies might be attracted to different regions, and form settlements there, without introducing their civilisation in
between
the
its
ancient
fullest
Saxons
and purest form. The distinction made by history and the emigrants is certainly based on solid
2
grounds. Before their migration, the Saxons, as we have already remarked, formed with the Jutes and the Angles a confederation of a nature to suggest that these tribes had a common origin, or at least very intimate relations with each other. The different
phases of the settlement of these invading hordes
in
Great
Britain,
and
their eventual
prove the existence of those homogeneous elements which render 3 This rapid summary of the ethnographical data will certainly amalgamation easy. facilitate a correct understanding of the archaeological remains which are attributed fusion,
far to
go
to them.
THE ANGLES. 4 is apparently to be found Angli, 'AyyiXoi of the Angles inhabited the southern extremity of Schleswig. in 7 They are placed by Tacitus and Ptolemy" among the Suevi of lower Saxony, while 8 The Angles then in a passage of the Orbis Gothicus they are ranked with the Suevi.
The etymology of AngulJ' The tribe
the
name Angles
belonged to the ancient Suevic league, and probably also 1
Comte
2
Sir F. Palgrave, History
Balbo, Histoire tf Italic,
t.
i.,
p.
Paris,
127.
to the
more recent league
1860.
of the Anglo-Saxons, chap. ii. " 3 There is little doubt that the great divisions of the invaders Wylie, Fairford Graves, p. 23 we classify as Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, were formed of many and varying tribes, who coalesced for the :
common
purpose of conquest."
4
Procopius. 8 " Angul, a quo gentis Anglica principia manasse memorise proditum est, nomen praeerat, aptandum curavit, levi monumenti genere perennem sui notitiam traditurus.
suum
provincije, cui
Cujus successores
postmodum Britannia potiti, priscum insulas nomen novo patrise suae vocabulo permutarunt. est Beda" (Danorum Regum Heroumque Historia a Saxone Grammatico, 1514). 6 7
lib.
ii.,
8
Dictionnaire de Geographic Ancienne. " Interiores autem et mediterranean cap.
.
.
.
Testis
Didot, 1871. gentes,
maxime
sunt Suevi,
ii).
Matthaei Praetorii, Orbis Gothicus, 1688, bk.
i.,
chap.
v.
"
Angli
(Ptolemy,
De
German.,
THE INVADERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
8
Ethelwerd assigns the same territory to them, 3 as also does Cluver 3 Further, Palgrave and Duckett assert that the Angles were interpreting Ptolemy. 4 neighbours of the Saxons and the Jutes, and inhabited Schleswig-Holstein.
of the Saxons.
The nation.
the
title
1
Angles, though really under Saxon domination, yet gave their name to the Their triumph in this respect appears largely due to the influence of Bede, of whose work, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, must have contri-
buted to this
By an edict of Egbert this was made the legal designation of the Britain. The pioneers of the Angles made a descent upon Bernicia in
result.
5
inhabitants of
547, after which date the country previously occupied by
appears to
have been entirely abandoned.
Numerous cemeteries
them on the continent
l;
are assigned to the Angles."
There
is
thus evidence, and
indeed complete proof, of their existence, from the point of view of archaeology. Later on, the amalgamation of the Angles with the Saxons, was largely instrumental in causing confusion between the handiwork of the two nations. It is difficult for
peoples,
a conquered tribe, downtrodden, and scattered amongst other victorious any demonstrable proofs of its separate existence.
to leave
THE The
FRISIANS.
Saxons and the Angles, were the tribes most conspicuously concerned in the invasion of Great Britain, but it must be admitted that among the invaders was a certain admixture of the Frisian element. in fact, the
Jutes,
mentions the Frisians, ^piWoves, as the sixth century. 8 the Rhine and the is
The
came
Frisians
Procopius, the peoples inhabiting Great Britain in from a region situated on the coast between
among
9
Ems. Mercia, which Bede declares to be an Anglian kingdom, held by Pinkerton to have been Frisian. 10 There is no doubt that the Frissi were 1
Comte Balbo,
Histoire d'ltalie,
"Est autem regio Giothos constituta 3
Cluver,
ilia
"
t.
p.
i.,
Anglia vetus
127.
dicta,
Paris,
1860.
unde Angli venerunt in Britanniam, inter Saxones
et
(Ethelwerdus).
Germania
Antiqua, bk. iii., p. 105. " Palgrave, History of the Anglo-Saxons, chap. ii. ; Duckett's Dictionary, under article Angles." Egbertus coronatus rex totius Britannia; apud Wentoniam faciens edictum, ut omnes Saxones dicantur et Britannia Anglia" (Chronol. Augustinens. Cant. ap. Twysden, p. 2238). Angh^ Angli ... quo post Taciti verum, sive sponte antiquis sedibus cedentes, sive ab finitimis pulsi '
(Bede, in Historia
tempore usque manere Germania Antiqua, lib. 7
deserta iii.,
p.
De
Preface by
Bella Gothico,
t.
9
Ptolemy, 10
t.
ii.,
cap.
x.,
provincias
Jutarum
106).
Inventorium Sepulchrale. Procopius,
Anglorum)." Angli de
inter
p.
150.
Pinkerton, Recherches, p. 322.
iv.,
Roach Smith.
cap. xx.
ilia
et
Angulus
dicitur,
Saxonum perhibetur"
(Philip.
patria qua;
et
ab eo
Cluverii,
THE
FRISIANS.
9
the nations which conquered Great Britain, though Bede does not mention the tribes seem to have come in great part from the Indeed, invading country known as Friesland. Of all the Continental dialects, ancient Frieslandish is the
among them.
now
most closely
allied to the
language spoken by the
first
founders of the Anglo-Saxon
1
kingdoms.
These
conclusions,
now by no means new,
The
science.
are admitted
by modern
linguistic
between the
Flemish, Prankish, Dutch, great analogy existing 2 Frieslandish and Saxon dialects has apparently been recognised by M. L. Rodet, 3 M. de Coussemaker, and other specialists. 4
made no
Frisian art has
of individuals
who
supplied
place for itself in archaeology, for the small number the Frisian element among the invaders was rapidly
absorbed by the more powerful tribes. The confederated tribes which invaded their national industries,
Kent have
enabling archaeologists to follow
important traces of them, with more or less left
which they settled. The barrows which have been explored are attributed, according to circumbut all the objects discovered in them stances, now to one nation, now to another certainty,
to the countries in
;
are, practice, included by English archaeologists under the general description of Anglo-Saxon remains, a title which may be said to have its raison cCetre in in
the edict of Egbert above referred to. Speaking generally, the word Anglo-Saxon, as applied to the industries of the conquered districts, will suffice to indicate the art peculiar to a portion of England in
the period following the invasion, but
archceologically
we have
a right to ask
for greater precision.
The Kentish
explorations have formed the subject of publications of a most They deal, interesting character, but nearly all are of the nature of monographs. in fact, with a particular district, a single locality or a special subject, and give
The art which is no general idea of the industrial arts of the Anglo-Saxons. characteristic of this people cannot indeed be considered the special creation of the invaders of England. We have no difficulty in discovering in it the distinguishing features which characterise the work of other nations of Scandinavia and neighbouring countries. 1
Comit'e
Flamand,
iv., 4
t.
v.,
De Coussemaker,
days
English savants considered themselves
874, etc., 1859-70.) Delimitation du Flamand
'Europe
/'
p.
Occidentale.
(Annales du
p.
et
du Franfais ; quelques
Revue de Bergues. (Annales du Comite Flamand de France, 1859 ; and t. v., p. 183, 1859-60, etc.) Dr. Lagneau, Ethnogenie des Populations du Nord de la Prance,
flamand. t.
earlier
Palgrave, History of the Anglo-Saxons, chap. ii. Le"on Rodet, Remarques sur quelques Dialectes paries dans
2
3
In
t.
Reclierches sur
iii.,
p.
394
79,
p.
28.
Paris,
le
et seq.,
1874.
Dialecte
1856-57
;
THE INVADERS OF GREAT
I0
entitled to treat the types of decoration as
BRITAIN.
being of indigenous origin and essentially
but this view has been stoutly opposed, one distinguished scientist declaring without hesitation that the Anglo-Saxon models are the common inheritance of all British,
the Indo-Germanic peoples.
1
THE ANGLO-SAXONS. we have
ethnographical data which
The
collected in the foregoing pages will
explaining the discoveries of archaeology It may be useful, however, in addition with regard to the Anglo-Saxon period. to this general outline, to sketch the special characteristics of the Anglo-Saxons after their fusion and their final settlement in Kent.
undoubtedly prove of great assistance
in
Barbarian origin which took possession of Kent came from the north. They had long occupied the Cimbric Chersonese and the neighbouring countries, and the league which they had formed is a matter of history.
The
tribes
of
Though they bore
names, they had been united
different
1'
by treaty bonds long
A
period of development in Oriental countries had bound them together, and prepared them for the execution of their gigantic Asia, the cradle of most of these numerous tribes, had witnessed migrations. their departure for Europe, which they entered as nations apparently independent, the invasions.
before the date of
but a
We
in reality closely allied.
common
may
expect, therefore, to find
fund of manners, customs, and
artistic traditions.
among These
these peoples tribes, in the
course of their migrations, occupied several countries, especially Scandinavia and Northern Germany, where they formed various confederations. 3
Even
when
were
they
intimate
relations
not
bound
by
to
they at
treaties,
least
maintained
and reproduce
their
perpetuate family likeness, the distinctive features of their ancestry. Ample proof of this fact is found in the traces they have left behind
sufficiently
in
their
we Yet
find
and
brotherhood
this
in
stamping
of its
Time has produced
2 3
the
nations,
they Everywhere Teutonic civilisation asserting themselves. united by joint colonisation, has not always
work with the
its
characteristic
inevitable effect
Eug. Miintz, Etudes Iconographiques Crania Britannica, chap, vi., p. 180
Des Michels,
Precis de FHistoire
them
have conquered.
countries
wanderings, the same characteristics of
succeeded
1
in
:
marks of
its
et Archeologiques,
i
re
sdrie,
p.
135.
et seq.
du Moyen
birthplace.
types have been modified by contact
age, pp.
12,
14.
Paris,
1846.
Paris,
1887.
THE ANGLO-SAXONS. with other peoples, and
To
much
give one example only,
purely
1 1
has been borrowed to certain that
increase artistic resources.
1
Saxon
art has been strengthened by and national development. In the face of powerful traditional the goldsmith's work of the Anglo-Saxons has assumed forms entirely is
it
internal
influence,
unknown
in
other
It is regions occupied by the Barbarian nations. deeply the influence of and thus a new art has been developed Scandinavia, penetrated by which has necessarily been of a permanent character, artistic contact being aided
by the constant flow of fresh immigrants, and by new maritime expeditions. Cremation long remained a funeral rite among the Anglo-Saxons. It continued to be practised in Kent for a considerable period after it had fallen into disuse in
other countries.
It
is
precisely in
cases of urn
burial
Scandinavian influence are most commonly found, a admitted the authors of Crania Britannica. fully by
The perseverance
of
fact
that objects
the
truth of
betraying
which
is
English archaeologists has enabled them to distinguish
the productions of the various tribal industries, and to assign them to their true In this they have been greatly aided by historical documents and sources. Yet, without disparaging the all-important geographical investigeographical data. It is gations of d'Anville, it is to archaeology that their success is chiefly due. by comparing the results of their researches that we have learnt the developments of Anglo-Saxon industrial art, and are enabled to recognise its productions 3 with absolute certainty. 2 It has long been studied by English savants, and has certainly not escaped the attention of the learned authors of the Crania Britannica.
Some
controversy also has arisen between the savants of England and the North as to the origin of this art, owing to the difficulty of attributing to British
workmanship which recalls the typical forms of the Cimbric Chersonese. However, be its origin what it may, it cannot be doubted that certain ornaments are of native manufacture. These objects show us to what perfection the goldsmith's art had been brought, even at this distant period, while later the AngloSaxons became celebrated throughout Europe for the beauty of their jewellery. 4 inspiration
" The 1 tribes, however, who came to our shores fresh from the Wylie, Fairford Graves, p. 30 sands of the Baltic and the wilds of Scandinavia, must have gazed with intense amazement on the :
first
relics of
Roman
art
and
on
luxury, as
treasures
now
first
presented to their gaze, creative of
new
images in minds not, even in barbarism, altogether insensible to poetry, or devoid of finer aspirations. That they would at once appreciate and preserve what they could not understand, is not to be yet, doubtless, Roman elegance, manifested in the works of art, was not without its supposed, .
.
.
beneficial influence 2
3
A. Geffroy,
on the minds even of these barbarous Teutons." et les Barbares Etude sur la Germanie de Tatite,
Rome
:
Miintz, Etudes Iconographiques et Archeologiques, p. 135 et seq. * Wright, The Celt, the Roman and the Saxon, p. 486.
Paris,
p.
2.
1887.
Paris, 1874.
THE INVADERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
12
Mr. Roach
Smith has given expression
works of
left
art
made
with
this view.
who devastated Yet we are surprised
Barbarians
he says, represented countered with fire and sword. as
are
to
such taste and
skill
as to
The Anglo-Saxons,
1
the
all
to
find
show
We
ledge of several arts and various methods of manufacture. elegance of design of their fibulae, the harmony of their colours, of their workmanship.
Even
the
modern jeweller
is
cities
that
they en-
they have
a profound
know-
are struck by the and the excellence
obliged to
recognise
their
beauty and to admit that they rival the jewels of our own time. Traces of this industry have been found in the cradle of the Saxon race. M. Hildebrand notes the fact in his book Das heidnischc Zeitalter in Schweden. Nadus also speaks of it in his voluminous work and Mdlle. Mestorf, in her compila;
tion
Vorgeschicktliclie
Alterthumer aus Schleswig-Holstein, gives the
excavations in the Borgsted cemetery. The graves contained similar to those found in England, and considered to be
pottery and fibula;
typical
or
result of the
Anglo-Saxon
Saxon forms.
The
existence of a special
Anglo-Saxon
art
has thus obtained
full
scientific
recognition.
The bring
it
archaeological facts with
which we
shall
now proceed
to deal
into greater prominence. 1
Roach Smith, Introduction
to the Tm<eiitorhim Sepulchrale, p. xx.
may
help to
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS. HE
Saxons were conspicuous among the barbarian nations for their and history provides ample proof of their love bravery in battle ;
We
of arms.
shall therefore assign to these highly prized
the rank which tribes.
them even
The
they held
in
the
interior
economy
who had wielded them
soldier
in
weapons Saxon
of the
desired to bear
life
to the grave.
THE SWORD. The
part played by the sword
amongst the
tribes generally
We
empire has been clearly described by archaeologists. into details here, but can confine ourselves to those
who invaded
the
need not therefore enter
specific points
which bear on
use with the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon sword has been the subject of special study at the hands of the English savants, from the point of view alike its
of history and archaeology. The spear, the ordinary
sword, on the contrary,
the weapon, has frequently been found The number of swords discovered much more rare. national
;
1
is
bears a very small proportion to that of the graves explored, and the sword is seldom mentioned in the Capitularies another proof of its rarity. Only individuals 2 belonging to the upper classes were buried with this weapon, and it is quite possible treasures,
also
and
that left
handsome and to
heirs
or
valuable friends.
to
3
swords
were
^Ethelstan
as
preserved in
family
his
will, (Etheling), of these, with a hilt of silver,
One bequeaths several richly ornamented swords. a belt and gold buckle, was left to his brother Edward, as was another, also with a silver hilt, which had belonged to Ulfcytel. He also left as legacies a sword Yonge Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, p. 48. London, 1853. Kemble, Hora Ferales, p. 80. " The swords found in Anglo-Saxon graves clearly Yonge Akerman, Remains, etc., p. 49 evidence that the defunct, when living, was either wealthy or had attained to a certain dignity." 3 Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale. 1
2
:
.
13
.
.
1
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
4
Under and another which was conspicuous for its stippled hilt. with the repreEaric, son of Wynflede, received a sword stamped 3 and and his sword baldric, /Etheric sentation of a hand. again bequeathed 4 3 Wulfric left in his will two silver-hiked swords. Kemble says that only those dignitaries who ranked above the royal vassals 1
of
King Offa, the same will
sword a fact which is clearly established by enjoyed the privilege of wearing the After the death of a soldier, the text of the Anglo-Saxon law regarding heriots. his arms, according to the provisions of this law, were to be returned to the king,
who was considered, in theory, to have lent them The arms (heriots), in conformity with a principle
to his tenants
and
his vassals.
of Teutonic law, were such as
of right appertained to the rank of the deceased, and a strict observance of the law required that the arms to be returned were those which he had been entitled to bear
life.
during
The most
circumstantial details as
are found in the law of Canute, follows
who
the
to
fixed the
arms
to
be returned to the king
payments
for the several classes as
:
Princes of the blood, archbishops and counts, and the higher nobility eight horses, four of them with saddles, four helmets, four coats of mail, eight spears, hundred gold mancuses. eight shields, four swords, and two Class
I.
:
The
Class II. train,
thanes, or tributary chieftains of the highest rank, in the king's
the nobles and
members
of his court
four shields, a helmet, a coat of mail,
-The lesser nobility
Class III.
thereof a '
It
is
sum
:
and
:
four horses,
two swords, four spears,
gold mancuses. a horse with trappings and arms, or instead fifty
of money.
who were not noble were not obliged worn by men of their class, but all those who bore
quite plain that those
a sword, for
it
were bound
was not
to return horses.
to
return
the sword
5
too heavy to be wielded by a dismounted man it was therefore the special appanage of the horseman. In fact, we have every reason to believe that the warriors who carried this weapon were knights, thanes, or, at least,
The two-edged sword was
;
persons of superior rank. The Capitularies of Charlemagne prove clearly that the Franks were armed 1
Was
this
the
Hunnish sword sent by Charlemagne as a present to Offa ? " Vestras quoque et unum gladium Huniscum, et duo pallia Serica" (Epistola ad Offam,
unum balteum Regem Merdorum Corpus dilectioni
:
Juris Germanid Antiqui,
2
A.D. 997.
3
A.D.
4
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom. Kemble, Horce Ferales, pp. 83, 84.
6
1002.
p.
125, edition Walter, vol.
ii).
THE SWORD. much
in
the same fashion as the
Saxons.
15
Their ordinary arms were spear and
1
shield, horsemen only bearing the sword. Every one who is accustomed to the use of arms
a foot-soldier wielding these awkward blades.
admit the impossibility of These ill-forged swords were of little will
formed edges could not be used to much Kemble, only persons of a certain rank enjoyed the advantage. According The obligation to serve on horseback imposed on privilege of wearing the sword.
service except for striking
their badly
;
to
proprietor of a certain amount of landed property the further necessity of Thus the graves in which large providing the arms appropriate to cavalry service. swords are found must be assigned to men of noble rank, while those from which the
who
they are absent belong to the ceorlas, the countrymen, and small freeholders 2 formed the rank and file of the Saxon armies.
A Roman
monument which has been preserved auxiliary
Anglo-Saxons.
at Mayence bears the figure of a armed with a sword similar in all respects to those of the horseman, This sword is suspended from the breast of the horseman, and
hangs by his side. He is represented as slaying a fallen enemy by a spear-thrust. Behind the horse stands a foot-soldier, carrying two long spears of the same form as that borne by the horseman. This monument dates back to the middle of the third century.
can easily be shown by other examples that the long iron sworcl, or spatha, was in general use
amongst the
and the
It
Romans
themselves, especially in the period 3 of the Empire. The Anglo-Saxon sword is essentially of Teutonic type it appears to have It has been in use from a very early date, and to have lasted for a long period. of in of the in various the tombs been found in the Saxon barrows parts England, auxiliaries,
immediately preceding the
fall
;
The Scandinavian sworcl also is of Livonians, the Burgundians, and the Franks. The Anglo-Saxon sword answers to the similar character, but heavier and longer. description given it
by Plutarch
in his life of
Marius of the weapon of the Cimbri, and '
further resembles the Suevic swords brought to Italy by
Pope Leo IX
in 1053.'"
" Ita vero preparatus cum hominibus tuis ad predictum fuerit jussio, et exercitaliter ire possis ; id est, cum nostra partem armis atque utensilibus, necnon et cetero instrumento bellico, in victualibus et vestimentis, ita ut unusquisque caballarius habeat scutum et lanceam, et spatam et semispatam," etc. 2 Teutonic Swords, Hora Ferales, description of pi. xxvi. 1
locum
The
Encyclic. Capit., 806 (Pertz, venies, ut inde in quamcumque
iii.,
145)
3
Roach Smith, Introduction
4
MtydA.ais IxptavTO Kal y8ap('ais /xa^ai'pats.
to the
:
Inventorium Sepulchrale.
London, 1856.
" Hsec Ictibus illorum, quam gens animosa feroces fert animos ; sed equos adeb non ducere cauta. ictus dat lancea; lancea, plus valet ensis, nam nee equus docte manibus giratur eorum; nee validos a vertice illorum et sunt enim ensis corpus scindere gladii ; percussum peracuti ; longi specialiter praeminet 5
certanda perire quam dare terga scepe solent ; et firmo slant pede postquam deponuntur equis, potius volunt ; magis hoc sunt marte timendi, quam dum sunt equites ; tanta est audacia gentis."
1
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
6
Many
Germani
centuries earlier Tacitus wrote that the
rarely used the
sword
;
the phrase rari gladiis utuntur has often been quoted by those archaeologists who have studied the Barbarian epoch. The sword blades from Kent are usually of identical length,
about seventy-eight
centimetres.
The swords found
1
at
Ozingell
the Isle of Wight, at Little Wilbraham (Cambridgeshire), and other (Kent), near the hilt the blade is about seven centimetres places, are about the same size, 2 The hilts of Anglo-Saxon swords, wide, and narrows gradually towards the point. in
which have generally no pommel, end in a small cross piece, to which was fixed the wood which completed the hilt. The specimens discovered by Mr. Hillier 3 answer to the above description, and represent the ordinary type of Anglo-Saxon sword.
The
point of the sword is often hidden from view owing to the bronze at the of the scabbard rusted on to it. It must not, however, be taken for extremity being '
granted that these peculiarities are always met with, for a few swords provided with 5 must, however, pommels have been found in some of the Kentish barrows. remark that richly decorated sword-hilts are still rarer.
We
11
Mr. Kemble, in estimating the usual size of the swords, gives them an extreme The sword-guard is often length, from pommel to point, of ninety centimetres. missing, but the remains of hilts in ivory, bone, or some other perishable material, are frequently discovered. 7 The scabbard was of wood, covered with leather, some-
An
times with ornamentation in bronze.
interesting account of these ancient scabbards
Monk
of St. Gall in his description of the costume of the Franks. 8 Among the rare swords which are rendered exceptionally remarkable by their artistically ornamented hilts, we must mention those coming from Gilton, near is
given by the
Sandwich," and from
Coombe 10
(fig.
i).
This interesting specimen was found
in
Throughout this work I have retained the metrical dimensions given by the author, as being more accurate than English measures, and Tr. thoroughly familiar to all students of these subjects. The blunt points of these long blades were of little avail for thrusting. This is pointed out by " Apollinaris Sidonius in his account of a victory of the Franks over the Goths Alii hebetatorum csede Alii caesim gladiorum latera dentata pernumerunt. atque punctius foraminatos circulos loricarum 1
-
:
metiuntur" (Lib. 3
ii.,
ep. 3).
History and Antiquities of the Isle of Wight, pi. i. Fairford Graves, pi. iii., and Saxon Obsequies, pi. xxxiv. Invenlorium Sepulchrale, pi. xiv., 6.
1
5
fig.
6
Roach Smith, Introduction
7
Hone
tertio
to the
Inventorium Sepulchrale.
Ferales, description of pi. xxvi. " Post hasc baltheus spatoe colligatus.
Quae spata primo vagina
lineamine candidissimo cera lucidissima roborato,
ita
"
cingebatur
fagea,
secundo corio qualunque,
(De Reb. Gest. Caroli M.,
lib.
i.,
cap. 36). 9
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
plate xxiv.,
fig.
z
:
London, 1853.
Archaologia. vol. xxx.,
p. 132. 10
p.
220
Collectanea Antiqua, vol.
ii.,
p. 164.
Lindenschmit, Handbuch der Deutschen Alterthumskunde, 1880,
THE SWORD.
17
a grave, together with another sword, the two being wrapped in the same piece of stuff. The same barrow contained a copper basin, filled with burnt human bones, a spear-head, some glass and amber beads, and part of a jewelled ornament, set with 1
garnets or coloured glass. The weapon, the hilt
of which
is here represented, measures about ninety the blade is rather more than seventy-eight centimetres centimetres in length long, and seven centimetres wide near the hilt. ;
Portions of the
wooden scabbard
FIG.
fashioned as to allow of
its
I.
are
still
adhering to
it.
The
hilt
has been so
SWORD-HILT FROM COO.MBE, KENT.
being firmly gripped.
Each end of
it
is
furnished with
a band of bronze, with plaited decoration. ancient mention of Anglo-Saxon swords poem, to the ornamentation of hilts and scabbards."
The most
1
Proceedings of the
Bury and West 2
"
is
a reference, in a celebrated
Suffolk Archaeological Institute, vol.
When
he did off from himself His iron coat of mail, The helmet from his head, Grave his ornamented sword,
The
costliest of steels."
(Beowulf, line 1346.) "
And
the hilt also, With treasure variegated."
(Beowulf, line 3228.)
i.,
p.
27.
1
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
8
Mr. Rolfe's collection contains a sword-hilt bearing an inscription in Runic an interesting piece, which was found in the parish of Ash, near Sandcharacters wich.
1
Mention
made
is
Beowulf of swords ornamented with Runic characters
in
2
and interlaced serpents. Some time back a very remarkable sword, Reading.
We
consider the
of Anglo-Saxon art
(fig.
decorated, was
richly
found at
worthy of reproduction here, as a typical specimen
hilt
2).
The pommel and guard are in white metal, resembling an alloy of pale copper and silver. The guard is ornamented with rudely sculptured figures of men and This weapon, when discovered, was lying beneath the skeleton of a horse, animals. and the blade was bent from the pressure of the animal's ribs. Only the metal portion of the sword still exists, the ivory fittings having, almost immediately after its discovery, fallen into dust. The human bones and the horse's skeleton were well preserved.
The
3
scarcity of
swords
in
Anglo-Saxon barrows
finds a parallel in the results
The
cemeteries of Selzen and Sinzheim have yielded Germany. At Sinzheim some eighty very few swords in proportion to the number of burials. of explorations in
graves yielded four swords forty graves at Oberflacht furnished eight swords and excavations in the north of Germany have given approximately the same results. Kemble, from a group of six hundred Spears, on the contrary, are more numerous. ;
;
graves at Luneburg, though several spears were discovered, did not exhume a single sword and Count Munster, in his explorations on the banks of the Weser, obtained similar results. Baron Estorff has also recorded the rarity of the sword, while the ;
same conclusions
have
been
deduced from
excavations
in
Livonia
and other
countries. 1
Remains of Pagan Saxondom, 2
"
xxiv.,
pi.
He
3.
fig.
gazed upon the
The
hilt,
old legacy
On
which was written the origin
Of
the ancient contest.
So was on the surface
Of
the bright gold
In Runic
letters,
Rightly marked, Set and said,
For
The
Was
whom
that sword, choicest of irons, first
made
With twisted
hilt
and serpentine." (Beowulf, line 3373.)
8
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London,
2nd
series,
vol.
iii.,
no.
vii.,
p.
467.
THE SWORD.
We
have already referred
to the
Saxon cemeteries, and the following
FIG.
At
Little
2.
very small proportion of swords found in Anglofigures will serve to confirm our statement.
SWORD-HILT FROM READING, BERKS.
Wilbraham from one hundred and eighty-eight graves only
swords were taken.
1
The cemetery
of Faversham,
2
four
Kent, furnished about twenty
1
Saxon Obsequies. Roach Smith, Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon and other Antiquities discovered and bequeathed by W. Gibbs to the South Kensington Museum. London, 1873. 3
C.
at Faversham, in Kent,
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
2O
swords,
Wood
now
Museum, and
of Chatham.
the collection of
Humphrey The two hundred and seventy-two graves examined by Mr.
the South Kensington
in
Sarre yielded twenty-six swords, a relatively large number. Bryan of hundred and of the result the as sixteen Faussett gives exploration eight only
Brent
at
1
three graves. In the cemetery of Ozingell, near Sarre, in the Isle of Thanet, a larger
number
on the other hand, Mr. Akerman examined seventy graves in the without discovering a single specimen. cemetery of Haraham Hill, near Salisbury,' were found;
but,
THE
When
SPEAR.
stepped on the stage of the world's history Our imagination, influenced by they appeared armed with the formidable spear. of the Roman Empire brandishing legendary tales, always pictures these invaders the Barbarian conquerors
first
while the teachings of history the menacing spear with which they were identified The young have, in this instance, been enforced and popularised by the fine arts. freeman, in accordance with the custom of the Barbarian nations, received the spear, ;
"
This practice, which was framea," as soon as he was of an age to bear arms. common to all the Teutonic tribes, was maintained by the Saxons, whose national or
arms were the spear and the javelin/ These customs explain the frequent recurThe rence of the spear, of different forms and dimensions, in Anglo-Saxon barrows. '
types discovered in the Germanic cemeteries throughout without exception in England.
Europe reappear almost
Spears, the use of which was so universal, may be divided into two classes, those, namely, with cylindrical sockets, and differing in the mode of manufacture
those in which the socket
second
is
slit
on one
side.
Anglo-Saxon spears belong to the being open on one side, leaving
the socket, throughout its length, the shaft exposed to view. This peculiarity enables us easily to distinguish the from that of the Danes, which also is foundin England. Anglo-Saxon spear class,
In France and
common, but 1
in
Inventorium
Germany it is the second type of spear-head which is most the Lombard cemetery of Testona, and in the specimens pre-
Gilton, 106 graves, 7 swords; Sepukhrale. 7 swords.
Kingston Down, 308 graves,
i
sword;
Sibcrtswold, 181 graves, 2 3 4
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Ibidem,
p.
p.
49.
London, 1853.
48.
Kemble, Horce
Sepulchrale, p. xxxvii.
Ferales,
pi.
xxvii.,
p.
86.
Roach Smith, Introduction
to Faussett's
Inventorium
THE SPEAR. served
The
in
Museum
the Brera
at
21
Milan, the sockets are, without exception, round.
methods adopted by the armourers of the Lombards and the Saxons have survived the close relationship existing between these tribes. Spears are occasionally found the sockets of which are bound round with strong rings, with different
a view of giving additional solidity to the shaft. Several pieces from the cemetery of Ozingell are provided with these rings, 1 and sockets of a similar character have
been found
in the
graves of Nydam,
the Schleswig marshes.' Spears and javelins are often included under the same denomination, their use having been in many cases identical. It is therefore impossible to treat of in
them under separate headings. It is frequently very difficult to distinguish a small spear from a large javelin, and a similar difficulty arises in dealing with a certain 3 In the latter case, however, there was type of arrow and the smaller javelins. no error in classing them together, the so-called arrows being in reality genuine javelins.
Several archaeologists have made a special study of spear-heads coming from Mr. Akerman has examined the spears from Driffield (pi. i., various localities. and Harnham He records their large size and their fig. 5) (pi. i., figs. 4 and 6). length of the blade, to similar weapons coming from other Mr. Wylie, among the specimens found at Fairford, Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. notices one of exceptional size, and another which resembles the bayonet in form. the
resemblance, in
The
Barrington (Cambridgeshire) provided Mr. Foster with fifteen specimens. Faussett found thirty-five spears in the three cemeteries of Neville gives the number of these Gilton, Kingston Down, and Sibertswold." excavations
at
4
weapons unearthed calculates
that
at
Little
forty-five
Wilbraham
as
thirty-five
;''
while Mr.
Roach Smith These
were taken from the barrows of Faversham. 7
cemeteries are thus remarkable for the
number
of spears they yielded. 8 Spear-shafts were, as a rule, shod with iron ferules, by means of which they could be planted obliquely in the ground to serve as a line of defence, and to aid The presence of this iron foot enables Mr. in repelling a charge of cavalry. latter
1 2 3
4 6 6 7
pi.
xi. 8
in
Roach Smith,
Collectanea Antigua, vol. iii., fig. 20. in the Early Iron Age, pi. xi.
Denmark
Nydam, fig. 39. Engelhardt, Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, p. 20. London, 1853. Account of the Excavation of an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Barrington, Bryan Faussett, Horcs Ferales, p. 83. Neville, Saxon Obsequies, p. 8, and pis. xxxv. and
Roach Smith, Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon and
xxxvi.
Fairford Graves
refers to
them
(pi.
xi.,
discovered at
Faversham, Kent,
and Mr. Wylie Roach Smith also South Kensington Museum.
p. ix., pi. ix., fig.
illustrations of spear-ends.
8), have given of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities in the
fig.
in his Catalogue
Cambridge, 1883.
London, 1852.
other Antiquities
London, 1873. Akerman, in his Remains of Pagan Saxondom (Introduction,
12.
p.
Mr.
3),
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
22
Akerman
to
measure the ordinary length of the spear, which he puts
at
metre
i
80 centimetres.
Kemble centimetres.
the spear-head varied in length from 12 to 90 In one case the position of the shaft in the grave has been deter-
is
of opinion
that
mined by the presence of a line of decayed wood, with an iron ferule. This spear was i metre 40 centimetres in length. The length of the spear-heads examined by 1 Mr. Wright is given by him as being from 30 to 45 centimetres.
The
distinctive
feature of the
Anglo-Saxon spear
is
a rather short socket.
Three centimetres from the socket the spear-head takes a slight bend outward, then widens considerably (as in fig. 3, pi. i.), and finally diminishes gradually to 2 This type of spear is peculiar to England, and appears to have form the point. been adopted as well for the larger as for those of small dimensions. heads were probably those of the framea''' or javelin.
We
must
also
notice,
in
addition to
weapon, the two blades of which were not
The
the spears above mentioned, in
the
same
4
plane.
We
smaller
a missile
reproduce two
The unequal 4 and 6) giving the horizontal section. and certain weapons still in use in the surfaces recall the Hottentot assegai East Indies, and this similarity has not escaped the attention of English archaeospecimens
i.,
(pi.
figs.
This arrangement of the blades imparted to the weapon in its flight a rotary motion of increasing velocity." Missiles of this character are only met 5
logists.
with in Anglo-Saxon graves, but a somewhat similar idea is occasionally revealed on the Continent. Thus a spear was found at Homblieres (Aisne), 7 the blades of which start from different points of the central shaft. By the kindness of
M.
Pilloy
we
are enabled to give an illustration of it (fig. 3). is different from the Anglo-Saxon type, but the section
This form the
weapon was intended
to
assume a rotary motion
shows
that
in its flight.
English savants have, in the past, aided considerably in dispelling the erroneous notions current with regard to barbed lances, which for a considerable period were looked upon as angons. 8 These spears, which were intended to catch the shield, could not possibly be used as missile weapons, and, further, they are very rarely found in Barbarian cemeteries. Lindenschmit, indeed, hesitates to enumerate them 1
Th. Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 474. There is, however, a specimen from the cemetery of Furfooz, now which has some analogy with the type in question. 2
J
4 5
7 8
in the
Museum
at
Namur
(Belgium),
The
English verb to frame, or forge, is connected with the word framea. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Introduction. Kemble, Horn Feraks, p. 87. "Sedillam (hastam) turbine terribilem tanto et stridore volantem" (7&; Waltharliede, Pilloy, Etudes sur d'Anciens Lieux de Sepultures dans F Aisne, p. 232. Archceologia, vol. xxxv.
v.,
1289).
THE SPEAR though he mentions a few specimens as having been found Germany. They are, in fact, widely distributed. M. Calandra has described 2 those of Testona (Italy), M. Namur those of Luxemburg. 3 as a distinct
type,
1
in
M. Baudot mentions in
Switzerland,
Belgium
5
4 Burgundy, and while the Abbe Cochet has met with them
several examples are preserved in
FIG. 3.
Lastly,
Champagne,
specimens of 1
existence
their
weapon.
the;
In Normandy. museums of Charleroi and Namur.
the
cemetery
of
Oyes,
p.
graves, Darmstadt Museum. 2 Calandra, Di una Necropoli barbarica scoferta a Testona. 1
e belle arti., vol.
iv.
in
has
furnished
176.
From
Mayence Museum.
Publications of Sotiete Archeologique de Luxembourg.
Memoire sur les Sepultures Barbares de FEpoque Mermingienne et Prindpalement Recueil d'Antiquites Suisses, pi. xxiii.
6
Bessungen
the proceedings of the Sodeta
3
7
with
Turin.
4 6
us
7
Lindenschmit, Handbuch der deutschen Alter thumskunde,
d Arrhaologia
M. de Bonstetten
SPEAR-HEAD FROM HOMBLIK'RES (AISNE).
especially
this rare
in
Abbe* Cochet, La Normandie Souterraine, Muse"e de Baye.
p.
236.
Rouen, 1854.
celles
de
Charnay
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
24
English archaeologists are of opinion that the barbed spear is probably the lancea nncata mentioned by Apollinaris Sidonius in his letter to Domitius. 1 Lancea uncata has been rendered by a translator as pique a crochets 2 (barbed pike). Uvolfgangus Lazius, a writer of the sixteenth century, asserts that this
weapon
was exclusively confined
to the
Goths
3
a fact which would fairly explain
its
absence
from Anglo-Saxon graves. England has furnished us with a few examples of spears with a projection on each side at the head of the socket (pi. i., fig. 2).
The specimen
there illustrated
FIG. 4.
is
from Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.*
Two
SPEAR-HEAD FROM IMMENSTEDT (ScHLF.swic).
other specimens found
in London and at Nottingham have been reproduced in Horce Ferales, and Mdlle. Mestorf has discovered similar spears at Immenstedt, 5
Schleswig.
1 he spear was the national weapon of the Anglo-Saxons,
among
other evidence
"Eo quo comebantur
ornatu, muniebantur, lanceis uncatis securibus missilibus dextrse refertse, leavam partem adurabrantibus, quorum lux in orbibus nivea, fulva in umbonibus, ita censum prodebat ut studium " (Apollinaris Sidonius, bk. letter clypeis
iv.,
2 3
20).
Apollinaris Sidonius, translated by Gregoire Collombet, 1836. De aliquot Gentium Migrationibus, auctore Uvolfgango Lazio.
Basle,
Gothorum, p. 68 1. 4
Journal of
6
Mestorf,
the British
Archaeological Association, 1882, p. 276. Vereins in Schleswig-Hohtein.
Mittheilungen des Anthrofologischen Immenstedt, fig. 2. Kiel, 1888.
1572.
JKwte
uneaten
Ausgrabuneen
bei
THE ANGON.
25
the custom of calling the man the spear-half, while the woman was 1 In the laws of Edward the Confessor the word spear called the spindle-half. of which
is
is
used as an equivalent of man? So many spears have been found
hesitation in asserting that
the
in
England, that Mr. Roach Smith has no
one was buried with every freeman. 3
weapon
was exclusively
It
of the freeman, the serf being forbidden to carry
it.'
THE ANGON.
When
the earliest works on the archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon period were published the angon was unknown in England, and a very confused impression The absence of the weapon itself led to many erroneous prevailed concerning it. The influence conjectures as to the interpretation of passages where it is mentioned. of English archaeologists, however, has been of great value in the settlement of the vexed question of the angon.
They
the belief that
throw most is
the weapons inaccurately described by that name, acting on was the annalists of the Franco-Merovingian period who could
discarded it
light
all
on the interpretation of their national
connected with the
had two barbs
;
is
it
The word angon
The word for the angon in different languages always German and Flemish hangen, in English hang, in
derived from the same root. 3
suggests the same
antiquities.
The angon of the Franks angel, a hook, or barb. therefore probable that these words, angon and angel, are
German
idea
in
;
Swedish hcenga. for
The much
has been the starting-point description of the angon given by Agathias there are, however, other ancient writings in patient and useful research ;
which mention
is
made
of
it.
Thus Suidas
passage is less familiar, and Pachymeres to it which are worthy of being noted. 1
Will of Alfred the Great.
K
7
speaks of
this
weapon, though the
(quoted by Ducange) contains references
Codex Diplomaticus
^w
Saxoniri, vol.
ii.,
116.
p.
Ancient Laws and Institutions of England. Leges Regis Edward. Confess. 3 Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale. 4 " Et ut servi lanceas non portent. Qui invcntus fuerit post bannum, hasta Corpus juris German. Antiq. Walter's Edition). (Capit., lib. vi. 2
5
Littr, Dictionnaire de la
Thorpe,
7
8
p.
447. "
Langue Franfaise, 1873.
tela quae ipsi
:
(Agathias, bk.
i.,
frangatur in dorso ejus
ferro obducta est, angones vocant; cujus pars major hami ferro in vix extet utrinque sunt, membrorum tanquam superior! prater
"Brevia
vol.
ita
et
ut
ex ligno aliquid
deorsum vergunt
"
i.).
"Ayyoves 'IroAucois
iir^iapia.
TOOIS
Sopara irapa <payyois (Suidas, bk. KaOoirXia-fiLWOi,
avroi'/zev
irtXrwv,
KOI
eKaXowro, TOV irdXe/Aov avtdappovv (Pachymeres, lib.
xvii.,
cap.
TraXrwi/ xii.,
8).
fTrix
1888.
Revue Archcologique,
6
Roach Smith,
8
pi.
M.
J.
Mcmoire sur
F. Moreau, de Baye, Sepultures Franques
imprimes en vi/c du Congres d Archeologie de Charleroi, 2nd pamphlet, Baron A. de Loe, D'ecouverte d'Antiquitcs franques d Harmignies, p. 7. Antwerp, 1886.
6
7
Heft,
(Handbuch der dentschen alterthumskiinde].
v.
1
t. xi., p. 84, 1865. Collectanea Antiqua, vol.
Archteologia, vol. xxxvi., pi. Collectanea Antiqua, vol. v.,
vii.
p.
15.
v.,
p.
13,
1861.
THE SCRAMASAXE.
27
THE SCRAMASAXE. The
iron knife, sacks, seax, or scramasaxe, seems, as
we
stated
in
our sketch
of the origin of the Saxons, to have given its name to the nation. have the testimony of several historians, that the scramasaxe was a weapon of war among the Saxons ;- yet while small knives abound in Anglo-Saxon graves, 1
We
3
the large knives, or scramasaxes, are especially rare. Some English authors, misled the constant of the small have knife, by presence thought that this was the true seax
according to the received idea, the seax was a weapon only 4 smaller than the sword. of the Saxons
;
Mr. Roach
but,
these weapons, which he calls sword-knives, considers these cultri validi to be identical with the scramasaxes mentioned by Gregory of Tours.' The description given by this historian is quite applicable to
Smith, referring
the large knives, which are
much more common
FIG.
than
in
ancient
England/'
to
5.
Widukind says
BEAKESBOURNK,
that
France, Belgium and
in
Germany
KF.NT.
these large
knives were included
in
the
Saxon armoury.'
The
best preserved specimens have two long narrow grooves along the back
of the blade.
These war
knives, or seax, are often referred to in the
the mother of the
demon Grendal
in
poem
of Beowulf.
her struggle with Beowulf
is
Thus
represented as
"
1
Saxa." Ducange, Glossarium, article " Mutato denique nomine quse ad id tempus Turingia, ex longis cultellis, sed victoriosis, post" modum vocata est non Saxonia sed Anglico elcmento Saxonia Contennator Florentii Wigorniensis, 2
Anno 3
p.
21. 4 5
1138).
The men's
London, 1853). A hand-seax is mentioned Histoire des Francs, bk.
6
morem
in
Collectanea Antigua, vol.
(Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
the will of ^Elfheah (Codex Diplomaticus,
chap. 46, and bk.
ii.
viii.,
p. 21.
Proceedings of
vol.
iii.,
p.
127).
chap. 29.
Roach Smith,
the Society
Introduction to Inventorium
of Antiquaries of London, and
series,
No.
i, 1883. " Erat autem illis diebus Saxonibus
x., 7
iv.,
Yonge Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
Sepulchrale. vol.
knife graves, almost without exception, contained a small
gentis antiquae sectantes
"
magnorum cutellorum
(Widukind, bk.
i.,
chap.
vi.).
usus, quibus
usque hodie Angli utuntur
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
2g
his sword was broken, turned to the drawing her seax, and Beowulf himself, when 2 seax which was attached to his coat of mail. According to Nenius, it was with the scramasaxe that the Saxons were armed 1
at the
when,
famous
feast of reconciliation, the signal
massacre of the Britons
The sexandnts
:
Nimed
was given by Hengist
for the
cure Saxes.
of the Salic laws appears to have been a small knife similar to
These laws enacted that those frequently found in Anglo-Saxon graves (fig. 5). whosoever stole a knife should return it to his owner, and pay in addition fifteen solidC
graves of men while the smaller ones, on the contrary, are found with the remains of men, only 4 women, and children alike, in almost every barrow.
Kemble
states that the large knives are generally
found
in the
;
The excavations of Faussett in one hundred and six graves at Gilton produced and twenty-nine knives three hundred and eight graves at Kingston hundred a Down contained two hundred and twenty-two knives, while about one hundred and ;
eleven came from the hundred and eighty barrows opened at Sibertswold. Mr. Neville, in his work on the cemetery of Little Wilbraham (Cambridgeshire), In remarks that knives were found together with spears in nearly all the graves. As a rule these one exceptional case two knives enclosed in an urn were found.
blades were placed
somewhere near the
5
hips.
The Rev. Mr. Beck
Anglo-Saxon scramasaxes were occasionally ornamented.
describes one, ninety centimetres long, found at Little Bealings in Suffolk," which is decorated with a band of damascened work throughout its length. Among the
scramasaxes found
in
the Thames, the most interesting
is
one which
with a runic alphabet, and bears the name of the soldier to similar characters. The letters are inlaid in copper and silver. 7 1
"
She beset them the
And drew
whom
is it
ornamented belonged, in
hal-guest,
her seax
Broad, brown-edged." (Beowulf, line 3089.) 2
"
Drew
his
deadly seax
and battle-sharp, That he on his byrnie bore." Bitter
(Beowulf, line 5400.) 3
De
restituit, 4 6
cultello
sexaudro.
et insuper
"
Si quis alteri cultellum furaverit et ei fuerit adprobatum, ipsum " faciunt sol. xv. culp. judicetur (Legis Salicce, tit. Ixxiii. i).
DC den. qui
HorcB Ferales,
p.
81.
Saxon
6
London, 1852. Obsequies, p. 9. Proceedings qf the Society of Antiquaries of London,
7
Ibidem.
Neville,
and
series, vol. x.,
No.
i,
1883.
in loco
THE BATTLE-AXE.
29
Inscriptions on scramasaxes are extremely rare, but in the Prankish cemetery of 1 Pondrome, Belgium, one of these weapons was found which bore the maker's name.
THE BATTLE-AXE. The
iron battle-axe e
the Franks, and
to explain the axes
is
also called the Francisca,
to this
it is
found
arm
in
Anglo-Saxon graves.
very frequently discovered admitted that this weapon was in
axe
it
being the especial weapon of have turned in seeking
that English archaeologists
As
Prankish cemeteries
stated by historians,'3 the
is ~
1
'
has long been much more general use on the Continent than in Britain.' Great England has, however, provided us with a few examples." The Barbarian conquerors carried the axe in battle, but its use was reserved to is
in
;
in
fact,
it
The terrible effects of this weapon have been noted by Those who were armed with the sword or the battle-axe were
certain privileged persons.
ancient writers.
7
always picked men, and owed their selection for that honour either to rank or 8
prowess. It History testifies to the use of the battle-axe among the Anglo-Saxons. formed part of the equipment of most of the soldiers who fought against the Normans
probable, however, that the axe was a somewhat late importation, 10 Mr. Akerman introduced, according to Mr. Wylie, by the Scandinavian invaders.
at Hastings."
It is
appears to support this view, and leans to the opinion that the battle-axe came into general use during the Danish invasion, because it was less costly than the sword. 1
Vol. "
2
xvii.
of the Annales de la Societe Arclieologique de
(secures) et
Quas
Namur,
Hispani ab usu Francorum per derivationem Franciscas vocant
"
(Isidore de
Seville, Etymol., lib. xviii., cap. vi.). 3
"Pedites erant
casteri
singuli ac
securim unam
admodum
breve.
omnes
(Franci)
non
arcu,
non hasta armati, sed ensem clypeumque gestabant
et utrinque acutissimum erat, e ligno manubrium statim est, primo congressu ea securi iacta, hostium scuta diffringere solent eosque conficere" (Procopius, De Bella Gothico, lib. ii., cap. 25). 4 Roach Smith, Introduction to the Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities in the South Kensington
Museum, 5
the
:
cujus ferrum valde crassum
Ut signum datum
p. xi.
Abbe Cochet, La Normandie
Souterraine, p. 203.
Paris, 1854.
Wright, The Celt, the
Roman, and
London, 1885.
Saxon,
p. 477. Archaologia, vol. xxxiv., p. 171. 7 " Recentes quippe qui supervenerant, et viri electi erant, securibus et gladiis horribiliter corpora " Brittonum findebant (Hen. Hunt. IV., A.D. 752). 6
8
"
Congregantes autem se ad vexilla utrinque proceres et fortissimi, gladiis et securibus amazonicis rem " (Hen. Hunt. IV., A.D. 752). agentes, acies aciebus funeste irruebant " Et shot comme les 9 William of Malmesbury, Chroniyue de Normandie Anglois les virent fuir, ils " Saxones Math. a col." commencerent a poursuivir chacun la hache son Paris, Hist. Angl. pedites omnes :
:
cum
securibus."
10
\Vylie,
Fairford Graves,
p. 22.
Oxford, 1852.
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
30
The One
taper-axe was
common
article in this charter
time of the promulgation of the Charter of Canute. assigned to Christ Church, Canterbury, the possession of the at the
At high tide port of Sandwich, with the right to levy taxes on the adjacent lands. an axe was thrown ashore, from a vessel in the harbour, and all the land to the 1 seaward of the point where it fell was liable to the tax. The axes of English origin resemble the Francisca of Merovingian cemeteries.
One specimen was
discovered at Faversham (Kent).
2
Mr. Roach Smith quotes six from Ash, Ozingell (Kent), Colchester, Richborough 3 and Canterbury, while Mr. Neville mentions the finding of one at Little Wilbraham In his Remains of Pagan Saxondom* Mr. Akerman reproduces (Cambridgeshire). three examples,
coming from the bed of the Thames
at
London, from Colchester, and
from Icklingham (Suffolk).
The
size of these battle-axes
was occasionally such as
to permit of their
being
used as missile weapons.
THE BOW AND ARROWS. Archaeologists do
always include bows and arrows among weapons of Franks, believed, did not reckon them as part of their warlike equipment, and the rare specimens discovered are considered to have been used
The
war.
it is
not
now
only in the chase."
Arch&ologia brings together a mass of evidence to not employed as a weapon of war by the Anglo-Saxons
;
to
conclude that this was also the case
when preparing in Thessaly under his command. 8 Certain
though
in
small shafted 9
reality javelins.
points of missile
to
take
but
that the it
would be wrong
other Barbarian nations.
field
against
bow was
had
Stilicho,
Alaric,
bowmen
weapons have been erroneously described as arrows, At an earlier period Mr. Faussett wrote of the iron
as arrows.
weapons
among the
show 7
It
is
clear,
however, that they were darts,
or small lances. 1
2 3 4
Codex Diplomatics ^Ew Saxonid, vol. iv., p. 24. Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon and other Antiquities discovered at Faversham in Kent. Collectanea Anliqua, vol.
PL "
ii.,
xxiii.
Jactant Angli cuspides ac diversorum
generum
duds Normanorunf). Bequet, Fouilles en 1883 1
London, 1873.
p. 224.
et
Archceologia, vol. xxxiv., p.
1884, p. 17. 171.
8
Am.
8
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
Thierry, Alaric, chap,
ii.,
p.
50. p.
22
tela, scevissimas
quasque secures
"
(Gesta Gulielmi,
THE BOW AND ARROWS. The
presence of arms of small size
of
youths
the
arrows
their
We
" :
were
classes
initiated
the graves of the young proves that into the art of war with weapons
Mr. Akerman says, very decidedly, with respect to of no authentic account of the discovery of arrow-heads in iron heads, barbed or otherwise, which some antiquaries have
to
appropriate
free
in
31
1
age.
know
these graves the erroneously fancied to be the heads of arrows belong rather to these spicula. is not asserted that the bow was unknown to the Anglo-Saxons, but there ;
is
was not commonly used by them as a weapon of war." of arrows in the cemeteries of Kent has been explained on they had been completely destroyed in the graves by rust.
abundant evidence that
The
It
scarcity
the
2
it
ground that However, the cemetery of Chessell Down, in the Isle of Wight, has provided Mr. Hillier with a few barbed triangular arrow heads.' 3
It
remarkable that the bow, never used by the Anglo-Saxons before the
is
Danish invasion, became eventually the national weapon. 4 No mention is made of bows and arrows in Canute's law concerning arms, but they are referred to in the Encyclical Capitulary of 806, and again in similar terms
in
a
summons
issued
by the
King
to
the
Counts and
Bishops
in
813,
ordering a levy of troops.
The Lombard cemetery more
of Testona
numerous arrows, con-
(Italy) contained
siderably proportion than the graves of the Anglo-Saxons and Franks. These missiles are mentioned in the Lombard laws, 7 while we learn from history in
that the Gothic armies contained trained archers.
We Saxons
8
must therefore conclude that the absence of arrows among the Angloconstitutes
an
exception
to
the
rule
obtaining
generally
among
the
Barbarian nations. 1
2 3
Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Introduction, p. ix. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale.
4
Wylie, Fairford Graves, p. 19. Oxford, 1852. " Ita vero preparatus cum honoribus tuis ad prasdictum locum venies, ut inde in quamcumque ita ut unusquisque cabpartem nostra fuerit jussio et exercitaliter ire possis ; id est cum armis 5
.
habeat scutum et lanceam
allarius iii.,
145).
Orientalls, "
Epist. i.,
p.
Caroli
M. ad
et spatam semispatam, arcum Fulradum abbatem S. Dionysi,
et
et
.
.
cum sagittis Eccart, De rebus
pharetras
784.
"
(Pertz,
Francice
522.
comes prsevidet quomodo sint parati, id est lanceam scutum, aut arcum cum duas " Capit. Aquisgranense, a. 813. cordas, sagittas duodecem; de his uterque habeant (Pertz, iii., 188). " 7 " Si quis in curte alterius irato animo sagittaverit, aut lanceam jactaverit componat xx solidis 6
Et
ipse
{Leges Longobardicce, 8 "
xliv.).
fuit primum inter alias gentes vicinas arcus intendere " Detectis poeta testante armenios arcus gethicis intendite nervis." " multitudine et milites nostri contra Gothos, sagittariorum saepe delecti pectoribus capitibus, congressi
nervis.
Quarum
(Vesegothi et Ostrogothi) studium
Lucano
plus historico
(Vegetius,
De
re Militari,
i.,
quam
xx.).
:
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
32
THE SHIELD. It the only defensive armour found in Anglo-Saxon graves. 1 was of comparatively small size, and circular or slightly oval in shape, made of
The
light
shield
wood,
2
is
or wicker-work,
and completely covered with a thick tanned
hide. 3
The bucklers found lightness and handiness rendered it highly serviceable. In the poem of in England are usually about 54 centimetres in diameter. Beowulf linden-wood bucklers are entitled lind, a poetic expression designating Its
a buckler in the
was the material usually employed, the buckler of Beowulf serving to emphasise the general
Germanic tongue.
Wood,
the exception claimed for rule. The hero is said to have been fight
the
4
The Codex
fire-dragon.
then,
armed with an
iron
shield,
Exoniensis also confirms
the
in
fact
order of
to
wood
having been the usual material of the buckler, which is therein called poetically Ancient poems and illuminated manuscripts speak of certain the linden/' coloured shields, the varied tints of which served to distinguish different bodies of troops a custom probably borrowed from the Romans, if we may judge from the description given in the Notitia? The wood and other materials of which
the buckler was
long since perished only the metal part is found or boss, of iron, was in the centre of the shield.' ;
strong rivets, with 1
2
heads.
the graves.
The umbo,
It was fixed to the wood by These large heads were often overlaid with
Roach Smith, Introduction
to the Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities in the South Kensington London, 1873. Kemble, Iforce Ferules, p. 87. Codex Exoniensis (Gnomic verses, p. 339). Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondoin, p. 22. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium
Museum, 3
big
iron
in
constructed have
p.
xiii.
Sepulchrale. 4
"
Then commanded to be made The refuge of warriors,
for
him
All of iron, lord of earls,
The
A wondrous war-board He knew well enough
:
That him forest-wood
Might not help, Linden-wood opposed
to fire."
(Beowulf, line 4668.) '
"
A A
ship shall be mailed shield bound,
The 6 7
;
light linden board."
Collectanea Antigua, vol. iii. " scuti pars media est, quasi umbilicus " (Isidore de Seville, Etymol., lib.
Umbo
xviii.,
cap.
xii.).
THE SHIELD.
33
copper, white metal, or silver, while one specimen exists in which gold has been 1 The button forming the top of the umbo was ornamented in so employed. similar fashion.
The to
handle crossed the hollow of the umbo.
width
the
umbo.
of
the
handle
the
shield,
proper
length was generally equal lower part of the fitting the Its
Shields constructed in this fashion have been found in the cemeteries of 2
Little
Gilton,'
Wilbraham,
Harnham
and
;i
Hill,
As we have
near Salisbury.
mentioned above, the handle extended on each side in the form of a cross-piece, which gave strength to the buckler as a whole. The thickness of the wood
shown by the length of the rivets. of the umbo was of great value in causing the enemies' At the same missiles to glance off, and in protecting the hand of the warrior. time the buckler could be used as a weapon of offence. Muratori expresses the opinion that umbones furnished with a very sharp point (pi. ii., fig. 3) and
its
covering
is
The convex form
were used, in hand-to-hand fighting, to keep the enemy at arm'sl-ength.* Nor is this an altogether gratuitous assertion, for Tacitus relates incidents which 5
support the contention. The Barbarians were accustomed to strike
battle,
loud war-cries before going into into the hearts of their enemies. They used to intensify
terror
to
raise
the sound by holding the hollow of the umbo to their mouths, and so alarming were their cries that even the Roman legions were unnerved by them in their earlier fold,
engagements.
while
the
clash
The
hollow of the
of arms
against
it
umbo
increased
re-echoed
with
the reverberation tenterrifying
The
effect.
of the Anglo-Saxons were armed with spear and shield, knives, and sometimes light javelins. 6 When the word anna is used in old historical docu-
rank and
file
ments,
means the complete equipment of spear and
it
be found
in the Capitularies of
The manufacture 1
Inventorium Sepulchrale,
3
Saxon "
6
"
this
may
became a very important industry among the
the
Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities in the South Kensington
xiii.
p.
2
4
to
Proof of
Ansegio.
of bucklers
Roach Smith, Introduction
Museum,
shield.
'
pi.
xv.,
fig.
14.
Obsequies, pi. xxxviii.
s'io non m'inganno, fu chiamata quella specie di scudi che nel mezzo teneva uno acuto di ferro, ed eminente, con cui anche si potea ferire il nemico, se troppo si o chiodo spontone, Brocca volea dire uno ferro acuto." avvicinava.
Brocchiere
.
et
.
.
Igitur et Batavi miscere ictus, ferire
umbonibus ora
fcedare ccepere
quaedam pars duro umbone vivorum (Walthar, v., 195). 6 Kemble, Horce Ferales, description of pi. xxvi. 7 " Ut nullus ad mallum vel ad placitum intra patriam arma,
(III.,
"
"
(Agricola, 36).
Sternitur
"
4
;
22).
id
est
scutum
et
lanceam portet
Muratori, Dissert., 26. 3
"
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
34 In
Anglo-Saxons.
had become a reign of /Ethelred the shield- wrights 1 a street in Winchester was named after them. Legal
the
numerous body indeed, A law construction of these bucklers. provision was made to secure the proper on workman who used a fine of inflicted of yEthelstan any sheepthirty shillings ;
skin to cover them.
The
2
shields in use
the Teutonic tribes were
among
carried on the arm,
not
but held in the hand, the warrior being thus enabled to parry blows aimed at This method of carrying the buckler explains him, or to diminish their force.
phrase clypeos rotare, used
the sense of the scription of the
Frank
Sidonius
by Apollinaris
de-
his
in
warriors.
3 Anglo-Saxon bucklers were similar in shape and size to those of the Franks. and Mr. Akerman 5 mention specimens in which the wooden Both Mr. Wylie '*
portion was ornamented with bronze or iron discs placed distance calculated to increase its power of resistance.
round the umbo,
at
a
of Anglo-Saxon umbo is also general in Prankish graves, in the Barbarian cemeteries of the Rhineland, of Bavaria, and even of Northern Italy.
The commonest form
As
a rule they are simply varieties of the general type
There
exist,
ii.,
(pi.
figs,
however, certain very rare umbones, much more conical
4,
i,
and
in form,
6).
which
Kemble looks upon as importations.'' Under this head we must include two from Sibertswold, which are illustrated in the Inventorimn Sepulchrale.' The same type, but more strongly marked, was found by Mdlle. Mestorf In
pi.
ii.,
figs.
2
a grave at Frestedt,
in
and
we
5,
illustrate
two umbones remarkable
shape, and belonging to a rare and unusual type.
in style,
iron plates, joined together fig.
5)
was found
Among 1
2 3
4
and never before rings of the
little
first
in the
figured.
same
Fairford Graves,
p.
metal.
Horoe Perales, xv.,
fig.
at
2)
comes
Oxford, the
composed of several
The second
(pi.
ii.,
1'
figs.
umbo
is
p.
vi.,
p.
135).
14.
6
PI.
ii.,
museum
It is
Charter of /Ethelred, A.D. 996 (Codex Diplomatics /Evi Saxonici, vol. Leges sEthelstani, xv. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale.
This
(pi.
and
for size
placed vertically to the right of the skeleton. exceptional specimens we must notice the umbo recently discovered at at Sittingbourne,
Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
!
fig.
by
6
7
The
Our drawing was made
from Farthing Down, Surrey.
specimen being unique
8
Schleswig.
Driffield
umbo,
pi.
ix.
87.
13 and 15. in the Kiel 1A.v&&KS\.
709. Hamburg, 1885. 8 Collectanea Antigua, vol.
i.,
p.
104.
Vorgeschichtliche alterthiimer aus Schleswig-Holstein, pi.
Iviii.,
THE SHIELD.
35
Barrington, Cambridgeshire, of which we give an exact illustration (fig. is nothing very remarkable in the shape, but the button affixed to
1
6).
the
There top
is
The stem and the button are in bronze gilt, and are The button is deeply chased, the workmanship fastened to the umbo by three feet. The incised recalling the ornamentation of the massive saucer-shaped brooches. One compartment contains an imaginary designs are separated by double lines. interesting in its decoration.
FIG. 6.
bird,
UMBO FROM HARRINGTON,
CAMBRIDGKSIIIRE.
with a swan's head and neck, while in the others the
S form
of decoration
appears very distinctly.
The cemetery
of Barrington alone contained eight umbones. and six men's graves at Gilton eighteen were taken, and the same
At Kingston Down graves. 1
thirteen bucklers
Seventeen were found
were discovered
at Sibertswold,
2
the hundred
number of
3
eight at Fairford,
3
4
4
Walter K. Foster, Account of the Excavation of an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Barrington, Cambridge-
shire, p. 12. 2
spears.
hundred and eight
in three
four at Ozingell,
From
Cambridge, 1883. Horce Ferales, p. 82.
"
"Anglo-Saxon Remains discovered at Ozingell, Kent Collectanea Antigua, Abbe" Cochet, La Normandie Souterraine, p. 241. Fairford Graves.
vol.
iii.,
pi.
ii.
ANGLO-SAXON ARMS.
36
and nineteen
at
Little
Wilbraham.
1
Lastly
we may mention
Norfolk, which contained seven skeletons lying side by side. bucklers placed over their heads the bodies were enveloped ;
fastened over the breast, and with each one
1
2
a barrow at Sporle,
Some in
of these had
woollen mantles,
was a spear of the most general
Neville, Saxon Obsequies, pis. Remains of Pagan Saxondom.
xxxvii.
and
xxxviii.
2
type.
ANGLO-SAXON FIBULA. RTISTIC combine
variety of form, and delicacy of workmanship to render the fibula? of Anglo-Saxon manufacture objects character,
In no other part of Europe in the fifth and of the highest interest. sixth centuries do we find, within so small a limit, so many distinct
models, or so
The
position of the
many
perfectly independent creations.
Anglo-Saxons
in history
being recognised,
we
are enabled
draw definite conclusions from the geographical distribution of their fibulae. The concentration of certain types in particular districts implies colonisation by distinct sub-tribes, the variety of decorative styles, and the multiplicity of forms aiding us in to
On the other hand, assigning each type to the tribes to which it properly belongs. when we find a special form of fibula recurring constantly, in a locality the inhabitants of which are known, we are justified in attributing to them a special fondness for that Archaeologists are thus enabled to argue back to the primitive types, follow their various modifications, and arrive eventually at unassailable conclusions. The due assignment of archaeological remains to their proper source is rendered
form.
movements unusually easy in England by the accurate knowledge we possess of the The artistic peculiarities of their fibulae display the national of the invaders. yet, notwithstanding their common origin, has each tribe among the Barbarian conquerors preserved in its art work those features which were peculiarly its own, and which have in part resisted the influence of the
characteristics of the
Anglo-Saxon peoples
;
closest contact.
Anthropology recognises in the Anglo-Saxon races characteristics which exist The facial type of the invaders still lives to-day among the people of Great Britain. It is impossible to confound in their descendants, in the regions they colonised. it
with that of the Britons,
fastnesses of Cornwall
who were
and Wales.
driven by their conquering hordes into the
1
Like other Barbarian nations, the Anglo-Saxons were fond of personal orna1
Crania Britannica, chap,
vi.,
p.
183.
Lappenberg, Thorpe's
1845.
37
translation, vol.
i.,
p.
112.
London,
ANGLO-SAXON
38
merits,
and
1
in especial
of
fibulae.
2
FIBULAE.
Their brooches are thus worthy of attention by
reason of their archaeological importance as well as of their artistic merit. 8 Four or five fibulae are often found in the same grave, placed on different parts 4 It is plain, therefore, that more than one was habitually worn. of the body.
On the other hand, no specimen few Anglo-Saxon fibulae are of large size. on has been found the Continent. of exceptional dimensions
A
a rule, and especially in the north of England, differ widely from In the invaded provinces the Teutonic ideal the productions of Roman art. Fibulse,
all
as
The transformation was of the most displaced the classic in the abruptest fashion. radical nature, due either to very strong national traditions, or to an invincible Henri Martin apparently adopts the latter repugnance for the civilisation of Rome. when he
represents the Saxons as repudiating with hatred and contempt and the arts, laws, religion of the Romans/' A brief summary of the whole subject is advisable before considering in detail Certain fibulae from Kent and the Isle of Wight are looked each variety of fibula. upon as importations from the north-west of Gaul. alternative
They
are of three types,
Radiated or digitated
fibulae.
fibulae.
S-shaped
Bird-shaped
fibulae.
English savants rightly class these as Continental types.
Saxon
The
other Anglo-
varieties are,
Cruciform
fibulae.
Square-headed
fibulae.
Cupelliform or saucer-shaped
Annular
fibulae.
fibulae.
Circular fibulae (Kentish).
The
cruciform type
as an
peculiar to England, and in creation, though the original idea is
Anglo-Saxon Midland counties of England form the area of 1
2
its
its
developments takes rank
came from Sweden.
most general
The
distribution.
Am.
Thierry, Alaric, p. 210. Claud., In Eutrop., lib. ii., verse 183.
3 Roach Smith, Museum.
Introduction
to
Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities in
"Fibulas sunt, quibus pectus feminarum ornatur, vel pallium tenetur a " cingulum in lumbis (Isidore of Seville, Etymol., bk. xix., chap. xxxi.). 6 Henri Martin, Histoire de France, t. i., p. 414.
the
viris
South Kensington in
humeris, seu
ANGLO-SAXON These ornaments were of various artistic
FIBULAE.
39
extremely simple, but later, under the influence movements, were covered with decorations of a rude and someat first
times grotesque character. They have not, however, even under a superabundance of decorative detail, lost their primitive form. They are wrought in the mass of the metal, notice.
hence,
and are never
set with glass or stone
The upper portion the name cruciform.
similar in
these
style to
of the fibula
is
a peculiarity which is worthy of special more or less in the form of a cross
;
Nothing has been found
in
the south of
England
fibula;.
Another type of elongated
forms an interesting class. In these the upper The part is square, while the lower often assumes the form of a grotesque head. cross-shaped development of the lower part of these fibulae has caused them to be fibula
the head of cruciform
included under
specially reserved
for the
;
but
in
our opinion
type previously referred
this
name should be
to.
always so styled by English archaeologists, Mr. Wylie, for instance, calling them double fibuke. They are sometimes inlaid with pastes
They
are not, in
fact,
1
or stones.
Circular fibulae
may be
divided into three categories.
England dish-shaped might be named concave, or, better still, cupelliform they are found in the more eastern settlements of the Barbarians. an form exclusively Anglo-Saxon group, and may be considered indigenous They
The
fibulae called in ;
to
Great Britain.
Anglo-Saxon art has produced another variety, annular in shape, composed of The ring is sometimes filled up in part a simple ring, which is crossed by the acus. by
radii cut in
the bronze, the centre taking the form of a cross patc'e, or with equal
branches.
south of England, and especially Kent, has given us a class of Mr. Roach Smith divides them fibula quite distinct from those already described. 2 In the first the fibula is formed of two metal plaques, joined into three groups. Lastly,
by a
the
circular border.
In the second a disc of bronze or silver, slightly concave,
is
decorated with gold-foil, covered with compartments forming geometrical figures. The fibulae of the third group, which are far more numerous, are composed of a and set with jewels and glass. single piece of metal, decorated with incised work,
This splendid array of characteristic of
Anglo-Saxon
fibulae, art,
is
the
delicate
workmanship of which
is
so
of incontestable utility in the study of their
cloisonn^ goldsmith's work. 1
2
Wylie, Fairford Graves, p. 23.
Roach Smith, Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon
Antiquities discovered at Faversham, p.
xiii.
London, 1873.
ANGLO-SAXON FIBULA.
40
RADIATED FIBUL/E. The
settlements of the Barbarian tribes usually contain certain large fibulae
This type, generally considered by archaeologists improperly called digitated. The upper part is in to be highly characteristic, is a compound of two styles. the lower varies conform rectangular, or semicircular, with radiated ornament more often lozenge-shaped. The siderably, being sometimes quite simple, but a curve. are extremities two joined by ;
These ornaments are generally assigned
to
are found migrations, as specimens of the type a large over They extend invading peoples.
various peculiarities of artistic detail.
France, and
in
Europe,
in
Germany
;
the
among
period of the Germanic the most ancient of the
geographical area, and display The type has been met with in Eastern it has been found in some abundance by
3 In the archaeologists of Hungary, and it is also common in Southern Russia. the north of Italy again it is not unknown, and we have had occasion to refer 1
to
it
our treatise on the industrial arts of the Lombards. 3
in
The heads radii,
often
to
of these fibulae are square, or semi-circular, and ornamented with the number of five. This arrangement has suggested to some
investigators the idea of the five the title of digitated fibulae. 4
fingers of the hand,
and has earned
for
them
'
These ornaments are very
rare in
England, and are looked upon as impor-
a conclusion which English savants base on solid grounds, for the Saxons very well have received them from the Franks, with whom, according to
tations
may
they
Procopius,
were
in
these fibulae in Kent, in
necessary
known
we should Central
in
communication. 5
At the same time the presence of conjunction with work of Anglo-Saxon origin, renders it
refer
to
them.
Europe, and
Their striking resemblance to
especially
in
France,
renders
the
types pieces of
these
great value. 1
Anh. Ertesito.Di. W.
the Internativnl Congress of
Lipp, Die griiberfelder von Keszthely,
figs.
328 and 332.
Proceedings of
Buda-Pesth.
2
D. Macpherson, Antiquities of Kertch. London, ^^.Transactions of the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. x., 1858. Roach Smith, Collectanea Anti/jua, vol. v. London, 1861. " Les Bijoux Gothiques de Kertch," Revue J. de Baye, 1888. Archeologique,
3
4
Industrie Longobarde,
Abb
Cochet,
p.
31.
Paris,
1888.
La Normandie
Souterraine, p. 228. multitude, ut inde singulis annis non pauci cum uxoribus liberisque migrant ad Francos, qui in suae ditionis solo, quod desertius videtur, sedes illis ascribunt ex quo fieri
"Tanta
est
hominum
:
dicitur, ut sibi
ex
intimis
quoddam
jus in insulam arrogeiit.
Certe Ffancorum
Byzantium legates ad Justinianum Augustum
mitteret,
Rex non Anglos
ita
pridem,
illis
" ostendens, se huic etiam insulae dominari (Procopius, de Bella Gothko, cap.
iv.,
cum
adjunxerat, 20).
nonnullos ambitiose
RADIATED The
radiated
Roach Smith
in
the
4"
shape of
are
considered
by be prior in point of date to the cruciform and all other AngloThis opinion is confirmed by the classification which it has been
l
birds,
to
2
Saxon
and those
fibulae,
FIBULA.
types.
In fact, there seem good reasons for placing proposed to adopt on the Continent. them earlier than the other Prankish and Merovingian fibukc. The connection between the Anglo-Saxons and the Germanic tribes inhabit-
ing the north-west of Gaul receives confirmation, archceologically, from the discovery The Barbarian cemeteries in the neighbourhood of the Straits of these fibulae.
do
not,
it
is
true,
contain so
Rhenish provinces, and their very rarity
as those of the
many specimens
but they have at least furnished a few fine radiated fibul;e, From another point should certainly entitle them to the closest attention. :;
FIG.
FIBULA IN SILVEK-GILT
7.
I--ROM
of
SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.
FAVERSHAM (KENT).
view, the relations subsisting between the inhabitants of the south coast of Great Britain and the Franks did not exclude the possibility of communications with
English examples of this 1 type come, almost without exception, from Kent, and especially from the coast. 5 iii., Chatham (Kent) has supplied two very characteristic specimens (pi.
Teutonic tribes
other
i
figs,
several
1 2
3
and
6),
now
of these
but
;
in
the
noticeable
is
Museum
at
that
Oxford.
the
From Faversham (Kent) come
ornaments, three of which are illustrated
in
pi.
iii.,
figs.
Introduction to the Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities discovered at Faversfiam, Collectanea Antigua, vol. v., p. 138, 1861. Vaillant,
Le
Cimeticre
de Nesles-les- Verlincthun,
Arras, 1886. 4 Collectanea Antigua, vol. 5
it
ii.,
Douglas, Nenia Britannica,
p. pi.
218, iv.,
pi.
1852, and vol.
fig.
7.
i.,
v.,
figs.
p.
4
137,
and
5
1861.
;
pi.
iii.,
p.
figs,
4,
5,
xv.
i
and 3
ANGLO-SAXON
42
and
1
and
4
Figs.
7.
no means uncommon silver gilt
in
2
were found
5
in
which we
FIBULA.
in
an experience which
duplicate
cemeteries containing objects of this class. reproduce (fig. 7) is from the same locality.
The
is
by
fibula
It
is
3
set
4
one of a
with garnets, and, like those above referred to, pair. Notwithstanding as is identical in in this it include it to are forced we its square head, category, In order to omit nothing which bears on technique with the other specimens. is
consideration
the
found at
also
of this type of
Faversham.
A
5
we give an
fibula,
pair
of
fibulae
of a fragment Folkestone Hill,
illustration
were found
at
'
coloured
Down,
the
s
the
in
The
of bronze
Dover, similar
were
specimens
half of one
of
these
fibula;
with
set
gilt,
slabs
discovered 9
has been
of
garnet,
or
7
and Ozingell found at Chessell at
of Wight, the grave from which it was taken being older This fact, which is noted by Mr. composing the cemetery.
Isle
others
FIG.
Hillier,
Two
glass.
Harrietsham.
than
1 1
Folkestone and
between
FRAGMENT OF FIBULA FROM FAVERSHAM (KENT), SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.
8.
confirms the view previously expressed as to the antiquity of fibulae of
this type.
The
excavations undertaken by Mr.
Neville in the vast
cemetery of
Little
Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, brought to light one hundred and eighteen fibulae, only one of which belonged to the category now under consideration. This specimen is at pi.
given 1
p.
10 iii.,
fig.
3-
South Kensington Museum, Nos. 1079,
-
Ibidem, Nos.
1080,
3
Ibidem, Nos.
1054, io54a.
4
Roach Smith, Introduction
l
79 :l
i
m
Catalogue.
io8oa.
to the
Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities discovered at Faversham,
xiv. '>
6
vol.
Catalogue of the Faversham Antiquities, Nos. 1083, loSsa. The Journal of the British Archceological Association, vol. iv., 1852, pi. ]., fig. 3, and p. 218. Collectanea Antiqua, vol. iii., pi. vi.,
ii.,
7 8
9
fig.
2.
Ibidem, vol. v., p. 137. Now in the British Museum.
10
Neville,
Saxon
Obsequies, pi.
viii.,
fig.
133.
p.
159, 1849.
Collectanea Antigua,
S-SHAPED
We
have further only in
Searby,
FIBULA.
43
found exceptionally
to cite a fibula
far north,
namely,
at
Lincolnshire.
This example is in silver gilt, set with red glass or garnets (pi. Hi., fig. 2). Its admirable workmanship, and the fantastic head which forms its lower extremity, render it a most interesting piece. 1
This series of
found
fibulae
those
for
tion
archaeologists distribution. geographical
England provide a most valuable fund of informa-
in
who
are
in
occupied
investigating their origin
and
S-SHAPED FIBULA. have been the object of special study on the part of archaeolotherefore necessary to notice their presence in Anglo-Saxon territory.
S-shaped gists
it
;
They
is
fibulae
are rarely
met with
England, where they are looked upon as an importation a view which is in all probability the correct one. The rarity of
from the Franks
in
appearance prevents our assigning antiquities of Great Britain. their
Fibulae of various forms,
important place to them
an-
ornamented with
birds'
Two
fibulae.
Lincolnshire
iv.
;
these
of
iv.,
(pi.
Saxon manufacture.
some
they afford us
ornaments, 6),
fig.
They
the
heads, undoubtedly belong,
whatever their source, to the same type of industrial art. The few specimens which we have been able to examine illustrated in pi.
among
in
England are
additional data for the study of S-shaped
forming a
pair,
which come from
Sleaford,
only examples which can be attributed to bronze, plated with tin, and are decorated with
the
are
are in
They are heavy and inartistic in designs sunk in the metal by means of a punch. shape, and their imperfect workmanship is nothing but a degenerate copy of the The idea, which is certainly typical specimens found in France and Bavaria. identical,
is
far less artistically rendered.
valuable collection of Mr. John Evans contains two similar fibulae (pi. iv., These pieces, in bronze, found in a grave at Halsingfield, Cambridgeshire. fig. 7) which are of somewhat peculiar workmanship, are now illustrated for the first
The
time.
A covered set
still
at
on gold
more
characteristic
IfHey,
Oxford
(pi.
foil,
and with
its
head, with hooked beak, 1
specimen,
iv.,
fig.
now It
8).
peculiar style,
resembles, in the
in
the
British
Museum, was
dis-
decorated with slabs of garnets, jewels, its shape, its double bird's
is
its
most remarkable way, the ornaments of a
Collectanea Antigua, vol.
v.,
pi.
xii.,
fig.
i.
ANGLO-SAXON
44
FIBULA.
We
similar type taken from Prankish, Burgundian, and Bavarian graves. also another brooch, one of a pair, found in the cemetery of Chessell
of Wight, and now in the British Museum (pi. iv., fig. 9). pair of bronze fibulre, set with red and blue enamel, connected
A
is
also specially
noteworthy
(fig.
9).
It
belongs
the
to
same
artistic
reproduce
Down,
Isle
by a chain, period, and
recalls the style of the
The
specimens previously referred to. chain, which is formed of slender metal links,
is
not usually found with
FIBULA FROM FAVERSIIAM (KENT).
FIG. 9.
This ornament, S-shaped fibula?, though these are generally met with in pairs. 2 which was worn on the breast, comes from Faversham, Kent. The pin, which was always in iron, has in this case been destroyed by oxida1
and has
tion,
left
only a few shapeless traces of
BIRD-SHAPED
existence.
its
FII5UL/K.
This Bird-shaped fibulce are very rarely met with in Anglo-Saxon barrows. combined with their however, resemblance to those exhumed from very scarcity, strong 3 Frankishc emetcries, is a sufficient reason for not passing them over. In pi. iv. we the specimens at present known in England. which shows the greatest variation from the original type was found
give illustrations of
The
fibula
all
the cemetery at Fairford 4 It is easy to (pi. iv., no. i). recognise the degenerate art of this specimen, which is more like a cluck than the usual bird with hooked in
beak.
The specimen from
Chessell
Down,
represents a bird resembling a dove 1
Roach Smith, Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon
Isle of
(pi.
iv., fig.
South Kensington Museum, No. 1088.
3
Roach Smith,
4
\Vylie,
Collectanea Antigua, vol.
Fairford Graves,
pi.
iii.,
fig.
7.
4).
ii.,
p.
148.
in the British
The cemetery
Antiquities discovered at
Introduction, p. xv. 2
Wight, now
Faversham
Museum,
of Barrington,
in Kent.
London, 1873.
CRUCIFORM
FIBULAE.
45
Cambridgeshire, has also produced a bird-shaped brooch,
in
bronze
1
gilt
(pi.
iv.,
2).
fig.
The
Chessell
Down
cemetery, the mortuary furniture of which resembles so yielded the fibula reproduced in pi. iv.,
closely that of the Prankish burial-places, It
fig. 3.
The
exactly resembles the typical bird, with its characteristic hooked beak. question of the source of these ornaments, representing the hook-beaked
Barbarian cemeteries on the Continent, has often engaged The Gothic tribes had a great predilection for the the attention of archaeologists.
which are found
bird,
in
2
bird as a decorative subject,
and
the Goths remained longest
constant recurrence in those countries where
its
sufficient
is
must be
proof of
its
origin.
noting the rarity of bird-shaped fibulae in English Anglo-Saxon graves, have concluded that they are a Continental type, and that their savants,
presence
in
it
Kent and the
due
is
England
Isle of
as of Continental origin,
said,
to importation.
Wight alone have
and
it
is
furnished objects which are considered in these districts only that the rare examples of the
hook-beaked bird have been found.
The artistic
bird-shaped
The
value.
of the Isle of fig.
5),
fibulae of Fairford
original
its
purity,
is
represented by the fibula
(pi.
iv.,
the hair-pin of Faversham, Kent (pi. iv., These figures of birds, decorated with slabs of
3),
fig. 1
are always found in connection with jewellery set with precious association of bird-shaped and radiated fibulae is now an ascertained
glass,
The
stones.
all
inferior
3
Wight
and one or two pendants.
garnet and
in
type,
and Barrington are imitations, and of
of archaeology.
fact
Barbarian ornaments imported into England, and classed as of Continental Not only are they proofs of intercourse, but they origin, are of great importance. also illustrate the artistic influence exerted over that part of Great Britain which
The
was near France.
It
is
only Saxon art stands revealed in
when all
its
freed from
this
foreign element that
Anglo-
originality.
CRUCIFORM FIBULA. Scandinavia has produced certain objects which suggest a comparison with Anglo-Saxon antiquities, the period during which this comparison is possible being 1
shire, 2 3
Walter K. Foster, Account of the Excavation of an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Barrington, Cambridgepi.
iv.,
fig.
3.
Cambridge, 1883.
1130. 4
"
from the Revue Archcologique, 1888. Museum. Gibbs' Collection, No. Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities in the South Kensington
"Les Bijoux Gothiques de Kertch
Ibidem, No.
1145.
ANGLO-SAXON
46
known
that
to the savants of the
FIBULAE.
North as the
Iron Age. At this epoch the nations, who introduced the Runic first
North was coming under the sway of new character, and at the same time showed, in a variety of ways, that they had been The language of the oldest Runic in contact with the civilisation of Rome.
Sweden, during the
Iron Age, were The progress of science, however, does not as yet permit us of Germanic origin. 1 to affirm that this was the first appearance of the Germans in Scandinavia. These inscriptions proves that the inhabitants of
considerations, advanced on the authority of a savant
first
whose competence
is
undoubted,
may fittingly preface the study of those fibulae known to English archaeologists as cruciform. represent here three of these objects, two being of Swedish origin,
We
while the third
is
Olancl, are in the
South Kensington. It would be easy
to
here brought together
show
These
No.
English.
i,
from Svanskog, Vermland, and No.
Stockholm Museum
typical fibulae
they are extremely rare
No.
;
2
in
is
the
3,
from
collection at
Anglo-Saxon
multiply points of resemblance, but the three specimens
enough a common artistic parentage. have also been studied by Mr. Hildebrand, who states that in Gothland, but abundant in Sweden and Norway. The plainly
numerous in
varieties found throughout this vast region are a proof of the estimation which these ornaments were held by the Scandinavians, during a period suffi-
ciently long to afford scope for
Denmark
In
many
fibulae of this
modifications
form are
rare,
in
the less essential details.
an exception to the general
rule, for
the Scandinavian and Danish antiquities of the
first Iron Age are usually very similar of this class of fibula in is most presence type. England interesting, and Mr. Neville, in his valuable work Saxon Obsequies, gives a series highly important. of these fibula?, from the original model clown to the most degenerate form to
The
in
has given birth. There is considerable difficulty in defining accurately the geographical limits of the type, and its early disappearance from Denmark requires explanation, in view of the fact that it conflicts with the teachings of history as to
which
it
the early
home
of the Angles. 2
The examples fibula;
figured
imported from
on
47 show
the
oldest
variety of cruciform these Amongst early models, the primordial a few are remarkable as ending in animals' heads, very
page
Scandinavia.
types of the cruciform fibulas, Mr. Akerman, speaking of the bronzes from elongated, and with prominent eyes. 3 the that these are horses' heads. Rugby, expresses opinion In 1
2 3
pi. v.
we reproduce some examples
in
which the type, though
Montelius, Antiquites Sucdoises, p. 83. H. Hildebrand, The Industrial Arts of Scandinavia in the
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom.
Description of
Pagan Time,
pi. xviii.
p.
23.
it
has already
London, 1883.
CRUCIFORM undergone some modification, yet
retains
FIBULAE.
47
more archaic form.
the
Finally,
two
by their profuse decoration, a still more recent specimens shown in date. Central and Eastern Europe have not furnished a single specimen of these fibulae they are found only in Scandinavia and in England not, however, in the vi. indicate, pi.
;
;
southern
Inventorium
Faussett's
counties.
Britannica, which deal specially with Kent,
FIG. 10.
These bronze ornaments, so
Douglas' Nenia no reference to cruciform fibula;.
Sepulchrale,
make
and
CRUCIFORM FIBUL/E.
with garnets or other peculiar in form, are never set
stones. style of decoration apparently the south of England. of in the brooches peculiar to them, and not found 1 Akerman gives an illustration of the first cruciform fibula found in England. It was discovered near Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, in 1785, together with some
Some
Roman
few are
coins,
gilt,
or
plated
with silver
a
mostly of the reign of Constantine. 1
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
This
fibula
pi. xx., fig. 2.
was
originally
gilt,
ANGLO-SAXON FIBULA.
48
and the prominent portions were plated with at Billesclon in the
same county.
silver.
A
similar specimen
was found
1
2 have already referred to the examples reproduced by Mr. Neville. Figs, and 3, pi. v., are taken from this group. The splendid series in the British Museum finds worthy rivals in the collection of Mr. Evans.
We
i
the fibula of Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire which was found in the same barrow with another of similar character. these latter
Among
(Norfolk)
fibula
is
v.,
(pi.
fig.
5)
is
now
in
the
(pi. v., fig. 4),
The
Museum. 3
Norwich
Sporle
Among
the
examples discovered at Barrington, Cambridgeshire, we illustrate (pi. v., fig. 2) the specimen which is most interesting, on account both of its rich decoration and of its large size.
It
was found on the right shoulder of a skeleton, and was accompanied
by two other cruciform fibuke of a much simpler character. The same grave contained forty amber beads, twenty-six smaller beads of terra-cotta, bronze clasps on both wrists of the skeleton, and other objects of less importance. Two fibula: of this type, found in a barrow near Driffield, Yorkshire, are quoted Mr. Bowman. They were worn on the breast of a woman, as is clearly indicated by ''
by the position they occupied on the skeleton. Mr. Roach Smith has illustrated a series of cruciform fibula; from Stowe Heath, Suffolk.' Several specimens have been exhumed from the cemetery at Barrow Furlong, Northamptonshire,' while Lord 5
Mr. J3raybrooke has found them in the graves of Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire. Wright has reproduced the fibula from Stowe Heath, Suffolk, a remarkable specimen, eighteen centimetres in length, and decorated with monstrous heads very roughly executed.'
Cruciform
workmanship notice,
the
Lincolnshire these
'
4
is
first 8
(pi. vi., figs,
i
and
2),
and now
in
the British
Museum.
The
first
of
very rich in detail, and full of interest. English archaeologists an these wonderful ornaments as regarding original creation of Anglo-
(pi. vi., fig.
are agreed in
1
when
of unusual size, are most profusely decorated, but the wanting in delicacy. Among the most elaborate, in the class under place must be assigned to the two specimens found at Sleaford,
fibula.%
i) is
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. xiv. Saxon Obsequies, pis. i., ii., iv., v., vi., vii., viii., ix., x. Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. xxxix. Foster, Account of the Excavation of an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harrington,
Cambridgeshire,
1880. n
6 7
8
Collectanea Antiqua, vol. Arch&ologia, vol. xxxiii.
ii.,
pi. xl.
Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, G. W. Thomas, "On Excavations in an
p.
479.
Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
vol.
1.,
pi. xxiii., fig.
i,
and
pi. xxiv., fig. 2.
at Sleaford," Archaologia, 1887,
CRUCIFORM
FIBULAE.
49
The rudely suggested human face bears eloquent testimony to the of this Another remarkable peculiarity is the triangle which originality specimen. decorates the base of the fibula indeed, the whole scheme of decoration excites our Saxon
industry.
;
and demands explanation. This type, which is relatively rare, and somestrictly localised, seems to be an exaggeration of the cruciform fibula of
curiosity,
what
Scandinavian origin, and indicates a new, independent, and peculiar artistic creation. Its localisation may perhaps point to its use by one particular tribe, whose arrival was
independent of the more general migration.
Its rarity
may
indicate that
its
use was
confined to a single community, or that but few artists were capable of executing work of this character, while the date may possibly throw some on which points
light
are otherwise obscure.
a
The grave at woman of wealth.
Sleaford from which this interesting fibula was taken was that of It contained another brooch of smaller size, a necklace of two
hundred and seventy-one amber beads, to which was attached a silver bulla, two silver discs, placed on the bosom, part of the clasp of a bracelet, some fragments of bronze rings, and a girdle-hanger with three bronze pendants near the waist was found a buckle, an iron knife, and some objects of less importance. ;
On
the second Sleaford
fibula
seen on objects of the Barbarian epoch localities.
in
Greece.
we have met
with
it
emblem often number of
a large
in
of
the
On
this
subject
is
impossible,
reserve, and do not seem
of this comparatively
our neighbours, solution.
;
a sacred
however, to consider it as anything more than a same symbol found by Mr. Schliemann in his excavations
It
reminiscence
figured a swastika,
is
late
to
English
archaeologists
have sought
in
here
the
maintained
other regions
We
use of the swastika.
merely suggesting
have
shall
presence
of
for
an
a
prudent
explanation
for the present imitate
a
problem
awaiting
1
Cruciform
fibulae
Northamptonshire,
are
Suffolk,
found
in
Norfolk,
evidently peculiar to the Angles, umbria.
Derbyshire,
Leicestershire,
Nottinghamshire,
Cambridgeshire, and Yorkshire.
who
They were
inhabited Mercia, East Anglia, and North-
impossible to determine accurately the date of the principal colonising incursions of the Angles, but it may be assumed to be the middle of the sixth century. It
is
The Anglian colonies in the East were known as the North-folk and the South-folk. The Midlands and the North were also occupied by immigrants of Anglian origin, or the swastika of Eastern mysticism and the Scandinavian Thor's hammer The presence of this symbol on cruciform ribulaj is an recognised by students of symbology. Translator. additional proof, if one were needed, of their Scandinavian origin and pre-Christian date. 1
is
The connection between
fully
5
FIBULA.
ANGLO-SAXON
50
the Angles, in fact, who were much more numerous than the Saxons, spread over a larger extent of country. The word cruciform must not be allowed to suggest any idea of Christianity,
of tribes allied to them
;
1
the
The
resemblance to a cross being the only reason for so styling these fibulae. barrows in which they are found undoubtedly belong to the epoch of the pagan
Saxons.
2
SQU AK E-H E A
The
the
square-headed
The
types.
group
>K
FIB U
I )
I
.A'].
not the only type included in the class of elongated above discussed must be added the second subdivision,
cruciform fibula
To
fibukc.
I
is
though hitherto no distinction has been made between the two cruciform and square-headed seems
fibula;,
division of elongated fibuke into
reasonable, and will be of use in the study of
savants give the is
it
Anglo-Saxon archaeology. English of cruciform to the second class, on account of the form which
assumed by the base of the
often
that
name
is
A
fibula.
not always in the shape of a cross
;
closer examination, however,
shows
while the head, on the other hand,
always, without exception, retains its rectangular fonr,. considered the characteristic mark of the type, and the will prevent any confusion with the preceding group. double fibula, has not been adopted/
may
This, then,
fairly
be
title, square-headed fibula, Mr. Wylie's suggested name,
We
cannot admit that this type of fibula is exclusively Anglo-Saxon. Several specimens have been met with in France and Germany/"' and we have reproduced two ornaments of the same form, which were found at Testona," Italy. It is, 1
Scandinavia that we find square-headed fibulae, which recall in their development of form and ornamentation the specimens of Anglo-Saxon handiwork. The results obtained by MM. Hildebrand and Montelius, in their researches
however, only
in
into the antiquities of
the study of Anglo-Saxon art. The cruciform fibuke of Sweden are assigned to the first Iron Age T the squareheaded, on the other hand, are classed in the second Iron Age."
Sweden, are of great service
in
;
1
2 3 4
Crania Britannica, p. 182. Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, Wylie, Fairford Graves,
Caranda (Aisne).
p.
Album
p.
481.
19.
of
M.
Fr.
Morcau, pi
xxxi.,
fig.
i.
Baudot, Sepultures de
(Bourgogne), 6 G '
8
Lindenschmit, Handbuch der Deutsclicn Altcrfhu/iiskunde, Taf. xvi. and xvii. Industrie Longobarde, pi. iv., fig. 7. Paris, 1888. From the birth of Christ to about 450 A.D. Montelius, La Siicde Prehistoriquc, p. 83. From 450 A.D. to 700 A.D., approximately. Ibidem.
Charnay
SQUARE-HEADED
FIG. II.
These
FIBULAE.
FIBULA FROM RAGLEY PARK, WARWICKSHIRE.
when
applied to Anglo-Saxon industrial art, lead to the supposition that the simple cruciform fibulae of the archaic type were introduced scientific conclusions,
ANGLO-SAXON
52
FIBULJE.
England at an earlier date than the square-headed fibulae. The latter, being less ancient, presumably represent more recent burials in those cemeteries in which the two styles are found. There can be no doubt that the cemeteries of Little Wilbraham and Harrington were used for a considerable period. It would be incorrect, into
assume
therefore, to
a
rather to
one
to
district
they belong though certain archaeologists have shown that they the Midland counties than elsewhere/ ;
special period/
commoner
are
were peculiar
that these fibula;
in
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries have produced a few examples of the squareheaded fibula, but this type is especially rare in the extreme north and in Kent. All the
There are evident there
is
Thus
traces of an artistic influence of a purely local character.
between the
a strong contrast
we have taken from
Museum
the British
the Cambridgeshire cemeteries
fibulae of Chessell
Hi.,
(pi.-
figs,
massive, and more fantastically irregular
vii.,
(pi.
in
i,
3,
figs.
and
Down, drawings of which 2 and 6), and those from
The
4).
are
latter
more
their style of decoration.
Some
small specimens are represented (pi. vii., figs. 2 and 5) alongside of the larger fibula;. There are a few in existence, however, which are of exceptionally at ii. large dimensions, a remarkable example of which we give (natural size)
This extraordinary shire.
and
Two
*
fibula: in
others, in the
many
bronze
gilt
was found
at
fig.
Ragley Park, Warwick-
very similar brooches were discovered at Norton, Northamptonshire/
Nicholas, Warwick.
at St.
Four
fibula of
5
bronze gilt/ belonging to the same category, were found, amongst
cemetery of
Wilbraham.
Little
One
of these four was
exhumed
from a grave which contained, in addition, eight beads, portions of two other a pair of bronze girdle-pendants, a spear, a knife, an iron ring, and two
fibulae,
finger-rings
in
silver.'
Mr. Wylie mentions a large number of fibula; as coming from Fairford, but Mr. Wylie is of opinion only two of them belong to the type under discussion. that these fibula, which he double fibula;/ marked the military rank, or social styles position, of the wearer.
1
One
'
of
them was lying on the breast of a skeleton.
"Saxon antiquities will be invested with a novel and higher interest if they should be found to carry form and character certain peculiarities which suggest earlier and later dates, and a diversity of
in their
"
parentage 2
"On 1
(Roach Smith, Introduction
to the
Archcvologia, vol. xliv., description of
an Anglo-Saxon Brooch found
Archceologia, vol.
xli.,
pi.
pi.
in
Inventorium Sepulchrale,
Ragley Park," Archceologia,
xxii.
5
Archaeological Journal, 6 7
8
Neville,
Ibidem,
Saxon p.
vol.
Obsequies,
Wylie, Fairford Graves, p.
p. ii.,
179. v.,
vi.,
15.
"
Ibidem,
ix.,
pis.
23.
pis.
ii.
and
iii.
p.
xii.)
xviii.
and
x.
vol.
xliv.,
pi.
xviii.
SQUARE-HEADED FIBULA. Similar fibulae have been found at
Barrington
;
53
one specimen, admirably
gilt,
a most complicated and curious fashion, is in the collection of 1 Mr. Conybeare. Another, from the same spot (pi. vii., fig. 3), was found on the left shoulder of a skeleton, together with two saucer-shaped or concave fibulae of
and decorated
in
This rich grave also yielded preserved some traces of gilding. an iron knife, a silver bracelet, and a few glass and amber beads scattered over
bronze, which
still
''
:!
the upper part of the body. skeleton discovered by
A
Mr.
Neville
cemetery of Linton
the
in
Heath,
breast a fibula belonging to the class with which we are dealing. The grave contained a wooden bucket with bronze hoops, two and fourteen glass and amber large circular fibuke, also of bronze, and one hundred
Cambridgeshire, bore on
its
left
Mr. Akerman, who has carefully
1
beads, scattered irregularly over the clavicles. examined this fibula, considers it far superior
in
execution
to
any other of
its
class.
The generally of opinion that these fibula? were cast. incised decoration, added after the casting, varied in every instance, imparting to each reproduction an artistic peculiarity which distinguished it from the original Archaeologists
model.
If this
be
are
so,
we can understand why
these
while resembling each Mr. Akerman looks upon
fibula?,
other strongly in general outline, are never exactly alike. the Linton Heath fibula as a prototype, and its regularity of ornamentation and Mr. Akerman has distinction. delicacy of workmanship seem to entitle it to this no hesitation in comparing it with the Fairford fibuke.''
we owe our acquaintance with the fibula from It is of an inferior quality Billesdon, Leicestershire, now in the Leicester Museum. The surface was thinly plated of bronze, much used in Anglo-Saxon art-work. with gold, and certain portions were decorated with a plating of silver, now almost The ornamentation of this fibula is less fanciful entirely destroyed by oxidation.
To
the
same
archa?ologist
1
than
is
A
'
usual with this type, but as a whole it is not devoid of interest. recent purchase has enriched the British Museum with a splendid series of
of which no Anglo-Saxon objects from Kenninghall, Norfolk. This collection, one of which, three square-headed fibula?, description has yet been published, includes
by the kindness of Mr. Charles Read, we are enabled 1
2 3
Report Presented
to
the
Cambridge Antiquarian
4
Archceological Journal, vol.
5
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
6
Society,
Bracelets are excessively rare in Anglo-Saxon graves. Collectanea Antigua, vol. vi., p. 159, and pi. xxxiii.
Ibidem,
pi.
xiv.
xi.,
p.
95. pi.
xxxvii.
No.
to reproduce
xxiii.,
pi.
viii.
(pi.
vi., fig. 3).
Cambridge, 1883.
ANGLO-SAXON
54
This example
is
interesting, as
FIBULAE.
showing that the lower part of the square-headed
with a tendency to become cruciform. It is impossible to enumerate all the known specimens of the class to which will only mention in addition the the above-mentioned fibulae belong. Sporle
fibula
is
not always lozenge-shapecl,
We
1
fibula 2
and
the
in 6),
Norwich Museum,
and the
six others
from Marston
fibula
found
Hill,
Down
at Chessell
Warwickshire.
2
(pi.
vii.,
figs.
3
CUPELLIFORM OR SAUCER-SHAl'KI) FIBUL/K. Anglo-Saxon cemeteries have furnished an interesting series of fibula; which are specially characteristic, and which we look for in vain in the other European These fibula: are confined to Gloucestershire, countries invaded by the Barbarians. 4 Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire.
see, they belong exclusively to the West Saxons, and they are specially on the ground both of their execution and of their origin. Mr. Wright interesting has found occasion, in dealing with these remarkable objects, to express his regret
As we
by the Anglo-Saxons had not been more carefully studied. The circular form, concave like a saucer, has earned for these fibuke in England the title a name which very fairly describes their peculiarity, of disli-shapcd or saucer- shaped* that the traces left
and which may be rendered in French concave, or cupelliforme. These fibuke are always of bronze or of copper. The edge is plain and the is while centre with ornamented undecoratecl, designs of an essentially Saxon character."
A
play of light was reflected from the polished border upon the glittering incised work in the centre, the decoration of which invariably consisted of rudely engraved outlines of the human face, or of animals, executed in the same style as the cruciform fibuke.
Saucer-shaped of manufacture. 'I
1
2
he
first
fibula?
are cast in
may be one
divided into two categories, according to the method
piece, while the centre
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxotidom, British
pi.
is
decorated with incised work.
xxxiv.
Museum.
3
Archicologia,
vol.
xxx.,
pi.
xiii.
4
Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, Invenforium Sepulchrale (p. xiv), adds Berkshire.
p.
483.
Mr. Roach Smith,
6
The period of Saxon graves containing circular concave nbute century approximately. 6 In every instance the iron acus is destroyed.
is
in the preface
from the
fifth
to the
to the seventh
CUPELLIFORM
OR SAUCER-SHAPED
FIBULAE.
55
In the second category the ornamental portion consists of a thin plate of bronze gilt, The added portion was probably decorated by is applied by a further process. hammer-work, the design differing in every specimen, notwithstanding their general
which
1
was presumably soldered to the bronze, for there is no The fibulae thus constructed in two portions are rarer than those
similarity of character.
trace of rivets.
with incised decoration
It
in
the solid bronze.
The
peculiar shape of these ornaments, and the fact that they were generally found in pairs, have led to the belief that they were scales, and Mr. Neville, who
bought, at the Stowe sale, some fibuke found at Ashenden, mentions that they were There is, however, no foundation for described in the catalogue as antique scales." this idea.
the saucer-shaped fibuki from the cemetery of Fairford, Gloucestershire, 3 The must refer specially to one, the decoration of which is quite exceptional. 1
Among
we
design is in the form of a wheel, surrounded by an interlaced border, while between This style of decoration is thoroughly each radial line is a T-shaped ornament. characteristic of the
Anglo-Saxons. Mr. Miintz has recognised it in their manuscripts, and it has also been found on ornaments older than, or contemporaneous with, these manuscripts. 1
Interlaced ornament was
employed by
all
the Barbarian tribes, but the T, as a
confined exclusively to the Anglo-Saxons. Its introduction in their goldsmiths' work may be the result of a special artistic inspiration, or of individual taste, or it may be due to their inability to give a proper rendering of the decorative motive,
is
human
give a decided opinion as to its the T-shaped decoration is common to their goldsmiths origin, it must be noted that and their scribes. The ever-perplexing study of the arts, as practised by the various features of the
face.
Though
it
is
difficult to
Barbarian nations, demands the grouping together of the characteristics common to all the Germanic tribes but at the same time the features peculiar to certain nationalities ;
are of equal importance. Mr. Akerman is of opinion that this form of decoration
still
requires explanation
but an examination of the Fairford fibula" suggests the thought that to convey an idea of the principal lines of the human face.
The
question
lies
it
Foster, Account of the Excavation of an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Barrington, p. 10.
-
These fibute are
illustrated
Roman, and
Saxon.
3 4 5
the
by Akerman
Fairford Graves, pi. iii., fig. 4. Miintz, Etudes Iconographiques
Engraved
was intended
rather within the province of a numismatist familiar with the
I
Celt, the
;
in his
Remains of Pagan Saxoridom, and by Wright
re Serie. et Archcologiques, i
in Archceologia, vol. xxxiv., pi. xx.
Paris, 1887.
in
The
ANGLO-SAXON
56
FIBULAE.
or semi-Barbarian types observable in the ancient coins of Barbarian Mercia This very design, for instance, is found on coins of states. dating back to fibulae. decorated of the that a period prior to similarly The ornament resembling a T seems to be a rudimentary representation of the
debased
artistic
1
human by a
The two branches
face.
In
circle or a point.
some
of the
T
curve inwards, each underlined, as a
cases the base of the
3
T
rule,
2
or a lozengeends indications are crude and in
shaped ornament, rudely suggesting a mouth. These vague, but they lend a certain probability to the idea that portray the human face.'
a bar,
it
was an attempt
to
1
In the rich series of fibuke found at Fairford specimens of this type of decoration Rucle outlines of the human face are the can be seen in all stages of debasement. starting-point for a succession of modifications which end in the simple representation of the letter T. Anglo-Saxon scribes and jewellers alike have always shown them-
FIG.
selves inept, even incapable,
12.
COIN OF KING OFFA.
when they attempted
to portray the
human
features.
"
The
celebrated manuscript which has recently been placed in the national library is a sufficient proof of this. Certain capital letters, composed of interlaced ornament
form of animals, ending in clumsy attempts at the human face, betray the same handiwork, and are on the same artistic level as the incised decoration forming the in the
centre of several of the Fairford
fibula;.
also permits the use of lattice-work
K
and
The
style of
ornamentation
in these fibula;
spirals.'
The
celebrated cemetery of Fairford (Gloucestershire) has produced a considerable number of concave fibulae. They include every style of decoration, from rudely 1
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, description of
2
See the
3
Ibidem,
details of the elongated fibulae illustrated in pi.
iii.,
pi. xix.
Fairford Graves,
pi.
iii.,
fig.
2.
fig. 5.
4 The T-shaped ornament is, not improbably, a variant of the Thor's hammer before referred to, in which case the simpler forms would be the older, and those approaching more nearly to the outlines of the human face would be the later and the degraded forms. Translator. 5 An Hiberno-Saxon Manuscript, copied by Holcundus, attributed to the eighth century.
6 7
Fairford Graves, Ibidem, p. 14,
p.
16, pi.
pi. v., fig. 3.
iii.,
fig. 4.
CUPELLIFORM OR SAUCER-SHAPED executed
human
FIBUL/E.
57
heads, bordered by different designs, up to varied combinations of
geometrical figures and gracefully entwined spirals. The learned explorer of the Fairforcl cemetery recognises the seeking, in each locality, the predominant type of arms and ornaments
necessity ;
of
and, indeed,
the most efficacious method of arriving at a knowledge of special tribal The invaders, whether known as Angles, Saxons, or Jutes, were, characteristics. this
is
in reality, an amalgamation of many tribes, associated only for the purpose of ensuring a successful issue to their incursions, and of sharing the spoils. It is therefore by no means unusual to observe, either in arms or ornaments, often in both, a preponder-
ance of a special type
At
elsewhere.
one
objects found Fairford, for instance, the fibuke discovered in the graves of persons in
locality,
compared with
as
similar
They were always found
of high rank are, as a rule, of the saucer-shaped class.
in
generally one on each breast, but occasionally both were worn on the same side. English archaeologists have been unable hitherto to assign the Fairford cemetery to any tribe with certainty. Some consider it to be Saxon, while others
pairs,
1
2 Angles of Mercia. Mr. Wylie mentions that the saucer-shaped fibuke were found indifferently and women. 4 One of the fibulae figured on page 58 (fig. 14), in the graves of men the centre of which is decorated with a star, came from the grave of a male, and is
attribute
it
to the
:!
one of a
pair,
which were worn one on each
breast.
This grave contained,
in addi-
an amber bead of large size, placed near the hips, a large number of small beads amber and glass scattered over the body, and an iron dagger-blade, while a very
tion,
in
had been placed near the skull. which is in excellent preservation, and admirably
interesting vase, of yellow glass,
The
other fibula
(fig.
13),
was one of a pair found with a female skeleton.
gilt,
The
1
use of the spiral
in
decoration
is
very rare
in
Anglo-Saxon
Mention
art.
Wylie, Fairford Graves, p. 23. "Whether the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Fairford
is to be ascribed to the West Sexe, or to the possible it may have been used by both people in succession. The antiquarian evidence, however, seems to us in favour of its Mercian attribution, and of its belonging to the Pagan period. Christianity had been introduced into Wessex in 635, and finally estaThe conversion of Mercia was at a somewhat later period. In 653, blished in that kingdom in 646 A.D.
2
Angles of Mercia,
may be questioned
;
and
it
is
two years before the death of Penda, Peada his son had been baptized, and Christianity was first preached among the Mercians, under Diuma, the Scot, who in 655 became their first bishop. Twenty-five years, however, elapsed before the Mercian kingdom, under ^Kthelred in 680, was divided into five dioceses, of which the sub-kingdom of the Hwiccas, with its see at Worcester, formed one. During the whole of this but many pagan customs period Christianity was doubtless spreading more and more among the people certainly survived" (Crania Britannica, "On an Anglo-Saxon Skull from Fairford"). ;
3
4
Wylie, Fairford Graves, Ibidem,
p.
p.
16.
14.
6
ANGLO-SAXON FIBULA.
58
1
should be made, however, of a fibula from Brighthampton, Oxfordshire ornamented with spirals similar to those referred to above. fig. 4),
(pi.
viii.,
Mr. Wylie notes also certain fibulas decorated with grotesque faces, and designs 2 Mr. Akerman illustrates nine which resemble characters in Oriental writing. saucer-shaped
fibulae
silvered at the back, is
executed with
from Fairford. 3
He
where the acus was
extreme
and
care,
is
states
affixed.
that
The
they appear to have been gilding of the front portions
exceedingly well-preserved, owing to the
hollow form of these ornaments.
FIG.
14.
FlBUL/E FROM FAIRFORD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.
We
have said that
the Fairford fibulae were placed on or near the breast. 4 This custom is apparently peculiar to the and other Anglolocality, for at Harnham Saxon cemeteries they were placed above the shoulders, of which fact additional
proof
is
all
afforded by the presence of traces of oxide of copper on
the clavicles.
ANNULAR FIBULA. Several groups of circular Kent. There exists another 1
2 3 4
fibula;
have been noted
type,
though comparatively an unimportant one, to
in the districts to the north of
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. p. 15, pi. iii., figs. 2 and 5. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. xix.
Fairford Graves,
Arch/xologia, vol. xxxv.,
pi.
xii.
ANNULAR
FIBULAE.
59
which but little attention has been given hitherto. These fibula?, which are generally of a very simple character, are called by some archaeologists annular. They consist of a bronze ring, usually flat, the centre of which was filled by the folds of the dress, while the acus crossed the whole width of the brooch. The ring generally formed a complete
but
circle,
a few exceptional cases
in
extremities of which received Plate
ix.,
which
some
devoted
is
it
consisted of a curved metal rod, the
slight decoration.
annular
to
fibula;,
of the
reproduces specimens
the most elaborate type. The care brought to bear on the manufacture and decoration of these latter shows that this form of ornament simplest, together with
some of
The
copies or imitations of the modest bronze brooches, executed in precious metals, adorned with incised work, with filigree, and
had been adopted by the richer
FIG.
class.
15.
FIBUI./E
FROM LIVONIA, RUSSIA.
sometimes even with substances of great rarity (pi. ix., figs. 5 and 8), prove conclusively that annular fibula; were not worn only by the poor. Observant English archaeologists have remarked that the penannular fibula is A few specimens, however, have been taken from unknown in Prankish barrows. 1
Livonia (Russia), two examples of which, borrowed from the work of M. Bahr,' we here reproduce. From the Fairford cemetery come eight fibula- of this type, in bronze, bronze certain cemeteries in 2
with
plated figs. 3
and
4.
tin,
white
The
first
metal is
specimens the decoration
and
Two
silver.
of these
are
given
one of a pair found on the same skeleton. is
of the simplest character.
in
In
pi. all
ix.,
these
3
1 Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, description of pi. xviii. M. F. Moreau, however, figures " Fibule en Bronze, dite a fibula of this kind, coming from Sablonniere, Aisne, under the following title,
Album Caranda, pi. i., fig. 16. K. Bahr, Die Graber der Liven, Taf. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, and 6.
Affique," 2
J. 3
figs.
5
viii.
pi.
Dresden, 1850. xxx.,
figs,
i
to
8.
Wylie, Fairford Graves,
pi.
vi.
ANGLO-SAXON
60
FIBUUE.
The cemetery of Little Wilbraham (Cambridgeshire), which we have so often to mention, produced twelve annular fibula?, forming six pairs, generally occasion had In two cases the iron without ornament, and all of bronze (pi. ix., figs. 7 and 9). acus was
intact.
still
fibuku of this type, which are remarkable for their simplicity,
Among
must be
i and 6). The first of these placed those from Rugby, Warwickshire (pi. ix., figs, an incomplete circlet formed by the bending of a metal rod, is very similar (fig. i), in character to the two Livonian specimens from the British Museum to which
we have
referred
may be compared
with the
bronze annular
the
manufactured
of
The second
above.
fibula
very clumsy
1
(pi. ix.,
fig.
2).
in
and
execution,
The
majority of
Those by this excessive simplicity. and are precious metals, elaborately decorated, very much are characterised
fibulce
the
Stowe Heath
is
6)
(fig.
rarer.
Mr. Akerman reproduces two specimens of the latter type, the decoration of which obviously owes its existence to the artistic inspiration of the Kentish artificers.
The
first,
the source of which
work, and excels
covered with
all
filigree
is
unknown,
known specimens
in
is
a remarkable example of goldsmiths'
delicacy and finish.
The
work, with the S decoration constantly repeated.
gold plate
The
is
cloisons,
which stand out from the surface, contain slabs of garnet and opaque stones of a The second fibula (pi. ix., fig. 5) is larger. When discovered greenish colour. the iron acus
was
still
in
existence,
and traces of
it
are
shown
in a
contemporary
3 engraving of small merit.'
in
This ornament, together with some human remains, was found by a labourer a gravel pit between Husband's Bosworth, Leicestershire, and Welford,
Northamptonshire. consists of a circular plate of silver, to
which are affixed two plates of gold, with filigree decoration, united by loops of gold wire. On these two semicircular plates four ivory bosses are inserted in sockets, with cable pattern borders/ and in It
1
the centre of each boss
Somewhat
is
set
a thin circular garnet.
similar to the specimen
above described
Cambridgeshire, formed of a thin silver disc, The acus is lost, but it is plain that
centre.
vertically.
On
the upper surface of the disc
forming three concentric 1
2 3 4
Collectanea Antiqua,
vol.
circles.
ii.,
pi.
4
a fibula from Barrington, with a circular perforation in the
it
is
crossed the centre of the fibula
a series of very slight indentations, This fibula, in all its essential characteristics, is
xli.
Gentleman's Magazine, 1815 These bosses are very similar to those of the circular fibulas peculiar to Kent. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom.
See
pi.
x
ANNULAR recalls
the
circular brooches
buttons, irregularly a beaded border.'
This trinket
8).
in
is
61
1
It has four Chavenage (Gloucestershire). each composed of a round carbuncle, surrounded by
we must mention
Lastly, fig.
placed,
found
FIBUL/E.
at
the fibula found at Stamford, Lincolnshire
white metal,
gilt,
and
in
perfect
ix.,
(pi.
It
preservation.
is
decorated with four stones resembling carbuncles, and the upper surface is covered The back is entirely devoid with interlaced work of the most irregular character. of decoration.
3
There are
a few other fibula- which form a variety of this type.
FIG. 16.
In this group
FIBULA FROM SLEAFORP, LINCOLNSHIRE.
the central space, which is left open in the true annular fibulae, is occupied by a cross Several specimens were found patde, or with equal arms, cut out in the metal. at
Little
Wilbraham 4 and
the British
A 1
2 3
4 5
No.
Museum
similar fibula
Engraved
in the
Proceedings of
Sleaford/' of which
was discovered
at
6 I
slip,
latter,
from
Oxfordshire.
the Archceological Association., vol. 1870, vol. v., series
Society of Antiquaries,
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. xii., p. 26. Neville, Saxon Obsequies, pi. iii., figs. 3 and 116. G. W. Thomas, "Excavations in an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
iv., ii.,
Proceedings of the Antiquarian Society,
2nd
series,
vol.
ix.,
p. p.
51,
figs.
2
and
3.
14.
at Sleaford," Archceologia, vol.
95. 6
of the
collection.
Journal of
tlie
we reproduce one
p.
90.
1.,
p.
12,
ANGLO-SAXON
62
FIBULA.
KENTISH CIRCULAR FIBULA. All the efforts of archaeological research have not as yet produced in
any one
country a collection of fibulre to be compared with the productions of Anglo-Saxon have still to describe the circular fibula? discovered in the cemeteries of art.
We
Kent, to which county and the Isle of Wight they are almost exclusively confined. There is indeed no difference of opinion as to their rarity in other parts of England. 1 The preponderance of these highly artistic ornaments in certain cemeteries is very
marked.
them
of
Many
are
extremely tasteful
give evidence of the most careful workmanship. in English schools, falsity of the theory taught
design and decoration, and They are a standing proof of the that there was no Anglo-Saxon in
civilisation.
The costume worn by minutest
details,
the nations of classic antiquity
ancient writers,
by
we have no such
other hand,
Saxons, and
must look
to the
means by which we can obtain
The
writers of the
revealed to
is
mummies, sculptures, and
sources of information with
remains exhumed from a fairly
Roman
true
On
regard
to the
their graves
decadence often mention golden
its
the
Anglo-
as the only
their customs.
insight into
us, in
frescoes.
2
fibulae,
set
with
3
Spartianus, a writer of the time of Diocletian, deplores the everincreasing love of gorgeous jewellery, and regrets the simplicity of the tunics of Hadrian. He records with delight the disdain of that prince for showy
precious stones.
ornaments.
4
Pollio Trebellius represents Gallienus as steeped
in luxury, and adorning his 5 with fibul;u set with glittering gems. person Vopiscus, discussing the effeminate habits of Carinus, refers in like manner to his habit of wearing jewellery of a similar character/ No indication is given in these ancient authors of the origin of this 1
fashion, but
of
Roman
enough
is
said to
show
Pollio Trebellius,
art,
their foreign origin.
He
sumptuous ornaments were not products indeed, mentions a fact which clearly establishes
that these
relates that Claudius the Goth, before his accession
throne, wrote to Regillianus in Illyria, asking
1
2
p.
Wright,
The
Roach
Smith,
Celt,
the
Roman, and
Introduction
to
the
the
Saxon,
him
p.
Catalogue
to
to the
send him some Sarmatian bows,
478.
of Anglo-Saxon
Antiquities
from Faversham,
xiii. 1
1
All the Kentish circular fibulas are decorated with precious stones or with glass. " Sine gemmis fibulas stringeret " (Spartianus, In Hadriano). " Cum chlamyde purpurca, gemmatisque fibulis et aureis visus est gemmato balteo usus est .
caligas
.
.
.
gemmatas annexuit" "
Habuit gemmas
(Pollio Trebellius, In Gallieno). in calceis nisi gemmata fibula usus :
non
est
"
(Vopiscus, In Carino).
KENTISH and two cloaks with
their fibuke.
1
CIRCULAR It
is
FIBULAE.
63
was
plain that the reference here
to orna-
We
the province where Regillianus commanded. know nothing of the form and style of manufacture of these fibuke, though they were undoubtedly different from those usually worn in the later days of the Empire. It is fair to
ments
in
use
in
presume, however, that the art of Byzantium had influenced, to some extent, the productions of the Teutonic tribes but it is at least as certain that the Romans had ;
borrowed certain customs and certain Barbarians
Contact with the
artistic
ideas from their tributaries.-
undoubtedly exercised some influence on the if this were a contested point, it is
goldsmiths' work of the Romans, and even certain that jewels of Barbarian
origin
were worn by personages of the highest
The
"A
poet Corippus thus describes the dress of Justinus II. purple robe, It is fastened by the pin flowing from the shoulders, drapes the person of Cajsar. of a fibula, the chains of which are glittering with precious stones, a trophy of his rank.
:
victory over the Goths."
Mr. Roach Smith,
in
'
several of his works, compares the circular fibula: of
to the brooches of similar character found in Frankish cemeteries.'
Kent
The Kentish
ornaments, however, are sufficiently different in decoration and execution from those of the Continent for us to recognise in them an original style which, at that period, had no counterpart among other nations. By way of illustrating this difference we
give a drawing of a circular fibula (pi. x., fig. 9), reputed to be a Frankish importation into England, and found in Kent in company with other fibuhe of the same shape. In this It is in silver, set with slabs of garnet, and was exhumed at Faversham. locality, at
Chessel Down, and
in
other places, intercourse with the Franks
only by importations of this nature. It seems probable that the circular fibuke of
Kent are of
though Mr. Roach Smith does not consider that the fact Mr. Smith asks, whether these precious ornaments were made
is
is
shown
manufacture
local
;
conclusively proved." country inhabited
in the
by the Saxons, or were simply imported, and, in the latter case, whence did they come?" He has not ventured on a decided answer, but he leans to the opinion that
England could as
well produce these remarkable fibuke as other
which are incontestably of native 1
"
Arcus
sarmaticos
et
Saxon objects
origin.
duo saga ad me velim
mittas,
scd
fibulatoria
"
(Pollio
Trebellius,
In
Regilliano). 2 3
4 5
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, description of the Abingdon
fibula in pi.
iii.
De
Laudibus Justini Minoris, lib. ii., 118. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale.
Corippus,
Roach Smith, Introduction Museum, pp. xiv, xv. 6 Roach Smith, Introduction
to the
Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities in the South Kensington
to the Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. xxiii.
ANGLO-SAXON
64 Mr. Akerman
more decided
FIBULAE.
The
1
magnificence of their goldsmiths' work proves, he thinks, that the Saxons, long before their conversion to Christianity, were already remarkably expert in the manufacture of these ornaments. The goldsmiths' craft was held in high esteem by all the Teutonic tribes. With is
his view.
in
the Burgundians, the blood money to be paid for the murder of a slave who was a worker in gold was more than was demanded for a freedman of ordinary rank."
The Anglo-Saxon poem which
dilates
on the various stations
in
life,
and the
special
on the privileged position occupied nor are the interesting details there set forth to be regarded
capacities required for them, lays particular stress
3 by the goldsmith only as an effort of the poetic imagination. King Edgard, for instance, granted 4 lands in perpetuity by special Charter to /Elfsige, his goldsmith. ;
The
found on a stone at Vieux (Calvados) enumerates, amongst the objects sent from Britain to Gaul as presents, a gold hbula set with precious 6 stones. have here documentary evidence of the existence of a school of '
inscription
We
goldsmiths
Great Britain.
in
7
M. Odobesco, who has made
Kent
to consider the c/oisomid jewellery of
originating
in
the special art to which
have devoted themselves from
of these questions, is disposed as the production of a local industry,
a special study
branches of the Gothic race appear to
all
their earliest
in
Europe. have been especially feminine ornaments, and to have been worn on the bosom. s Mr. Roach Smith compares them to a similar Circular
fibulae
seem
appearance
to
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondow, description of pi. xxix. " " "Si quis Qui aurificem lectum occiderit, cl, sol. solvat (Legis Burgnndionum, tit. x., c. 3). " in nostro mcdiocrcm minore aliquem populo c, pro (Ibid., persona, Ixxv. solidis prascipimus numerare 1
tit.
ii.,
c.
" 2).
componatur.
Anglorum
et
Faber, aurifcx aut spatarius qui publice probati sunt,
Si aurifex fuerit,
Werinorum,
tit.
quinquaginta solidos componatur
v.,
cap. 3
si
" (Ibid.,
occidantur quadraginta solidos cap. add. 44). Compare Leg.
20.
"
For one of wondrous
A
goldsmith's art
Is
provided
gift
;
Full oft he decorates, And well adorns
A
powerful king's noble,
And he
to
Land
recompense."
in
him
gives broad
Codex Exoniensis, Collection of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Manuscript in the library of the Dean of Exeter, with translation by Mr. Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London, p. 331, 1842. Thorpe. 4
6 6
7 8
Registrum Wiltunense,
p.
Collectanea Antiqica, vol. "
Fibula aurea
42.
iii.,
p. 95.
cum gemmis."
Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepuhhrale. Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon.
KENTISH
CIRCULAR
FIBULAE.
jewel represented on the statue of a Roman lady, which and concludes that we must seek the influence of the
65 1
preserved at Mayence, Romans in the art-work
is
of the Anglo-Saxons. 2 This opinion is characteristic of a school which would find the source of Barbarian industries in Romano-Byzantine art. It is true that their common origin must occasionally render it difficult to discriminate between them,
but the two currents, which had their starting-point
the East, have widened out
in
under opposite influences and amid different surroundings, and have retained complete Is it not logical to conclude that Eastern conceptions independence of each other.
would be understood and applied North? How can we expect to
among
the Barbarians,
Gneco- Romans of the
a
in
find
endowed with later
different
sense by the
inhabitants of the
an identical development of the same art all
the vigour of a
new
race,
and the
effete
5
Empire?'
Nenia Britannica, has
furnished us with some very valuable Douglas, information in his notes on the Heppington (Kent) fibula. He considers that the various discoveries of these fibula; in the Kentish barrows prove that these in
his
ornaments were exclusively worn by women. statue of
Queen
is
Queen
Ultragotha, wile of
adorned with a
fibula
This view
is
1
King
Childebert,'
almost identical
in
in
confirmed by an ancient which the neck of the
dimensions
with
the circular
specimen found at Heppington, near Canterbury. The fibula occupied the same position both in the statue and on the skeleton, and Douglas concludes that it was The mortuary furniture of used to fasten the under garment (subucula) at the neck. attributed to the second half of the sixth century." Faussett's excavations, again, afford very strong evidence that these
Heppington fibula; are
is
found almost exclusively
in
Mr. Roach Smith divides them
the graves of women.' into three
categories.
brooches formed of two plates, placed one on the other. divided into cells, prepared to receive slabs of jewels or glass the back.
Saxon
art.
These
We
fibula;
shall
are the richest,
and
circular
1
The first consists The upper surface ;
the acus
them when we come
is
fixed at
is
also the rarest productions of
pay special attention to
of
Anglo-
to deal with
cloisonnd jewellery in England. 1
Collectanea Antiqua, vol.
-
Roach Smith, Anglo-Saxon
3
must
ii.,
pi.
xxx.
Antiquities front Faversham, section ii., "Ornaments," p. xiii. " If the art of the Barbarians resembles in any sense that of the Byzantium of Justinian, the fact " be explained by community of origin rather than by any direct bond of dependence (Salomon
Reinach, Catalogue du Musee des Antiquites Nationales, p. 182). 4 This statue was on the old tower of the church of St. Germain des Pres, Montfaucon, this church was founded by Childebert in 541. 5 6
Douglas, Nenia Britannica,
in
Paris.
According
to
pi. x.
See the Inventorium Sepulchrale Sibertswold, No. 101.
:
Kingston Down, Nos. 161, 205, 299; Gilton, Nos. 7
19, 42,
87;
ANGLO-SAXON
66
The second
class
is
more common
FIBULA. x.,
(pi.
2,
i,
figs,
4,
5,
and
8).
The
a slightly concave disc of bronze or silver, into which is fitted The latter is covered with geometrical another disc of gold, divided into cells. principal
figures, stars, i
and
is
part
and buttons, which vary
in
number
in different
specimens
(pi. x.,
figs,
2).
Fibulaj of the third category are considerably simpler in character, and very The fibula is composed of a single metallic disc, ornamented with abundant. incised work,
and
From both
set with stones (pi.
the
first
x.,
figs.
6,
and
7).
and the second classes we should obtain much valuable
We
assistance in the study of cloisonnd jewellery. last divisions in this place,
3,
reserving the
first
shall,
however, deal with the two
only for discussion under the head of
the cloisonne work of Kent. 1
represents a fibula in silver, with a gold plate decorated with This specimen belongs to the second filigree work and garnets, from Sibertswold. It was found near the neck of the skeleton, category of circular fibula:. together Plate
x.,
fig.
i,
with seventeen amethysts, the barrow containing, in addition, only one large bead, Plate x., fig. 2, is borrowed from twenty-four smaller, and an ivory hair-pin. 1
2
The Douglas' work, and represents a fibula formerly in Faussett's collection. foundation of this ornament is in silver, covered with a plaque of gold, decorated with filigree-work. It is further ornamented with four hemispheres of mother-o'-pearl, one of which forms the central point of the brooch. Each of these bosses is
surmounted by a garnet on gold set with slabs of garnets, at the
In order to give a
more
foil.
From
the central boss radiate three triangles, is a circular garnet.
apex of each of which
distinct idea of the class of
ornament we
will further
mention a specimen from Chartham Down, which we also take from Douglas' book. 3 This fibula, like those above described, consists of a thick plate of silver, to which a smaller plate of gold, which is thus bordered by the silver. All these fibuke have a more or less regularly beaded border, and are surrounded by a band decorated with niello in zigzags. The Chartham Down fibula is also ornamented is
fitted
with ivory buttons, to the number of five, the centre one being surrounded by garnets set in the gold. Each point of the central star is formed of precious stones, and terminates in a triangular piece of lapis lazuli. Fig- 5' P'- x -> differs in some points of composition from In this piece, found at specimen, but the general idea is the same.
Sandwich, a disc of bronze
is
Faussett, Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. 118, No. 101,
2
Douglas, Nenia Brilannica, Ibidem, pi. v., fig. i.
3
preceding Wingham, near
covered by a gold plaque, decorated with
1
pi. xxi., fig. 9,
and
and
p. 87.
pi.
ii.,
the
fig. 6.
filigree.
KENTISH In the centre
CIRCULAR
FIBULA.
67
a four-pointed star of cloisonne in coloured glass, garnets, and blue enamel, the last named in very bad Between each of the points preservation. is a stud inlaid in a circular of red The central stud alone is ornamented plate is
glass.
with an uncut garnet. 1 In the fibula from
which are affixed
Ash
x.,
(pi.
fig.
8) the
foundation
The centre plates of gold. surrounded a boss, ivory by cable-pattern ornament thin
gold, alternating with ivory buttons, in
compose the The number of
gold,
is
an alloy of
silver,
to
consists of a very prominent
silver. Garnets set in the and separated by S-shaped mouldings in relief in
rest of the decoration. 2 fibula:
belonging to the second category is considerable. enumerates thirteen Douglas examples found in Kent Faussett mentions several ;
FIG.
others,
time
recorded
by Mr.
Mayer,
discoveries have been so
correct
Finui.A FROM
17.
in
FAVERSHAM (KENT).
the Inventorium
numerous
that
it
Sepnlchrale, and since that to give a
would be impossible
list.
The
third category, consisting of fibula;
and
made
in
one
piece,
is
represented by
from the grave of a female at Gilton. It is of silver, ornamented with is as set round a semi-spherical ivory boss, garnets 3 usual with this class, while between the stones is incised work, gilt. The other two fig s
-
3.
6,
7 of
pi.
x.
Fig. 3
is
5
examples engraved respectively.
here
(fig.
The
6 and 7) come from Chatham 4 and Faversham latter place has furnished another specimen, which we reproduce (pi.
x.,
figs.
17). 1
2 3 4 5
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. xi., fig. Douglas, Nenia Britannica, pi. ix., fig. 2. Faussett, Inventorium Sepnlchrale, p. 16, and pi. ii., Douglas, Nenia Britannica, pi. viii. South Kensington Museum.
i.
fig.
7.
ANGLO-SAXON
68
FIBULA.
very largely represented in the Gibbs collection at the South Kensington Museum. Several examples also are figured in the Inventorium Sepulchral and in Archteologia Cantiana.
The
third category
is
CLOISONNE JEWELLERY IN ENGLAND.
When
Europe, invaded by the
dawned the
there
era of a
Barbarians, was freed from the
new type of goldsmiths' work
a ;
Roman
classic art
yoke,
disappeared
The with great rapidity, or underwent a most violent and radical transformation.' path of the migratory tribes can be traced throughout its length by discoveries of 1
The
then unknown, by which a metallic basis was covered with precious stones or other hard material, set in cloisons of various Both styles had the same designs, superseded the Roman method of enamelling.
their artistic productions.
process,
till
object in view, namely, to enhance the brilliancy of the metal by the aid of varying To obtain this result the Barbarians had recourse to artistic methods which colours.
were
in
harmony with
their tastes, thereby bringing
about a complete change
in the
style of their trinkets.
Stones, either uncut or in slabs, set in the gold, or contained in delicate cloisons, replaced polychromatic enamels applied to the metal by various processes. The most distinguished savants have attempted to explain the reason of this
almost universal revolution, and several remarkable works have been published on In all probability this class of ornament is Scythian in its origin. the subject. At least
it
is
the Scythian tribes
predominance.
The
cloisonne'
who
development, and secured its lasting style thus adopted by the Gothic nations during the aided
its
early centuries of the Christian era permeated their
Monza
the countries of Europe.
Under
spread over the Continent from Novotcherkask in Russia to Roumania, thence to Kalocsa in Hungary, St. Moritz in Switzerland,
influence
Petrossa in
all
it
Ravenna
Romagna, Charnay in Burgundy, Pouan in Envermeu in Normandy to Kent, to Gourdon Champagne, Tournay Belgium, in Aquitaine, to Guarrazar and Oviedo in Spain, and to many other places in in
Lombardy,
in
in
1
ment
;
Plates ii. and iii. " This class of goldsmiths' work is remarkable, among other special characteristics, for the employof garnets, tabulated, lamellated, or occasionally uncut, sometimes set in the metal, some-
simply
times disposed in symmetrical patterns, either in L'Orfcvrerie, p. 67. Paris, 1877). 3 revolution alike moral, legal,
A
Western Empire.
Radical in
its
a bezel or
in
very
delicate cloisonne"
(De Lasteyrie
and political signalises the epoch of the escape of Europe from the on the people, it could not fail to be so also in their art.
effects
CLOISONNE JEWELLERY Germany and she
We
The East
Scandinavia.
the mother of their
is
art.
IN
ENGLAND.
can justly claim
in
69 these localities
all
that
1
not have long to wait for proof that at a very early period invaders from the North introduced into many provinces of Central and Western Europe the taste for ornaments which are entirely Eastern in conception. This cloisonm 4 work It is idle to is, in our opinion, the first aesthetic manifestation of the Gothic nations.
seek
its
Rome
;
may
and decrepitude of the classic art of Greece and be considered as directly borrowed from the civilised nations
origin in the degradation still
less
of the East.
can
It
is
it
more reasonable
to regard
it
as the adoption
and improvement
We through long ages by the Barbarian tribes. cannot believe that these Northern races, with all the vigour of a young nation, but of a
distinctive
without
art,
2
practised
adopted slavishly, during their long sojourn at the gates of It is at least certain that Asia, an art whose canons were already fixed and definite. which did not the were the fruit of their copy precious objects they plundering raids artistic traditions,
on the nations of the East.
These Barbarians, under the softening
influence of
contact with the civilised peoples of Persia, India, and Egypt, who already occupied a recognised position in the domain of art, created an industry peculiar to themselves,
and
utilised to that
end the gold of the Rhiphajan mountains, and the precious stones
and the neighbouring countries. sumptuous art, which was destined, in its of Persia
Its peculiarities are
ance.
due not only
These are the constituent elements of this later developments, to assume such importto local influences, but also to the initiative
of the Scythian goldsmiths, who, drawing their inspiration alike from the North, the South, and the extreme Orient, stamped all they touched with the mark of their
own
This cloisonnd work, set with precious stones in a kind of mosaic, and combined at times with the most delicate filigree, is sufficiently characIts technique teristic to be remarkable in every country where it has leit traces. individuality.
and
its
constituent elements are easily recognisable.
Ornaments of this nature found in Barbarian cemeteries reach the highest point This sumptuous of luxury and refinement, and indicate the graves of the wealthy. birth the abundance of the rich art, however, so favoured in the country of its by materials needed, must have lost much of its splendour as it wandered farther afield. :!
The 1
original
"The
idea, the style, the
proof that this
form, the processes of manufacture, survived for
wrongly styled Merovingian or traces in the valley of the Danube
art,
found in the
fact that
common
Gaul" (Reinach, Catalogue du Musfe de
2
in
it
left its
Odobesco, Antiquites Scythiques, chap.
vi.
St.
Germanic, is not of Western and in Hungary long before
Germain,
p.
is
became
182).
Bucharest, 1879.
" If the Goths, in this period of their power, used massive gold only " tnde de FArt Gothique). to abandon this extravagance (Henslmann, 3
origin, it
.
.
.
they were forced later
ANGLO-SAXON
;o
FIBULA.
wars and migrations, but the raw material brought originally Massive gold was replaced by thin from the East became more and more scarce. metal plates, often attached to a bed of mastic, which represented approximately the centuries, notwithstanding
1
To garnets, turquoises, and other precious stones weight of the metal original. 2 The work of the Barbarian goldsmiths succeeded glass, coloured to deceive the eye. passed through these successive modifications, during the various stages of their wanbut the changes derings, before their arrival on the Western confines of Europe ;
were limited
employed, and did not touch the
to the material
style or the processes
of manufacture.
and retaining its essential unity of spread over widely distant regions, and adopted here and there
While perpetuating type, the cloisonne
its
original characteristics,
certain local peculiarities. It
as
penetrated
localised,
far
and assumed a
limits of the geographical
how
west as Kent and the special character.
area
in
of Wight, where it became two localities form the extreme
Isle
These
which these ornaments are found.
We
may
ask
and preserved with obvious care by the inhabitants of Kent, has been kept within these limits, has never become common, and has never penetrated into the other portions of Great Britain invaded by the Saxons. 3 it
is
that this jewellery, adopted
Archaeology sets us here a problem in ethnology of the most interesting nature, the solution of which demands the closest investigation.
Numerous
discoveries attest the great development of c/oisonttt? in Kent,
where
the Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths produced those splendid ornaments so thoroughly representative of the art.
We shown
therefore reasonably investigate the technique of the Kent cloisonnd, most characteristic form in the circular fibuke of Kingston, 4 Abingdon, 5
may
in its
and Sittingbourne, which, with some few other pieces, form the finest collection of ornaments of this type. These remarkable specimens are the highest expression of (i
the art of cloisonne1
superior
to
brooches
in
1
2 3
;
them. the
first
Anglo-Saxon workmen, We have stated above
p.
fibulae.
7
527.
Mr. Wright mentions, as an exception, a fibula found
illustrated in the Archaeological
at Sutton,
near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
It
is
Album.
4
Inventorium Sepulchrale, pi. -Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. iii. ArchaologicalJournal, vol iv., Ashmolean Museum p. 253. Oxford. The two Abingdon fibulae, one of which is preserved in London, the other at Oxford, are very i.
5
at
that
category of Kentish circular
Proceedings of the Congress of Buda Pestk, Ibidem.
have never produced anything Mr. Roach Smith placed these
at least,
similar. 6 7
Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. xxix., fig. is the least numerous of the
This category
5.
three.
CLOISONNE JEWELLERY
IN
ENGLAND.
71
composed of two plates of metal, placed one upon the other, and The acus is fixed at the back, and joined by a band of the thickness of the jewel. the front of the ornament is entirely covered with cloisonne' work. When the Eastern Goths spread over Central and Western Europe, they introduced cloisonnd work among all the Germanic races Alemanni, Franks, Saxons,
They
are
1
This
etc.
art,
they were the
of which
FIG.
18.
founders,
BACK AND SIDE VIEW OF
Tin:
necessarily
underwent certain
KINGSTON FIBULA.
modifications, according to the tastes, the material resources, and the distribution of these various nations. The style, at first thoroughly Eastern, and among the
primitive Goths very ornate in form and in composition, gradually lost its strength and brilliancy, and when it reached England had arrived at its smallest dimensions.-
The
process, however,
remained unaltered.
In
Kent the
cloisonne
work
is
on a
Roach Smith, Introduction to the Cata/ogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities from Faversham. The small size of the cloisons has been noticed, in the case of the Sittingbourne and Abingdon fibulae, by Mr. Akerman in his description of pis. iii. and xxix. of the Remains of Pagan Saxondom. 1
2
ANGLO-SAXON
72 very small
much
is
FIBULAE.
and the materials employed of little value while the general striking than in the Gothic ornaments of the South.
scale,
less
;
effect
very improbable that the Jutes were the introducers of cloisonnd work into Great Britain, for they could not have learnt it from the Gothic nations of It
is
We
agreement with the opinion expressed by M. Odobesco, alone have handed on the knowledge of cloisonnd work that the Eastern Goths of North and West the inhabitants the to the North.
are in
full '
The
Kentish
ornaments
are
characterised
remarkable
by
and
regularity
2
Concentric circles of decreasing diameter contain cells of various shapes, fitted into one another with the greatest precision. The general scheme of decoration invariably takes the form of a more or less simple geometrical
symmetry of
design.
resulting Irom the regular combination of these compartments. But it is not only in style that the cloisonnd of Kent resembles the
figure,
found
numerous
scattered over Europe the materials themselves, s 7 mother-o' and rubies, are of Eastern ivory," garnets," lapis -pearl," turquoises, Thus the discoveries of archeology attest the importation of an Eastern origin. industry into England, though the ancient texts are silent as to the existence of
analogous
productions
;
la/.uli,'
any intercourse between the Goths of the East and the inhabitants of Kent. Towards the end of the last century Douglas, studying the magnificent fibula from Heppington, Canterbury, was driven to look to the East for its He origin. much recognised in this brooch all the characteristics of a Persico-Gothic 1 '
style
the Western Empire, and concluded that all these fibulae were im" Since Douglas' period Angloportations, the result of invasion or of commerce. Saxon archeology has made notable strides, but his conclusions have not in in
appreciated
1
any
degree
lost their interest.
Minute descriptions of these magnificent ornaments have been given by various The Goths who issued from Kussia who have given proof of any artistic taste. 1
-
the only tribe,
are
among
their
Barbarian contemporaries
In the Kingston fibula there are seven circles, divided into compartments, slabs of precious stones.
some containing
filigree
and others :!
Nearly
all
Kent are ornamented M. Hcnslmann has remarked that
the circular fibula; of
imitation of those stones. for
red stones. 1
International Congress of
Sittingbourne fibula.
Arc/Mo!ogical Album,
pi.
Pesth, p. 527.
Archaological Index,
pi.
xvi.,
\\.~~Collectanea Antiijua, vol.
3
Fibula; from Sittingbourne,
"
Fibula from Kingston
7
Fibula;
s
Wright, The
9
Douglas, Nenia Britannica, 1793. Ibidem.
10
Buda
i.,
and Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi.
the
xxxvi.
Abingdon, and other places too numerous to mention here. pi. i., and p. 77.
Dvvm.Invent0rium Sepukhrale, from Kingston Down, and from Minster, Kent. Celt,
with garnets, or with coloured glass, in the Goths had a very strong predilection
Reman, and
the
Saxon.
pi.
xxix.
CLOISONNE JEWELLERY English writers, to whose works
and unnecessary
we must
IN
ENGLAND.
73
refer the reader, in order to avoid lengthy
repetition.
We
cannot, however, pass over one special peculiarity of the Kingston fibula, which belongs to the very highest type of cloisonnd jewellery. On the back of is a projection, intended to catch the point of the acus, in the form of a grotesque animal's head, the eyes, nostrils, and neck of which are decorated with The same idea is seen in the splendid fibulae of Wittislingen 2 (fig. 18). filigree work and Nordendorf/ These heads of dragons and grotesque animals are generally
the brooch
J
indications of Gothic workmanship. 1
'-'
Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventor/urn Sepithhrale, p. l!and iv., Taf. xxiv. Lindenschmit, Die Alterthiinier Handlmch der Deutschen Lindenschmit, Alterthumskunde^ Taf. .
3
.
xxii,
1856.
.
xx.,
1886.
CHATELAINES, OR GIRDLE-HANGERS. MONG
the
bronze
pieces,
skeletons.
exhumed from Anglo-Saxon graves
objects
found
generally
in
are certain
pairs near the waist of female
1
ladies
Anglo-Saxon
wore a very complicated
dress,
richly
and
These bronze objects, called by English elegantly ornamented. have attracted considerable attention. Nothing resemarchaeologists girdle-hangers, in the cemeteries excavated on the Continent, nor been found has them bling has Kent furnished a single specimen.
They
belong,
in
fact,
exclusively to the
occupied by the Angles. Plate xi. is devoted to these objects, but we only give a very limited number, order to be able to reproduce them the natural size. Besides, all the known
districts
in
specimens are similar
The
is
any variety. might be keys
;
but
general outlines shape of these objects at in their
this
view had soon
;
it
is
only in the details that there
first suggested the idea that they be abandoned, the bronze not being
to
sufficiently thick or strong for that purpose.
Mr. Roach Smith, who took a great interest
these mysterious articles, is of opinion that they are girdle-pendants, serving the same purpose as the modern
He
compares them Germany, at Sinsheim
chatelaine.
found
in
to certain 2
in
triangular plates,
and Selzen.
in
open-work bronze,
3
This comparison, however, would only be permissible if we could consider as mutilated specimens as a matter of fact they have retained their original shape. Similar ornaments have been found on the banks of the Rhine and in France, and it is quite impossible to attribute to them the same rote the
German bronzes
as that of the
1
Wright, The
;
Anglo-Saxon bronzes of which we are speaking. Celt, the
Roman, and
the
Saxon,
p.
491.
Roach Smith,
Collectanea Antigua, vol.
v.,
P- '39* 3
pi.
Jahresbericht an die Mitglieder der Gesellschaft von R.
Lindenschmit,
Ivi.,
fig.
Das Germanische
Wilhelmi, 1838. Collectanea Antigua, vol. Todtenlager bei Selzen, p. 25, 1848.
4.
74
ii.
OR GIRDLE-HANGERS.
CHATELAINES, Most
archaeologists are of opinion
that these
75
ornaments were the fastenings
1
of a bag. Mr. Wright believes them to have served this purpose, basing his view on the presence of holes in the extremities of certain specimens, these holes 3 Mr. Thomas agrees, being at times even furnished with rings' (pi. xi., fig. 2). but argues from some new and very He shows that interesting observations. five out of eight of the from the of Sleaford were girdle-hangers coming cemetery accompanied by certain small objects in bone or ivory, disposed in an incomplete circle, about nine centimetres in diameter near the upper part of the girdle-hanger. 11
The
These presence of these small bone objects had not been previously noticed. were the framework to which was attached a girdle-hangers, therefore, probably
The metal portion often shows traces of an adhesion purse of stuff or of leather. of stuff,' and the decoration of the bronze is only on one side. Again, the perforations 1'
at the base,
and especially
fastened to
some
A
at the angles,
seem
to
show
that the girdle-hangers
were
textile fabric.
good many specimens are
Roach Smith's Collectanea
figured in Mr.
Anliijua." the from found close to the xi., reproduce example Searby (pi. fig. 2), thighbone. The grave contained, in addition, a pair of quoit-shaped fibuke, corresponding in position to the breasts, and a necklace of twenty or thirty glass and amber
We
beads about the neck.
One
of these pendants,
exhumed without
its
fellow from the
barrow of Sporle,
is also Chatelaines being rare, given in the same work. be useful to mention the localities in which they have been found these
near Swaffham, Norfolk, it
may in
are,
;
'
Scaleby, 3);
fig.
those already cited, Stowe Heath,' Suffolk (pi. xi., s near Caistor, Lincolnshire Little \Vilbraham, Cambridgeshire
addition
1
to
i)
(pi.
xi.,
;
fig.
a
place not
accurately specified
in
Leicestershire;
11
and Soham,
1
"
;
Cam-
bridgeshire. 1
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2nd series, vol.
'
2 3
Wright, The Celt, the G. W. Thomas, "On
Archceologia, vol. 4 8 6 7
6 9 10
1.,
p.
Roman, and
the
Excavations
in
Saxon,
p.
an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
4.
Roach Smith, Collectanea An/ii/ua, vol. Ibidem, vol. ii., pis. xxxix., xli., lv., Ivi.
ii.,
;
p.
vol.
234. v.,
v.,
p.
496,
1873.
491.
pi.
xiii.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondotn, pi. xxxix., fig. Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua, vol. ii., pi. lv. Neville, Saxon Obsequies, pis. xiii. and xiv. Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 49.
2.
Proceedings of thv Society of Antiquaries of London, p. 496, 1873.
at
Sleaford,
in
Lincolnshire,"
NECKLACES AND GLASS BEADS. EVERAL furniture
varieties
of
beads
are
amongst the mortuary Even the most modern are
included
Anglo-Saxon barrows.
of
undoubtedly of older date than the introduction of Christianity, and those found in the graves of Saxons who had been converted to the
new
must be referred
period earlier than that of the burial. Many pagan superstitions still lingered among the new converts, and these beads retained their mysterious prestige in the eyes of the Barbarians, and had lost
none of
religion
their miraculous virtue.
In the opinion of Mr.
to a
1
exhumed from Anglo-Saxon Roman specimens of the commonest type, and
Wright the many
varieties
barrows are composed in part of The manufacture in part of beads which undoubtedly belong to Anglo-Saxon art. of Roman beads no doubt continued after the colonisation of Great Britain by the
Anglo-Saxons, and variety in
Mr. Wright has satisfied himself of the existence of every Glass beads certainly belong originally to Roman Saxon cemeteries.
The beads
art.
in
terra cotta or
faience,
incrusted with vitreous substances, are
undoubtedly of Anglo-Saxon origin, and are necessarily in various styles. These brilliant incrustations are in many colours, and are executed with excellent taste. 2
Some
archaeologists
have remarked the resemblance between the necklaces of
The glass beads from Barbarian graves and those coming from Asia and Africa. famous traveller Masson has noted the analogy between the beads exhumed in Saxon cemeteries and those of the mounds of Northern India. Mr. Roach Smith is Pollio Trebellius prepared to attribute these objects to importation from the East. mentions a large trade in beads, which he calls gemmce vitrecc, or bullce vitrece? Glass beads are sometimes transparent, sometimes opaque occasionally :i
;
transparent in part only. rounded, flat, or conical, '
"
Remarks
Arckceologia, 3
4
on
a
Those of medium cylindrical,
Coloured
size are
of every possible oblong, or square; they vary as
Drawing of some
Ancient
Beads
executed
by B.
1851.
Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 426. Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchral?, pi. xxxvi. Pollio Trebellius,
De
Gallieno.
Claud.,
Epigramm. de 76
Faversham Catalogue, Crystallo.
p. xvi.
shape
much
in
Nightingale,"
NECKLACES AND GLASS BEADS. colour as in form.
1
There
is
77
no doubt that they were used, as Mr. Wright
says, to
2
form necklaces, which were worn by both sexes. Certain other beads of exceptionally large size have also been discovered
in
Anglo-Saxon graves. These specimens are not apparently connected with the smaller varieties by any intermediate gradations in size. Archaeologists, therefore, who have found them in the Barbarian cemeteries of the Continent have not hesitated to place them in a separate category. Archaeologists have often mistaken for necklace beads a class of objects which while they are similar in appearance, are not identical in shape. They are less regular than the rounded beads intended to be seen from all sides, and, though larger,
they cannot be compared with those intended for use
FIG. 19.
are semi-spherical,
the rounded
in
necklaces.
They
BEADS FROM SIBEKTSWOLD, KENT.
side being covered with
ornament, while the
flat
This arrangement clearly indicates that the object was intended to be attached to the clothing, so that the portion which was decorated
surface
is
quite
plain.
the beads was alone visible.
A
hole drilled through the centre rendered the Messrs. Wylie, Akerman, and Chiflet, matter. 3 fixing of these ornaments an easy 4 and some other antiquaries, regard these large glass beads as amulets or talismans.
like
Baudot, however, as the result of his 1
Douglas, Nenia Brilannica,
p.
own
observations, preferred to regard
them
as a
115.
Wright, The Cell, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 189. 3 Baudot, Sepultures des Barbares de fEpoque Merovingienne, p. 62. 4 Mr. Wylie remarks on the rarity and the interesting nature of a large bead in greenish glass which he found near the hand of a skeleton (Fairford Grams, p. 14). The grave .of a warrior also 2
contained an amulet bead of green and bluish glass (Ibidem,
p. 20).
NECKLACES AND GLASS
78
BEADS.
kind of button employed to fasten the garment, and it is quite possible that they have been occasionally used instead of fibula; for this purpose. With fastenings of this character, a loop ot cord or a simple button-hole would suffice to hold the
The explorer of the Charnay cemetery has called attention to the robe firmly. absence of fibula; from the graves containing these large glass beads, which he calls buttons, while
Douglas had long before expressed almost the same opinion.
in diameter. Some few specilarge beads are about eight centimetres mens, transparent, with opaque white decoration, and others with circular yellow lines on a black ground, have a perforation of exceptional size. They have apparently
These
been used as buttons,
1
to fasten the folds of the
garment. We figure on the previous page three of these beads from Sibertswold Down, 3 Kent. They are found exclusively in the graves of females.
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries contained beads of various materials, as is shown by the excavations of Faussett. Amber, glass, both transparent and opaque, clays of different colours, crystal, amethystine quartz, and even silver, were employed Besides these varieties, Douglas mentions a row of garnet The latter, which are of Eastern origin, are from shells. and others made beads, generally from a shell of the genus Cyprea.' The abundance ol amber beads in Anglo-Saxon graves is a fact beyond dispute they vary, however, very much in size and shape, being sometimes round, in
their manufacture.''
1
:
'
;
The decomposition, however, which lozenge-shaped, square, or flat. has taken place on the surface of the material has destroyed their transparency, at
1 '
others
their
lustre,
and
their polish.
These amber beads, unless found
singly,
formed a
part of the necklace.
Tacitus states
Germanic
that
amber was
who were
collected
on the shores of the
Baltic
by the
high prices they obtained for it.' Pliny also tells us that it was largely employed by the Romans in the manufacture of jewellery. It was held in high estimation by the Roman ladies, though Pliny tribes,
seems unable only
1
2 3
4
used
as
the
8
These beads were not assign any reason for their preference. ornaments, but were also talismans for protection from danger,
Douglas, Nenia Britanmca, p. 114. Faussett, Inventorium Sefiit/chrale, p. 108, Nos. 30 and 31. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale,
Douglas,
Britannica, p. 115. Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale,
Roach
Douglas, Nenia Britannica, Tacitus,
"
p. xvi, et seq.
Nema
6
8
at
to
5
7
astonished
De
p. xxvi.
p. 114.
Moribus Germanorum, xlv. in deliciis, feminarum tamen adhuc tautum, succina obtinent eademque omnia
Proximum locum
hac quam gemma auctoritatem,"
etc., (Hist.
Nat.,
lib. xxxvii.,
cap. 9).
CRYSTAL BALLS. and
79
Mr. Wright has frequently noticedin AngloSaxon graves a single amber bead, hung round the neck, or placed near the head of the corpse, and it is probable that this practice was very general, for St. Eloi especially
against
witchcraft.
1
enjoined on
Beads
women
not to wear amber beads in this manner.-
amethyst are very frequently found in England, and especially in A barrow explored at Breach Down, in the village of Barham, near CanterKent. 4 a complete necklace composed of eighteen beads of amethystine contained bury, in
3
This example has been reproduced by Akerman/' Beads of this substance for example, one necklace composed of various are constantly found in Kent quartz.
;
eleven of them." Douglas calls- them native amethysts, but a on chemical Akerman, relying analysis, asserts that there is good reason for believIt must be admitted, however, that ing them to be of Transylvanian origin. contained
materials
of
amethystine quartz
These beads, and the extreme
the
same character
crystal balls of
art.
found at
Oberstein
which we have next
regularity,' the perfection of their
of the lapidary's
is
in
Germany.
to treat, are drilled with
workmanship indicating an advanced stage
s
CRYSTAL BALLS.
The
oldest
mention of
crystal
coming from Anglo-Saxon graves they were used for occult purposes.
balls
10
is
in
Mr. who attempts to prove that Douglas, Roach Smith, however, is of opinion that all the objects exhumed are capable of a and sees no reason to seek for any exceptional interperfectly simple explanation, the use of which is somewhat less obvious, or to pretation in the case of articles assign to 1
them any
fanciful
role"
The
Uom
3
Archceologia, vol. xxxvii., p. 149, 1855.
6 6 7
8 9
which have formed the subject of
Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 48;. Grenier, Introduction to the Histoire Generate de la Picardie,
2
4
crystal balls
Ibidem, vol. xxx.,
p.
315.
p. 47.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. v. i and 3. Douglas, Nenia Britannica, p. 35, pi. ix., fig. i, and p. 46, pi. xii., figs, Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. xxvi. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, p. 9. Britannica puts the case so strongly, Douglas' note on pp. 14 and 15 of Nenia
in favour of the
not to be disposed of by the somewhat being used for magical purposes, that it is certainly that it was employed for purposes of divinaMr. Smith. of Roach methods out, Douglas points summary a use which certainly lasted into the middle ages in Europe among the practitioners of the occult tion with It was also so used in Japan and the Far East generally, and magic crystals may still, sciences. crystal ball
be obtained in those regions. Translator. Douglas, Nenia Brilannica, pi. iv., fig. 8. Roach Smith, Preface to the Inventorium Sepulchtale,
difficulty, 10 11
p. xxxvii.
NECKLACES AND GLASS BEADS.
So
Douglas' long dissertation are merely ornaments intended to be hung from the waist, 1 After a comparison of similar examples from Oberor worn in some other way. flacht (Swabia) with those discovered in England, and especially in Kent, Wylie
pronounces them to be amulets. Teutonic belief in their virtue.
The poem One of these
of Beowulf gives an illustration of the talismans, we read, was attached to the
2 of the helmet, to neutralise the force of the enemy's blows, and it seems This probable that this marvellous protector was a ball or a bead of some kind.
crest
some confirmation from the
Wiesbaden Museum, These objects from which a pendant of crystal is suspended by wire fastenings. have retained their magical reputation even in modern times. They are supposed to theory appears to obtain
fibula in the
have the power of stanching the flow of blood, for which reason they are known as 3 blut-stein. The KormakSaga, also speaks of an amulet called the stone of life. Aker-
man
considers crystal balls to be talismans,
4
necessarily of different forms
;
sometimes
the mineral was simply polished, and suspended by fastenings of iron or silver, 5 while other specimens are cut with facets, and drilled for purposes of suspension. will first mention the best-known examples of the former class. The ball from Kingston
We
Down, Kent/' quoted by Mr. Roach Smith, is worthy of attention, but in interest by the Chatham specimen, figured by Douglas (fig. 20). 7
the
sphere
is
suspended by two
it
is
exceeded
In the latter
which cross each other below, and Through the cap, which covers them,
silver bands,
are joined on the upper surface of the ball. is similar specimen, passed a ring, and through this a second ring of larger size. but without its setting, was found in the same locality.* One of these crystal balls,
A
1
with
its
mounts, from Faversham, Kent,"
Roach Smith,
Collectanea Aiifiijiia, vol. -
"
vi., p.
is
in
the South Kensington
Museum, and
150.
About the
crest of the helm, defence of the head, held an amulet
The It
Fastened without with wires, That the swcrd hardened with scouring,
Might not violently
When
Should go against
"The
Graves of the Alemanni
at
injure
him
the shield-bearing warrior his foes."
Beowulf.
Oberflacht in Swabia," Archceologia, vol. xxxvi.,
p. 149, 1855.
4
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pp. 9 and 10. 5 The latter seems peculiar to Kent. Roach Smith, Introduction Antiquities in the South Kensington Museum.
to the
Catalogue
oj
Anglo-Saxon
6
Faussett, Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. 42.
7
Douglas, Nenia Britannica, pi. iv., fig. 8. Roach Smith, Preface to the Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. xxvii. Roach Smith, Catalogue of Anglo-Saxcn and other Antiquities discovered at Faversham in Kent,
8 !)
No. 1147.
-p.
10,
CRYSTAL PALLS.
8r
another of the same kind was found by Mr. Brent in the cemetery of Sarre, Kent. The presence of these amulets in the Kentish cemeteries, in conjunction with per-
1
forated silver spoons, constitutes one of the points of resemblance between the burialand those of the Isle of Wight, and clearly indicates a close places of that county
FIG. 20.
relationship
between
that settlers in 2
Jute descent, contention. 1
2
BALL FROM CHATHAM, KENT.
their inhabitants.
Kent and the
Isle of
Bede had
excellent reasons for his assertion,
Wight had a
common
origin,
both being of
and archaeology adds the weight of its discoveries in support of this Mr. Hillier found in the Chessell Down cemetery two crystal balls,
Arcfueologia Cantiana, vol. v., p. 310. Collectanea Antigua, vol. vi., p. 150.
Roach Smith,
Collectanea Antigua, vol.
vi., p.
150, 1868.
9
NECKLACES AND GLASS
82
BEADS. 1
suspended in the same manner as the Chatham specimen, and, as in the latter case, 2 one of them was accompanied by a perforated silver spoon. The historical evidence on this interesting question has been fully discussed, and is
now admitted without
people mentioned Britain (A.D.
corsairs of the Frisian coast
3
are the earliest
formed a permanent settlement in Great little later, according to the statement of Nennius, another the neighbourhood of Wall by the Jute Chiefs Octa and
history as having
in
A
488).
The
reserve.
colony was founded in Ebissa while at the beginning of the sixth century a further westward migration took To these we must add, on the authority of Bede, the establishment of a place. ;
1
This historian states that the population Wight. of Kent, the Isle of Wight, and the Hampshire coast opposite the Island, were and Anglo-Saxon chroniclers seem descended from the Jutes, a Germanic nation colony of Jutes
Isle of
the
in
'"'
;
unanimous on
We
have now
character was
borough
that point.''
in
made
The
earliest discovery of this
some excavations undertaken by Lord LondesBreach Down, near the village of Barham, Kent. 8 It is The mortuary interesting specimen is from the grave of a female. the course of
in
a barrow at
probable that this furniture
consisted
pendant,
in
finder o
to consider the perforated balls.'
of
necklace
a
the centre of which
of eighteen amethyst was set a garnet, and,
beads, finally,
a
circular
two plain
gold silver
rino\s." o
Amulets of
Mr. Wylie mentions type are not confined exclusively to Kent. three found at Fairford, of which one, which he figures, came from the grave of a this
10
Another specimen, placed in a mortuary urn, was exhumed at Hunsbury Hill, Northamptonshire," while Mr. Wyatt notes the discovery of a similar object at 12 Kempston, near Bedford. In various localities on the Continent, which we briefly enumerate, the Barbarian
warrior.
1
2 ::
Hillicr, History and Antiquities of the Isle of Wight. Inventoritim Sepukhrale, Preface, p. xxvii. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities from Farersham, p. Worsanc, The Danes and Norwegians, p. xvii, 1852.
4
Thurnam and
5
Bede, Hist. Eales
Davis, ,
Crania Britannica, chap.
bk.
i.,
vii.
London, 1865.
vi.
chap. xv.
Lappemberg, vol. i., p. 96. seems probable that this class of crystals, as well as those which were cut in facets, were merely worn as ornaments, or at most as talismans. Their value for purposes of divination would, by the analogy of Eastern crystals, be destroyed Translator. by drilling or culling. 7
8
1
2
It
Archaologia, vol. xxx.,
p.
47.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
p.
Wylie, Fairford Graves, pp.
pi.
15,
Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Collectanea Antigua, vol.
vi.,
p.
p.
19, 10.
150.
20,
9,
pi.
iv.,
v.
fig.
i.
Journal of the Archaological
Institute, vol.
ix.,
p.
179.
CRYSTAL BALLS. cemeteries have furnished these amulets.
The
83
tomb of Childeric contained Moreau in the department of
so-called
1
a crystal ball. Several others were found by M. F. Aisne. Another, now in the Evans Collection, was formerly amongst the treasures of Pecquigny (Somme). Perforated crystal balls have also been found at Vicq (Seine~ and Sens (Pas-de-Calais). single specimen et-Oise), Nesles-les-Verlincthun
A
3
comes from the cemetery of Spontin, Belgium, and, recorded
1
in
Germany
T-
Vaillant,
Namur Museum.
4
Mayence Museum. Lindenschmit, Die
presence has been '
de Childeric, p. 221.
Le Cimeticre Franco-mcrovingien de
3
finally, their
Nordendorf, Alzey/ Heddesdorf, and Schiersteiner.
Abbe Cochet, Le Tombemi
-
'"
at
Allcrthiimer,
band
ii.,
taf.
6,
Ncsles-les-Verliihihii/i, pi.
heft
xii.
iii.,
fig.
5.
Arras, 1886.
AND COMBS.
EARRINGS, HAIRPINS, ARRINGS
have never held the same rank as ornaments with the
Anglo-Saxons as with the Franks. The Barbarian graves of Belgium, France, the Rhenish provinces, Bavaria, and, above all, Hungary, have produced a large number of specimens, some of them of great
The
and the extreme simplicity of these ornaments in England, when compared with their abundance elsewhere, is one of the distinWhile their rarity is thus a matter guishing features of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. beauty.
scarcity
These English earrings of their simplicity there is no question. were manufactured by the same process as the finger rings of silver wire, namely, by simply bending the metal into the form of a ring, to which a spiral twist is of comparison,
1
occasionally imparted.
From
cemetery of Chavenage, Gloucestershire, earrings were exhumed formed of thin crescent-shaped plates of silver, running into very fine points, which were connected by a twisted wire. 2 Mr. Akerman cites an earring in copper or alloy, gilt,
the
found near Stamford, Lincolnshire
covered near a female
3
and a pair of these ornaments were
;
dis-
skull at Fairford, Gloucestershire.
Careful search has been
made
for traces of these
ornaments, their comparative and here and there some few isolated
having given them a special interest, beads have been discovered, and cited in archaeological works.
rarity
For example, a bead
of white and turquoise blue, which had formed part of an earring, was exhumed at Graves Nos. 65 and 66 in this cemetery yielded two glass Sleaford, Lincolnshire." beads," one of opaque white, the other of yellow, also opaque, which had been broken off
an earring. 1
Grave No. 4 produced an earring
Wright, The
Celt,
the
Roman, and
the
Saxon,
2
Ibidem.
3
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
4 5 " '
pi.
p.
xii.,
in twisted
bronze
7 ;
p.
7.
84
its
485.
fig.
3,
p.
26.
Wylic, Fairford Graves, p. 14. G. W. Thomas, On Excavations in an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Sleaford, Ibidem, p. 10. Ibidem,
while
p.
7,
1887.
neigh-
HAIRPINS.
85
hour contained a small specimen in silver similarly treated. Lastly, two other graves numbered 197 and 232 yielded several examples in iron, simply twisted.- Mr. Roach Smith has been unable to come to a definite conclusion as to the beads set in 1
rings
which are figured
in the plate of the
Inventorium Sepulchrale?
He
of opinion, were that intended for the ears. however, they Being generally found in the region of the neck, they must either have been worn as earrings, or formed part, with other beads, of a necklace.
is
1
Faussett, however, in speaking of similar objects discovered in the excavations 11
at Gilton,"' Sibertswold,
7
Kingston Down, Barfriston Down," and Chartham Down,"
Kent, describes them, without hesitation, as earrings.
HAIRPINS. Messrs. Wright and Roach Smith hold opposite views on the subject of AngloSaxon hairpins. The former asserts that they are common,"' while Mr. Roach " which latter view we consider the more plausible. Smith maintains them to be rare ;
In
hairpins are scarcely mentioned
fact,
in
the numerous works which
we have
museums. With the Barbarians and the Romans alike they were evidently used
sulted,
and
are, in addition,
very rarely seen
hair in place at the back of the head.
con-
in
They
to
keep the
are generally in bronze, but sometimes
The more
simple specimens were almost always provided with a ring at the upper extremity, and in the cases where it is missing a hole is drilled in the end Mr. Roach Smith has described an interesting through which the ring passed. in
bone.
specimen
same
12
metal,
several
of the Teutonic tribes,
13
W. Thomas, On Excavations
1
G.
2
Ibidem, pp. 20 and 22. Faussett, Inventorium Sepulchrale,
3
were especially affected by the Livonians."
in
Roach Smith, Introduction
5
Faussett, Inventorium Sepulchrale, p.
1
8 9
10 11 12 13
14
i.,
Ibidem, pp.
to the
an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Sleaford,
pi.
4
6
pi.
with a bronze head, from which were hung triangular plates of the These pendants, which were in use among attached to a movable ring.
in iron,
p.
8,
The
1887.
vii.
Inventorium Sepulchrale,
p.
xxvii.
15.
105 and 115.
Ibidem, pp. 43
and
62.
Ibidem, p. 140. Ibidem, p. 170.
Wright, Ttie Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 485. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale, Collectanea Antiqua, vol.
v.,
pi.
xiii.,
fig.
Ibidem, vol. ii., p. 235. Dr. Gosse, Memoires et Documents Publics fig.
4.
Wylie, Notes on the Swabian
4,
p.
par
Mounds
p.
xxxi.
139. la Societe tfHistoire et d* Archeologie de Geneve,
discovered by Captain von Durrich.
t.
ix.,
86
EARRINGS,
AND COMBS.
HAIRPINS,
metal triangles striking against each other produced a sound whenever the wearer
moved.
1
head set with stones, coming from a female has been figured by Mr. grave at Wingham, Kent, and described in Arckteologia? 3 Akerman and by Mr. Lindenschmit. The head of the pin found at Sleaford in 1881 is fan-shaped, like the Wingham
The
hairpin in bronze,
gilt,
with
its
''
specimen above
The and
mentioned
Sleaford specimen,
;
now
in
however, essentially different
it
is,
in
the British
Museum,
is
in places
workmanship.
plated with gold
tin.
Akerman
Mr.
has also figured a hairpin
in
bronze, with cruciform head, very
design and careful in workmanship, which comes from a barrow at Breach elegant Down, Kent." Another in bronze gilt, and very richly ornamented, which was found in
now
7
the Canterbury Museum. collection contained two hairpins joined by a chain s a Lord Londesborough's circumstance which may perhaps explain the holes drilled in the heads of certain in a
grave
at Gilton,
Kent,
is
in
which we have previously referred. We will conclude this dry list of names with a description of the most interesting Like the majority of those above mentioned, it comes from one of specimen of all. specimens
to
exhumed
the rich burial-places of Kent, having been
duced
in
pi.
iv.,
fig.
Kensington Museum "
5.
Our
for the
cordial thanks are
photograph of
due
this piece.
at
Faversham.
to the
It
is
repro-
Director of the South
Mr. Roach Smith has figured
lft
while similar specimens have been disit Normandy 11 Numerous examples show the covered in Belgium, Wurtemberg, and Burgundy. connection between these bird-shaped hairpins and the group of Continental antiquias a parallel to a pin found in
;
which belong the fibula; of similar form. Archaeologists are of opinion that be conclusively proved by their into which seems to were imported England, they extreme rarity in that country, and their localisation in Kent and the Isle ties to
of Wight. For
1
p.
this
reason this
is
called in
Germany Klapper Schmuck
(ArcJmologia, vol. xxxvii.,
28). 2
Vol. xxxvi., p.
3
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
4
Lindenschmit, Handbucli
"'
Arch(eologia, 6 '
8 9 10 11
fig.
ornament
177.
vol.
1.,
tier
1887,
pi.
pi.
xl.,
fig.
3.
Deutschen Altertliumskunde, 1880-86, xxiv., fig.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. xl., fig. 2. Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua, vol. ii. Wright, The Archaological Album, pi. i., fig. 13. Collectanea Antiqua, vol.
Abbe Cochet, Normandie
xxv.,
fig.
Souterraine,
pi.
vi.,
pi.
ix.,
fig.
6.
Celt, the
Roman, and
the
Saxon,
p.
485.
i.
xii.,
Cemetery of Brochon (Baudot, Sepultures
19).
pi.
i.
fig.
des
i.
Barbares a I'Epoque Merovingienne,
pi.
xxvi.,
COMBS.
From iii.,
pi.
the 5
figs.
same cemetery at Faversham came the bird-shaped fibula? figured and 7, which belong to an art absolutely foreign to England. It
interesting to note the association with
in is
these fibulae of other objects representing
All these objects apparently betray a
birds.
87
common
origin.
COMBS.
Germanic
contain a large number of combs of various forms. They are comparatively rare amongst the Burgundians and the Western Franks, but very common with the Eastern Franks, and abundant with All the cemeteries belonging to the
1
race,
The comb, as we find it in their graves, consists of a plate formed the Anglo-Saxons. generally of several pieces of bone, joined by a cross-piece, to which they were This plate has teeth on one, sometimes on both, fastened by iron or bronze nails. 2
These
sides.'
toilet articles,
which are generally devoid of ornament, are found in in the country of the Alemanni and the Rhine-
the cemeteries of France and England, land, in male and female graves alike/'
The combs
with a double row of teeth required, for their preservation, a special form of sheath of a kind which has been found in England.' This case, which opened
was an excellent protection it was not, however, fixed to the comb. The Abbe Cochet mentions an historical example, preserved in the treasure of
on both
sides,
;
Sens Cathedral.
This comb
assigned by tradition to St Lupus, a bishop of the inscribed in thirteenth-century characters with the words is
seventh century,"' and is Pecten sancti Lupi? This inscription at least proves the antiquity of the tradition.
In the Collection of the Society of Antiquaries of London is a drawing of a The inscription on this specimen large square comb, with a double row of teeth.
shows
that
it
was sent by Pope Gregory
presents sent by the Pope to of the inscription.
A
very interesting
King
letter of
to
Queen
Bertha.'
Ethelbert, appears
Bede,
in his list
to corroborate the
Alcuin gives a description of a
comb
of the
statement
of the eighth
was not only the Frank who at that time wore his hair long ; it was the same with nearly all the of Western Europe (Abbe" Cochet, Le Tombeau de Child'cric, p. 273). peoples 2 M. Pilloy assigns the triangular combs in especial to men. The combs with double rows of teeth 1
are t.
It
more frequent p-
i-,
3
4 6 6 7
in female graves (Etudes sur cFAnciens
Lieux de Sepultures dans
I'Aisne,
255).
Lindenschmit, Handbuch der Deutschen Alterthumskunde, Fausset, Inventorium Sepulchrale, pi. xiii., figs. 5 and 6.
p.
311.
Abbe' Cochet, La Normandie Souterraine, p. 218. Probably a liturgical comb (Dictionnaire des Antiquites Chretiettnes de I'Abbe' Martigny). Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale.
by
J.
Pilloy,
88
EARRINGS,
AND COMBS.
HAIRPINS,
sent him as a present by Riculf, Archbishop of Metz, to century, one having been whom the illustrious scholar writes from Saxony a graceful letter of thanks. 1
It This comb was furnished with sixty teeth, and ornamented with two heads. has some points of resemblance with a specimen exhumed from the Saxon cemetery 3 It may also be compared with that found in London in i/96. of Little Wilbraham. 1'
specimen is of carved bone, and made in three pieces the central plate Mr. Soden Smith has has teeth on one side, and heads of animals on the other. remarked antiquities of this type at Pompeii, and is therefore of opinion that this
The
latter
special
;
form dates back to the
Roman
period.
combs have been discovered
Similar
in
the North of France, 4 in
Luxemburg,
5
however, which are well worthy of attention, are The Abbe Cochet mentions several as having been found in the nevertheless rare. 7 and their use among the Franco-Merovingians is Prankish of warriors, graves
and
these
(i
Belgium
;
articles,
K
Certain examples exhumed by a passage from Apollinaris Sidonius. 9 it is in England, however, undoubtedly come from female graves plain, therefore, used both sexes. urns filled with human ashes have that they were by Mortuary further attested
;
been found
also
Wilbraham 1
"
l)c
contain
combs
(Cambridgeshire),
this
;
Eye"
dono numeravi.
in
(Suffolk),
capillos '
'
animal,
Walsingham
in
the
cemeteries of
(Norfolk), and
Barrow
caritatis vcstrac multum gavisus sum, tot agens duo hahens capita et denies LX, non elephan-
Non ego
hujus bestiae territus horrore, sed delectatus
Nee me frequentibus ilia morderet dcntibus timui, sed blanda adulatione capitis mei placare adrisi. Ncc ferocitatcm in denlibus inlellcxi, sed caritatem in mittente dilexi, quam semper
fideliler in illo 2
muncrc
Nimirum
linae magniludinis, sed eburncae pulchritudinis.
aspectu.
has been remarked 12
vestra valdc gaucleo prosperitatc et dc
quot denies
gratias,
to
10
Neville,
"
probavi
Saxon
(Wright, Biograpliia Britannica Literaria).
Obsequies,
pi. xxii.
The Archceological Journal, 1877, P' 4S T communication from Mr. Soden Smith. Homblicres, pi. ii., fig. n; Pilloy, Etudes sur d'Anciens Lieux de Sepultures. J
4
and
pi.
v.,
figs.
22,
23,
24. 5
Namur,
Stcinfort Cemetery.
ments Historiqjies dans 7
le
Namur Museum. Abbe Cochet, Normandie K
"
Publications of the Societe pour la Recherche et Conservation des
Grand-Ditche de Luxembourg, 1852, Prankish graves al Furfoox. Souterraine, p. 218.
frontem coma tracla
rutili
Monu-
viii.
Le Tombeau
Hie quoque monstra domat,
Ad
t.
de Childeric, p. 373.
quibus arce cerebri,
nudalaque cervix. cum lumine glauco
jacet,
Selarum per damna nilet, Albet aquosa acies, ac vultibus undique rasis, Pro barba tenues perarantur pectine cristae."
(Panegyr. Major., V., 238 9
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
pi. xxxi., figs, i, 2,
Archceological Journal, vol. xxxiv., p. 451. 10 11 12
Saxon Obsequies, pp. 8 and n. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
Neville,
Ibidem,
p. 78.
pi. xxii., p.
44.
and
3.
bis.,
242.)
Douglas, Nenia Britannica
The
COMBS. 1
Furlong
(Northamptonshire). 2 the graves at Lancing, Sussex.
Combs
89
Lastly, four specimens
were exhumed,
in 1828,
from
Anglo-Saxon graves have been discovered in Ireland. They are generally of bone, ornamented with incised lines and circles, with a central point. Mr. Roach Smith has described the combs from completely analogous to those placed
in
Lagore, which afford several interesting points of resemblance with those of Anglo-
Saxon cemeteries.
The
warriors and priests sculptured on the ancient stone crosses of Ireland are almost always represented with long flowing locks while the abundance of combs ;
found in company with antiquities of the Iron
was paid specimens and those met with attention which
the
to
the hair.
Age at Lagore and elsewhere attests The resemblance between the Irish
England and on the Continent cannot fail to be Scotland also has preserved certain stone monuments, attributed to the remarked. eighth century, on which are carved numerous combs, surrounded by crosses, lions, in
3
elephants, and other subjects. 1
2 3
London, 1885. Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 492. Roach Smith, Collectanea Antiqua, vol. i., p. 93. "Irish Antiquities of the Saxon Period," Collectanea Antiqua, vol. iii.,
4
J.
Club,
1
Stuart, Sculptured Stones
pis.
ii.,
of Scotland.
Album
iv., ix., xii., xvii., xxxiii., Ixiii., Ixxiii.,
Ixxxix.,
published
and
at
p. 43, pi. xii.
Aberdeen
in
1857 by the Spalding
cxii.
10
BUCKLES. HE
buckles found in Barbarian graves are important, not only from The widetheir number, but also from their great variety of form.
spread use of buckles proves that swords, knives, and other weapons were slung from a belt fastened tightly round the waist. These in some cases they are buckles are often very elaborately decorated 1 sword-belt was worn by all The set with precious stones, or glass in cloisons. ;
who invaded
the tribes or
Germans.
The
the
Roman
Empire, whether Franks, Saxons, Burgundians,
2
of archaeology into Anglo-Saxon antiquities have shown that counties which are near the coast or the rivers contain buckles in
researches
while those
abundance,
those
inland
furnish
only
3 very few specimens.
This scarcity was
noticed at Little Wilbraham, where eighty-eight graves only yielded nine buckles, 5 four in iron and five in bronze. 4 single specimen, in iron, came from Fairford '
A
;
while Mr. Akerman does not mention one from the Kemble cemetery (Wiltshire), though he explored it with great care." The investigations of Mr. Roach Smith led him also to the conclusion that while tolerably common in Kent, buckles are rare in other parts of England. 7
The same
archaeologist, however, speaking of the
numerous buckles from Faversham, s says that the largest- specimens are less in Kent than in the other counties of Great Britain/' Kentish buckles generally belong to the triangular type, 1
2 3
4 5 "
p.
Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. Abbe Cochet, Le Tombeau de Childcric, p. 245. Abbe Cochet, Ibidem, p. 268.
Wright, The
Neville,
Saxon
Obsequies, pp. 8, 15,
and
10
common
and are mostly of
476.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
p. 8.
23.
Wylie, Fairford Graves, pi. xii., fig. 7. " Akerman, Account of the Discovery of Anglo-Saxon
Remains
at
Kemble," Archaologia,
vol. xxxvii.,
2. 1
* '
J
Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. 63, note i. We have given illustrations of four buckles from
Roach Smith, Introduction
to the Catalogue
this locality, pi. xii., figs. 2, 4, 6,
and
9.
of Anglo-Saxon and other Antiquities, Faversham, Kent,
p. vii. 10
Buckles from Faversham, in the South Kensington Museum, and the John Evans Collection.
Faussett, Inventorium Sepulchrale, pi.
of Pagan Saxondom,
pi. xxviii., fig. 2
viii., figs. 9, ;
10,
and 12
pi. xxxix., fig. i.
90
;
pi. ix., figs,
i,
2,
and
3.
Akerman, Remains
BUCKLES.
We
on refer more particularly to the richly ornamented specimens. large massive buckles form a special variety which was used 1 men. The example which we figure (fig. 21) is from a barrow at exclusively by Kingston Down, in which a warrior had been buried. The grave contained, in simple bronze.
shall later
The
2 addition, a javelin, a conical
umbo, and another smaller buckle. 3 the more elegant buckles of smaller size were worn by women. 4
The
On
the other hand,
indeed, the triangular form is also found in Prankish buckles considers the similarity so complete that it is to confuse ;
easy
France
5
with
resemblance,
those
which
of is
English
origin.
Roach
specimens coming from Smith has also remarked this
especially noticeable in the simpler examples
FIG. 21.
Abbe Cochet
(pi. xii., figs.
7
BUCKLE FROM KINGSTON DOWN.
which are without plates on either side, are exactly analogous A to those which have come, in considerable numbers, from Prankish sources. 7 A few buckles are decorated with coloured glass, precious stones, and filigree.
and
8).
These
pieces,
comparison of the workmanship with that of the splendid circular fibula? of Kent shows that they are of the same manufacture. These gorgeous belt-buckles recall the it was with one of the latter valuable baldrics which were in use at the same period ;
articles that 1
2 3
4 6
7
8
Alfred decorated his grandson Athelstane.
Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrak, This weapon measured 120 centimetres. Faussett, Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. 63.
8
p. xxviii.
Roach Smith, Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon and other Antiquities, Faversham, Kent, Introduction, Abbe" Cochet, Le Tombeau de Childeric, p. 273. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. xxviii. Ibidem. "
saxonico
p. xv.
Quern etiam praemature militem fecerat, donatum chlamyde coccinea, gemmato baltheo, ense cum vagina aurea " (William of Malmesbury, bk. ii., chap. 6).
BUCKLES.
92
Specimens of the work of Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths are numerous we shall A buckle in silver gilt, bordered confine ourselves to citing only the most celebrated. ;
with gold, and elegantly decorated with coloured glass and 1 Gilton, near Sandwich.
filigree,
was found
at
"
from the same spot, belonging to the Rolfe Collection, was a beautiful oblong plate of silver gilt, covered with delicate filigree work,
Another attached to
22)
(fig.
and ornamented, on its external surface, with an edging of garnets, set in cloisons on gold foil. The Faversham specimens (pi. xii., figs. 4 and 6) belong to the same 3
category.
gold filigree work. Fig. 6 is of the same metal, the base of the tongue also gilt, and decorated with a vermicular pattern in filigree on foil. On each side of the hinge, joining the is ornamented with garnets gold Fig. 4
is
silver gilt, with
;
FIG. 22.
plate to the buckle,
is
BUCKLE FROM GILTON, NEAR SANDWICH, KENT.
the head of a bird. 4
essentially a
The
buckle given at fig. a metal alloy, and
2, pi. xii.,
which
is covered with specimen of cloisonnd art, is in on a thin The quatrefoil cells are filled with a silver, gold plaque. 5 green enamel, which has suffered considerably from age. Gilton, near Ash, has also furnished a buckle, of which the rectangular plate, with its border of cable-pattern filigree, clearly belongs to the art of cloisonntf.
is
garnets set in
f>
The in
superiority which
the
1
"Antiquities near Sandwich," Arc/ueologia, vol. xxx., p. 135. to the Inventorium Sepulchrak, p. xxix,
2
Roach Smith, Introduction
3
No. 1097, South Kensington Museum Catalogue. Roach Smith, Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities, Faversham. This piece may be compared to the Cologne specimen figured
4 5
pi.
beautiful
generally apparent in the Gilton specimens ornament (fig. 23) which we reproduce from the is
xxxv., 6
fig.
13.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
p.
59, pi. xxix.,
fig. 2.
is
noticeable
Inventorium
fig. 2.
in
Collectanea Antigua, vol.
ii.,
BUCKLES.
The quadrangular plate, of bronze Sepulchrale. 1 in the centre of which is set a garnet.
The
decorated buckles
finest of the
one
gilt,
illustrated
near Ixworth, Suffolk
the richness of
its
is
covered with incised work,
Mr. John Evans. at Tostock, decoration consists of two large plaques in the collection of
by Mr. Akerman
This magnificent jewel, ;
is
93
in iS52,
2
was found
In shape and detail it resembles the Gilton buckle. 3 Baldrics, elaborately decorated, are often mentioned by the writers of the later 4 Empire; amongst others we may name Apollinaris Sidonius, Prudentius,"' Claud-
of garnet, set on gold
1
ianus/ Corippus, In
pi.
xii.
7
foil.
and
(figs,
i
St.
Ambrose. 8
and
3)
we reproduce
FIG. 23.
a special
type of sword-belt buckles.
BUCKLE FROM GILTON, NEAR ASH.
The
ring is formed of a characteristic double dragon, the two heads of which are In the opinion of M. Pilloy, these dragon-headed buckles biting the buckle-plate. date back to the fourth century, and belong to Gallo-Roman burial-grounds of the transition period. The objects which, in Gaul, generally accompany buckles of this 1'
1
Inventorium Sepulchrale, Introduction,
p.
Pagan Saxondom, pi. xxix. 2 Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, 3
*
Archtzologta, vol. xxx., pi.
T.
S.
ii.,
fig. 5.
Apoll. Sidon., Opera, carm.
xxix,
pi.
i.,
fig.
fig.
3.
Anh(co/t>gia, vol. xxx.,
and
v.,
xi.
Remains of
9.
Archceological Index, ii.
pi.
lib. iv.,
pi. xvii., fig.
epist xx
" :
10.
Strinxerunt clausa bullatis latera
rhenonibus." 5
6 7
8 9
" : v., In Psicomachia Fulgentia Bullis cingula." " Gemmato " In Stiliconis : Claud., Panegyrico Cingula Bullis aspera," and Pan. Honorii : " Baltheus lib. De : ii., Corippus, effulgens gemmis." Justino Imperatore " Aureis bullis zonam tegunt." Ambrose, lib. iv., cap. xiii., De Helia etjejunio Pilloy, Etudes sur d'Anciens Lieux de Sepultures dans I'Aisne, t. ii., fasc. i., p. 47.
Prud., carm.
:
cinctu."
BUCKLES.
94
an artistic style midway representative, according to M. Pilloy, of between the classic Graco-Roman and the new importations of Northern and Eastern character, are
beauty, the workmanship, the delicacy of certain specimens, seem The productions of this to favour the hypothesis of a hybrid and transitional art. Barbarians.
The
1
art in the good taste of the apparent combination of styles show traces of Roman is allied, with more or less happy effect, to rude and general scheme which, however, This alliance, strange, fantastic ornamentation representing the Barbarian element. ;
unusual, inexplicable almost, does not harmonise with the bold self-assertion which of a new artistic era. The most ancient productions generally characterises the dawn of the epoch of the great invasions necessarily indicate^ by their daring novelty and their
unwonted form,
the
the
new
proclaim, in
fact,
earliest art in
burial-places its
full
We have here the Barbarian art in all by lapse of time. modify the
vitality
the
and
purity, free
its
Germanic
tribes.
They
primordial originality.
from the degradation produced
decadence, however, must be attributed, not to any desire to but to the incapacity of the craftsman, as is evidenced by the Its
style,
manner
fanciful
its
of
in
A
which animal forms were rendered.
fantastic zoology
was
whose productions it lost The goldsmith sought to copy what he had before the least the idea which was conveyed by the model.
beyond the comprehension of the Barbarian artificer, in all
its
original characteristics.
him, without understanding in It thus becomes a most interesting task to point out with what independence and disdain for tradition the art imported by the invaders imposed itself upon the
conquered countries. The so-called Groeco-Roman civilisation of the later Empire and that of the Barbarian immigrants developed side by side under distinct influences,
common
and having but one point of contact, namely,
their
common
country, their
starting-point, the East.
These remarks, which are applicable
the whole of Europe, are justified by the appearance of Barbarian art in Great Britain and we do not think we have wandered too far from our subject in setting forth the reflections inspired by a to
;
comparison of Anglo-Saxon industrial art with the productions of other countries. The Barbarian graves of the Crimea have furnished a few buckles the rings of which terminate in birds' heads.
Pannonia
2
has produced similar forms recalling and (pi. xii., fig. i) Long Wittenham (pi. xii., fig. 3). The specimens from the Crimea and Pannonia are undoubtedly older than the two the bronzes of Dorchester
latter,
but
all
are certainly Barbarian.
M. Pilloy finds a proof of this in the funeral furniture of the military grave of Vermand. " No buckle or clasp has been found in Gallo-Roman graves which can be attributed with any certainty to the fourth or " fifth centuries of our era (L'Abbe Cochet, Le Tombeau de Child'eric, p. 234). 1
2
Hampel, Der Goldfund von Nagy-Szent-Miklos,
fig.
120, p. 179.
Budapest, 1885.
BUCKLES.
95
The
points of similarity between Anglo-Saxon buckles and those of the Crimea and of Hungary connect them with the starting-point of the Barbarian invasions. Their analogy, however, with those of Nydam (Denmark) and Borgstedt (Schleswig)
brings them into more direct relation with the cradle of the Angles and the Saxons. On this point there can be no doubt, and the archaeological kinship of these ornaments
A
by the ethnical kinship of the peoples who wore them.
further attested
is
know-
ledge of the antiquities of Russia familiarises us with the genesis of the vast mass of Barbarian antiquities taken as a whole while a special study of the extreme north ;
of
Germany
preliminary to an acquaintance with the proThe buckles of Dorchester 1 and Long Wittenham 2
the indispensable
is
ductions of the Anglo-Saxons.
Kic.
UUCKI.K
2J,.
undoubtedly represent the most ancient characteristics in
all
1'Ro.ii
SMITHULLD.
Barbarian forms,
preserving the original
their purity.
several of these dragon-headed buckles, which thus distinctly recognising their Barbarian character.
M. Lindenschmit has reproduced 3
he assigns to Prankish art, To add an interesting
detail
to this
series,
we reproduce
(fig.
24) a buckle
4 The buckle proper forms the centre of a plate, which coming from Smithfield. This specimen greatly resembles is of the same width as the leathern sword-belt. '
those of 1
2
Worms
and Mayence reproduced by Professor Lindenschmit. 5
Ashmolean Museum
at Oxford. " Researches in an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at
pi. xix., fig. 10, p.
Long Wittenham, Berks,"
332.
Lindenschmit, Die Alterthiimer, band ii., heft vi., taf. 6, fig. 6; band Handbuch der Deutschen Alterthumskunde, taf. 2, figs. 326 and 327. 3
4
Archasologia, vol. xxxviii.,
Roach Smith,
Collectanea Antigua, vol.
iv.
;
iv.,
Lindenschmit, Die Alterthiimer, band
i.,
heft
12,
figs,
and Lindenschmit, Die Alterthiimer, band
taf. 7. 5
taf.
vi., taf. 8,
and heft
viii., taf. 8.
i.,
i
and
heft
2.
viii.,
STEELS. The
by the mortuary furniture of many Anglo-Saxon The tomb of a young pagan which was opened at Harnham, near Salisbury, graves. 1 Another by Mr. Akerman, contained a specimen placed beside the right arm. 2 as a Mr. Roach Smith the of was found described clasp purse, by example, originally use of the steel
3
at
Ozingell.
The
attested
is
excavation in the cemetery of Chessell
Down
also brought to
The specimens found at Kingston and Sibertswold have been 5 at the time of their discovery, however, Inventorium the Sepulchrale 1
light several steels.'
reproduced
in
'
;
they were described as iron objects of uncertain use.
The comparative it
in
rarity of the steel
has been regarded by archaeologists. accord with Saxon customs, and it
explained by the indifference with which There is no doubt that its use was thoroughly
is
Franks and other Germanic nations."
is
constantly met with in the graves of the MM. Pilloy and Moreau, in the Department
of the Aisne and the author in the Marne, have found a considerable quantity of The latter are much worn by continued steels, in many cases accompanied by flints. striking,
In
and are covered with oxide of cases
many
we found
iron,
showing that they had been
that a simple piece of iron
in full use.
replaced the steel as
it
is
represented on the coins of Burgundy, and as it has come down to our own days in the country districts, where the lucifer match has not yet completely superseded it. 7 Implements for the production of fire were naturally considered to possess Scheffer relates that the Laplanders, who were still idolaters in magical virtues. the seventeenth century, used to place steels in the graves of their dead. 8 According
and this power was Keysler, every iron article had power to repel spirits 8 the retained fire caused the flint Saxo by especially by striking against the steel. Extusum Grammaticus, indeed, expressly mentions the use to which it was put to
;
:
silicibus
1
ignem oportunum contra dcemones tutamentum.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, description of
pi.
xxxvi.
Archxologia, vol. xxxv.,
pi.
xi.,
fig- 3-
2
Inventorium Sepulchrale,
p. 93.
3
Collectanea Antigua, vol.
iii.,
4
p. 16.
History and Antiquities of the Isle of Wight, Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. 93. Hillier,
5
6
Geneva, 1853, 8. Abb^ Cochet, des Barbares de rpoque Merovingienne, Baudot, Sepultures
Ur. Gosse, Notice des Cimetieres trouv'es en Savoie,
La Normandie
Souterraine,
2nd
edition, p. 258.
42. 7
8
Scheffer, Histoire de la Laponie, p. 292.
9 10
pi.
iii.,
fig. 3.
4 to ii. Calandra, Di Una Necropoli Barbarica Stoperta a Testona, Campi, Le Tombe Barbariche di Civezzano, pi. v., fig. 4. Pilloy, Etudes sur d'Anciens Lieux de Sepultures dans F Aisne, p. 43, et seq.
pi. xix.,figs.
and
p. 33.
Keysler, Antiquitales Septenlrionales, p. 173. Saxo Gramm., lib. viii., p. 431, Muller's edition.
96
p. 18, pi.
iii.,
figs.
39, 411
BUCKETS. S long ago
1839 Mr.
Houben
1
published, in an important work, a plate, the curious subject of which evoked considerable attention as
even from those who were only neophytes in archaeological study. It represented a human with a wide circlet of skull, crowned bronze, with serrated edges.
grave from which
it
At
that time
it
was believed
that the
who had been buried monument of the ignorance of
had been taken was that of a
prince,
This curious plate will remain a the time. Even the Abbe Cochet was influenced by the prevailing opinion, which, it be remarked, was shared by Oberlin," and spoke of the so-called crown of may 8 Douvrend. These errors, however, were promptly dissipated, and the circlets became once more what they had in fact always been, the simple metal hoops of with his crown.
wooden
pails or buckets.
edition of his
Normandie
adopted on the
The graves,
Lindenschmit, and also the So^Uerra^ne,
did
much
Abbe Cochet
to destroy the false
discovery of these objects. wooden bucket, bound with iron hoops, such as
second
nomenclature
first
by some English
is,
in the
is
found
in
Anglo-Saxon
archaeologists, called a sitztla*
As we
are here dealing with a fresh subject, and one which has furnished us with but scanty material, it is desirable to enumerate the specimens known, before
proceeding to consider the purpose for which they were used. Cambridgeshire appears to be the county in which pails are most abundant. The sixth volume of Collectanea Antiqiia contains an engraving of a specimen found The skeleton at Barrington (Cambridgeshire) in a female grave (pi. xiii., fig. 9).
was accompanied by a circular fibula in bronze, a hair-pin, a few necklace beads, and a fragment of red pottery of the Roman period. 5 Another bucket, of which only the iron hoops have resisted the action of time, comes from the same cemetery. 1
Philip 2 3
4
and
Houben, Romisches Antiquarium,
Neville, 108. 6
pi. xlviii.,
Museum Schcepfelini, Argentorati, 1773. Abb6 Cochet, La Normandie Souterraine, "
p.
310
Xanten, 1839.
el seq.,
1854.
Anglo-Saxon Cemetery on Linton Heath," The Archaological Journal,
Roach Smith,
Collectanea Antiqua, vol.
vi.,
vol. xi., pp.
p. 158, pi. xxxi., fig. 4.
97
II
96
BUCKETS.
98
Mr. Foster, in describing this example, points out its position to the left of the, head of a man who was evidently a warrior, as was shown by the presence of a 1 spear, umbo, and sword.
The Anglo-Saxon cemetery
at
Linton Heath
Mr. Neville, also contained one of these situlee preceding, was found to the left of a skull.
2
(Cambridgeshire), excavated by (pi. xiii., fig. 2), which, like the
one of the largest known, being thirteen centimetres high and The wooden staves were naturally decomposed. sixteen centimetres in diameter. Several other objects were found in the same grave one large and two small In size
it
is
a bronze ornament in the shape of a wheel, and half the clasp of a necklace, with a hundred and forty-one beads of blue glass and amber. These cruciform
fibulae,
ornaments are more than In the
same
3 prove that the grave was that of a woman. different in some of its details from the last-
sufficient to
locality a situla,
which
is
named specimen, was taken from a grave with some
fibulee
and a hundred and
This example, the staves of which had almost entirely disappeared, in height and the same in diameter, and was placed
fourteen beads.
measured thirteen centimetres to the right of the head. this locality having, in fact,
resembles in shape the pails of Little Wilbraham * 5 produced two of these utensils (pi. xiii., figs, i and 3). It
;
The
first, found like those above described, in the neighbourhood of a skull, was formed of staves hooped with bronze, and, as usual, was in a very bad state of It measured sixteen centimetres in diameter and eleven in preservation. height.
The second was of the
same
discovered with a skeleton, together with three fibulae and twelve are covered with ornaments, while the handle,
The bronze hoops
necklace beads.
metal,
is
perfectly preserved.
diameter and eleven centimetres high. is
completed by
fig.
7, pi. xiii.,
which
is
6
This specimen
The
is
fourteen centimetres in
of examples from Cambridgeshire borrowed from the Inventorium Sepulchrale? list
Several of these vessels have also been discovered in Kent.
Mr. Wright has
described the example from Bourne Park, near Canterbury This (pi. xiii., fig. 5). bucket was lying at the feet of a male skeleton, the hoops still in good preservation,
and occupying
1
pi.
Account of the Excavation of an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Barrington, Cambridgeshire, p. ^^, grave 60,
vii., 8 3 4 5 6
The
lower hoop is thirty-six centimetres in Mr. Wright has also examined some fragmentary
their proper positions.
diameter, the upper one only thirty.
fig.
i,
1880.
The Arch&ological Journal, vol. xi., p. 95. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom., pi. xxvii., p. 54 et seq. Neville, "Anglo-Saxon Cemetery on Linton Heath," The Archceological Journal, Neville, Saxon Obsequies, pi. xvii. Ibidem, pp. 15 and 19. Inventorium Sepulchrale, Preface, p.
xl.
vol. xi., p. 96, fig. 8.
BUCKETS. remains from two other graves
in the
same
99
and believes them
to have formed which have been destroyed by the action of time. Douglas, 2 in his Nenia Britannica, has also figured a bucket found at Ash, Kent, which, however, is smaller than those above described, measuring only twenty-four centi-
part of similar utensils
metres
in diameter,
characteristic
(%
district,
l
and somewhat
fragment, which
less in height.
From
we reproduce from
the
Gilton, Kent,
comes a very
Inventorium Sepulchrale
:!
25).
This remnant, which is the portion of a bucket just below the handle, is very similar in ornamentation to the Envermeu bucket, which we illustrate later (p. 101,
FIG. 25.
fig. 26).
Further,
been found intact
FRAGMENT FROM GILTON, KENT.
we must mention a specimen at Gilton.
peculiarly
worthy of notice as having
4
'
An
in
example of the same class has been found at Brighthampton (Oxfordshire) the grave of a male, which contained a sword, with the pommel under the left
armpit, a small spear-head near the right shoulder, a knife, a large amber bead, 5 and, near the head, the bucket, which is of the usual form, but highly ornamented.
Another was discovered at Long Wittenham (Berkshire) above the shoulder of a male skeleton. It is about seventeen centimetres in height. 1
The
Archceological Journal,
vol.
i.,
p.
255,
1846.
Wright,
The Archceological Album,
p.
208.
London, 1845. 2 3
4 6 6
Douglas, Nenia Britannica, pi. xii., fig. n. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. xl. Boys, Materials for a History of Sandwich, p. 868. " Further Researches in a Cemetery at Brighthampton, Oxon," Archceologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 87, 1860. in an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Long Wittenham," Archceologia, vol. xxxviii., "Researches Akerman,
P- 35'-
BUCKETS.
I0o
Mr. Wylie has described the specimen from Fairford, Gloucestershire (pi. xiii., It is made of oak staves, which was placed in the grave close to the skull. fig. 8), held together by three copper hoops, and is twelve centimetres in diameter and nine 1 The grave contained, in addition, a large sword and an umbo. 2 centimetres high. In Wiltshire must be cited the bucket from St. Margaret's Plain, near Marl-
We
have only a reproduction to guide us as to this specimen, for it was borough. This large specimen measured thirty-six centimetres found impossible to preserve it. It was formed of oak staves, with iron hoops, diameter and sixty-four in height. and was carried by a cross-piece fixed to the top. The exterior was entirely covered
in
with a thin sheet of copper, plated with tin, on which human and animal heads were This utensil, which contained human ashes, 3 is represented in repoussd work. quite different in character from those above described, for a different fact that
it
apparently owes
It
purpose.
was destined
to serve as a
its
and was certainly intended
unusually large dimensions to the
mortuary urn.
discovered at Kempston, Bedfordshire, was much decayed the It was handle had disappeared, but there still remained three broken bronze hoops.
The example
fifteen
;
centimetres in diameter and about seventeen high, while the
than two centimetres thick.
The huge
wood was more
4
cairn explored at Sleaford, Lincolnshire, contained the metal frame-
work of a bucket measuring forty-eight centimetres in diameter and thirty-two centimetres high (pi. xiii., fig. 4). The portions which have been preserved are the bronze hoop which formed the rim of the bucket, and three other iron hoops.
Two
large iron rings, nine centimetres in diameter, placed
used to carry
This
it.
situla
had been placed
one on each
thirty centimetres
from the
side,
were
feet of the
skeleton.
The
last
specimen
previously described.
It
mortuary purposes. several of the
It
to is
be referred to
differs
entirely of bronze,
was found
Anglo-Saxon coins
at
and
in it
several respects
was
from those
clearly not intended for
Hexham, Northumberland, and contained
called sceattas.
6
Its
dimensions are thirty-three
centimetres in height, thirty centimetres in diameter at the bottom, and twenty-four at the top. 7 1
Wylie, Fairford Graves, p. 20, 2 3
6
Archaologia, vol. 5
7
pi. viii., fig. 3.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, p. 55. Sir Richard Colt Hoare, The History of North Wiltshire, vol. ii., p. 35. London, 1819. " Discovery of Anglo-Saxon Remains at Kempston, Bedfordshire," Collectanea Antiqua, vol. vi. G. W. Thomas, " On Excavations in an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Sleaford in Lincolnshire,''
The
sceatta
1.,
p.
13,
1887, pi. xxv.,
was the coin
in
fig.
i.
most general use among the early Anglo-Saxons.
Archaologia, vol. xxv., p. 279, 1834, pi. xxxiii.,
fig.
i.
BUCKETS.
The
Barbarian cemeteries
situlse similar to
affording
We
means
IOI
other European
in
those of Anglo-Saxon origin, of comparison.
countries have
many
also
produced
of which are of great value as
bucket found at Envermeu, Normandy, by the which was (fig. 26), among the earliest discovered. It is figured " below, together with the example found at Verdun (Lorraine) (fig. 27). M. Baudot 3 has described several buckets from Charnay These latter, however, (Burgundy). cite in particular the
may
Abbe Cochet
1
.,
are less ornate than those of England,
FIG. 26.
BUCKET FROM ENVERMEU.
made known
has
that of Miannay,
of Rue-Saint-Pierre (Oise).
6
M.
4 Germany, and Normandy.
FIG. 27.
M. Van Robais
BUCKET FROM VERDUN.
near Abbeville (Somme), 5 and M. Danjou that Terninck has figured the frame-work of some
7 while to M. Vaillant we (Pas-de-Calais); 8 owe the description and illustration of the specimen from Nesles-les-Verlincthun The same department has produced a wooden bucket, with handle (Pas-de-Calais).
buckets found at Nceux and
1
s 3
4 8
6
Mareuil
Abb Cochet, La Normandie
Souterraine, p. 270. Li^nard, Archeologie de la Meuse, vol. ii., pi. xxxi. Baudot, Sepultures des Barbares de I'Jipogue Merovingienne, p. 84. Baudot, Memoires de la Commission des Aniiquaires de la Cote-d'Or, armies 1832-33. Van Robais, Cabinet Historique de Picardie, 1887.
Danjou, Notes sur Quelques Antiquites Merovingiennes Conserves au Musee de Beauvais,
pi.
i.,
fig.
Beauvais, 1856. *
Terninck, L'Artois Souterrain, vol. Vaillant,
Le
ii.,
pi. cl.
Cimeliere Franco-Merovingien de Nesles-les-Verlincthun, pi.
ii., fig.
15.
Arras, 1886.
i.
BUCKETS.
102
and hoops of bronze, which was discovered at Hardenthun, and a loop from another found at Pincthun. specimen, in bronze, decorated with copper and iron, 2 In Germany we have the buckets from Oberflacht, exclusively of wood, and 1
near Wiesbaden, and from Monsheim, preserved in the In the Museum of which are provided with metal frames.
those from Schiersteiner,
Mayence Museum,
3
Nor must we (Belgium) are situke from Samson, Furfooz, and Spontin. discovered at omit to mention one of these utensils Osztropataka, Hungary, and 4 is This new M. locality interesting, as showing how widely Hampel. figured by
Namur
'
spread was the use of buckets
Worsaae gives an
Age
;
bucket which he attributes to the
illustration of a
and here again, as
area of the
the invading nations.
among
in the
employment of
we have
preceding case,
first
Iron
a further extension of the
3
pails.
English antiquaries have addressed themselves to the task of discriminating between the various kinds of wood which were used in the manufacture of pails.
The
staves of the Fairford
Linton Heath and
G
and Marlborough
Roundway Down
of
yew
7
;
specimens are of oak those from while the fragments found between ;
8 Sandgate and Dover are of deal. There has been considerable discussion as to the use to which
pails
were put,
and the most opposite theories have been advanced. Baudot seems to have adopted the view originally expressed by Mr. Akerman, in his Remains of Pagan Saxondom, that these vessels
were used to serve the beer, wine, or mead at Anglo-Saxon his first work was published, however, Mr. Akerman did not
When banquets. consider that the buckets were intended to contain beverages only, and never solid 10 food. He thought that these vessels, which had been taken from the graves of 9
both sexes, were also used to hold soup believing that this view was justified by the fact that the buckets fitted with handles and metal hoops belonged to the rich, while ;
LAbbe Haigner6, Qualre Cimetures Merovingiens du Boulonnais, Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1866. 1
2
Jahnshefte des Wirtenbergischen Alterthums-Vereins, Drittes Heft,
pi. ix., fig.
pi. x., figs.
i,
and
pi. xvii., fig. 5.
45 and 53.
Stuttgard,
1846. 8
Lindenschmit, Die Alterthumer
4
Hampel, Der Goldfund von Nagy-Szent-Mikhs, taf. Worsaae, Nordiske Oldsager. Kjobenhaun, 1859.
6 6 7
8
Band
iii.,
heft
Wylie, Fairford Graves, p. 20. R. Colt Hoare, The History of North Wiltshire, vol.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, 9
"
ii.
ii.,
ii.,
taf. vi.
Budapest, 1885.
p. 35.
p. 56.
Cup-bearers gave The wine from wondrous vats." (Beowulf, line 2316-17 Kemble's edition, 1837.)
1
Akerman,
in fact, calls
them porringers.
Translator.
BUCKETS. wooden
the plain
by time.
1
103
ones, like those from Oberflacht, had, as a rule, been destroyed
Later on,
1862, Mr.
in
Akerman
altered his opinions,
and
after
having expressed his belief that they were intended to contain solid food, was forced to recognise that this supposition was but little in harmony with the method of their construction, which
was
purposes of domestic
admit of their application to the ordinary Mr. Akerman then advanced the theory that their purpose
far too fragile to
life.
and that they were intended to contain holy water 2 an explanation which would have aided in determining the uses of several other objects. The Abbe
was
religious,
Cochet
also has expressed
this
view;
but
Messrs.
and Wright 4 table use. It seems
Roach Smith
retained their conviction, that these utensils were destined for
8
all the graves containing buckets were those of Christians, of cases the rest the many mortuary furniture belongs clearly to pagan tombs. Fresh discoveries in the future, however, will no doubt enable archaeologists to arrive
difficult to
concede that
for in
at a definite conclusion as to the
1
3
purpose of these vessels.
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, p. 56. " Akerman, Researches in an Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
(1862), p. 336. 3
Introduction to the Invenlorium Sepulchrale.
4
ArchcRological
Album,
p. 208.
at
Long Wittenham,"
Anhceologia, vol. xxxviii.
GLASS VAS ES. N
civilisations
all
the art of glass-making holds an important place.
The large number of glass vessels found in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries gives them an interest which necessitates some mention of them these archaeological notes. and xv.) to these productions. in
We also
devote two plates (Nos. xiv.
Mr. James Fowler has made a special study of the general aspects of glassmaking but his views are especially interesting in their relation to Anglo-Saxon ;
In his opinion, a great part of the glassware of the ancient Teutons shows traces of a distinctly Roman influence. very large quantity of Roman glass has 1
glass.
A
been found
in
Great Britain
be no hesitation
in
and so remarkable
;
proclaiming
it
be of
to
is
in
it
Roman
workmanship, that there can
origin.
The
Barbarian nations
In the followed copied the already known processes as accurately as possible. British Museum and in other collections are to be found numerous specimens of the
who
appearance and in in form and decoration, however, they are material, with those of Roman origin There is little difference between the glass of the Merovingians absolutely unlike. earliest
Anglo-Saxon
which are almost
glass,
identical,
both
in
;
and that of the Anglo-Saxons. preserved
the British
in
Anglo-Saxons specimens.
Thus
;
it
is
On
Museum,
less
the other hand, the glass from Selzen (Germany), of very inferior material to that used by the
is
transparent,
and of a coarser texture than the
Contemporary writers were
Isidore of Seville (570 to 636),
and Spain had put out their
fires,
Roman
struck, like ourselves, with this difference.
when recording
that the manufactories of
Gaul
declares that their products were of superior
2
quality.
Mr. Wylie asserts
though the art of working in glass may have been Saxons, it had been abandoned, and even forgotten, before the period which Bede wrote his Annals. 3 This historian certainly shows us that glass
known at
that,
to the
1 James Fowler, "On the Process of Decay in Glass, and Incidentally, on the Composition and Texture of Glass at Different Periods, and the History of its Manufacture," Archaologia, vol. xlvi., p.
89, 1880. 2
"Olim
fiebat et in Italia et
per Gallias et Hispaniam
logiarum, xvi., 15). 3
Wylie, Fairford Graves,
p. 17.
104
....
vitrum purum et candidum," (Etymo-
GLASS was
making
unknown
Wearmouth and Mr.
in
in
England
VASES. 680,
105
when
Abbot of
Benedict was
St.
1
Jarrow.
admiration of the perfect limpidity of the glass found in Anglo-Saxon tombs, considers it worthy of comparison with that of the Arab lamps. Among objects of about the same period, he cites the sacro catino of Genoa, which' Fowler,
in
his
owing to its brilliancy and transparency, was for centuries thought For the same reason the cup of Theodolind at Monza was
The
a sapphire.
same
kind.
treasures of
be an emerald.
to
Ion"o
regarded as o
old churches contain cups and basins of the
many
2
probable that the use of glass was very widespread with the Anglo-Saxons indeed, it cannot be supposed that a people who had become acquainted with the In the later luxury of Rome should be sparing in their use of glass vessels/ It is
;
1
days of the Empire glass became extremely Gallienus forbad its use at his table.
common
;
much
so
so that the
Emperor
1
The
Anglo-Saxon graves are, thinks Mr. Roach Smith, the most interesting and the most remarkable productions of Anglo-Saxon art. The They show wonderful progress in the direction of delicate workmanship. perfection
glass vases taken from
of
Roman
glass
is
Saxons and the Franks must
and it is clear that the universally acknowledged have learnt from the Romans something of this art, ;
which they practised with so much elegance and good taste. Yet it would be going too far to say that these two peoples of Germanic origin had not themselves
made
discoveries in this direction.
There
is
a great analogy in form
and material
between the vases of the Anglo-Saxons and those of Germany and France, and It it is plain that at one period glass was manufactured in all these countries.
must be remembered, however, that, according to Bede, glass-workers were summoned from France to Great Britain in the seventh century, because the art of working in glass
was then unknown
in
that country.
Certain easily recognised peculiarities distinguish the glass-work of the AngloSaxons from that of the Romans. One of the most characteristic features of the
former
is
are often
the thread or band in relief affixed to the outer surface. in
wavy
spirals
;
in
which
fact
we
These threads
have, no doubt, an explanation of the
1 " Misit legatorios Galliam, qui vitri factores, artifices videlicet Britannis catenus incognitos, ad cancellandas ecclesias, porticuumque et caenaculorum ejus fenestras, adducerent. Factumque est, et venerunt. Nee solum postulatum opus compleverunt, sed et Anglorum ex eo gentem hujusmodi artificium nosse ac discere fecerunt."
2
Fowler, p. 99.
3
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, description of pi. ii. "Dibit in aureis semper poculis aspernatus vitrum, dicens
4
;
nil
esse eo
communius"
Trebellius, In Gallieno).
14
(Pollio
GLASS
106
word
twisted, applied in the oldest
VASES.
Saxon poem
to vessels of
this character
used
1
at a
banquet.
One characteristic of these vases is their rounded or pointed base, as in the When these spherical cups were filled they could only be held Roman futile. comfortably
the hollow of the hand.
in
Glasses of this nature were used at great
They were, in banquets, and on more ordinary occasions. 3 to be emptied before they could be set down on the table.
fact,
goblets which had
Mr. Roach Smith and
Anglo-Saxon glass differs from Roman in being lighter and of inferior texture. It is also more subject to the decay These differences, which destroys its transparence, and produces iridescent tints. however, between the Roman and the Barbarian productions must not be taken Mr. Wright
are practically agreed as to the fact that
throw any doubt on the skill of the Anglo-Saxon glass-workers, who impressed a distinctive character on their handiwork by the addition of ornamentation in the to
form of twisted threads of glass. Mr. Akerman, referring to some of these vessels discovered in a cemetery at Cuddesden, Oxfordshire (pi xiv., fig. 4), says that this 1
style of decoration contributed in
''
some degree
bands were affixed to the vase whilst almost
to
to strengthen the glass.
in a state
1
'
These wavy
of fusion.
Anglo-Saxon vases are generally without feet, and are considered by archaeologists be drinking vessels. They have been called tumblers, because they could not stand
upright, and this
name has been extended
to
all
vessels used for drinking purposes/
1
The
use of a form of drinking vessel which would not stand has been considered a sufficient reason for attributing drinking habits to the Anglo-Saxons." will only remark that vessels of a similar character, made of very thin glass, have also
We
been found
'
Continental Europe so that the accusation brought against the AngloSaxons must be extended to the other Barbarian nations. in
;
;
1
"
The thane observed lie that in his
The
his office
hand bare
twisted ale-cup." {Beoiuulf, line 983.)
2
is
Roach Smith, Introduction
said that this 3
is
to the Inventorium Sepuhhrale. Description of pis. xviii. and xix. the origin of the proverb, " When the wine is poured out it must be drunk."
It
Cell, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 495. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, \>. 11. Those who take an interest in classical antiquity will be acquainted with the Greek drinking vessels See the bearing the inscription, TPOPINE MH KAT0HI2 (Drink, and do not put down thy glass). Durand Catalogue, p. 295. Panofka, Recherches sur ks Noms des Vases, pi. v., p. 30, and also Mush
Wright, Tlu
4
5
Blacas, 5
pi. xxv., p. 3.
Archtf.ologia, vol. xlv., p. 469.
Baudot, Sepultures Barbara, pi. xxi., figs. 3, 4, and 6. Cemeteries of Oyes, Villevenard and Joches (Marne), Musee de Baye. Cemetery of Sablonniere (Aisne), Collection Caranda, pi. i., fig. 3 graves of Caranda (Aisne), Collection Caranda, pi. xlv., fig. 3. ;
GLASS VASES.
Among a horn
glass
vessels
(pi. xiv., fig. 2
without
feet
107
we must mention those
in
the
form
of
These drinking
vessels are very interesting, as recalling the ancient horns which were used for the same One of the purpose. ;
pi. xv., fig. 2).
which we have figured,
specimens,
was taken from a grave
at
Heath
Linton
(Cambridgeshire), placed near the
This vase, which
cyprea.
is
FIG.
skull, together with a large sea-shell of the genus funnel-shaped, is of a greenish colour, thin, with regular
28.
GLASS VASE FROM FAVF.RSHAM,
Kr.xr.
The undulations, and decorated with threads of glass in relief (pi. xiv., fig. 2). 2 iron at Dinton and some example discovered, with human remains weapons, 1
We
reproduce in pi. xv., fig. 2, another very similar. 3 In addition, Mr. Wright horn-shaped specimen found at Kempston (Bedfordshire). 4 has described two other vases of this character, which indeed are found in con-
(Buckinghamshire)
siderable
numbers both
Barbarians. 1
3
is
in
England and
in
the other countries
occupied by the
5
The Archdological Journal, 1854, vol. xi., p. 109. Douglas, Nenia Britannica, pi. xvi., fig. 5. Archaeological Index,
pi. xiv., figs. 13
3
Collectanea Antiqua, vol. vi., pi. xxxix. 4 Wright, The Cell, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 495. 4 Graves of 6prave (Belgium), Namur Museum. F.
Moreau's Collection.
and
14.
GLASS VASES.
io8
Another group consists of semi-spherical vases (pi. xiv., fig. 6, and pi. xv., fig. 5). The first of these, an illustration of which is given by Douglas, comes from Chatham, second, olive-green in tint, comes from Kingston Down (Kent), and from the grave of a woman. 2 Similar specimens form part of Anglo-Saxon remains discovered at Desborough (Northamptonshire)' and
Kent.
The
1
was taken
intact
1
the
Sibertswold (Kent). 4 Douglas has figured, in Naria Britannica, a considerable number of glass vases taken from the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Kent (pi. xiv., figs.
and
He
attention to the fact that they are generally confined to those graves in which female ornaments are found.' 3
6).
Among
calls
the longer vases several are worthy of mention that from Gilton, near is for remarkable a neck, round which winds a spiral instance, long :
for
Sandwich,
thread ending
band of
in a
glass,
which forms a
sort of collar.
From this point perpendicular bands, with indented ornamentation, descend to the rounded base, where they unite. This specimen, which is olive-green in colour and very transparent, holds about a
pint.
A
very simple example (fig. 28) was found at Faversham, Kent, and is now the South Kensington Museum. 7 It is about twenty-five centimetres long, and ten
in in
diameter.
We
have now
mention a very characteristic form, which belongs properly to the Prankish cemeteries, but which nevertheless is found in Kent. A vase discovered to
this
Woodensborough, near Sandwich,
category.
It
is
formed of brownish
illustrated in pi.
below
xiv.,
of the shade
glass,
very graceful in outline, and is so light that its weight the hand. Its decoration consists of threads of glass
morte, in
at
to
is
fig.
known
i,
belongs
as feuille
is
scarcely appreciable encircling the mouth, while
ends
a knob, which, solely owing to its thickness, is quite opaque. 1 his specimen was discovered as long ago as the end of the last century. Thirty Anglo-Saxon vases from the same locality were preserved at a farm-house in the it
in
neighbourhood, and were always brought out to celebrate the harvest-home, 8 thus reverting,
after
many
centuries,
to their original
Nmia Britannica, pi. iv., fig. 5. Faussett, Invcnloriiim Sepuhhrale, pi. xviii.,
1
use.
Douglas, 2
"Anglo-Saxon Discoveries
4 5
1
7
fig.
5,
and
p. 20.
at
Desborough, Northamptonshire," Archteologia, vol. xiv., p. 469. Faussett, Inventorium Sepukhrak, pi. xix. Douglas, Nenia Britannica. Vessel of glass, p. 114. Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, pi. xviii., fig. 2, and p. 34. Roach Smith, Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon and other Antiquities Discovered at Faversham in Kent.
Introduction,
p.
xix.
Catalogue, p. 19.
8
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
9
Inventorium Sefulchrale, Preface, description of
pi.
xvii.,
p. pis.
33. xviii.
and
xix.
GLASS
The
109
vases with hollow protuberances or claws found
form a highly interesting
series.
with in considerable detail.
have
VASES.
pi. xiv.,
known
the best
illustrated
Anglo-Saxon graves
are sufficiently important to require dealing
They
In
in
fig.
5,
and
pi.
xv.,
figs,
2,
i,
of these remarkable productions so
4 and
6,
numerous
we in
England.
The
discovery
communicated
to
vase
of a
Gentleman
the
Durham,
2
The
first
Magazine
accompanying human remains, was in
The grave
1/76.
A
at that
contained,
in
time erroneously
1802, a similar specimen was found at later, also in a grave, and the same mistake was made as to its in
little
1
RECUI.VER
SKI.ZF.N
FAIKFOKD
DOUVRF.ND
(KENT).
(GERMANY).
(GLOUCESTERSHIRE).
(FRANCE).
FIG.
origin.
s
class,
and a piece of pottery, and was
addition, a sword, a spear,
attributed to the Britons.
Castle Eden,
of this
29.
GLASS VASTS FROM ENGLAND, FRANCE AND GKRMANV.
glass of this character which
was attributed
to the
Anglo-Saxons
It was found at the Canterbury Museum. Reculver (pi. xv., fig. 6), and was first brought into notice by Mr. Roach Smith. 3 Its Saxon origin is clearly shown by its resemblance to the vase from the cemetery
is
that which
of Selzen.'1
is
now
be seen
to
The Abbe Cochet 5
in
specimen of the same class at These successive discoveries in England, France and also
exhumed
a
Douvrend, in Normandy. Germany have given us contemporaneous vases belonging to this strongly marked In the cut which we annex (fig. 29) the examples discovered in these type. different countries are placed side
by side
for
purposes of comparison.
1
Archceologia, vol. xv., pi. xxxvii.,
2
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, description of pi. xi. Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Collectanea Antiqua, vol. ii., pi. li., fig. 3.
3
4 5
fig.
i.
Lindenschmit, Das Germanische Todtenlager bet Selzen, Abbe Cochet, La Normandie Sonterraine, pi. x., fig. i,
p.
6,
1854.
pi.
ii.
Mainz, 1848.
La
Seine Infcrieure,
p.
307.
1
GLASS VASES.
10
The specimen
in
xv., fig.
pi.
4,
is
very similar to the Douvrend piece
;
it
was
1
at Fairford, and is figured by Wylie, the explorer of that cemetery. This remarkable vase, yellowish in colour and very singular in form, was lying near the skull it was unfortunately broken when found, and there is reason to think
found
;
had been placed in the grave in that condition. While glass vessels are frequently met with in Anglo-Saxon graves, specimens of the type at present under discussion are comparatively rare. This rarity has been the cause of that
it
an error on the part of Mr. Apsley
Southern
to certain productions of
The
Fairford vase and
barbarous Latin
Pellatt,
Italy,
who, deceived by their resemblance
assigned to them a very
much
earlier date.
congeners seem to answer to the description
its
1'
in
Vitrea vascula analypha fusilitate ccvlata:' All these vases are amber, yellow or olive green in colour; they usually have two rows of protuberances, and are encircled on the surface by numerous threads.
The specimen
:
found, with a skeleton and
some weapons,
Ashford, Kent
at
(pi. xiv.,
it is in colour fig. 5), justly considered the finest of the series olive-green, and specially noticeable as having three rows of protuberances. may also cite the vase from Taplow, Buckinghamshire (pi. xv., fig. '
is
;
We
i),
is
in
which the claws are decorated throughout their length with twisted glass a style of ornamentation which is also found in the vases of Fairford and Douvrend. Two ;
other examples have been noted by Mr. Wright, one coming from a Saxon the other from Coombe, in East Kent."' Hampshire,
The specimens from
Selzen,
tomb
in
Germany, and Douvrend, France, are not the only
vases of this character which have been found on the Continent.
enumerate the whole of them, but we may quote those In one of these, which comes from Kprave, Belgium. greenish threads of twisted glass. Harmignies, Belgium, the Baron
in 11
impossible to the Museum of Namur, It is
the claws are covered with
Amongst the Frankish antiquities discovered at cle Loe mentions a glass decorated with large
claws. 7
In
found
at
M.
France, the collection of
Hermes
(Oise) by the
Jutnel,
of Amiens, contains one of the vases
Abbe Hamard.
M.
Pilloy
collected a
number
of
1
Wylie, Fairford Graves, 3
Muratori
" :
Pier
pi.
Damiano
i.,
p.
17.
vitrea vascula 4
che gli fu donate, da Arrigo I. fra gp Alexandrini operis arte compositum, piu di sotto egli rammenta
scrive nella vita di Sant' Odilone,
Imperadori, vas holovitreum valde pretiosum,
et
analypha fusilitate cxfata," (Dissert.
24).
Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepiilchrale, p. xlvi. D Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 497. Published in 1880 by M. Bequet. This vase measures 20 centimetres, and is apparently the second found in Belgium, (Dccouverte a" Antiquitcs Franques a Harmignies par M. le Baron A. de Loe, p. 6, Antwerp, 1886). fi
7
GLASS VASES.
1 1
I
This fragments of a similar glass at Grugies (Aisne) from the grave of a female. of Another example: is cited coming protuberances. specimen had only one row from Bellemberg-Vochringen the whole surface is covered with ornamentation in ;
the form of threads in
relief,
and
it
has two rows of claws
in
yellow glass.
evident, therefore, that these vases with large hollow protuberances, though In this comparatively rare, were in use throughout the various Barbarian tribes. It is
connection the most interesting specimen is one which has been mentioned to me by Mr. Arthur Evans, who, in the course of his explorations, met with a vase of this type which had been found at Narona, Dalmatia, in the grave of an Ostrogoth chief.
Nothing
is
known
of the use to which these vases were put.
Mr. Akerman was
of opinion that they had a sacred character, and were employed in certain rites or but the correctness of this supposition ceremonies of which we have no knowledge is at least open to doubt. '
;
1
Akerman,
J\cn;ains oj Fa;*iiii 6,
-
graves of Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire, contain certain types (pi. xvii., and 9) which are transitional between the pottery of Kent and the urns
coming from other parts of England. This transition is shown in the gradation which commences with fig. 9, in which the Southern influence manifests itself very clearly ;
in fig. 6 the
type
is
beginning to free
itself
from that influence, while
protuberances and
its decoration, approaches very nearly In examining the numerous urns discovered near
Wilbraham. Nottingham,
in
6 and
9),
Roach Smith, Introduction
the
fig.
3,
with
its
urns of Little
Derby
(fig. 30), at
4 and 8), Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire, we cannot but be struck by their great
Bedfordshire
(pi. xvii., figs. 2, 3,
1
to
(pi.
to the
xvii.,
figs.
Inventorium Sepulchrale,
p. xiv. et seq.
These differences may be attributed to different influences acting simultaneously. The urns of the North were probably an offshoot of the art of Scandinavia ; while those of Kent and the Southern counties 2
are traceable to intercourse with the Franks. 3
4 8
Faussett, Inventorium Sepulchrale, pi. xx., figs. 3 and 4. Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Sepulchrale, p.
Ibidem,
p.
xlvi.,
description of
pi.
xlvii.,
fig.
i.
xx.
'5
POTTERY. the other hand the difference between these specimens and those
similarity.
On
of Kentish
origin
is
so strongly
resemblance between them.
marked
that
is
it
impossible
find
to
the least
1
The cemetery of Little Wilbraham has produced a large number of pieces of The two funeral rites, cremation and burial, were here practised simulpottery. 2
accompanying skeletons while of more been exhumed the greater number contained have than a hundred specimens which 3 In some instances, it is true, interments by cremation were found in human ashes. but on the other hand of three or four, apart from those by inhumation
taneously, so that
we
often find these urns
;
groups
;
mortuary urns
filled
with bones were constantly found in the near neighbourhood of
FIG. 30.
URN FROM
KINGSTON*,
NEAR DERBY.
been buried contemporaneously with them. The objects accompanying these incinerated remains consisted of bronze tweezers, knives, iron spears, scissors, cruciform fibulae, and glass beads, all showing some traces of the skeletons, having apparently
fire. Nearly all the urns contained fragments of bone combs in one was found a small bronze bell, with iron clapper in another a pierced coin of Maximinus.
action of
;
;
The
presence of these various objects proves that the two methods of disposing of the dead were contemporaneous. Neville is of opinion that mortuary urns found in to skeletons contained the remains of relations or friends who were still proximity faithful to the
customs of their ancestors.
The practice of cremation, however, was when Little Wilbraham was being used as
desuetude, and at the period a burial ground was but rarely employed. 4 falling into
pottery
(fig.
31),
We
one of which was discovered 1
2 3
4
reproduce below several pieces of
in the
cemetery
Roach Smith, Introduction to the Inventorium Saxon Obsequies, pi. xxiv. to xxxiv.
in question.
Sepulchrale, p. xiv.
Neville,
Professor Neville,
Owen
Saxon
has declared these to be Obsequies,
p.
10.
human
bones.
POTTERY. Almost
1
1
5
the interest attaching to the cemetery of Kempston (Bedfordshire) is centred in the urns, of which we illustrate three (pi. xvii., figs. 4, 7 and 8). These all
mortuary vessels were generally found but a little distance below the surface several, doubtless, contained the remains of some of the first invaders who established them;
Mr. Roach Smith, who has made a careful study of this group of graves, assigns an earlier date to the rite of cremation than to that of burial though there can be no doubt that at one period they were practised selves in Great Britain.
;
Mr. Finch does not attribute the former rite exclusively to the simultaneously. Urns enclosing human ashes belong pagans and the latter to the Christians. apparently to the pagan period
;
but
it
is
quite possible that graves containing
CESTEROVER
MARSTON HILL
(WARWICKSHIRE).
(NORTHAMPTONSHIRE). FIG. 31.
LITTLE
com-
WILBRAHAM
(CAMBRIDGESHIRE).
MORTUARY URNS.
The considerations suggested by the occasionally be pagan. seem to Mr. Finch to be sufficiently definite to apply to do not Kempston graves It must be noted, however, that so far as Little Wilbraham and other cemeteries. Kempston are concerned the conditions are identical, and authorise the same plete skeletons
may 1
conclusions.
For a very long time Anglo-Saxon urns were classed as products of British ceramic art indeed, it was not till about 1852 that a more extended knowledge of ;
their characteristics led to their being attributed to the
made
of a dark clay, varying from dusky
brown
Barbarian epoch.
They
to black, generally hand-potted
are
and
badly baked.
They
are often ornamented with very prominent protuberances
times they are decorated with zigzag designs often with simple geometrical figures, circular (pi. xvii.,
at
other
1
"Discovery of Anglo-Saxon Remains
at
(pi. xvii., fig. 3)
(pi.
xvii.,
fig.
9) or square
Kempston," Collectanea Antiqua,
fig.
vol.
vi.,
4),
p.
or
;
more
(pi. xvii.,
219.
n6
POTTERY.
fig. 2),
produced by means of a wooden punch.
1
The
objects which are so often
found company with these urns prove that they belong to the epoch of the earliest Saxon settlements in England. This conclusion derives additional authority from the resemblance existing between the mortuary furniture of the Continental countries in
originally occupied
by the Saxons and Angles and the productions yielded by the invaders of Great Britain.
graves of the first In a report- on the
rites
Kemble has gone into many and has recorded some facts with regard to the The researches which he undertook in Saxons.
of burial and cremation
important details of this question, practice of cremation amongst the
German
regions which were the cradle of the Anglo-Saxons were carried out Kemble established the existence of urns similar to those with the happiest results.
those
of the Anglo-Saxons in Jutland, in certain parts of Frieslancl, on the banks of the Elbe, in Westphalia, Thuringia, parts of Saxony, near Hoga, and in other places on
His explorations were equally crowned with success in of the Rhine, west of the Elbe and Saale, and north of the Mein.
the banks of the Weser.
Germany,
east
these countries, occupied at different periods by the ancestors of the AngloSaxons, the practice of cremation predominates in some regions, however, both rites In
all
;
were
in use.
Kemble
explains the rarity of skeletons in these countries by the fact that the
practice of cremation had been generally followed, for a lengthened period, by the Teutonic races while the abandonment of this rite is characteristic of those localities ;
which were won over to Christianity. 3 Kemble recognises the striking resemblance between Anglo-Saxon urns and those of Stade on the Elbe. He brings out the similarity by placing them side by
two plates of the Hora; Ferales.^ These mortuary vessels, filled with burnt bones and ashes, also contained the ornaments and utensils which were dedicated to the dead by the affectionate care of the living. Many among these objects have
side in
been subjected to the action of the funeral pyre, and especially those which were worn by the deceased at the moment of incineration, namely, buckles, brooches, fibuke, buckle-plates, buttons,
1
2
3
and considerable quantities of glass beads of various
Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, Communicated to the Archaeological Institute.
Kemble
p.
492.
remarks, that whether contemporaneous or not, whether in the same locality or in different If there be any doubt on this by cremation is pagan, and by inhumation, Christian.
countries, interment
it is Half-converted Christians retained for some length of time capable of another explanation. the rite of cremation ; but it is improbable that any pagan Saxon was interred without having first been
subject,
placed on the funeral pyre. 4 Nearly all these urns belong to the Ferales, p.
94
:
Group
I.,
Museum
of the Historical Society of Hanover, (Kemble,
Urns from North Germany
;
Group
II.,
Urns found
in England).
Hone
POTTERY.
1 1
These
7
articles, however, were not always passed through the fire they no were at times, doubt, placed on the top of the ashes after these had been deposited in the urn. Kemble clearly traced this custom in different parts of Germany, and it is
colours.
;
further indicated in the Norse Siigur.
In the cemeteries of Northern
1
Europe mortuary urns are generally very soberly
and simply decorated. The decoration consists of indented lines, in combination with points, impressed on the clay with a piece of pointed wood, or some other rough The urns of Stade, like those of Eye and Little Wilbraham, tool of similar character.
show protuberances
they were of metal instead of malleable clay one would say that they were hammered. The raised ornament has generally been obtained by the pressure of the thumb, and smoothed off with a piece of wood while the clay was
or bosses
wet.
still
The
indeed,
;
if
decoration, whether sunk or in
relief, has,
as a rule,
been
roughly executed by the hand, and is naturally more or less irregular. The principal decoration of the urn in the Towneley Collection (British Museum) 2 and of the
mention only two examples, has been executed This ornamentation is very general on urns of by means of a rough wooden punch. the same type found at Little Wilbraham, and on the specimens described in Haslingfielcl vase
(pi. xvii., fig. 9),
to
1
Hydriotaphia? and It
appears, in
fact,
Saxon urns found
5
present in at least one example found in Northamptonshire. to be the style of decoration most thoroughly characteristic of the is
in
England.
The
ornamentation, however rude, obtained by the use of the punch, unquestionably marks an advance in artistic merit from the ill-potted, half-baked mortuary urns of the Age of Burning. The round indentations on the Eye urn must have been with the point of the little finger while the clay was still wet. The same method has been adopted in the case of several specimens of pottery from Stade.
made
A
similar style of decoration
is
Nieuburg and Wolpe, on the produced by the same processes
traceable in the urns of
6
Weser, and of the principality of Luneburg, and 7
is
of manufacture.
During a lengthened stay certain
1
German
"On
who
archaeologists
Mortuary Urns found
at
in
Germany, Kemble
adopted the views of attributed to the Slavonians the urns found at at first
Stade-on-the-Elbe and other parts of North Germany," Archtzologia,
vol. xxxvi. 2
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom,
3
This system of decoration
same
is
iv.
process.
4
Thomas Browne,
5
Roach Smith,
6
Explorations of Count Munster. Excavations of Kemble.
7
pi.
frequently found on Prankish vessels, and
Hydriotaphia.
Edition of 1658.
Collectanea Antiqua, vol.
i.,
p.
42.
is
no doubt obtained by the
n8
POTTERY.
Generalising from this idea, the English antiquarian assigned a similar origin to the pottery of Eye, regarding it as a relic of the Slavonians, who had, perhaps, formed an unimportant colony on the east coast of England. Stade.
But the discovery of similar urns, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire,
considerable number, in various counties,
in
Northamptonshire,
Derbyshire,
Sussex, Gloucestershire,
and Warwickshire, caused the prompt abandonment of any hypothesis importing a These urns, similar in form, colour, size, and material to those Slavonic element.
Germany, have, with the latter, been considered as Germanic. Vessels employed for similar purposes by the ancient Saxons and by the Anglo-Saxons were They could not be Celtic, for their presence has been assigned the same origin. discovered
in
noted at Luneburg nor could they possibly be Slavonic, for they have been found in Warwickshire. They are Saxon, without doubt, for the Saxons have inhabited the ;
two countries
in
which they are met with.
1
The
persevering researches of
Kemble
contributed greatly to the progress of Anglo-Saxon archaeology, interpreting and completing the English discoveries by the light of the monuments of Northern
Germany.
The
facts relating to
Anglo-Saxon ceramic
features, the interesting part
We
have indicated with
it
played
among
art
above
set forth show, in its
main
the Barbarian invaders of Great Britain.
sufficient clearness the sources to
which archaeologists may
order to acquaint themselves with the different aspects of Anglo-Saxon Details, technical and circumstantial, are beyond the scope of our design, pottery. and their consideration would have led us too far afield. turn
1
vol.
in
"On
xxxvi.
Mortuary Urns found
at
Stade-on-the-Elbe and other parts of North Germany," Archteologia,
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES. HE
Anglo-Saxons established
in
Great Britain preserved
for a
con-
siderable period their pagan customs and their attachment to the traditions of their native country. It is impossible to determine, with
accuracy, the date at which they abandoned paganism everything, indeed, leads to the belief that its disappearance was gradual, as in ;
other countries where pagan customs
still
existed side by side with the practice of
Christianity. Anglo-Saxon civilisation, introduced by the earliest invaders, survived at least in part until the establishment of Christianity was complete. The period 1
century, and finishes in the seventh. St. When Gregory the Great sent missionaries to England Kent was already in communication with the tribes of Gaul. /Ethelbert, King of Kent, had regular
begins about the middle of the
fifth
2 married, in 560, Bertha, daughter of the Prankish king of Paris, and this Christian But Gregory had greater princess had brought her chaplain with her to Canterbury.
he confided the mission of evangelising England to Augustine, who, accompanied by forty monks, landed in the Isle of Thanet in 597. King /Ethelbert was prepared to adopt the religion already followed on the Continent he and all his designs
;
;
Court were converted almost immediately. The people very quickly followed the 3 example of their king, and thus Kent was bound by yet another tie to France.
The
change, however, worked very slowly amongst the masses, and the old order Even a hundred years later we find of things continued for a considerable period. a capitulary of Charlemagne forbidding the Saxons to inter their dead more
paganorum, and ordering sufficient
The 1
burial in consecrated ground.
1'
These
edicts are themselves
proof of the persistence of pagan customs. excavation of Anglo-Saxon graves has revealed the existence of a practice
The baptism
of the Northumbrians, the last converts, took place in 628. Charibert, King of Paris (561-567), gave his daughter Bertha in marriage to ^Ethelbert, on condition that he left her free to practise the Christian religion, as also her almoner, Bishop L&ard. 2
(Bede, 3
4
lib. ix., cap. 25. Gregory of Tours, lib. iv., cap. 26.) Grant Allen, Anglo-Saxon Britain, pp. 85 and 86. London, 1884. "Jubemus ut corpora Christianorum Saxonum ad coemeteria Ecclesiae deferantur
paganorum"
(Capit.,
Anno
789, Corpus juris Germaniri Antiqui, ed. Walter,
119
t.
ii.,
et
non ad tumulos
p. 107.
Berlin, 1824).
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES.
120
escape attention.
not
which, indeed, could
of
more
It
was Douglas who
first
remarked
ancient date than the grave, mixed with the
fragments of pottery, generally earth which was scattered over the skeleton.
Several circumstances tend to show that
Their presence always indicates a these fragments were thrown in intentionally. look on them as a favourable augury for their researches. grave, and explorers Mr. Wylie learnt this lesson for himself in his exploration of Fairford, and without arrived at precisely the same conclusions being influenced by any other archaeologist, These two English writers as Douglas, whose Ncnia Britannica he had never read. 1
drew identical inferences, though at very different periods, comparing this funeral custom to a superstitious practice mentioned by Shakespeare. At the moment of 2 burial potsherds were, more pagano rum, thrown upon the corpse of a suicide. The sherds taken from Anglo-Saxon graves were not fragments of vessels freshly broken by the relatives and friends of the deceased, but had been previously collected,
Fragments lying on the ground, to be thus used when occasion required. of a recently broken vessel did not, apparently, fulfil the conditions demanded for this and
left
funeral usage.
were
in
3
It is difficult to
say for
how long a
period these superstitious practices
vogue, but the edicts which were directed against them show
clearly
enough
of Christianity. They are proscribed by the Charlemagne, at the same epoch, in his capitularies
that they survived the introduction
while
canons of Eaclgard,
forbad his Saxon subjects to offer sacrifices to the dead. Bones, and in particular the teeth, of ruminants have been found in great number Their presence is due to a practice which in the pagan Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. the
first 1
Christians were with difficulty persuaded to abandon. 4
Wylie, Fairford Graves,
p.
Certain of the con-
25. 2
"
Her death was
doubtful
;
And, but that great command o'ersways the order, She should in ground unsanctified have lodg'd, Till the last trump. For charitable prayers, Sherds, flints, and pebbles, should be thrown on her." (Hamlet, Act V., Sc. 3
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Introduction,
4
Some
priests
i.)
p. xvii.
even were addicted to the superstition, as we learn from a
letter of St.
Boniface
:
" Pro
paganorum imrnolabant, manducantes " pollutum ministerium ipsique adulteri esse inventi sunt et defuncti The teeth found in Anglo-Saxon graves come from animals of the species men(St. Boniface, Epist. 71). The Capitularies of Charlemagne forbad all pagan ceremonies at interments tioned in the above passage. " Admoneantur fideles ut ad suos mortuos non agant ea quag de paganorum ritu remanserunt. Et quando eos ad sepulturam portaverint, ilium ululatum excelsum non faciant et super eorum tumulos nee man" ducare nee bibere prasumant (Capit. Karoli magni et Ludovici Pii, lib. vi., c. 197). Pagan songs at sacrilegis itaque presbyteris,
sacrifitia
mortuorutn,
ut scripsisti, qui
habentes
tauros et hircos diis
et
:
.
.
.
interments are forbidden by the 24th canon of /Elfric. In the middle of the fifteenth century this custom still observed in the Diocese of Samland, and was condemned in an episcopal rescript (vide Voigt, Geschichte Preussens, Bd. 6, 753, 754, 1834 edition).
was
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES.
i
2
1
verted tribes long retained the custom of offering sacrifices over their graves. The teeth which are found in them come, apparently, from the heads of animals placed over the graves, on huge stakes, as offerings to the gods they remained in this ;
situation, subject to
atmospheric influences, until in time the teeth
became detached,
and were scattered over the ground. When the earth was re-opened for fresh burials in the same place they became mixed with the soil which was used to fill up the The documents the existence of an grave. previously quoted prove Anglo-Saxon
when pagan customs
period
still
held
sway,
even
after
the
establishment
of
Christianity.
Anglo-Saxon surrounded by a 1 80 centimetres.
when Under
tumuli,
in
good preservation,
mound
consist of an artificial
mound,
a grave, varying in depth from 90 to 1 The skeleton is generally lying on the back, with the head someThis difference in direction times towards the west, 2 more often towards the north. ditch.
the
is
The body was fully dressed, and evidently the result of special tribal customs. accompanied by the objects to which the deceased had been attached during life is
;
the grave was then
filled
in,
and the tumulus erected above
The tumulus was
3
it.
not known only by the name of mound it was also called hlcew, from which the word low is also derived. Beorh, beorg and bearw, hill, In Sussex tumuli from which comes the modern barrow, have the same meaning. that
are
is
;
l
to say,
still
called burghs.
The poem
of Beowulf affords
much
interesting information on the customs of 5 It contains a descripworshippers of Odin.
the Anglo-Saxons while they were still Beowulf had tion of the ceremonies which accompanied the obsequies of the hero. asked that after his death his people should raise, on the spot where his funeral pyre had been, 6 a tumulus or barrow, the size of which should be commensurate with the
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Introduction, p. viii. For the most part in graves of Kent and Sussex. 3 Amongst the Northern tribes the body was burnt, and the ashes deposited under a tumulus. Saxon Britain, p. 75, by Grant Allen. London, 1884. 1 Low is still in use in Shropshire for example, Ludlow. 5 This Anglo-Saxon poem was brought out by Kemble in 1837. Another edition, which of Mr. Thorpe. easily consulted, appeared in 1855, under the auspices 1
2
Anglo-
;
6
"
Hung round
with helmets,
With boards of war
And
(shields)
with bright byrnies (coats of mail),
As he had
requested. the heroes, weeping, Laid down in the midst
Then
The famous
chieftain,
16
is
more
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES.
122
fame of
In obedience to his orders, an enormous pyre was built to his subjects then commenced to raise the tumulus.
his exploits.
1
burn his corpse
When
the
;
mound was completed
the warriors danced round
it,
welkin ring with the praises of their departed king. The derivation of the word bury is a tolerably clear indication that
under a tumulus primitive Anglo-Saxons burial took place the ancient Saxons, and had been faithfully preserved.
;
this
making the
among
the
was the custom of
Anglo-Saxon barrows are usually found in groups, forming cemeteries. The moderate height of the tumulus which covers each grave may be explained by the Sometimes these artificial hillocks are isolated, and their Saxon action of time. They are generally on origin is only betrayed by the graves which they conceal. A conical hill near Folkestone is crowned rising ground, and often near to the sea. Their dear
lord.
Then began on the hill, The warriors, to awake The mightiest of funeral fires The wood-smoke rose aloft, Dark from the Noisily
fire
;
;
it
went, Mingled with weeping."
1
"A mound It
By
over the sea;
was high and broad, the sailors over the waves
To be seen afar. And they built up During ten days
The beacon of the war-renowned. They surrounded it with a wall In the most honourable manner That wise men Could desire.
They put
into the
mound
Rings and bright gems, All such ornaments
As before from the hoard The fierce-minded men
Had
taken
;
They suffered the earth to hold The treasure of warriors, Gold on the sand,
Where it yet remains As useless to men As it was of old." (Beowulf, line 6268.)
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES. with one of these remarkable Saxon mounds. 1 in preference
by the Saxons
of Beowulf.
the
;
123
These elevated
a predilection which
is
situations
were chosen
explained by several passages in
2
poem At the same time numerous graves have been opened, in various localities, which were not surmounted by tumuli. We may mention, among the number, the 4
3
cemeteries of Barrow Furlong (Northamptonshire), Fairford (Gloucestershire), Little Wilbraham (Cambridgeshire),'5 and Harnham Hill (Wiltshire.) It is a question
whether we must conclude from the absence of any mound, when the latter cemetery was opened, that none had ever existed. It seems clear, however, from the proximity of the graves to each other, that they could not have been marked each by a barrow. If it were so, the barrows must have been of very small dimensions, and in no way resembling those generally raised at the same period, which are larger and cover
'more ground. 7
Two modes
of disposing 8
of the
dead were
in
use
among
the
Barbarians
These funeral rites varied in England After the Saxons in Kent had ceased different tribes, as excavations have shown. to burn their dead the practice of cremation was universal among the Angles from
established
in
cremation and
burial.
9
1
Wright, The
Celt,
the
Roman, and 2
"
the
Saxon,
p.
469.
Command the war-chiefs To make a mound, Bright after the funeral fire, the nose of the promontory
Upon
Which
shall for a
;
memorial
To my
people Rise high aloft
On
Hronesness That the sea-sailors
May
;
afterwards call
it
Beowulf's barrow
When
the Brentings
Over the darkness of the Shall
sail
floods
afar."
(Beoivulf, line 5599.)
* 6 6
Archaologia, vol. Fairford Graves.
xxxiii.,
p.
326.
Neville, Saxon Obsequies. ArchcBologia, vol. xxxv., p. 259.
7
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Introduction,
8
makes Anglo-Saxon graves have always a distinctive character, which
for those of the 9
Romans
xiii. it
impossible to mistake them
or the Britons.
Kent, favoured by
Anglo-Saxon Britain,
p.
its
p. 99,
affected by Continental influence. geographical position, was probably largely
by Grant Allen.
London, 1884.
1
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES.
24
Norfolk to the centre of Mercia. 1
Cluver
asserts, as
an historical
fact,
that cremation
2 general use in every country, and especially in the British Isles.' In Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, and Gloucestershire burial and
was
in
The evidence previously quoted with cremation were apparently contemporaneous. regard to these ceremonies is well worthy of the attention of archaeologists and show, moreover, that a Teutonic tribe had penetrated into This invasion probably dates Britain prior to the settlement of the Saxons in Kent. back to the period when Carausius tried to found an empire there in the reigns of It
ethnologists.
seems
to
3 Diocletian and Maximianus.
These speculations show how conscientiously Anglo-
Saxon graves have been studied
;
but they cannot be said as yet to have acquired any
degree of certitude. Archaeologists are unanimous in recognising the pagan character of cremation, The but, as we have already said, the rite of burial is not in every case Christian.
cemetery of Kempston, for instance, where both methods of disposing of the dead were employed contemporaneously, 4 is of earlier date than the introduction of 5
Christianity.
The Anglo-Saxons
generally chose as the site of their cemeteries some elevated Saxon burial-places are always situated near the cities spot near their settlements. in the occupation of which the Barbarians succeeded the Romans, and in some cases
they occupy
same
the
position
Colchester, Canterbury, and
The
as
the
some other
Roman
cemetery.
This
is
the
case
at
places."
of
Charlemagne contain very severe measures, directed, in 7 certain circumstances, against the burial-places of and there is reason to pagans believe that similar severity was exercised in England after the introduction of capitularies
;
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, issued an edict reciting the 8 and From the earliest times, after prohibitions penalties set forth in the capitularies. Christianity.
1
Wright, The
Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 465. "Sed morem hunc cremandi mortuorum corpora, non modo universis celtis nostris, per Illiricum, Germaniam, Gallium, Hispaniam, Britannicas Insulas ; verum toti terrarum orbi fuisse communem, veteres '
ubique testantur
historise."
Philip Cluverii Germanice antiq.,
lib.
i.,
p.
393
et seq.
3
this
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Introduction, p. xiii. 4 Selzen has produced the same objects as the Anglo-Saxon barrows. Both practices were locality, but burial predominates. Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 494. "Discovery of Anglo-Saxon Remains at Kempston" Collectanea Antigua, vol. vi., p. 219. 6 Wright, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 470.
in use in
7 " Ecclesiam in qua mortuorum cadavera infidelium sepeliuntur, sanctificare non licet. Sed si apta videtur ad consecrandum, inde avuho Si haec consecrata corpore, et rasis vel lotis lignis ejus rsedificetur. prius fuit,"missas in ea celebrare licet; si tamen fideles fuerint qui in ea sepulta sunt " (Capit. Karoli M. et Ludov. Pii. Corpus juris Germanid Antiqui, ed. Walter, tome ii., p. 524). 8
ed.
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, Liber Pxnitentialis,
Thorpe,
vol.
ii.,
p.
56).
xlvii.,
I.
(Lois et Institutions Andennes,
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES.
125
the conversion of the Barbarians, there was a general tendency towards the destruction of temples and of famous tombs which perpetuated the pagan tradition. Christian edifices inaugurated a
paganism
and
;
cemeteries, at
new order
of things, to replace the memories of built, if not on the sites of ancient
found that the churches were
it is
This
very near them.
least 1
and Lewes (Sussex).
(Buckinghamshire)
fact
has been remarked at
Mentmore
2
Although the general character of all Anglo-Saxon graves is the same, there are a few special peculiarities which we may notice. As a rule the grave contained but one skeleton there are instances, however, of two, three, or even four being found ;
In these unusual cases the burial of
together.
all
the bodies was simultaneous, and
suppose that they were members of the same family carried off by an 3 or killed during some sudden piratical raid. epidemic, The most ancient burials among the Anglo-Saxons were carried out in the it
fair to
is
The body, fully dressed, was wrapped in a large winding-sheet, and following way. This simple placed in the grave, the sides of which were lined with large stones. of mode burial, however, was not practised to the exclusion of more elaborate methods noted are
of
and wooden
for stone
;
Kent fragments of
in
agreement with the wood and stone among in
the latter observed funeral
Saxons.
Empire, the
4
;
have arrived with tribes
is
generally admitted that, towards the end of the Franks were in touch with France, as the Saxons were with It
is
;
;
identification
3
Capitularies
use of coffins
while the historical connection between the two peoples is beyond question. Prankish burial-places of Germany and France have been identified but this
England
1
the
the features of resemblance between the Prankish and the Saxon
pretty well established.
Roman
2
The
the Franks while it is abundantly proved that customs very similar to those of the pagan Anglo-
truth of the conclusions at which English archaeologists
regard to
The
fastened with iron clamps. 5 discoveries of archaeology as to cists,
6
The now
have been found, 4 while Mr. Akerman has
coffins
a matter of comparatively recent date.
is
Archceologia, vol. xxxv., p. 379. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vol.
Wright, The Celt, the
Wooden
cists
and
Roman, and
coffins in stone
the
Saxon,
and
ii.,
p.
50.
467. plaster are frequently found in the Barbarian cemeteries of p.
France and Germany. 5
Akerman, Remains of Pagan Saxondom, Introduction, p. xv. "Si quis hominem' mortuum, super alterum in petra aut in naufo miserit, sol. xxxv. culpabilis for the following judicetur" (Legis Salica, tit. Iviii., c. 3). The same was the case with the Anglo-Saxons, " Si the before existed quis corpus in terra, vel Conquest law, codified in the reign of Henry I., certainly 6
:
noffo, vel petra, sub
pyramide
presumpserit, wargus habetur
vel structura qualibet "
(Leges Henrici
positum sceleratus infamacionibus effodere vel exspoliare
/., Ixxxiii.,
5).
ANGLO-SAXON GRAVES.
126
The mortuary
of
furniture
the
Franks,
we
find
regards
arms, closely
and other ornaments, however, we Frank from what is Saxon. It is in the widest divergence of type between the two nations and
resembles that of the Saxons
;
in
their jewellery
find instances enabling us to distinguish
pottery that
especially as
what
is
1
;
notwithstanding the analogy otherwise existing, a practised eye will always be able to distinguish Prankish from Saxon graves whenever they contain artistic objects. J
Roach Smith, Introduction
to the
Inventorium Sepulchrale, pp. xv. and
xvi.
PLATES.
PLATE
I.
SPEARS AND AKGONS.
1.
Angon from Strood
2.
Spear from Henley-on-Thames (Oxon).
3.
-Spear from Frilford (Oxon).
4.
Spear from Harnham Hill (Wiltshire).
5.
Spear from
6.
Spear from Harnham Hill (Wiltshire).
7.
Angon from Cavoran
(Kent).
(Ashmolean Museum.)
Driffield (Yorkshire).
(Kent).
PL. I
J de .
Baye
del.
A Hoasselm
PLATE
II.
UMBONES.
1.
Fairford (Gloucestershire).
2.
Farthing
3.
Fairford (Gloucestershire).
4.
Little
5.
Sittingbourne (Kent).
6.-
Drifficld (Yorkshire).
Down
(Surrey).
(Ashmolean Museum.)
Wilbraham (Cambridgeshire).
PL.
.1
de
Baye del
Imp I, a lie merit
AJTousselm
II
sc
!.
f,'lia.tii:im
(K>
S.'lv' -!'-;.'>,
5.
6. 7.
!',:,:/, -
I'/
'/.'
