Viking Objects
Whetstone (NLM-7FA566)
Whetstone fragment, possibly made of slate that looks like ‘phyllite’, where the the broken end of the hone has been sheathed in lead, which has held its parts together. This is an unusual example of the repair of a personal hone so it could be continued to be carried and used after its breakage. The hone would originally have been of a tapered bar-shaped form and was sawn to shape. Hones of this size were personal items to be carried and worn at the belt alongside the knife they sharpened. True ‘phyllite’ hones came from Telemark in Norway, and were among the first imported whetstones of the Viking Age. A range of other banded and coloured stones, many found in graves at Birka, were adapted for similar use, and their fine appearance was as important as their usefulness as sharpening stones.
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Viking Objects
Arm Ring Hacksilver (CM_1826_2001)
This piece of hacksilver was cut from a square section of a Scandinavian arm ring probably to pay for goods. The Vikings arriving in England had a bullion economy where 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. They 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 Objects
Disc Brooch (LEIC-604DE5)
This example of an Anglo-Scandinavian copper-alloy disc brooch features a Borre-style knot design surrounded by a concave-sided lozenge motif. It has been classified as East Anglian Series Type I. 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
Lozenge Brooch (NLM194)
This openwork Borre-style square brooch with animal heads on each corner was found in Elsham, Lincolnshire, in 1997. This type of brooch was an accessory for women wearing Scandinavian dress. 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
Early Medieval Pottery Fragments (2001-59)
These are fragments of a Torksey ware rim, decorated Stamford ware rim, and a Stamford ware pot rim. Torksey ware was a type of pottery found in central England and dating to the period ad 850 to 1150. It was manufactured, initially by immigrant potters from Continental Europe, using a fast wheel at workshops around Torksey, Lincolnshire. While not having the same wide geographic distribution as Stamford ware, the popularity of Torksey ware in York was so high that it was initially thought that York was the original location of manufacture. Stamford ware is one of the earliest forms of lead-glazed ceramics in England, being produced in Stamford, Lincolnshire, between the ninth and thirteenth centuries and widely traded across Britain and the near continent. Early Stamford glazes were lead glazes, suggested by some to be unique among early English glazes since they contain traces of silver but not tin. The glaze could be of a pale yellow, orange, pale green, or smoke blue colour and was applied by using a brush.
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Viking Objects
Silver Gilt Brooch (1989-58/7224)
A circular silver gilt plate brooch with chip carved decoration of a winged creature. The creature may be a griffin. It is enmeshed in fine spiralling interlace. The reverse features a U-shaped catchplate and pin with a spring. This decoration is Mercian in style. 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 Names
Keythorpe
Keythorpe, in the Gartree Hundred of Leicestershire, is an Anglo-Scandinavian hybrid from the Old English male personal name Keyia or Keia and Old Norse þorp ‘a secondary settlement, a dependent outlying farmstead or hamlet’. It was a daughter settlement of Tugby, which it is now a joint parish with. Alternatively, the first element could be the Old English male personal name Cœga, but this seems to be too early of a name to pair with þorp. The Old English element cœg ‘a stone’ has also been suggested; however, the drift ecology does not reflect this postulation.
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Viking Names
Blesi
The male name Blesi is found in two Swedish runic inscriptions and is also recorded as the name of one of the original settlers of Iceland. It was originally a by-name, meaning ‘blaze, white spot on a horse’s forehead’. Blesi is also the first element in the place-name Bleasby, Nottinghamshire.
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Viking Objects
Antler Comb (1986-976)
Fragments of an antler comb found on the site of Little Chester Roman fort (Derventio Coritanorum) in Derby. This comb is of Anglo-Scandinavian type. It consists of a flat plate of antler sandwiched between two strips of antler that are rounded on the exterior part. The whole is fixed together with an iron rivet. Nicks on the centre plate show that the teeth of the comb were cut after the three plates had been constructed and fixed.
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Viking Objects
Coin of Cnut the Great (LEIC-B1F8EA)
This coin is an example of a Quatrefoil type silver penny of Cnut, minted in Stamford or Norwich by the moneyer Thurstan. Minting coins was a way of controlling the means of exchange within a kingdom and one which created a more easily administered standardized system of trade. Moreover, the coins themselves were often used as propaganda, portraying symbols and statements that gave off a desired message. The Vikings later used the minting of coins to legitimise their own rule.
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Viking Names
Ref
Refr is a fairly common male name in the Viking world. It is found in two Swedish runic inscriptions and may originally have been a nickname, as it means ‘fox’. It forms the first element of Revesby, Lincolnshire.