Viking Objects
Frankish Zoomorphic Brooch (LEIC-06202B)
The design of this brooch suggests that it was of Frankish manufacture and dates to roughly 600-700 AD. It is possible that it made its way to England prior to Viking incursions but it is equally likely that the Vikings brought this brooch with them as plunder after raiding in Frankia. 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
Frankish Trefoil Buckle (NLM-60D592)
This cast copper-alloy buckle plate is trefoil in form and has traces of gilding which appear on the display side. The use of tripled domed rivets is similar to Frankish buckle styles introduced from the seventh century, while the use of gilding may relate this to eighth-century styles. It is possible that it made its way to England prior to Viking incursions but it is equally likely that the Vikings brought this buckle with them as plunder after raiding in Frankia.
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Viking Objects
Lead Gaming Piece (CM.574-2010)
This solid sub-circular based lead gaming piece has three projections on the top. This and similar pieces have also been interpreted as weights although the gaming piece interpretation is more secure. Pieces like this would have been used to play hnefatafl and/or Nine Men’s Morris, both of which are known to have been played in Scandinavia in the Viking Age.
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Viking Objects
Sword Hilt or Top Guard (DENO-87124F)
A copper-alloy hilt or top guard from an early medieval, possibly Viking, sword or dagger.
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Viking Objects
Imitation Carolingian Gold Solidus (CM.521-1998)
This cut-quarter of an imitation gold solidus is one of 80 known imitations as opposed to 15 official solidi and is a copy of coins issued by Louis the Pious (778-840 CE). It was probably made somewhere in Frisia on the north-west coast of what is now the Netherlands. The importance of this carefully divided quarter-coin is as evidence for the acceptance of solidi on its actual monetary value rather than as mere bullion in the 9th century; if it were hack-gold it would not have been cut so meticulously. The Vikings would have obtained real and imitation Carolingian coins through their raiding and trading activities in the Frankish Empire.
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Viking Objects
Blue Glass Bead (2001/59-sf174)
This Viking Age gadrooned or Melon type dark blue glass bead was found in the Magistrates Court excavation in Derby, Derbyshire. Glass beads were a coveted item for making jewellery with some being imported from as far away as the Middle East. They were manufactured by specialised artisans who would heat various coloured glass rods over a furnace and melt the glass onto a metal stick to form different shaped beads.
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Viking Objects
Gilded Mount (1989-59/7591)
A gilded copper-alloy mount with approximately eight projecting pierced lugs. The mount was found in three pieces and is incomplete. It may originally have been domed, but most of the dome is missing. It has been suggested that it was a shield boss.
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Viking Names
Smisby
The first element of Smisby, in the Repton and Gresley Hundred of Derbyshire, is either Old Norse smiðr ‘smith’ or it Old English cognate smið, the second element of the place-name is Old Norse by ‘a farmstead, a village’.
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Viking Names
Saxi
Saxi was originally a byname derived from Old Norse noun sax ‘short, one-edged sword’, but possibly in some instances derived from an ethnonym from the name of the Saxons. An original East Scandinavian name, it is fairly common in Sweden and very common in Denmark. The name is rare in Iceland, although it is borne by one individual in the settlement period (c. 870-930). Although common in Eastern Norway, there is only a single instance of the byname Sax is recorded in West Scandinavia in the tenth century. Saxi is found in several place-names in Normandy. It is well-attested in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire although some forms may represent the Continental Germanic male personal name Saxo. Occasionally it is difficult to determine whether the first element in place-names such as Saxby All Saints, Lincolnshire and Saxby, Leicestershire is Saxi or the Scandinavian genitive plural form of an ethnonym: Old English S(e)axe, Old Norse Saxar ‘Saxons’.
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Viking Objects
Trefoil brooch (LCNCC : 2011.99)
A trefoil brooch with Borre/Jellinge-style cast ornament belonging to Peterson’s type 109. The brooch is most probably cast of copper alloy with traces of gilding on its upper surface and white metal plating on the reverse. 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 Names
Fot
The Old Norse male personal name Fótr is the name of a fairly prolific Swedish rune-carver and is found elsewhere in Scandinavia. In England, the name occurs in several place-names in Lincolnshire (Fotherby, Fosdyke and Foston), Foston, Leicestershire, and possibly in another Foston in Derbyshire. In Fotherby, the place-name preserves the original Old Norse genitive singular ending (ie. as in Fótar). Such clear indications of Old Norse grammar survive relatively rarely in modern forms of place-names. Originally, Fótr was a by-name, meaning ‘foot’.