Viking Designs
Drawing of a Lozenge Brooch
Drawing of a copper alloy lozenge brooch in the Borre style. 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 Designs
Drawing of a St Edmund Penny
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.
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Viking Names
Great Grimsby
Great Grimsby, in the Bradley Wapentake of Lincolnshire, which was later joined with Haverstoe Wapentake to become known as Bradley Haverstoe Wapentake. The original name Grimsby comes from the Old Norse male personal name Grímr and the Old Norse element by ‘farm, settlement’. It is Great in contrast to Little Grimsby, in the Ludborough Wapentake of Lincolnshire; earlier spellings including mekill Grimesby are derived from Old Norse mikill ‘great’. The personal name Grímr is common across the Scandinavian world and recorded several times throughout Lincolnshire in the Domesday Book. For a saga-anecdote about Grimsby, see the blog post A Poet Visits Grimsby.
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Viking Names
Skeggi
The male name Skeggi is sporadically recorded across Scandinavia and Iceland in the Viking Age and later. It forms the first element of Skegness, Lincolnshire, with Old Norse nes ‘headland’. The name possibly derives from the Old Norse word Skegg, meaning ‘beard’.
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Viking Names
Wickenby
Wickenby, in the South Riding of Lindsey of Lincolnshire, comes from the Old Norse male personal name Víkingr and the Old Norse element by ‘farmstead, village’. Alternatively the first element might be the appellative víkingr ‘a viking’, the source of the personal name, but the personal name seems more likely.
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Viking Names
Wrawby
Wrawby, in the Yarborough Wapentake in Lincolnshire, comes from the Old Danish male personal name Wraggi and Old Norse by ‘farm, settlement’.
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Viking Names
Algarthorpe
Algarthorpe, in the Broxtow Wapentake of Nottinghamshire, comes from the Old Norse male personal name Álfgeirr the Old Norse element þorp ‘outlying farm, settlement’. Algarthorpe is a deserted medieval village near Basford, Nottinghamshire.
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Viking Objects
Circular Weight (LIN-F9FD63)
This copper-alloy weight is decorated with a central punched ring-and-dot motif surrounded by a band of five further ring-and-dot motifs. Weights are an important form of evidence for Viking Age commerce and the use of standards across the different economic systems within which Vikings were integrated. Many of the weights discovered, particularly ones in Ireland and those of Arabic type, suggest that a standardized system of weights existed in some areas. These standard weights, alongside standard values of silver, are what allowed the bullion economy of Viking-occupied areas to function. A bullion economy was a barter economy that relied on the exchange of set amounts of precious metal in various forms, such as arm-rings or coins, for tradeable goods, such as food or textiles. Each merchant would have brought their own set of weights and scales to a transaction to make sure that the trade was conducted fairly.
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Viking Objects
Lead Weight (NLM-20FC79)
This cast lead weight has an empty apical hole which may have held something at some point. The mass may suggest this to have represented four Viking age units of 4.07gms, as used for silver bullion transactions. It is also possible that this object was used as a gaming piece and thus it could have served a dual purpose. Weights are an important form of evidence for Viking Age commerce and the use of standards across the different economic systems within which Vikings were integrated. Many of the weights discovered, particularly ones in Ireland and those of Arabic type, suggest that a standardized system of weights existed in some areas. These standard weights, alongside standard values of silver, are what allowed the bullion economy of Viking occupied areas to function. A bullion economy was a barter economy that relied on the exchange of set amounts of precious metal in various forms, such as arm-rings or coins, for tradable goods, such as food or textiles. Each merchant would have brought their own set of weights and scales to a transaction to make sure that the trade was conducted fairly.
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Viking Objects
Urnes-Style Brooch (LIN-F79A53)
This brooch has a gilded openwork zoomorphic design in the Urnes 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 Objects
Silver Arm Ring Fragment (SWYOR-58AFB4)
A fragment of an Early Medieval silver decorated arm ring with triangular punches each with a pellet in the centre. The object may represent hacksilver, but as it is broken rather than cut, this is not certain. Nonetheless, arm rings functioned as both a means of storing wealth as well as putting the wealth and status of the individual on display.