Viking Names
Grim
The Old Norse male name Grímr is common across the Scandinavian world, including the Viking diaspora. It is very common in English place-names, though some of these might rather represent an Old English mythological name associated with Woden, and there are other possibilities. For this reason, not all the hybrid names traditionally referred to as ‘Grimston hybrids’ necessarily have an Old Norse element and it is better to refer to them as Toton-hybrids. However, where the name is compounded with an Old Norse element such as -by (as in Grimsby), it is likely that it represents the Old Norse personal name. In Old Norse, Grímr is related to the word gríma ‘mask’ and mythological texts relate that is one of the god Óðinn’s by-names, deriving from his penchant for travelling about in disguise. It is also a common element in compound personal names, such as Þorgrímr. The father of the eponymous hero of Egils saga was called Skalla-Grímr ‘Bald-Grim’.
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Viking Objects
Coin of Burghred of Mercia (1989-58/3723)
A silver penny of Burghred of Mercia, found in the mass grave at Repton, minted by the moneyer Dudda, probably in London. Burghred was king of Mercia from 852-874 CE. He was driven out of Mercia by the Vikings during their march from Lindsey to Repton in 874 after they sacked Tamworth. Burghred fled to Rome, where he eventually died, and was replaced by Ceowulf II who was loyal to the Vikings. Minting coins was a way of controlling the means of exchange within a kingdom and which created a more easily administered standardized system of trade. Moreover, the coins themselves were often used as propaganda, portaying symbols and statements that gave off a desired message. The Vikings later used the minting of coins to legitimize their own rule.
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Viking Objects
Northumbrian Penny (NLM-0D491E)
This silver penny was minted in the name of King Eanred of Northumbria. The obverse shows a possibly helmeted and cuirassed individual and reads +EANRE AD RE; the initial cross doubles as X. The reverse reads +CO/ER/[?I]/HO/LI. This particular example was likely brought to Nottinghamshire from Northumbria by means of the Great Army’s overwintering activities in and around Nottingham.
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Viking Names
Normanton on Soar
Normanton on Soar, in the Rushcliffe 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. The affix Soar refers to the location of this Normanton on the River Soar. 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
Hrafn
The Old Norse male name Hrafn is found throughout Scandinavia, but is particularly common in Iceland. It means ‘raven’ and belongs to a common group of male names which refer to animals, such as Arn ‘eagle’, Björn ‘bear’, Ulfr ‘wolf’. It is frequently compounded in personal names with other elements, as seen in the Old Norse personal name Hrafnkell, and others. When found in place-names, it is possible that it represents either the Old Norse common noun hrafn ‘raven’ or the Old English common noun hræfn ‘raven’, rather than a personal name. It may also represent a possible Old English personal name Hræfn. Hrafn is seen in the first element of the minor place name Ranskill in the Bassetlaw Wapentake of Nottinghamshire.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Copper Alloy-Edged Lead Weight
A lead weight edged with a copper alloy band.
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Viking Objects
Copper-Alloy Strap-End (DENO-E40172)
An incomplete copper-alloy strap-end decorated with zoomorphic motifs and stylised human or animal head. It has been identified typologically as belonging to Thomas Class B Type 4.
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Viking Objects
Copper-Alloy Strap-End (NARC-033287)
An incomplete copper-alloy strap-end classified as Thomas’ Class A, Type 1, with zoomorphic terminal and Trewhiddle-style decoration. The decoration is composed of an incised pattern which depicts two semi-circular ears below which are two triangular eyes to either side of the head can be see, flanked by a forked central brow. The central panel bears Trewhiddle-style decoration depicting a beast with serpentine curvilinear tail.
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Viking Names
Toynton All Saints
Toynton All Saints, in the Bolingbroke Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is probably ‘the farmstead, village associated with or called after Tota’, from the Old English male personal name Tota with the Old English medial connective particle -ing and Old English element tun ‘farm, settlement’. Alternatively, the first element could be Old English tot ‘a look-out’. Thus, ‘farm/settlement at *Toting (= the look-out place)’. The affix is from the dedication of the church.
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Viking Names
Repton
Repton, in the Repton and Gresley Hundred of Derbyshire, comes from Old English Hrype, an Anglian tribe, and Old English dun ‘a hill’. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, The Great Heathen Army wintered in Repton in 873-4.
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Viking Names
Leicester
Leicester is one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. The first element of the place-name probably comes from a tribal name derived from the pre-English river-name Legra which would have been given in Old English as Legor or Ligor. This river-name is likely identical or related to the River Loire in France. The second element of the name is Old English ceaster ‘a city; an old fortification; a Roman site’. Thus the place-name gives the sense of ‘the fortified Roman town of the folk called Legore (or Ligore)’.