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.

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.

A good figure of a swordsman, with sword and shield, is also given on the next figure (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:—

And again:—

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:—

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.

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:—

And in another part, when Beowulf was fighting with the dragon, after having broken his sword in the contest, he

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.

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:—

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:—

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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:—

“‘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.”

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:—

eo?e?-lÍc ?ciÓn	“They seemed a boar’s form
o?-o?e? hleo? bÆ?on;	to bear over their cheeks;
?e-h?o?en ?ol?e,	twisted with gold,
?Áh an? ?Ý?-hea??,	variegated and hardened in the fire,
?e?h ?ea??e heÓl?.	this kept the guard of life:
	I. 604.
be-?on?en ??eÁ-??Á?num,	Surrounded with lordly chains,
??a hÍne ???n ?a?um	even as in days of yore
?o?h?e ?Æpna ?miÐ,	the weapon smith had wrought it,
?un??um ?eÓ?e,	had wondrously furnished it, [swine,
be-?e??e ??Ín-lÍcum,	had set it round with the shapes of
? hine ??Ðan nÓ	that never afterwards
b?on? nÉ bea?o-meca?	brand or war-knife
bÍ?an ne meah?on:	might have power to bite it:
	I. 2901
Æ? ÞÆm Á?e ?Æ?	At the pile was
eÞ-?e-?Ýne	easy to be seen
??Á?-?ah ???ce,	the mail shirt covered with gore,
??Ýn eal-??l?en,	the hog of gold,
eo?e? Í?en hea??:	the boar hard as iron:
	I. 2213.
He? ÐÁ in-be?an	Then commanded he to bring in
ea?o?-heÁ?od-?e?n,	the boar, an ornament to the head,
heaÞo-??eapne helm,	the helmet lofty in war,
he?e-b??nan,	the grey mail coat,
?uÐ-??eo?? ?eÁ?o-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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.