Anglo-Saxon
Period--Arms--Swords--Knives--Spears--Shields--Umbones of
Shields--Buckles--Helmets--Benty-Grange Tumulus--The Sacred
Boar--Grave at Barlaston--Enamelled Discs and pendant
Ornaments, etc.--Horse Shoes.
The arms of the Anglo-Saxons, so far as is known from the contents of
their graves, consisted of swords, spears, knives, shields, daggers,
etc., and occasionally with the men, besides these things, are found
remains of helmets, ornaments from horse-trappings, buckles, axes, and
many other articles.
The swords are straight-bladed, usually double-edged, with hilts of
metal or wood. The scabbards were sometimes of wood, sometimes of
leather, and sometimes again of bronze, and are often elaborately
ornamented at the chape. The sword here engraved (fig. 372) was found
in a barrow at Tissington, in Derbyshire. It had originally been
enclosed in a wooden scabbard or sheath, which had apparently been
covered with leather, and mounted with ornamented silver. Most of this
ornamentation was decayed and lost, but sufficient remained to show
that the sword had been of no ordinary beauty and value, and must have
belonged to some person of note. The traces of silver ornamentation at
the head are indicated on the engraving. The chape, which is simply
rounded, is of silver, and the rivets still remain, as do also those by
which the leather was attached to the wood. The sword is thirty-four
inches in length, and two inches and a half in breadth. Across its
upper part lay a small fragment of the shield, and near it, spread
about, were a few pieces of iron, some of which, when joined together,
proved to be a spear-head of the usual form of the period. It had
doubtless been broken and disturbed at the time when the bones were
dispersed by the planting of the trees.
[Illustration: Fig. 372.]
[Illustration: Fig. 373.]
[Illustration: Fig. 374.]
[Illustration: Fig. 375.]
A remarkably fine sword (fig. 373) was found in 1868 at Grimsthorpe.
It is of iron, and remains encased in its bronze scabbard in a more
perfect state than usual. The extreme length of the sword and scabbard,
from pommel to chape, is thirty-one inches; the length of the scabbard
from guard to point of chape, twenty-four inches. The breadth at the
mouth is one inch and seven-eighths. The guard is of bronze, and is
engraved on fig. 374. The scabbard is formed of thin plate bronze, and
has an encircling band of the same material to hold the upper points
of the chape to its sides. The length of the chape from the band is
six inches and a half. The chape, which is exquisitely formed, is
engraved on fig. 375, and will be seen to be of unusual beauty. It is
in a remarkably perfect condition, and, being formed of bronze (the
scabbards of the period to which it belongs being usually of wood
with metal chape and fittings), is of great rarity and interest. The
chape had been set with six small, and one large, stones, as will be
seen by the engraving. Some of these, which were probably garnets,
were remaining. They had been affixed to their places by small rivets
passing through their centres. A series of fifteen examples of
Anglo-Saxon swords (figs. 376 to 390) from illuminated MSS., etc., are
here given for purposes of comparison. Some of these will be found to
be of precisely similar form to those already given, and others, again,
have trefoiled pommels.
[Illustration: Fig. 376.]
[Illustration: Fig. 377.]
[Illustration: Fig. 378.]
[Illustration: Fig. 379.]
[Illustration: Fig. 380.]
[Illustration: Figs. 381 to 390.]
A good figure of a swordsman, with sword and shield, is also given on
the next figure (fig. 391).
[Illustration: Fig. 391.]
Swords with ornamental pommels and hilts are of rare occurrence, but
examples occur in the Faussett and other collections. Probably those
with ornamented hilts would also have their chapes correspondingly
ornamented. In _Beowulf_ occur these lines:--
“When he did off from himself
his iron coat of mail,
the helmet from his head,
gave his ornamented sword,
the costliest of irons,
to his servant.”
And again:--
anꝺ þa hilꞇ ꞅomoꝺ
ꞅince páᵹe.
(“And with it the hilt
variegated with treasure.”)
A remarkable hilt, bearing an inscription in Runic characters, was
found at Ash, in Kent. It is of silver. On one side is the Runic
inscription engraved in the metal, on the other a zigzag and other
ornaments. A hilt of this kind must undoubtedly have been the one so
graphically described in _Beowulf_, where a sword, inscribed with the
name of its first owner and with other matters of extreme interest, is
“looked upon” and pondered over. The passage is thus:--
“He looked upon the hilt,
the old legacy,
on which was written the origin
of the ancient contest;
after the flood slew,
the pouring ocean,
the race of giants;
daringly they behaved;
that was a strange race
to the eternal Lord,
therefore to them their last reward
through floods of water
the ruler gave.
So was on the surface
of the bright gold
with Runic letters
rightly marked,
set and said,
for whom that sword,
the costliest of irons,
was first made,
with twisted hilt and variegated like a snake.”
The runes on the hilt first spoken of and engraved would doubtless, if
properly translated, tell as pleasant and as interesting a story as the
one narrated by Beowulf.
[Illustration: Figs. 392 to 396.]
The knife or dagger (the _seax_), which is of iron, is of different
forms. The most usual shapes are given on figs. 392 to 396. The larger
were used for war purposes, the smaller for domestic purposes--the
Saxon carrying his own knife with him for his food, attached to his
belt, both at home and to the banquets of his friends. The _seax_, as a
weapon, is frequently alluded to in _Beowulf_: thus, when _Beowulf_ and
the Mother of Grendal, the fiend, were struggling together:--
“She beset then the hall-guest,
and drew her _seax_,
broad, brown-edged.”
And in another part, when Beowulf was fighting with the dragon, after
having broken his sword in the contest, he
“Drew his deadly _seax_,
bitter and battle-sharp,
that he on his birnie[52] bore.”
Spear and javelin heads are of frequent occurrence; they are of iron,
and, although varying considerably, both in size and shape, they all
bear a strong and marked resemblance to each other, and have sockets.
Their “peculiarity is a longitudinal slit in the socket which received
the wooden handle or staff, and which, after being fixed, was closed
with iron rings, string-braided, and rivets.”[53] Examples are given
in figs. 333 to 403, and again on fig. 404. In interments the spear
usually lies by the right side of the skeleton, where the position of
the shaft may be traced by a line of decayed wood; at the bottom a
metal ferule or ring is sometimes found. The axe is usually of the form
here shown, and is of iron. It will be seen how closely some of these
resemble the forms found depicted by Anglo-Saxon artists in the MSS. of
the period, a selection from which is here given.
[Illustration: Figs. 397 to 403.]
[Illustration: Fig. 404.]
The shield appears to have been made of wood, and to have been circular
in form. It was frequently covered with leather, and sometimes with
thin sheets of bronze. The boss or umbone was of various forms and
sizes, as will be shortly shown. The wood of which the shield was
composed appears from Beowulf to have been that of the linden tree:--
“He seized his shield,
the yellow linden-wood.”
The shield was often called a “war-board;” and we learn that Beowulf,
when he was preparing to encounter the fire-dragon, knowing that a
wooden shield would be no proof against fire, ordered one “all of iron”
to be made for him:--
“Then commanded he to be made for him
the refuge of warriors,
_all of iron,_
the lord of eorls,
a wondrous _war-board_;
he knew right well
that him forest wood
might not help,
linden-wood against fire.”
One of the most remarkable remains of shields which has been brought
to light is the one at Grimsthorpe,[54] where, on the breast of the
skeleton, lay a mass of decayed wood, a quantity of ferruginous
dust--probably the remains of the handle and inside fittings of the
shield--and remains of decomposed leather. On these lay two thin plates
of bronze, and the umbone or boss of the same metal, which had formed
the outer covering of the “war-board.” These two plates and the umbone
are engraved on fig. 405. The discs or plates of bronze are little
thicker than ordinary writing-paper. They each measure twelve and a
half inches from point to point, and are three and three quarter inches
in width in the middle. They have a raised border of curious design
around their outer edge, and they have been, like the boss, attached
to the shield by pins or rivets. The boss is of very unusual form, and
has been attached to the shield by rivets or pins; it is ornamented
with engraved lines. From this curious discovery it would appear that
this warrior of the Yorkshire Wolds bore a shield formed of wood and
covered with leather; that it was faced with plates of bronze, and had
a bronze umbone; and that the handle, and probably the strengthening
bars, on the inner side were of iron.
[Illustration: Fig. 405.]
Many handles of iron, belonging to shields, have been found in the
Kentish and other barrows. The shield, in interments, was usually
placed flat on the centre of the body, as shown on fig. 325.
[Illustration: Fig. 406.]
[Illustration: Fig. 407.]
[Illustration: Fig. 408.]
The umbone or boss of the shield was, as I have said, of various
forms. The most usual shapes are, perhaps, those here given from
Kentish graves (figs. 406 and 407), and fig. 408, from Tissington,
where it was found along with the sword before described (fig. 372).
This extremely interesting relic, which is among the largest ever
found, measures nine inches in height. It is, of course, of iron, and
is of the same type as one found at Sibertswold, which is engraved in
the “_Inventorum Sepulchrale_.” The texture of cloth in which it had
been enfolded when placed by the body of the hero by whom it was borne,
is distinctly traceable on several parts of its surface. The umbone,
as it lay, was surrounded with the wood, in a complete state of decay,
which had once formed the shield; and small fragments of corroded
iron, which were doubtless a part of the mountings of the shield, were
scattered about.
Of the form of the Anglo-Saxon shield and its umbone, a tolerably good
idea may be formed by the series of examples here given (figs. 409 to
416), from the illuminated MSS. of the period.
[Illustration: Figs. 409 to 416.]
Of Saxon armour the remains yielded to us by the graves are few and
far between. Buckles, such as probably fastened the belt or girdle to
which the knife, the sword, etc., were suspended, and others which
have doubtless belonged to some portions of the dress, are the most
abundant. They are of varied form, some being of particularly elegant
design, partaking of the character of the fibulæ of the period. Twelve
examples from the Kentish graves are given on figs. 417 to 428.
Helmets, or head coverings, in a fragmentary state, have on some few
occasions been found. The most remarkable discovery of this kind which
has been made is the one which was found by my friend, the late Mr.
Bateman, at Benty Grange,[55] in Derbyshire, in the year 1848. The
account of this discovery is so full of interest, and so curious, that
I give it in Mr. Bateman’s own words. He says:--
“It was our good fortune to open a barrow which afforded a more
instructive collection of relics than has ever been discovered in the
county, and which are not surpassed in interest by any remains hitherto
recovered from any Anglo-Saxon burying-place in the kingdom.
[Illustration: Fig. 417.]
[Illustration: Fig. 418.]
[Illustration: Fig. 419.]
[Illustration: Fig. 420.]
[Illustration: Fig. 421.]
[Illustration: Fig. 422.]
[Illustration: Fig. 423.]
[Illustration: Fig. 424.]
[Illustration: Fig. 425.]
[Illustration: Fig. 426.]
[Illustration: Fig. 427.]
[Illustration: Fig. 428.]
“The barrow, which is on a farm called Benty Grange, a high and bleak
situation to the right of the road from Ashbourn to Buxton, near the
eighth milestone from the latter place, is of inconsiderable elevation,
perhaps not more than two feet at the highest point, but is spread over
a pretty large area, and is surrounded by a small fosse or trench.
About the centre, and upon the natural soil, had been laid the only
body the barrow ever contained, of which not a vestige besides the hair
could be distinguished. Near the place which, from the presence of
hair, was judged to have been the situation of the head, was a curious
assemblage of ornaments, which, from the peculiarly indurated nature
of the earth, it was impossible to remove with any degree of success.
The most remarkable are the silver edging and ornaments of a leathern
cup, about three inches in diameter at the mouth, which was decorated
by four wheel-shaped ornaments and two crosses of thin silver, affixed
by pins of the same metal, clenched inside (fig. 429). The other
articles found in the same situation consist of personal ornaments,
the chief of which are two circular enamels upon copper 1¾ diameter,
in narrow silver frames, and a third, which was so far decomposed as
to be irrecoverable (see group, fig. 430); they are enamelled with a
yellow interlaced dracontine pattern, intermingled with that peculiar
scroll design, visible on the same class of ornaments figured in
‘Vestiges,’ p. 25, and used in several MSS. of the seventh century, for
the purpose of decorating the initial letters. The principle of this
design consists of three spiral lines springing from a common centre,
and each involution forming an additional centre, for an extension
of the pattern, which may be adapted to fill spaces of almost any
form. Mr. Westwood has shown in a most able paper in the 40th No.
of the Journal of the Archæological Institute, that this style of
ornamentation is peculiar to the Anglo-Saxon and Irish artists of the
period before stated. The pattern was first cut in the metal, threads
of it being left to show the design, by which means cells were formed,
in which the enamel was placed before fusion, the whole being then
polished became what is known as _champ-levé_ enamel. There were also
with these enamels a knot of very fine wire, and a quantity of thin
bone, variously ornamented with lozenges, etc., which were mostly too
much decayed to bear removal; they appeared to have been attached to
some garment of silk, as the glossy fibre of such a fabric was very
perceptible when they were first uncovered, though it shortly vanished
when exposed to the air. Proceeding westward from the head for about
six feet, we arrived at a large mass of oxydized iron, which being
removed with the utmost care, and having been since repaired where
unavoidably broken, now presents a mass of chainwork, and the frame of
a helmet. The latter consists of a skeleton formed of iron bands (fig.
431) radiating from the crown of the head, and riveted to a circle of
the same metal which encompassed the brow: from the impression on the
metal it is evident that the outside was covered with plates of horn
disposed diagonally so as to produce a herring-bone pattern; the ends
of these plates were secured beneath with strips of horn corresponding
with the iron framework, and attached to it by ornamental rivets of
silver at intervals of about an inch and a half from each other. On
the bottom of the front rib, which projects so as to form a nasal, is
a small silver cross, slightly ornamented round the edges by a beaded
moulding; and on the crown of the helmet is an elliptical bronze plate
supporting the figure of an animal carved in iron, with bronze eyes,
now much corroded, but perfectly distinct as the representation of
a hog. There are, too, many fragments, some more or less ornamented
with silver, which have been riveted to some part of the helmet in a
manner not to be explained or even understood; there are also some
small buckles of iron, which probably served to fasten it upon the
head. Amongst the chainwork is a very curious six-pronged instrument
of iron, in shape much like an ordinary hay-fork, with the difference
of the tang, which in the latter is driven into the shaft, being in
this instrument flattened and doubled over so as to form a small loop,
apparently convenient for suspension; whether it belonged to the
helmet or the corselet, next to be described, is uncertain. The iron
chainwork already named consists of a large number of links of two
kinds, attached to each other by small rings, half an inch in diameter;
one kind are flat and lozenge-shaped, about an inch and a half long;
the others are all of one kind, but of different lengths, varying from
four to ten inches. They are simply lengths of square rod iron with
perforated ends, through which pass the rings connecting them with the
diamond-shaped links; they all show the impression of cloth over a
considerable part of the surface, and it is, therefore, no improbable
conjecture that they would originally constitute a kind of quilted
cuirass, by being sewn up within, or upon, a doublet of strong cloth.
The peculiarly indurated and corrosive nature of the soil in this
barrow is a point of some interest, and it will not be out of place to
state that such has generally been the case in tumuli in Derbyshire,
where the more important Saxon burials have taken place, whilst the
more ancient Celtic interments are generally found in good condition,
owing to there having been no special preparation of the earth, which
in these cases has undergone a mixing or tempering with some corrosive
liquid, the result of which is the presence of thin ochrey veins in the
earth, and the decomposition of nearly the whole of the human remains.
The following extract from Professor Worsaae’s ‘Antiquities of Denmark’
illustrates the helmet, which is the only example of the kind hitherto
discovered, either in this country or on the Continent:--
[Illustration: Fig. 429.]
[Illustration: Fig. 430.]
[Illustration: Fig. 431.]
[Illustration: Fig. 432.]
“‘The helmets of the ancient Scandinavians, which were furnished with
crests, usually in the form of animals, were probably in most cases
only the skins of the heads of animals, drawn over a framework of wood
or leather, as the coat of mail was usually of strong quilted linen, or
thick woven cloth.’”
To this the translator of the English edition appends the important
information, that “the animal generally represented was the boar; and
it is to this custom that reference is made in _Beowulf_, where the
poet speaks of the boar of gold, the boar hard as iron.”
“Sƿẏn eal ᵹẏlꝺen,
Eoꝼeꞃ Iꞃen-heꞃꝺ.”
Nor are allusions to this custom of wearing the figure of a boar--not
in honour of the animal, but of Freya, to whom it was sacred--confined
to Beowulf; they are to be found in the _Edda_ and in the _Sagas_;
while Tacitus, in his work, “De Moribus Germanorum”, distinctly refers
to the same usage and its religious intention, as propitiating the
protection of their goddess in battle. As a further illustration, not
only of the helmet, but also of the chainwork, the following extracts
from Beowulf are transcribed from Mr. C. R. Smith’s “Collectanea
Antiqua,” vol. ii., p. 240:--
eoꝼeꞃ-líc ꞅción “They seemed a boar’s form
oꞃ-oꝼeꞃ hleoꞃ bæꞃon; to bear over their cheeks;
ᵹe-hꞃoꝺen ᵹolꝺe, twisted with gold,
ꝼáh anꝺ ꝼýꞃ-heaꞃꝺ, variegated and hardened in the fire,
ꝼeꞃh ƿeaꞃꝺe heólꝺ. this kept the guard of life:
I. 604.
be-ꝼonᵹen ꝼꞃeá-ƿꞃáꞅnum, Surrounded with lordly chains,
ꞅƿa híne ꝼẏꞃn ꝺaᵹum even as in days of yore
ƿoꞃhꞇe ƿæpna ꞅmið, the weapon smith had wrought it,
ƿunꝺꞃum ꞇeóꝺe, had wondrously furnished it, [swine,
be-ꞅeꞇꞇe ꞅƿín-lícum, had set it round with the shapes of
ꝥ hine ꞅẏðan nó that never afterwards
bꞃonꝺ né beaꝺo-mecaꞅ brand or war-knife
bíꞇan ne meahꞇon: might have power to bite it:
I. 2901
æꞇ þæm áꝺe ƿæꞅ At the pile was
eþ-ᵹe-ꞅýne easy to be seen
ꞅƿáꞇ-ꝼah ꞅẏꞃce, the mail shirt covered with gore,
ꞅƿýn eal-ᵹẏlꝺen, the hog of gold,
eoꝼeꞃ íꞃen heaꞃꝺ: the boar hard as iron:
I. 2213.
Heꞇ ðá in-beꞃan Then commanded he to bring in
eaꝼoꞃ-heáꝼod-ꞅeᵹn, the boar, an ornament to the head,
heaþo-ꞅꞇeapne helm, the helmet lofty in war,
heꞃe-bẏꞃnan, the grey mail coat,
ᵹuð-ꞅƿeoꞃꝺ ᵹeáꞇo-líc: the ready battle sword.”
I. 4299.
It will be noticed in these extracts that “mail coat” or “mail shirt”
is twice mentioned, as well as the “helmet lofty in war.” Thus
the passages in a remarkable degree illustrate this extraordinary
discovery, which embraced a coat of mail along with the helmet and
other objects. The coat appears to have consisted of a mass of
chainwork, the links of which were attached to each other by small
rings.
Fragments of another helmet were the following year found in another
barrow in the same neighbourhood, at Newhaven, along with other objects
of interest. The barrow had, however, at some previous time been
grievously mutilated. Of this barrow Mr. Bateman says: “We opened a
mutilated mound of earth in a field near Newhaven House, called the
Low, two-thirds of which had been removed, and the remainder more
or less disturbed, so that nothing was found in its original state,
which is much to be regretted, as the contents appear to be late in
date, and different in character from anything we have before found in
tumuli. The mound itself, being constructed of tempered earth, bore
some analogy to the grave-hill of the Saxon Thegn, opened at Benty
Grange about a year before, and, like it, was without human remains, if
we except a few fragments of calcined bone, which are too minute to be
certainly assigned either to a human or animal subject. The articles
found comprise many small pieces of thin iron straps or bands, more or
less overlaid with bronze, which are by no means unlike the framework
of the helmet found at Benty Grange. There is also a boss of thin
bronze, three inches diameter, pierced with three holes for attachment
to the dress, (?) and divided by raised concentric circles, between
which the metal is ornamented with a dotted chevron pattern, in the
angles of which are small roses punched by a die. Another object in
bronze is a small round vessel or box of thick cast metal, surrounded
by six vertical ribs, and having two perforated ears, serving probably
better to secure the lid and suspend the box. Although it measures less
than an inch in height, and less than two in diameter, it weighs full
3½ ounces. A similar box, with the lid, on which is a cross formed of
annulets, found with Roman remains at Lincoln, is engraved at page
30 of the Lincoln Book of the Archæological Institute, where it is
called a pyx. Two others, discovered at Lewes, are engraved in the
‘Archæologia,’ vol. xxxi., page 437, one of which has the lid bearing
a cross precisely similar to the Lincoln example, whence it is certain
that they must be assigned to a Christian period, probably not long
previous to the extinction of the Saxon monarchy. The last object there
is occasion to describe is an iron ferrule or hoop, an inch and a half
in diameter, one edge of which is turned inwards, so as to prevent
its slipping up the shaft on which it has been fixed. We also found
some shapeless pieces of melted glass, which, from their variegated
appearance, might be the product of fused beads; and observed many
pieces of charred wood throughout the mound, which may possibly not
have been of a sepulchral character.”
Another helmet, or defensive cap, was found some years ago at
Leckhampton Hill, in Gloucestershire, the ribs of which bear a striking
analogy to the one here described.
A remarkable discovery, which included portions of what is very
plausibly considered to be a helmet, was also, a few years ago, made on
the estate of Mr. Francis Wedgwood, at Barlaston, in Staffordshire. The
particulars of this I now for the first time make public. The grave,
which was seven feet in length by two feet in width, was cut in the
solid red-sandstone rock. It was about fifteen inches in depth at the
deepest part, which was at the south-east corner, and died out with the
slope of the hill towards the north-west, and the earth which covered
it (which had probably been tempered in the usual manner) was only a
few inches in thickness. It was on the slope of the hill. At the upper
or northerly end of the grave a basin-like cavity, two or three inches
in depth, was cut in the floor of rock (see A in the plan, fig. 433).
In this hollow, which had evidently been intended for the helmeted
head of the deceased to rest in, was found the remains of what I have
alluded to as justly considered to be remains of a bronze helmet. The
skeleton had, as is so frequently the case in Anglo-Saxon interments,
entirely disappeared, but on its right side lay the sword (B), and on
the left a knife (C).
The fragments in the cavity consisted of several pieces of curved
bronze, highly ornamented, which had probably, with other plain curved
pieces, formed the framework of the helmet; some thin plates of bronze;
a flat ring of bronze, beautifully ornamented (fig. 434), which is
conjectured to have been the top of the framework of the helmet; and
three enamelled discs, of a similar character to what have been
elsewhere found, with hooks for suspension, or attachment to leather
or other substance. One of these is engraved, of its real size, on the
next illustration (fig. 435). The centre is of enamel mosaic work,
ground down level with the metal, as in the old Chinese enamels.
[Illustration: Fig. 433.]
[Illustration: Fig. 434.]
[Illustration: Fig. 435.]
The inference to be drawn from this curious discovery is, that the
grave was that of a Saxon of high rank, who had been buried in his full
dress, and that the cavity had been specially cut out in the floor of
the rock grave to admit of the helmet being worn as when he was living.
No remains of a shield were noticed, nor were any other remains found
in the locality, which was carefully dug over for the purpose.
[Illustration: Fig. 436.]
Enamelled discs, or pendants, such as I have just spoken of (see fig.
435), have been occasionally found in other localities, as will have
been noticed in the course of the last few pages. The use of these
curious objects is very obscure, and I am not aware that any very
particular attention has been paid to them. Portions of these were
found in the Benty Grange barrow (fig. 430), along with the Saxon
helmet. A very perfect example was found in a barrow on Middleton Moor,
Derbyshire, in 1788,[56] where it was found lying near the shoulder. In
the same barrow was a portion of another enamelled ornament, the iron
umbone of a shield, and a thin vessel of bronze--described as like a
shallow basin--which probably formed a portion of a helmet. These two
interesting relics are here engraved (figs. 436 and 437). The first
of these will be seen to bear a striking resemblance to the Barlaston
example (fig. 435), and the second, in form, to be very similar to the
next example (fig. 438), from the museum of the Royal Irish Academy.
Some precisely similar objects--similar in design and in size to figs.
435 and 436--were found at Chesterton. Of the four of these objects
there found, two are precisely alike, and had hooks for suspension in
the same manner as is shown on fig. 435; the other two have no hooks,
and are of a different pattern of enamelling. Other examples have been
brought to light in different localities, but these will be sufficient
for my present purpose.
[Illustration: Fig. 437.]
[Illustration: Fig. 438.]
It is, of course, very difficult to come to any conclusion, in the
present state of our knowledge of Anglo-Saxon history, as to the
original uses of these and other objects. That these enamelled and
handled discs were intended for suspension by their hooks there can
be but little doubt, and it seems not improbable that they might
serve as pendants to the helmet; the two with hooks possibly hanging
as ear-guards or coverings, and the others being attached by pins or
rivets to, perhaps, the front and back of the circle. It is hoped
that ultimately the use of these curious relics may be correctly
ascertained. In the barrow at Grimthorpe, already referred to, a disc
of somewhat similar character, of thin metal, was found. It had been
attached by three pins or rivets, the holes for which remained. It was
not enamelled, but decorated with raised ornaments. It is engraved of
its full size on fig. 439.
[Illustration: Fig. 439.]
A singular plate of cast and chased bronze, strongly gilt, and set with
garnets, found in Northamptonshire, and now in the Bateman museum, is
engraved in the “Reliquary,” vol. i. It has at the back, besides a
central projection, four pierced projections for attachment to leather
or other substance, and four “swivel” projections, if they may be so
termed, on its edges, to which other matters have been attached by
rivets, which are still remaining.
Enamelling and goldsmiths’ work were evidently arts in which the
Anglo-Saxon artificers excelled; some of the rings and fibulæ, and
other relics, being of extreme elegance and richness, and of great
beauty in design.
Having spoken of the arms, helmets, etc., found in Anglo-Saxon
graves, it will be well before proceeding to describe the personal
ornaments, to note that horse-shoes are occasionally met with in
interments, showing that the horse was, in some instances, buried
with its rider. Having given, on fig. 324, the form of a horse-shoe
of the Romano-British period, I now engrave examples of those of the
Anglo-Saxon times. Figs. 440 and 441 are two shoes from a Saxon grave
in Berkshire.
[Illustration: Fig. 440.]
[Illustration: Fig. 441.]
They will be seen to be of a very different form to those of the
preceding era. One has calkins, but the other is without, and both are
even on the outer edge, not “bulged,” as those of Roman times are.
In illustration of this matter, I am enabled, through the courtesy
of my friend Mr. Fleming, to give the accompanying engraving from
his admirable work on “Horse-shoes and Horse-shoeing,” to which I
would direct the attention of all who are interested in this branch
of archæological inquiry. The engraving represents the contents of
a grave-mound excavated at Selzen, on the Rhine, by Lindenschmidt,
in which, along with the skeleton of the warrior, were the skull and
other remains of his horse, with portions of horse-shoes, as well as
some urns of good character, and of close resemblance to those of our
Anglo-Saxon period. Tumuli containing the remains of horses are of
unfrequent occurrence in England, and therefore this example becomes
interesting as an illustration for comparison.
[Illustration: Fig. 442.]