THE BRACTEATES.
Gold bracteates—Peculiarity of their designs—Mystic and symbolical
signs—Earlier runes—The Vadstena bracteate—The svastica, triskele,
and triad.
Among the most curious and beautiful ornaments that have been discovered
in the north are the gold bracteates, which occur in great numbers, but
are seldom found in graves, and which were used, as we can see from the
loop attached to them, as an ornament to be worn hanging from the neck;
that they were held to be protective amulets, and were used by the
temple priests in religious ceremonies, is probable.
They are formed by embossing or stamping upon a disc, and the gold is
extremely thin. The peculiarity of their designs, and the mystic and
symbolic signs which are used upon them, such as the _svastica_, the
_triskele_, the _cross_, the _triad_ in dots, birds, snakes, &c.,
peculiar shapes of animals, and the head-dress of men, are very
remarkable; and the sign in the shape of an S, found also on objects of
the bronze age, makes them specially interesting.
We must receive with a great deal of caution the interpretation put upon
these signs by some of the archæologists who have tried to unravel their
meaning, and have taken the _svastica_ for the sign of Thor, for this
sign has been found in Greece by Schliemann and other antiquarians; the
_triskele_, or the triad with dots, to mean Odin, Vili, Ve, or Odin,
Hœnir and Löd; the birds to be the ravens of Odin; the human heads to be
representations either of Thor, Odin, or Frey; the animals to be the
goat of Thor, and Odin’s horse, Sleipnir. That the representations with
the sacred signs and the figure upon them had some peculiar meaning
there is, I think, no doubt; but what they really meant is a mystery
which has not yet been unravelled.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1273.—Bracteate—with man’s head and horned animal below—found at
Helsingborg, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1274.—Bracteate—with man’s head with helmet, and horned
animal—found at Raflunda, Scania, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1275.—Bracteate—horse (?) apparently loaded with treasure,
probably the horse _Grani_ mentioned in Volsunga Saga—found at
Eskatorp, Halland, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1276.—Bracteate—warrior with spear, a two-horned animal, and
runes, found in Zeeland, Denmark.
]
The runic characters stamped upon these ornaments show them to be
peculiarly northern, and to belong to a rune-writing people.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1277.—Bracteates forming part of a necklace found at Faxö,
Sjælland, Denmark. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1278.—Bracteate—man’s head with symbolic signs, a hand,
&c.—Lolland, Denmark. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1279.—Bracteate—man, and two-horned animal, and runes—in
Stockholm Museum. Real size.
]
Bracteates.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1280.—Real size.—Scania.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1281.—Real size.—Scania.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1282.—Real size.—Zeeland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1283.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1284.—Reverse.
]
Roman gold coin (Valentinian), real size, found with fragments of a
bronze vessel, glass beads, &c.—Norway.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1285.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1286.—Reverse.
]
Imitation of Roman gold coin, real size, found in a tumulus with
charcoal, gold ornaments, glass and amber beads, &c.—Norway.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1287.—Bracteate from Lögstör, Jutland. Real size. On it are the
cross signs and _triskele_ and two birds which recall the Saga about
Sigurd Fafnisbani, or Odin and his ravens. A similar one with two
birds has been found in Vestergötland.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1288.—Bracteate. Southern Jutland. A warrior, bird, stag, or
horse, and dots. Real size.
]
Of the hundreds of bracteates[226] which have been discovered, a large
number were found together; and those of similar design, which have
evidently been struck from the same die, are sometimes found in regions
far apart. The bracteates with the peculiar mystic signs above
enumerated disappear entirely towards the year 600, and though
bracteates are still found they are of quite different designs; for
those with representations of dragons, serpents, &c., are of a much
later period.
Many of these designs may perhaps represent the deeds of great heroes
told in ancient songs, such for example as the scene upon the gold
bracteate found under the altar in the ancient wooden church of Gudsdal
Troen parish in Gudbrandsdal, Norway, on which an armour-clad warrior on
horseback fights a dragon. The purity of their gold is as remarkable as
the skill of their workmanship.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1289.—Bracteate. Real size.—Blekinge, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1290.—Bracteate. Real size.—Vestergötland, Sweden.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1291.—Bracteate with runic alphabet.—Vadstena, Sweden. Real size.
]
The most important bracteate found is one of the two discovered near the
little town of Vadstena on the Wettern, in Sweden. It has around its
border an inscription in earlier runes, which evidently must be read
from right to left. It has been ascertained by the scholars who have
made a study of runes that, with the exception of the first division of
eight, they represent the runic alphabet in its earliest form, the
letter D being, for want of space, the only one missing.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1292.—Bracteate, Lyngby, Jutland, representing a man with a
two-horned animal, surrounded by the _svastika_, the _triskele_, and
four dots forming a cross, a circle of men’s heads, and a circle of
animals. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1293.—Bracteate in Copenhagen Museum. Warrior, with a sword,
fighting animals. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1294.—Bracteate found at Hitterdal, Norway, with _svastica_, and
dots on it. Warrior’s head with helmet over the face, and crown
above the helmet. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1295.—Bracteate found at Raflunda, Scania. Triangle of heads.
Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1296.—Bracteate; place of find unknown. Real size.—Stockholm
Museum.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1297.—The largest existing bracteate, found at Åsum, Scania,
Sweden, with _svastica_, in 1882. ⅘ real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1298.—Bracteate found at Upland, Sweden. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1299.—Reverse, with horseman apparently riding on the bare back
of the horse.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1300.—Bracteate found at Gudbrandsdal, Norway. Warrior fighting a
dragon. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1301.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1302.—Reverse.
]
Bracteate found at Trollhättan, Sweden. Real size.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1303.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1304.
]
Bracteates found at Slangerup, Zeeland. Real size.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1305.—Bracteate, Zeeland, Denmark. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1306.—Bracteate found in Scania. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1307.—Bracteate found in Scania. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1308.—Bracteate found at Raflunda, Scania. Real size.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1309.—Bracteate found at Lelling, Zeeland. Real size.
]
One of the facts which attracts great attention is the different mystic
signs[227] found upon bracteates and other numerous objects represented
in these pages. These no doubt had some symbolical meaning, just as the
Christian cross when used as an ornament, or placed upon a grave as a
symbol.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1310.—Runic stone with three horns in the shape of
triskele.—Snoldeley, Zeeland.
]
Some of the signs appear to have been common to various nations, who
probably adopted the same religion from which they spring, just as
to-day the Christian cross is the emblem of numerous nations or tribes
scattered over the globe.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1311.—Fibula of silver, plated with gold, in shape of svastica. ⅖
real size.—Woman’s skeleton grave, Fyen.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 1312.—Fibula of gold ⅗ real size.—Skeleton grave, Fyen.
]
The cross with four arms of equal length seems to be one of if not the
most ancient of symbolic signs; it is seen on the rock-tracings of
Bohuslan (of which several illustrations are given in this work),
sometimes surrounded by a ring, at others a double cross is represented
by itself. Such tracings cannot be taken for wheels or shields.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1313.—Fibula, ⅔ real size; appears to have been gilt.—Norway.
]
Bronze knives, with a cross surmounted by a ring, are also to be seen.
The _svastika_, or hooked cross, in its various modifications, seen on
so many objects in the North, is of very ancient origin, and occurs in
the Vedaic religion.
[Illustration:
Fig. 1314.—Bracteate of gold, real size, found with the door.—Tuft
Church, Sandver.
]
Other remarkable signs are the triad, in the shape of dots placed in a
triangle, and the _triskele_, which are seen on many objects. There was
evidently importance attached to the numbers “Three” and “Nine;” but it
is impossible to tell what was the true meaning in the mythology of
these people of the triad, which is very common on the jewels and other
objects illustrated in this work,[228] and it is remarkable that some of
the graves are made to represent the above signs.[229]
-----
Footnote 226:
Some magnificent works have been published on bracteates, the finest
being ‘Atlas for Nordisk Oldkyndighed,’ Copenhagen, 1857; but since
then many valuable additions have been discovered.
Footnote 227:
We find constant mention of the numbers 3 and 7, 9 and 12, which seem
to have been holy:—
Heimdall had ix sisters for his mothers.
Ægir had ix daughters.
In Helgi Hundingsbani, ii., ix Valkyrjas help Helgi in a storm and
save his ships.
Halfdan the old had ix + ix sons, of which ix were born first, and ix
after.
Dag, one of Halfdan’s sons, had ix sons, and from all Halfdan’s sons
there are ix generations to Harald Fairhair.
Draupnir begets 8 rings every ix night, and is itself the ix. The ring
did not get this quality before going through the fire on Baldr’s
pyre.
The following will show the frequent occurrence of the number Nine in
the literature of the North:—
With Harald Hilditönn were ix Scalds (Sögubrot, c. 8).
IX nights had Frey to wait for Gerd.
Njörd and Skadi watched in turns every ix nights by the sea or on
mountains (S. E. i. 92, 94).
IX days at a time were Sigmund and Sinfjötli in wolves’ shapes.
IX nights in succession comes King Siggeir’s mother as a she-wolf and
kills ix Volsungas (Volsunga, c. 5).
IX nights did Odin hang on the windblown tree (Hávamál, 138).
IX nights did Hermod ride through deep and dark valleys without any
sun, when he was going to Helheim.
IX days lasted the battle on Dunheath.
IX times 60 doors there are in Valhalla.
IX times 60 halls in Bilskirnir.
IX paces did Thor go from the Midgard’s serpent and die.
IX paces are red-hot irons carried (Fornmanna Sögur, i.).
IX red-hot plough-shares are stepped upon (Fornmanna Sögur, vii. 164,
x. 418).
Footnote 228:
The S sign is also common, especially in the bronze age.
Footnote 229:
A kind of trinity of the higher deities is represented in Persia,
India, Chaldæa, and other countries.