Anglo-Saxon Period--Fibulæ--Enamelled circular Fibulæ--Gold
Fibulæ--Pendant Cross--Cruciform Fibulæ--Penannular
Fibulæ--Irish and English examples--Pendant Ornaments, etc.
The fibulæ of the Anglo-Saxon period are the most remarkable, perhaps,
of any of the products of the grave-mounds of that people. They are
of extreme interest, not merely from their design and the excellence
of their workmanship, or from their various forms and styles of
ornamentation, but because by their varieties the different races to
which they belonged can, in great measure, be determined.
The more beautiful and elaborate, and at the same time the richest
in effect, of these various forms of fibulæ are those of circular
form, which, although found in various parts of the kingdom, are more
abundant in the barrows of Kent than elsewhere. The finest of these
ever discovered was found in 1771, “near the neck, or rather more
towards the right shoulder,” of the female skeleton in a grave six feet
deep, ten feet long, and eight feet wide, on Kingston Down, along with
some small silver fibulæ, a golden amulet, some small hinges, a chain,
some bronze vessels, pottery, and a variety of other articles. This
fibula, here engraved (fig. 443), which is quite unique, “stands at the
head of a class by no means extensive, characterized by being formed of
separate plates of metal, enclosed by a band round the edges. The shell
of this extraordinary brooch is entirely of gold. The upper surface is
divided into no less than seven compartments, subdivided into cells of
various forms. Those of the first and fifth are semi-circles, with a
peculiar graduated figure, somewhat resembling the steps or base of a
cross, which also occurs in all the compartments, and in four circles,
placed cross-wise with triangles. The cells within this step-like
figure and the triangular are filled with turquoises; the remaining
cells of the various compartments with garnets, laid upon gold-foil,
except the sixth, which forms an umbo, and bosses in the circle, which
are composed apparently of mother-of-pearl. The second and fourth
compartments contain vermicular gold chain-work, neatly milled and
attached to the ground of the plate. The reverse of the fibula is also
richly decorated.”
[Illustration: Fig. 443.]
The vertical hinge of the acus is ornamented with a cross set with
stones, and with filigree work round its base. The clasp which receives
the point of the acus is formed to represent a serpent’s head, the
eyes and nostrils of which, and the bending of the neck, are marked in
filigree. This precious jewel was secured by a loop which admitted of
its being sewn upon the dress.
Another remarkably fine example, found on the breast of a female
skeleton in Berkshire, is now in the Ashmolean museum. It measures two
inches and seven-eighths in diameter. The base is formed of a thin
plate of silver, above which, resting apparently on a bed of paste, is
a plate of copper, to which is affixed a frame-work of the same metal,
giving the outline of the pattern. The four divisions of the exterior
circle were originally filled with paste, on which were laid thin
laminæ of gold, ornamented with an interlaced pattern in gold wire of
two sizes, delicately milled or notched, resembling rope-work. Of these
compartments one is now vacant. This wire ornament was pressed into the
gold plate beneath, and there are no traces of any other means than
pressure having been used to fix it. The four smaller circles and that
in the centre are ornamented with bosses of a white substance, either
ivory or bone, but the material is so much decomposed it is difficult
to say which; these bosses are attached to the copper plate beneath
by iron pins. The entire face of the fibula was originally set with
small pieces of garnet-coloured glass laid upon hatched gold-foil. The
upper and lower plates of this ornament are bound together by a band of
copper gilt, slightly grooved. The acus is lost.
[Illustration: Fig. 444.]
[Illustration: Fig. 445.]
The magnificent circular fibula of gold here engraved (fig. 444) was
discovered some years ago in a barrow on Winster Moor, in Derbyshire.
It was formed of gold filigree work, which was mounted on a silver
plate. It was set with stones or paste on chequered gold-foil, and
measured two inches in diameter. Along with this fibula were found the
following interesting articles: a cross of pure gold, ornamented, like
the fibula, with filigree work, and having a garnet cut in facets set
in its centre (fig. 445); a silver armlet; two glass vessels, and a
number of beads. These and some other articles were all found by the
sides of two cinerary urns.
Many of the circular fibulæ are, of course, of a much smaller and less
elaborate character than those here given. They all, however, bear,
exclusive of the fact of their being found along with other evidences
of the period to which they belong, characteristics which cannot well
be mistaken.
[Illustration: Fig. 446.]
[Illustration: Fig. 447.]
[Illustration: Fig. 448.]
These circular fibulæ appear to have been worn by the Anglo-Saxon
ladies on the breast or, occasionally, shoulder. They were probably,
therefore, used for fastening the dress on the bosom, as is so often
seen in illuminated MSS. and on tombs of a later period.
[Illustration: Fig. 449.]
[Illustration: Fig. 450.]
Another extensive class of Anglo-Saxon fibulæ are what are usually
called, though not very satisfactorily, cruciform, or cross-shaped.
Fibulæ of this class are, perhaps, most abundant in the midland and
south-eastern counties, but they are of very rare occurrence in Kent.
They would appear, therefore, to have appertained mostly to the Angles,
who were the inhabitants of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria. They
are sometimes of silver, but usually of bronze, and are variously
ornamented with interlaced work, heads, and borders of various designs.
Their form will be best understood from the accompanying engravings,
which exhibit some of the most usual varieties. They are from
Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, and
will serve as typical examples of this class of brooch.
[Illustration: Fig. 451.]
[Illustration: Fig. 452.]
[Illustration: Fig. 453.]
Another totally distinct kind of fibula, or brooch, which is
considered to be peculiarly of Irish type, but which, nevertheless, is
occasionally met with in England, remains to be noticed. I allude, of
course, to brooches of the penannular form,[57] the general type of
which will be understood by the engravings given on figs. 453, 454, and
455, which are all Irish examples of more or less decorative character.
The originals are in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, as are also
many other exquisite specimens of these interesting examples of early
art.
[Illustration: Fig. 454.]
[Illustration: Fig. 455.]
[Illustration: Fig. 456.]
The one next figured (fig. 456) was discovered in Westmoreland, and
described and engraved in the _Archæological Journal_, vol. ix. page
90. This beautiful fibula I here engrave of a reduced size. The ring,
it will be seen, moves freely round the upper half of the brooch, the
lower or flat part of which is divided so as to allow of the passage
of the acus through it. “It is set with flat bosses, five on either
side. Each of these flat dilated parts of this curious ornament appears
to proceed from the jaws of a monstrous head, imperfectly simulating
that of a serpent or dragon; and between the jaw is introduced the
intertwined triplet, or _triquetra_, the same ornament which is found
on the sculptured cross at Kirk Michael, Isle of Man, and on some Saxon
coins.” This example is of silver. With it was found a silver armlet--a
simple twisted bar of decreasing thickness towards the extremities,
which are hooked. The dimensions of the fibula are, length of acus,
eleven inches; greatest diameter of circular part, five inches; width
of the dilated part, two inches; weight, 8 oz. 8 dwt.
[Illustration: Fig. 457.]
By far the finest example found in England is the one next figured
(fig. 457). It was found in 1862, near the picturesque village of
Bonsall, in the High Peak of Derbyshire. It is of bronze, and is
here engraved of its full size. The ring measures three inches and
seven-eighths in its greatest diameter, and the acus, which is not
engraved of its full length, is six inches and three-quarters long.
It has originally been set with amber or paste, and has been richly
gilt and enamelled. The interlaced ornaments are most exquisitely and
elaborately formed, and are of great variety, and the heads of animals
are of excellent and characteristic form. The head of the acus, or
pin, is large and beautifully ornamented, and, like the ring, has been
set with studs. The pin itself, as will be seen by the accompanying
engraving (fig. 458), is flattened and made thin at its upper end, and
bent so as to allow of the free passage of the ring through it, and is
riveted on to the ornamented plate in front.
[Illustration: Fig. 458.]
It is remarkable that, in this fibula, the ring, which, like other
examples of this form of brooch, has been made to play freely for half
its circumference through the acus, has been riveted to the head of
the pin in the position shown in the engraving. That it has been much
worn in this position--_across_ the breast or shoulder--is evident from
the ring being much worn where the pin has pressed against it when
clasped. I believe this is the only example on record in which the
pin has been _fixed_ to the side of the ring, and this was certainly
not the original intention of the maker of the brooch, but was done
subsequently. This will be seen by the engraving of the profile of the
head of the acus, on fig. 458. On one or two examples of penannular
brooches, inscriptions in Ogham characters have been found, and it
is highly interesting to be able to add that, on the back of the
Derbyshire example, faint traces of Oghams still remain.
[Illustration: Fig. 459.]
Another brooch, of silver, found in England, though different in form
from the expanded examples just given, and although of later date, is
nevertheless of the same construction. It is engraved of a reduced
size on fig. 459. “The acus has been broken off. There appears to have
been a third knob, now lost, which should correspond with the knob B,
the acus passing between the two. The upper knob A is very loose, and
moves freely around the ring. The knob B turns, but much less freely,
and does not pass over C, having merely a lateral motion of one-fourth
of an inch.” The diameter of the widest part is nearly five and a half
inches; the globular ornaments measure one and a quarter inches in
diameter. The under side of each of the balls is flat, and is engraved
with ornaments, as shown on the engraving. This brooch belongs to Mr.
C. Carus Wilson, and closely resembles some of the Irish examples.
Of the mode of wearing penannular brooches, the late Mr. Fairholt
says: “By the sumptuary laws of the ancient Irish, the size of these
brooches, or fibulæ, were regulated according to the rank of the
wearer. The highest price of a _silver_ bodkin for a king or an
_ollamh_, which, according to Vallancy, was _thirty_ heifers, when made
of refined silver; the lowest value attached to them being the worth
of three heifers. From this it may be inferred, that the rank of the
wearer might always be guessed at from the fibulæ he wore.” The rank
of the wearers of the “Tara Brooch”--the most famous of all the Irish
brooches at present known--and of the Derbyshire example, must, judging
from their large size and truly exquisite workmanship, have been high.
The extreme rarity of brooches of this form in England, leads one,
naturally, to the conclusion that they were not much worn by the
inhabitants of this country, and that, therefore, they can hardly
be considered to belong to the nationality, if I may so speak, of
the Anglo-Saxons. Nevertheless, examples having been here found in
close proximity to undoubted Anglo-Saxon remains, and the style of
ornamentation being strictly in keeping with much belonging to that
period, there can be no doubt that they must be included amongst our
Anglo-Saxon antiquities.
Some of the most beautiful objects, along with the fibulæ, which
the graves of the Anglo-Saxons yield, are the pendant ornaments of
various kinds which were worn by that race of people. The objects of
this class are extremely varied; but their beauty, like those of the
richly studded and gilt fibulæ, and the enamelled studs and bosses,
cannot well be understood without the aid of coloured illustrations. Of
these a set of exquisite pendants were found along with several other
interesting objects, in a barrow on Brassington Moor, by Mr. Bateman.
Eleven of these pendants are large and brilliantly coloured garnets
beautifully set in pure gold, two are entirely of gold, and the third,
also of gold, is of spiral wire. Two beads, one of green glass, the
other of white and blue glass, were also found.
Gold drops of a similar character to those just described have been
frequently found in the Kentish graves, as have also one or two crosses
very similar to the one engraved on a previous page (fig. 445).
Circular pendants of gold and other materials, decorated with enamelled
or raised interlaced and other ornaments, or set with garnets and other
stones, are also found. Among the most interesting of this class of
pendant ornaments are coins to which loops have been attached. Examples
have been found in Kent and elsewhere, and show that the fashion to
some extent indulged in at the present day of wearing coins attached to
watch chains, etc., is at least of Anglo-Saxon origin.