Viking Names
Crosby
Crosby, in the Manley Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is a difficult name. The earliest spelling of the name in the Domesday Book suggests that the name comes from the Old Norse male personal name Kroppr and the Old Norse element bý ‘a farmstead, a village’. However, it is believed that this spelling is an error as it is not supported by later forms which indicate rather a place-name meaning ‘the farmstead, village marked by crosses’, from krossa, the genitive plural of Old Norse kross ‘cross’, with Old Norse bý.
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Viking Objects
Dragon’s Head Mount (L.A67.1864.1.0)
This mount from Leicester is in the form of a dragon’s head and is thought to be Scandinavian work. The base of the head is extended, slotted and necked as though for a hinge. There are green stains suggesting that it was attached to an item of copper or bronze. Mounts were generally used to decorate various items such as belts or pouches. In this case, it may have been a fitting for a knife. Mounts were usually attached to items by hammering over the metal studs on the back of the mount.
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Viking Objects
St. Edmund Penny (LEIC-8D0E07)
Between 895 and 915, Scandinavian settlers in East Anglia minted a series of pennies and half pennies with the inscription SCE EADMVND REX (St Edmund the king). These coins appear to have been used widely throughout the Danelaw, and a large number of them were discovered in the Cuerdale Hoard from Lancashire. This coin appears to have been made with a poorly engraved die and features a blundered inscription naming the moneyer. The Portable Antiquities Scheme suggests that the moneyer’s name was Winegar. The inscription reads YVINRE NO.
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Viking Objects
Winchester-Style Strap-End (DENO-C276C4)
This strap-end employs a modified version of the Winchester style of the eleventh century using Scandinavian designs and is classified as a Thomas Class E, Type 1 strap-end. Strap-ends came in various styles and were fairly common throughout the Viking world. They were used to decorate the ends of belts and to stop them getting damaged.
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Viking Objects
Harness Pendant (PUBLIC-1FCD40)
The Ringerike-style openwork decoration on this harness pendant consists of two opposing animals with details made up of relief lines. These pendants were purely decorative elements on the harness and did not have any practical function.
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Viking Objects
Anglo-Scandinavian Strap-End (LEIC-6EDB41)
This example of an Anglo-Scandinavian copper-alloy strap-end is decorated with a possible animal head and very worn Ringerik- style interlace. It has been classed as a variant on Thomas Class G.
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Viking Objects
Scabbard Chape (DENO-527092)
The decoration on this chape consists of a central human figure, with openwork apertures defining it, and a zoomorphic mask below.
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Viking Objects
Stamped Copper-Alloy Casket Mount (NLM-9B6A0B)
A stamped copper alloy casket mount found decorated with stamped ring and dot pattern decoration. Ring and dot pattern was found to be diagnostic of early medieval occupation at Cottam in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and this provides dating evidence for this piece.
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Viking Designs
Drawing of the Saltfleetby Spindle Whorl
Drawing of a lead alloy spindle whorl from Saltfleetby, Lincolnshire showing part of the runic inscription. For further information, see the entry for the original item.
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Item
Normanton on the Wolds
Normanton on the Wolds, in the Bingham Wapentake of Nottinghamshire, takes its name from the Old English ethnonym Norðman ‘Northman, Norwegian’ and the Old English element tun ‘farm, settlement’. There are several places of this name, predominantly in the East Midlands: five in Nottinghamshire, one each in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Rutland, and one in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Traditionally, the place-name has been interpreted as referring to a settlement of Norwegians (in an area where most of the Scandinavian settlers were Danes). However, the exact implications of such a name are not yet fully understood and are the subject of ongoing work by Dr Jayne Carroll of the Institute for Name-Studies, University of Nottingham.
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Viking Names
Long Clawson
Long Clawson, in the Framland Hundred of Leicestershire, likely comes from the Old Danish male personal name Klak (Old Norse Klakkr), an original byname probably meaning ‘a lump, a clod’. This personal name is frequently found throughout the Danelaw and occurs in other place-names such as Claxby, Lincolnshire, and Claxton, North Yorkshire. Alternatively, the first element has been suggested to be Old English clacc ‘a hill, a peak’. The second element is Old English tun ‘an enclosure; a farmstead; a village; an estate’. The village is variously described as in the Vale referring to the Vale of Belvoir, and since c. 155o the affix had been Long from Old English lang ‘long’ likely because the township is of linear formation and is approximately one mile in length.