Viking Objects
Scythe (NLM-739C96)
Scythes such as this one would have been common agricultural implements. Dr Kevin Leahy comments that while the scythe has a similar shape to other early medieval examples, the lack of a typical bent tang leaves its dating in question.
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Viking Objects
Trefoil Brooch Fragment (CM.1823_2008)
A fragment of a Scandinavian copper-alloy trefoil brooch with a simple line pattern following its general outline. While of Scandinavian design, many examples found in the East Midlands were probably made in the Danelaw, and may have been copies of Scandinavian styles, instead of being imported from Scandinavia. For more information on Scandinavian jewellery in England check out our blog: Brooches, Pendants and Pins: Scandinavian Dress Accessories in England.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Silver Terslev Brooch
Terslev style, where Scandinavian ring-chain patterns are the main decorative component, is a subcategory of the Borre style and takes its name from the silver hoard discovered in Terslev, Denmark. The decoration comprises a series of ring-knots related to the Borre ring-chain. The Terslev style occurs mainly on brooches and pendants, including both high-quality gold and silver jewellery as well as lower-end base metal items. The cast-base metal jewellery, such as those made of copper alloy, were intended to imitate the higher-end gold and silver jewellery, and often employed techniques such as gilding to achieve this. The Terslev designs that occur in England extend the repertoire by introducing new Scandinavian motifs hitherto unrecorded in Scandinavia. For more information on Scandinavian jewellery in England check out our blog: Brooches, Pendants and Pins: Scandinavian Dress Accessories in England.
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Viking Objects
Scale Arm Fragment (DENO-0619F7)
Folding balances of the type to which this arm belongs are known from the late Anglo-Saxon period and are quite common from the medieval period. The dating of this artefact is therefore somewhat problematic. Scales were a common commerical tool and would have been an important part of any exchange whether using a monetary system or a bullion system, such as the one that existed in Viking-occupied areas of England.
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Viking Designs
Drawing of a Hammer-Shaped Pendant
A drawing of a gold hammer-shaped pendant, popularly called a Thor’s hammer pendant, from Spilsby, Lincolnshire. These may have been worn to show devotion to the god Thor, or to secure the god’s protection, although there is little evidence to support this interpretation. Pendants like this have been found made of lead, copper alloy, silver and gold, showing that many different strata of society could have worn them.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Polyhedral Weights
A group of four polyhedral weights of a type that is common throughout the Viking diaspora. This example has fourteen sides and four dots on each of the rectangular sides. These weights were adopted by the Vikings from Middle Eastern examples and appear to have become a de facto weight standard for traders.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Lozenge Brooch
A copper alloy lozenge brooch in the Borre style based off a find in Lincolnshire. This type of brooch was common throughout the Danelaw in the Viking Age and was used as an accessory by women who wore Scandinavian dress. Scandinavian brooches came in a variety of sizes and shapes which included disc, trefoil, lozenge, equal-armed, and oval shapes. The different brooch types served a variety of functions in Scandinavian female dress with oval brooches typically being used as shoulder clasps for apron-type dresses and the rest being used to secure an outer garment to an inner shift. Anglo-Saxon brooches do not match this diversity of form with large disc brooches being typical of ninth century dress styles with smaller ones becoming more popular in the later ninth and tenth centuries. However, since disc brooches were used by both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian women they are distinguished by their morphology. Scandinavian brooches were typically domed with a hollow back while Anglo-Saxon brooches were usually flat. Moreover, Anglo-Saxon brooches were worn singly without accompanying accessories.
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Viking Names
Stamford
Stamford, in the Ness Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. The place-name comes from the Old English elements stan ‘stone’ and ford ‘ford’. The town is located near a point where the River Welland was easily fordable throughout the year. In 913 The Great Heathen Army arrived in Stamford.
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Viking Names
Baumber
Baumber, in the Gartree Wapentake of Lincolnshire, likely comes from the Old English male personal name Badda and the Old English element burh ‘a fortified place’.
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Viking Objects
Silver Ingot (NLM-ABB952)
This silver ingot was made by melting down worked silver and casting it in a mould. The Vikings arriving in England had a bullion economy in which they paid for goods with silver that was weighed to an amount agreed between the buyer and the seller. Hacksilver and silver ingots are the most common evidence for their bullion economy. It took some time for the Scandinavian settlers to adopt a monetary economy like that of the Anglo-Saxons, and both systems were used simultaneously for a while before they fully adopted the new system. The Vikings were familiar with monetary economies but they treated coins as just another form of silver before adoption of a monetary economy.
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Viking Names
Haxey
Haxey, in the West Riding of Lindsey in Lincolnshire comes from the Old Norse male personal name Haki and Old Norse ey ‘an island’ or Old English eg ‘an island or well-watered land’ which most frequently refers to dry ground surrounded by marsh. The place-name aptly describes the location as Haxey sits on a low-lying hill surrounded marshland.