Early Anglo-Saxon Period Research Articles

Heirlooms Under-‘Cover’: Identifying Curated Swords and Scabbards Deposited in Early Medieval Burials

EARLY MEDIEVAL SWORDS have been a popular subject of historic and archaeological study in recent years. Swords have been found within the wealthiest early Anglo-Saxon furnished burials (the 5th–7th centuries ad) and have been recorded as highly decorated objects representing social status. From both archaeological and literary evidence, early medieval swords have been considered as likely ‘heirloom status objects’, curated and inherited over multiple generations. However, until recently there has been no direct study of the curation of swords. This is due to the problematic chronological nature of sword components, and because almost all are from burial contexts of the early Anglo-Saxon period. This study analysed graves containing swords from Kentish cemeteries of the 5th–7th centuries AD, and identified two examples of potential curation strategies through sword scabbard pieces chronologically older than the depositional context or individual within the grave. The evidence supports the belief that swords were recognisable heirlooms within early medieval communities, displaying the biography of the weapon, owner, and family. The recognition of an heirloom sword within a burial tableau would have been a socially noticeable action, affecting the collective memory of the mourners gathered at the funeral during a time of social and political stratification.

Networks of Meaning and the Social Dynamics of Identity. An Example from Early Anglo-Saxon England

In the early Anglo-Saxon period, dressing and displaying the body in life and death played an important role in shaping and reinforcing identities and ruling social norms. Studies of the past decades have particularly highlighted the social significance of dressing and staging the body for the event of the funeral. This paper addresses how the production of dress items, the daily act of dressing, and the individuals involved in these practices helped shape the same identities that were enacted in the funeral. It argues that we must consider more explicitly how certain elements of dress became objects of identification through the social dialogue between groups of people who engaged with such objects at earlier stages of their lifecycle. This must include not only those who used dress items as grave goods but also those who produced and wore them. It works towards a framework that captures more fully the social communication and exchange of ideas that shaped and transformed notions of identity. Using data from the author’s research on early Anglo-Saxon girdle-hangers, this paper addresses how different forms of socio-material communication, and different actors involved, can be addressed through the material record of burials. Together these formed the mental networks in which meanings and values were created.

The Bracteate Hoard from Binham — An Early Anglo-Saxon Central Place?

THIS ARTICLE DESCRIBES the recent discovery of Britain’s first certain hoard of gold bracteates, found in a field in Binham (Norfolk). This find is unique in Anglo-Saxon England where bracteates have previously been found either in graves or as single finds. A further two gold bracteates and a possible die have been discovered in the vicinity of Binham suggesting a ‘bracteate cluster’. It is argued here on the basis of analogies with sites in Scandinavia and northern Germany that Binham may have acted as a central place in northern Norfolk in the early Anglo-Saxon period. In light of bracteate distribution across Anglo-Saxon England, the area of Binham is suggested as one of several sites with meaningful clusters of bracteate finds; these may have belonged to a network of central sites distributed across Scandinavia and along North Sea coastal areas in England.

In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721-54 by John-Henry Clay (review)

Reviewed by: In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721-54 by John-Henry Clay Sabina Flanagan Clay, John-Henry , In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721-54 (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 11), Turnhout, Brepols, 2010; hardback; pp. xix, 487; 41 b/w illustrations, 21 maps; R.R.P. €105.00; ISBN 9782503531618. According to John-Henry Clay, the Wessex-born St Boniface, long known as 'the apostle of the Germans', is 'one of the most intensely studied figures of the early Middle Ages' (p. 403). So why should an account of just thirty-three years of his missionary campaign in an area equivalent to the pre-Reformation archidiaconate of Fritzlar require a 487-page book? Clay distinguishes his own work from previous scholarship on Boniface by its interdisciplinary nature. He describes himself as 'a historian of anthropological bent' but firmly places his work within the pale of 'landscape studies' (pp. 39-40). However, his chief methodological novelty consists in using the rich deposit of North Hessian archaeological research to explore how the mission was carried out at a regional level or, as we might say, on the ground. Nor is it just the physical landscape of hills, groves, and springs with names suggesting pagan cultic worship that Clay examines, for he projects upon it various metaphorical landscapes: 'the landscapes of politics, of shifting boundaries of settlement and control, of movement and trade, of ecclesiastical governance and religious devotion' (p. 5). Before reaching this point in Chapters 7 and 8, entitled 'Representing the Mission' and 'Experiencing the Mission', a great deal of preliminary territory must be traversed: namely 'Introduction', 'Historiography', 'West Saxon Origins', 'Hessia on the Eve of the Bonifatian Mission', and 'Chronology of the Bonifatian Mission in Hessia'. The thoroughness with which preliminary debates on such matters as pastoral care in the early Anglo-Saxon period and the interpretation of furnished inhumations arranged in large cemeteries are canvassed doubtless reflects the book's origin as a PhD thesis. Many readers might have been prepared to take on trust conclusions reached here only after extensive argumentation, so as to arrive more directly at Clay's original contributions to the subject of the mission to Hessia. [End Page 241] For all the interesting byways that the author traverses, it is not clear how history viewed through landscape differs from what historians have long been doing. R. H. Tawney spoke of the need for the historian to have a stout pair of boots, and even this review shows that topographical metaphors pervade everyday speech. Furthermore, what we might think of as traditional historical discourse is easily subsumed into the landscape project by metaphorical means. One of the most interesting sections of the book is Clay's analysis of the terms and expressions used in correspondence about the mission (pp. 238- 77 and App. 1 and 2). This kind of literary analysis would appear to be on quite a different plane from the discussion of the physical landscape until we recall (though surprisingly Clay does not) that many such tropes are what E. R. Curtius would have called topoi. So perhaps everything can be connected to 'landscape' if broadly enough conceived. Readers must make up their own minds about how novel and well-grounded such an approach may be. Sabina Flanagan School of History and Politics The University of Adelaide Copyright © 2013 by the Author

Object Biography, Re-use and Recycling in the Late to Post-Roman Transition Period and Beyond: Rings made from Romano-British Bracelets

AbstractDocumenting a phenomenon that has previously been overlooked, this article examines the later stages of object biography in relation to Romano-British bracelets, namely, their modification and subsequent re-use as smaller rings. Re-use is shown to occur widely and is particularly associated with the late fourth to early fifth centuriesa.d., with cut-down bracelets also found in early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. The making of smaller rings from late Roman bracelets is demonstrated to be part of a wider phenomenon of re-use, repair and recycling at the end of the Roman period in Britain, with attendant implications of cultural and economic change. It is proposed that the transformation of these artefacts was accompanied by changes in meaning which undermine the apparent continuity that is seen in the extended lifespan of the original object. This in turn illuminates the way that wider cultural norms were gradually eroded in the fifth century. Through the study of these artefacts a new perspective is provided on the transition to post-Roman Britain and the relationship between this and the early Anglo-Saxon period.

Integration Versus Apartheid in Post-Roman Britain: A Response to Thomas et al. (2008)

The genetic surveys of the population of Britain conducted by Weale et al. and Capelli et al. produced estimates of the Germani immigration into Britain during the early Anglo-Saxon period, c.430–c.730. These estimates are considerably higher than the estimates of archaeologists. A possible explanation suggests that an apartheid-like social system existed in the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms resulting in the Germani breeding more quickly than the Britons. Thomas et al. attempted to model this suggestion and showed that it was a possible explanation if all Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had such a system for up to 400 years. I noted that their explanation ignored the probability that Germani have been arriving in Britain for at least the past three millennia, including Belgae and Roman soldiers, and not only during the early Anglo-Saxon period. I produced a population model for Britain taking into account this long term, low level migration that showed that the estimates could be reconciled without the need for introducing an apartheid-like system. In turn, Thomas et al. responded, criticizing my model and arguments, which they considered persuasively written but wanting in terms of methodology, data sources, underlying assumptions, and application. Here, I respond in detail to those criticisms and argue that it is still unnecessary to introduce an apartheid-like system in order to reconcile the different estimates of Germani arrivals. A point of confusion is that geneticists are interested in ancestry, while archaeologists are interested in ethnicity: it is the bones, not the burial rites, which are important in the present context.

Integration Versus Apartheid in Post-Roman Britain: A Response to Thomas et al. (2008)

The genetic surveys of the population of Britain conducted by Weale et al. and Capelli et al. produced estimates of the Germani immigration into Britain during the early Anglo-Saxon period, c.430-c.730. These estimates are considerably higher than the estimates of archaeologists. A possible explanation suggests that an apartheid-like social system existed in the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms resulting in the Germani breeding more quickly than the Britons. Thomas et al. attempted to model this suggestion and showed that it was a possible explanation if all Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had such a system for up to 400 years. I noted that their explanation ignored the probability that Germani have been arriving in Britain for at least the past three millennia, including Belgae and Roman soldiers, and not only during the early Anglo-Saxon period. I produced a population model for Britain taking into account this long term, low level migration that showed that the estimates could be reconciled without the need for introducing an apartheid-like system. In turn, Thomas et al. responded, criticizing my model and arguments, which they considered persuasively written but wanting in terms of methodology, data sources, underlying assumptions, and application. Here, I respond in detail to those criticisms and argue that it is still unnecessary to introduce an apartheid-like system in order to reconcile the different estimates of Germani arrivals. A point of confusion is that geneticists are interested in ancestry, while archaeologists are interested in ethnicity: it is the bones, not the burial rites, which are important in the present context.

<i>Feasting the Dead. Food and Drink in Anglo-Saxon Burial Rituals</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Feasting the Dead. Food and Drink in Anglo-Saxon Burial Rituals Nick Stoodley Feasting the Dead. Food and Drink in Anglo-Saxon Burial Rituals. By Christina Lee. Anglo-Saxon Studies, 9. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 2007. Pp. xiv + 176; 14 illustrations. $90. Early Anglo-Saxon burials (450–750 AD) were accompanied by an impressive array of grave goods. Attention has understandably focused on the visible and showy artifacts, the weapons, and the jewelry, which has enabled scholars to construct chronologies and to infer cultural, social, and ethnic identities. The practice of depositing food in the graves of the period has attracted much less notice, largely because it is a difficult topic for researchers to tackle. The evidence, mainly animal bones and seeds, is poorly preserved, and unless there are special conditions it may have totally vanished from the archaeological record. The full extent of the practice will probably never be known. Nevertheless it was an important element of Anglo-Saxon burial, and the analysis of it should result in a clearer understanding of mortuary customs generally, while offering a perspective on the wider social, cultural, and perhaps even religious contexts that feasting and the deposition of food belonged to. It is a topic that is certainly deserving of scholarly attention. Christina Lee's book is the first detailed examination of food and drink in Anglo-Saxon burial practice, and appears in the Anglo-Saxon Studies series by Boydell, which as the name implies, publishes multidisciplinary works on the period. Lee's study is just that: it draws on the archaeology (including the physical anthropology), history, and literature (Lee is a lecturer in English) to attempt to unravel [End Page 227] the use and significance of food and feasting in mortuary practice from the fifth to eleventh centuries, arguing that the offerings were part of a complex system of symbols embodied with meaning. It is both an ambitious and important endeavor that attempts to place the evidence in its full context. The book is organized chronologically, and this has resulted in a rough division between the archaeology and the documentary sources. Chapters 2–4 are largely concerned with the fifth to seventh centuries where archaeology is the main evidence. The documents come more to the fore in the final two chapters when Lee's attention turns to the later part of the period. In light of the fact that this reviewer is an archaeologist, the focus will fall mainly on Lee's handling of the material evidence. Archaeology is not Lee's main discipline, but she has to be commended for her in-depth, and in places, authoritative analysis: the archaeology of the early Anglo-Saxon period is rich, but it is also very complex, and for the unwary traveller there are many pitfalls. The first chapter draws upon both archaeology and written evidence to provide the background to the study, providing an overview of agricultural technology and the food that was consumed by the living. Chapter 2 commences with a brief introduction to the burial data and although of value, especially to the nonspecialist, it could have been used more profitably. In particular this would have been an ideal place to draw together the more general information that crops up throughout the book, such as the problems caused by disturbance to archaeological features and the fragmentary condition of certain vessels. As it stands, this extraneous material diverts the reader's attention away from the main line of thought, ultimately weakening the overall structure and clarity of the text. Moreover, it would have been helpful at this point to sketch in greater detail the regional and chronological patterns that characterize burial in England during the fifth to seventh centuries, thus providing the contextual background to the cemeteries discussed in Chapters 2–4. The main focus of the chapter is the evidence from the graves for food, and Lee gets underway with a consideration of the cremation rite. The evidence from the better known cemeteries is surveyed, especially Spong Hill (Norfolk), and the interpretations of Julian Richards, and more recently, Howard Williams are presented. As a summary this is fine, but it is surprising that she did not bring...

Is it necessary to assume an apartheid-like social structure in Early Anglo-Saxon England?

It has recently been argued that there was an apartheid-like social structure operating in Early Anglo-Saxon England. This was proposed in order to explain the relatively high degree of similarity between Germanic-speaking areas of northwest Europe and England. Opinions vary as to whether there was a substantial Germanic invasion or only a relatively small number arrived in Britain during this period. Contrary to the assumption of limited intermarriage made in the apartheid simulation, there is evidence that significant mixing of the British and Germanic peoples occurred, and that the early law codes, such as that of King Ine of Wessex, could have deliberately encouraged such mixing. More importantly, the simulation did not take into account any northwest European immigration that arrived both before and after the Early Anglo-Saxon period. In view of the uncertainty of the places of origin of the various Germanic peoples, and their numbers and dates of arrival, the present study adopts an alternative approach to estimate the percentage of indigenous Britons in the current British population. It was found unnecessary to introduce any special social structure among the diverse Anglo-Saxon people in order to account for the estimates of northwest European intrusion into the British population.

Mid to late Holocene vegetation and land use history in the Weald of south-eastern England: multiple pollen profiles from the Rye area

The High Weald is an unusually well-wooded area in southern England. A high proportion of this woodland is ancient, being formerly exploited as seasonal pasture and coppice. Multiple pollen profiles from the Rye area have been used to elucidate the origins of this cultural landscape. By combining sites with small and large pollen source areas, both local and regional patterns of vegetation change have been determined. The mid-Holocene Tilia-dominated woodlands were subjected to temporary clearance as early as the Neolithic. This woodland was more extensively exploited over a ca. 700 year period from the beginning of the Bronze Age. The main elements of the modern landscape (woodland, pasture and limited cultivation) can be traced back to a more intensive phase of human activity, which commenced in the late Bronze Age. A regional increase in Fagus sylvatica pollen ca. 750 B.C. probably reflects the use of the Wealden woods for pasturage. There is no palynological evidence that the fuel demands of the Roman iron industry resulted in widespread woodland destruction. The early Anglo-Saxon period appears to have been one of land-use continuity, with a second increase in Fagus pollen at ca. A.D. 700 corresponding to historical evidence for the presence of wood-pastures in the Weald.

Ceramic Petrology and the Study of Anglo-Saxon and Later Medieval Ceramics

A SURVEY of archaeological ceramic thin sections held by institutions and individuals in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the early 1990s by the City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit and funded by English Heritage. Over 6,000 thin sections of Anglo-Saxon or medieval date (or reports on their analysis) were located. For the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon and the post-Conquest Periods, these studies have confirmed that pottery production was carried out in a limited number of centres and that most pottery, including handmade coarsewares, was therefore produced for trade. The distances over which pottery was carried vary from period to period but were actually as high or higher in the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon Period as in the 13th to 14h centuries. However, for the Early Anglo-Saxon Period (and the Middle Anglo-Saxon Period outside of eastern England) the evidence of ceramic petrology is equivocal and requires more study. These 6,000–odd thin sections represent a resource which could be used for various future studies, some of which are discussed here, and as an aid to their further use a database containing information on the sampled ceramics, their location and publications of their analyses will be published online through Internet Archaeology.

Anglo-Saxon Myths: State and Church, 400–1066 (review)

Anglo-Saxon Myths: State and Church, 400-1066. By Nicholas Brooks. (Rio Grande, Ohio: Hambledon Press. 2000. Pp. xvi, 308. $70.00.) Nicholas Brooks is a master-craftsman of Anglo-Saxon history, and this second volume of his published papers (following Communications and Warfare, also 2000), like a Shaker chair, enthuses for beauty and utility alike. collection begins with a wise, and wide-ranging, inaugural lecture delivered at the University of Birmingham 1986, and a model of the genre, exploring the paradox of forgeries as historical sources. It ends with a study (originally published 1988) applying multidisciplinary resources to map big questions of change, natural and man-made, onto the local landscape of Romney Marsh the county of Kent. For both chapters, crucial evidence is supplied by charters, some more or less forged. In between are ten papers, loosely linked by the idea of myths, legends, and forgeries as tales told which can also be truth-telling. After an evocatively-introductory chapter 2 come a pair of studies of Kent and Mercia the early Anglo-Saxon period (first published 1989), the latter propounding the explosive, and seductive, argument that the Tribal Hidage represents a Northumbrian humiliation of Mercia at some point (three options are indicated) the seventh century, and both highlighting the contributions of wealth and ideology to the formation of early kingdoms. Next, and aptly, comes the one previously unpublished paper the volume,The English Origin Myth (chapter 5). Brooks argues persuasively that the Historia Brittonum preserves legends-useful fictions-taken up ninth-century Gwynedd but originating as the stuff from which an elite's consciousness of collective identity was forged AEthelbert's Kent. And so to Canterbury, whose Anglo-Saxon history, and extraordinary archive, Brooks has done more than anyone to explore. Chapter 6 discusses the evidence, written and material, for its ecclesiastical topography. At the heart of this collection, chapter 7, The Cathedral Community at Canterbury, 597-1070 (originally published 1995), constitutes an updated summary of much of Brooks's major book of 1984. Yet Brooks's 1984 hypothesis that Alfred spotted a window of opportunity opened by Vikings to seize the lands of Kentish ministers seems to have been discarded-regrettably, since it's preferable to 1995's contention that in an age of Viking attacks, it was more than usually apparent that the interests of church and state coincided(p. …

Anglo-Saxon Church Councils, c. 650-c. 850 by Catherine Cubitt

Anglo-Saxon Church Councils, c. 650-c. 850. By Catherine Cubitt. [Studies in the Early History of Britain.] (Leicester University Press. Distributed in the United States by St. Martin's Press, New York. 1995. Pp. x, 363. $59.00.) An excellent contribution to the history of the early English church, this book offers both a specific focus on ecclesiastical councils and an encompassing assessment of the growth and development of religious culture in the early Anglo-Saxon period. Anglo-Saxon Church Councils is organized into two parts. Three succinct essays in Part One explain the organization of synods, their frequency, location, and other matters; the actual business of the synods, which ranged from questions of doctrine to the adjudication of disputes concerning church property; and diplomatic (or textual) matters and procedure. Five chapters in Part Two analyze major councils-Clofesho (held in 747), Chelsea (816), and councils convened by papal legates visiting York and Canterbury (786)-and charter evidence of synods held during the late eighth and early ninth centuries, a period when Mercian kings exercised political ascendancy over the Church in regions south of the Humber. Two appendices (together over seventy pages) summarize the evidence for each synod discussed and supply maps showing the location (or probable location) of the synods and other useful data. Eighth-century councils brought about fundamental organizational changes that reflected the Church's need to consolidate its position. Early in the ninth century, Cubitt argues, the political significance of the synods diminished as bishops became more concerned with protecting their privileges and less concerned with reforming ecclesiastical practices. The bishops' authority in judicial matters (including disputes about property) waned as West Saxon kings undid the older political order created by Mercian kings; thereafter synods focused more narrowly on ecclesiastical issues. As Cubitt notes in her introduction, scholarship on Anglo-Saxon synods is scant. The two most important early councils-Clofesho and Chelsea-are not included in Dorothy Whitelock's influential English Historical Documents (which does include a compressed version of the papal legates' report); the standard edition of conciliar texts by Haddan and Stubbs is over 125 years old. Cubitt suggests that the synods have been ignored for three reasons: manuscript evidence is limited (especially in comparison to continental synods); the Anglo-Saxon Church was long thought to have lacked distinctive conciliar traditions (synods were seen as extensions of royal councils instead, and indeed those synods dealing with political matters rather than ecclesiastical reform are those Whitelock and others regarded as most important); and Anglo-Saxon church history has been predominantly monastic in emphasis, while the history of synods is the history of episcopal rather than monastic authority (pp. …

Scandinavian Gold Bracteates in Britain. Money and Media in the Dark Ages

THE FUNCTIONS of and attitudes towards precious metal in the Late Roman and Early Anglo-Saxon Period (c. A.D. 400–700) are considered. An interpretation of the gold bracteates as active media in social and political transactions is put forward, centred around an analysis of the complexity of different types and issues within the larger finds of Scandinavian hoards and Kentish graves. Comparisons are made both with the early Germanic coinages and other forms of special purpose money and valuables, above all other types of pendants and bracteates.

The Formation of Boundaries in Anglo-Saxon England: A Statistical Study

ANALYTICAL TESTS are used to demonstrate that there is a real association between parish boundaries and Anglo-Saxon pagan burials, but this is not true of those of the 5th century. It is unlikely that pre-existing land-units dictated the boundaries of Anglo-Saxon estates. The boundaries seem to have become increasingly stable during the early Anglo-Saxon period, and this explains why there are more 7th-than 6th-century burials on or close to them. Different parts of the country produce different statistics, however, and developments may not have been uniform.

The Penitentials Attributed to Bede

Scholars have long recognized the value of penitentials, or handbooks of penance, as sources for the intellectual and social history of the Middle Ages. Lists of sins likely to be confessed, followed by penances graded according to the severity of the offenses, the penitentials would seem to be richly informative of medieval morality. But they are evidence that must be used with care. Especially for the early medieval period, the texts are available only in old editions which do not offer reliable guides to dating, provenance, authorship, or other criteria without which valid historical analysis is impossible.1 This essay studies various penitentials attributed to the Venerable Bede (d. 735). Any tradition linking the foremost English churchman of the early Anglo-Saxon period to a specific text is worthy of study in its own right. But the penitentials attributed to Bede claim our attention for important reasons that are not related to the question of authorship. The historical context of the English penitentials has not been carefully defined. We do not know enough about the relationship of early English to earlier Irish penitentials, or about the manuscript traditions of handbooks attributed to Bede and his near contemporaries, Theodore of Canterbury (d. 690) and Egbert of York (d. 766). These traditions-will illuminate the development of private penance on the continent, where nearly all the manuscripts of supposedly English penitentials have survived. Indeed, the best argument for close textual analysis of all early medieval penitentials is our need for greater geographical as well as chronological precision when discussing their historical significance.2

Anglo-Saxon women and the law

Scholarly investigations of Anglo-Saxon social history have usually drawn the conclusion that women during that period enjoyed a favourable position in comparison with their successors in post-Conquest England. The following study aims to qualify this view, by demonstrating that the position of women was more complicated than is usually acknowledged. An examination of the Anglo-Saxon legal documents shows that the position of women varied according to circumstances such as rank, marital status, and geographical location. However, an overall improvement between the early and late period is clear. In fact, this improvement is so considerable that there is a much closer resemblance between the situation obtaining in late Anglo-Saxon England and post-Conquest England than there is between the early and late Anglo-Saxon period. Thus, to describe Anglo-Saxon E England as a time when women enjoyed an independence which they lost as a result of the changes introduced by the Norman Conquest is misleading.

IV.—Excavations in an Anglo-Saxon Burial Ground at Mitcham, Surrey.

It is proposed in this paper to give some account of a burial ground of the early Anglo-Saxon period at Mitcham, at present partially excavated.The finds of Anglo-Saxon remains in Surrey have so far been few, and the accounts of them meagre. Of those recorded the cemetery opened at Oroydon during some road excavations in 1895 is the most important. It may be noted that Croydon is at the head of a branch of the Wandle, which river flows close to the Mitcham ground. There are some points of resemblance between the finds on these two sites, although the burnt remains discovered at Croydon have no counterpart at Mitcham.