There are FIVE Anglo-Saxon Helmets

Only five helmets; and the Staffordshire Helm isnt one of them. -------------------
 Opinion: There are FIVE Anglo-Saxon Helmets (and the Staffordshire Helm isn’t one of them) 
- A corpus review & quibbling rant by Æd Thompson

Sutton Hoo Helmet (reconstr.) - Wikimedia Commons

Few archaeological finds are as evocative as helmets - many items of war-gear can help paint a picture of ancient battlefields, but in framing (or in some cases directly representing) the face, helmets help to humanise warriors from centuries past. This is particularly ironic given that, at least in some cases, helmets in antiquity were designed to create an intimidating sense of “otherness”, occupying the “uncanny valley” between metalwork and man. It is in our nature to recognise and emotionally respond to faces, and it is hard to stare into the eyes of the Sutton Hoo helmet and not feel as though you have, in some sense, met a person, rather than simply viewed an archaeological artefact. No surprise then, that over and above all the other treasures in that unprecedented burial panoply (including some with considerably higher bullion value) it is the helmet from Sutton Hoo that has become emblematic of the assemblage, and the most enduring symbol both of Anglo-Saxon material culture, and even of British history itself.

The Anglo-Saxon period in Britain spanned six centuries, and although it is unfairly reductive to characterise it purely as a time of war, it is undoubtedly true that regular clashes between well-equipped armies peppered the period and dictated the convoluted path taken from locally identifying post-Roman communities to a coherent united England. The scale of Anglo-Saxon armies continues to be debated, and it is not entirely clear how well equipped they were, but archaeological discoveries in recent decades have provided abundant examples of war-gear – especially weapons – to inform our image of Anglo-Saxon warriors. Such gear is most abundant from the early period (5-7th centuries) thanks to grave goods from the ultimately doomed furnished-burial rite, but even from these centuries, that most evocative item of war-gear, the helmet, is exquisitely rare. We just don’t have many examples. There’s a bigger problem though; we don’t even know how many examples we have. Almost all running totals are wrong.

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Art Styles - Part 2; Migration Animal Styles

Art of the Anglo-Saxon and Vikings -

     Part 2: Animal Styles of the Migration Period

-Dr Andrew Thompson 

In the previous chapter (link) we discussed a number of rudimentary decorative styles used throughout the Migration Period and Viking Ages by a range of north and western-European cultures. These styles represented efforts to personalize or embellish usually more every-day items, by non-elite craftspeople. In contrast, the more sophisticated art styles, used and developed by generations of elite, specialist artisans, have been the subject of more study. From the Migration Period through into the Viking Age, discussion of these sophisticated art styles is dominated by the so-called "animal styles", many of them quite abstract, which set apart the art of these periods from the more classical, or Romance artistic trends which dominated European fashions both before and after.

To some extent, these artistic styles were confined to particular crafts or materials, but by no means always, and while, for the sake of avoidance of embarrassing mistakes, many reenactor handbooks caution members against carrying decoration from one archaeological find to recreations in other materials, there is no doubt that extensive cross-fertilisation of artistic styles across different crafts and media did take place, especially moving into the Middle Anglo-Saxon period and Viking Ages.

This illustrated discussion of the various artistic styles of the period concerned, begins with the famous Animal Styles of the Migration Period. Springing principally from the material culture of southern Scandinavia and northern Germania during the late Iron Age, and the collision of their home-grown artistic styles with the prevalent decorative styles of the mid to late Roman Empire.  The fortunes of these artistic styles (themselves, at this time, almost exclusively focused on small portable, personal artworks and dress-items of metal and jewellery-work) would reflect the fortunes of the tribes who concieved them; flourishing, spreading, and diversifying, as the Western Roman Empire declined.  The styles which developed are so carefully applied, and distinct, that they can be used to confidently date archaeological finds.

As previously mentioned, it is not our intention, with this series, to advance the ever expanding, complex field of animal-art studies. For those wanting more authoritative, detailed analysis and discussion we recommend the references included at the end of each chapter. However, we hope that this series provides an accessible, entertaining and intelligible tour of the art these historic periods have to offer.

With the scene set, and taking a deep breath, let us dive into the typology of Migration-Age animal art.... 

Shields: How small is too small?

 Few, or perhaps no items of personal warrior gear are more important to our image of an Anglo-Saxon, or Viking warrior than the shield. Our understanding of this most essential piece of war-gear is informed, to some extent by pictoral depictions and written references, but, mainly, by patchy but nonetheless reliable inferences from cemetery archaeology.

Of the studies of Anglo-Saxon shields, arguably the most frequently cited, and informative, is Dickinson and Härke (1992) which, among other issues, seeks to shed light on the murky subject of shield size. Many readers, particularly those from the reenactment community, will be surprised to read that shields could often be as small as 34cm – certainly of no use for building interlocking 'shield-walls' described in later poetry, which we are led to believe was the dominant combat strategy as far back as the period of pagan burials.

Over 20 years on from the publication of this still critically important work, this observation has gradually exerted influence on some modern impressions of warriors from the period, and even beyond, given the limited evidence for late Anglo-Saxon shields, and limited availability of information on 'Viking' ones. It is further, not uncommon to hear, repeated by respected historians, the assertion that most early Anglo-Saxon shields were “little more than bucklers”. To what extent is this statement accurate? Just how small were Anglo-Saxon shields?

Review of the New Vic 'Hoard' Festival

Review:  "Unearthed" and "The Gift" at the New Vic Theatre's 'Hoard' Festival

Over the past few months we have been excited to follow the development of the Hoard festival at Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre; a national-theatre and Arts Council funded project which began with a modest aim to tell the story of the famous Staffordshire Hoard and has since snowballed into the most ambitious project the theater has undertaken to date.

The festival has grown to include four stage plays ‘in the round’, a pair of studio-plays, a series of table-plays designed to entertain visitors in the theatre’s atrium and bar areas, and ‘400 pieces’; an unusual project involving volunteers and taking the drama out into the community.

During the later stages of development of the festival, the Thegns have been involved, in a small way, in advising the props, costume and set-design teams, helping the team develop a ‘look’ and ‘feel’ for those plays set at the time of the Hoard based on material-culture represented in archaeology from the time. We were highly honoured to be given front-row seats for the press-night during launch-week for the first set of plays; ‘Unearthed’ by Theresa Heskins, and ‘The Gift’ by Jemma Kennedy, and as the team had been keen not to spoil or leak any of the content of these plays to us save for the technical details, it is fair to say we sat down in the impressive theatre-in-the-round, feet quite literally on the stage, unsure of what to expect…

The Anglo-Saxon Sword Riddles

The Anglo-Saxon Sword Riddles

Anglo-Saxon swords were not merely death-dealing weapons, ‘wigena weorðmynd’ (“joy of warriors” (Beowulf 1559) but potent symbols of leadership, social status and ancestral lineage. Oaths of fealty and maybe even marriage vows were sworn on the sword, probably to invoke the power of the sword-god Tiw, who protected the sanctity of oaths.

The 10th Century Exeter Book contains numerous Anglo-Saxon Riddles; two of which clearly have a sword as the solution. In her seminal book on the Anglo-Saxon sword, HR Ellis Davidson discusses the sword-riddles in some detail. In light of new discoveries; particularly that of the Staffordshire Hoard, the Sword Riddles are well worth re-examining.

Wyrmfang 2/2

'Wymfang' - Chapter 2; A princely sheath for a princely Seax

In 2013 we attempted to faithfully reconstruct the second seax of the Staffordshire Hoard (see previous chapter here); a smaller but arguably richer weapon, featuring five pieces bearing garnet cloisonné on its hilt. This item had been long in the planning, ever since the Staffordshire Hoard conservation team announced the connection between the five splendid components which made up the hilt, and the reconstruction took place mainly during the spring of 2013. As always with such projects though, work was not over once the weapon was complete, as a sheath was still to be made, which would properly protect the blade and complement its haft.

Grave Problems

Grave Problems

We argue that forming a reasonably accurate and satisfying view of history necessitates an interdisciplinary approach, integrating evidence from archaeology, written texts, pictoral evidence, landscape evidence, reconstruction and experimentation, all with a liberal application of common-sense. However, it is crucial that it always be appreciated that all types of evidence are subject to limitations. In the case of written texts, limitations (such as biasses and selective content) are relatively obvious, but as the wealth of evidence from archaeology, particularly from excavation of cemeteries grows, there is a danger that interpreters lose sight of the particular and often extremely problematic limitations of grave evidence, or draw erroneous conclusions based on dodgy assumptions that are not often-enough challenged.  Here we discuss some observations on the difficulty of projecting conclusions about real life from Anglo-Saxon cemetery excavation findings.

Wyrmfang 1

'Wyrmfang' - Chapter 1:  A Princely Wælsax from the Staffordshire Hoard

From the first moment I set eyes on the beautiful gold and garnet seax collars K354, K370 and K449 from the Staffordshire Hoard, with their associated pommel-cap K376 and hilt loop K690, I was keen to attempt a  reconstruction. The association between these finds was identified early following the discovery of the original batch of Hoard items in the famous field in Hammerwich, and implied the existence of a rare seax with a hilt of unprecedented beauty and balance. I was keen to construct a good replica to better understand this lovely weapon.

The project finally reached completion just in time for the Thegns' visit to West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village, and has taken two years of blood tears and sweat, from planning to completion. The result has facilitated a much better appreciation for the supreme skill and dedication of the Anglo-Saxon master weapon-smiths.


What would such a weapon have looked like, what length would the blade have been, how would the grip have functioned and, given the mass of gold in the handle, what would be the balance of the weapon?
To answer these questions, I embarked on a project to produce a feasible reconstruction of this unique seax.

More of the Staffordshire Hoard (2012)

More of the Hoard!   (2012)

90 more pieces of the Staffordshire hoard have been turned up by the plough (link). This comes as little surprise as the original finder, Mr Terry Herbert confided to me this year that the original excavation in Farmer Fred Johnson’s field at Hammerwich had been far from complete. This is despite Mr. Johnson’s statement of March 2011 :

“I don’t think there’s any possibility of more gold in that field. Anyone who claims otherwise is talking nonsense in my opinion.   ....And even if there was any more gold there, I wouldn’t bother going looking for it myself as I’ve had enough of the whole thing.”

Conservation of the new "cheekpiece" (cc. Vivienne Bailey)

It is our understanding that most of the recovered items are fairly small but that the bigger items include a gold and garnet cross, tiny eagle-mount and, most importantly, the missing so-called ‘cheek-piece’. We understand that these have been whisked away to the British Museum for cleaning and study, so it is likely to be some time before there is much more real information. Here, we discuss what we know so far;

Anglo-Saxon Scabbard Bosses

Anglo-Saxon Scabbard Bosses

In the Migration Age, swords indicated high status and personal wealth, and were worth protecting. Though extant remains of scabbards are rare (largely organic, only surviving under rare conditions) it is beyond doubt that all swords would've had a sheath.
It stands to reason that sheaths would also be used to display status, yet eye-catching metallic fittings are relatively rare in the archaeological record. Of course, our ancestors' love for recycling must bear its portion of the blame for this, and we know that, in many cases, Anglo-Saxon sword sheaths would've been decorated using foundation-moulding and leather-tooling, and by application of finely woven coloured braids instead. However, one example of quintessentially Anglo-Saxon metallic scabbard decoration from the 7th Century may have been much more common than has previously been supposed...

Slithrung 2

Sliþrung Part 2: The Hilt

With the blade ready, and with the core of a sheath to protect it, attention could be given to the hilt. Inspired by the Staffordshire Hoard, but also Scandinavian finds, a design was put together that would be able to highlight trade and cultural links between ancient Mercia and the Scandinavian kingdoms.

Slithrung 1

Sliþrung Part 1

Crucial to future appreciation of the Staffordshire Hoard, and recognition of the historical golden age (rather than ‘Dark Age’) it represents, is the effective communication of it’s story and insights to members of the public.

Although found out of any useful immediate context, hoard finds do each have a story to tell; some are connected with neighbouring items in the hoard, while others are linked to other finds elsewhere in England and beyond, hinting at trade and cultural ties.

Inspired by the tree of connections rooted by the Staffordshire Hoard, I embarked on a project to produce a single assembly capable of providing visual context to a number of hoard finds, and illustrate the hoard’s broader context both in time, and in relation to neighbouring kingdoms and cultures.

The Hög Edsten Pommelcap

In discussion of one of the oldest items in the Staffordshire Hoard - k711, it is impossible not to mention the Hög Edsten sword pommel-cap. A little-known Scandinavian find from pre-Viking west Sweden, the Hög Edsten pommel-cap shares the antipodal boar motif seen on 711, and has been described as the most beautiful intact execution of migration-period Germanic gold-and-garnet cloisonne work on a pommel-cap in the archaeological record.

The beauty of this piece is undeniable, but why is it so little-known, and in light of more recent discoveries, what stories can this piece tell us?

Læwatan: Staffs Hoard Seax 1

Læwatan; a Wælseax inspired by the Staffordshire Hoard

“þa gen sylf cyninggeweold his gewitte, wællseaxe gebrædbiter ond beaduscearp, þæt he on byrnan wæg; forwrat Wedra helm wyrm on middan.”  

‘The king himself nowtook command of his wits, reached for the slaughter-sax of keenest battle-sharpness, that he carried in his harness;the Geats’ Protector hewed the wyrm in twain’

One of the most striking objects in the Hoard is the solid gold hilt-plate k567. This piece, finely decorated with interwoven Salin Style-II biting beasts, is of a lozenge shape that would be expected to adorn the hilt of a sword, yet its triangular slot clearly indicates it once adorned a single-edged killing knife or "waelseax". Such seax fittings are rare, and it is not clear how such a piece would be integrated into a seax handle-design.

What would such a weapon have looked like, what length would the blade have been, and how would the handle have functioned?
To answer these questions, I embarked on a project to produce a feasible reconstruction of this seax.

STH 711

Sth711: Woden's Pommelcap

 Much attention has been given to the glittering gold and garnet work of the Staffordshire Hoard, but often, plainer items can be much more informative.

sth711 (nicknamed 'Dave' by conservators) is a fine example of this, foregoing gemstones in favour of fascinating images in cast relief.

What are the meanings of these images, and what can they tell us about the history of this piece, the hoard itself, and the people who buried it?

Nb. Observations herein are based on photographs and are intended to encourage debate. It is likely many of these observations have already been made by the team of conservators and historians working on the hoard, but given that, so far, little detailed analysis has been published for public perusal, hopefully this article will help encourage public interest in close analysis of the finds. 
 © Images in this article have been used with the kind permission of Birmingham Museums and are subject to strict copyright (1)

Garnets

Garnet Jewellery: Just Warrior Bling?

Staffordshire Hoard

The gold and garnet cloisonné Anglo-Saxon jewellery in the Staffordshire Hoard and from Sutton-Hoo etc. is stunning in its beauty. Red and gold is a particularly attractive combination aesthetically but could there have been more to this use of red gemstones than pure beauty ? 

Did our ancestors believe that there was special ‘magical’ virtue in these shining red stones? Of course, we will never know for certain but it is worth examining some of the folklore concerning the garnet.

Golden Helmet of the Staffordshire Hoard?

The discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard in the parish of Hammerwich in the heart of Mercia in 2009 was an extremely exciting time; never before had so many, ornate finds from the Anglo-Saxon period been found. The mysterious context of the finds encouraged public fascination, but my own personal interest was focused on one item; k453, the largest item in the hoard; something that must surely have been the shining golden cheekpiece of the most ornate helmet that had ever been.

We quickly visited the hoard on two occasions, obtained measurements and tried to come up with a means of incorporating such a cheek-piece into helmet designs of the age, to put together a working hypothesis of what this most magnificent of helmets could have looked like.

This article lays out some thoughts on piece K453, and the 5th Anglo-Saxon helm to be discovered.

The Sword Saga: Part 4 (final)

Chapter 4: The Sheath
Click here for other chapters
With the sword complete, the next task was to make a sheath in which to house it. Largely organic, clues for the construction of such sheaths come from finds of metallic decoration that once adorned them.

As with the sword, much of the decorative elements were obtained from our masterful jeweller friend George Easton at danegeld.co.uk, with other pieces purchased from Jelling Dragon and Raymond's quiet press.

Did Anglo-Saxons use crystal lenses?

Visby lens, 11th century

Anglo-Saxon jewelry such as seen in the Staffordshire Hoard and Sutton-Hoo burial is of astonishing intricacy. It has always been a mystery how such fine work - both gold filigree and garnet cloisonné - could have been achieved without modern aids.
For example;  each corrugated reflective gold foil underlying each tiny cut garnet is between 0.01 - 0.25 mm thick and the waffle-like corrugations on their surface are often 5½ to the millimeter. The garnets themselves are often very thin, between 0.5 - 0.75 mm and only about 2mm x 2mm across.

How could the Anglo-Saxons have been capable of crafting such minute detail, hundreds of years before the first glass lenses were invented?

The Sword Saga: Part 3

Chapter 3: Assembling the Hilt
Click here for other chapters

"In pure gold inlay on the sword-guards / there were rune-markings correctly incised"      (Beowulf, Lines 1694-1695).

  The blade was ready, and so too were the Staffordshire Hoard pommel cap and collars beautifully crafted by George. Next came the challenge of putting the whole thing together.