Viking Names
Val
Valr is an original byname meaning ‘hawk, falcon’. Valr is recorded as a male personal name and byname in West Scandinavia and is found in a Swedish runic inscription. Valr is the first element in the place-name Walesby, Nottinghamshire, and a place of the same name in Lincolnshire. Walshcroft Wapentake in Lincolnshire also contains either this name or the Old Norse male name Váli and Old Norse kross, the cross probably marking the location of the Viking Age meeting-place. Cameron suggests that the same man gave his name to Walesby and the wapentake.
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Viking Objects
Coin of Cnut the Great (LEIC-4B7888)
This Short Cross Type silver penny was minted in the name of King Cnut between 1024 and 1030 in the Derby mint by the moneyer Swartinc. The location of discovery is unknown. 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
Coin of Cnut the Great (LEIC-3E8CC4)
This silver Helmet IIIc Type penny was minted for King Cnut of England in London. The obverse inscription reads CNVTREXANG while the obverse reads EADPOLD ON LVND. 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 Names
Alfgeir
Álfgeirr was not a common name in Viking Age Scandinavia, but it is attested in all of the Scandinavian countries and Iceland. The personal name was once found as the first element of the place-name Algarthorpe, Nottinghamshire; however, the village is now deserted. The name is an Old Norse compound formed from Álf-, identical with alfr ‘elf’, which is not particularly popular in Scandinavian names, and –geirr, ‘spear’ which is a common element in Old Norse personal names.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Hammer-shaped Pendant
A gold hammer-shaped pendant, popularly called a Thor’s hammer pendant, from Spilsby, Lincolnshire. These may have been worn to show devotion to the god Thor, or to secure the god’s protection, although there is little evidence to support this interpretation. Pendants like this have been found made of lead, copper alloy, silver and gold, showing that many different strata of society could have worn them.
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Viking Names
Barni
An Old Norse male name Barni is not certainly found in Scandinavia, although it may be attested in some Danish place-names. An alternative explanation is that Barni is an Anglo-Scandinavian variant of the very common male name Bjarni. The name forms the first element of two places in Nottinghamshire called Barnby.
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Viking Objects
Copper-Alloy Die Stamp (DENO-698D71)
A copper-alloy die, known as Hiddensee-Rügen type, used for making pressed silver or gold sheet appliqués, which were applied to the back-plate of pendants or used as a base for filigree and granulation work.
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Viking Designs
Drawing of a Polyhedral Weight
This drawing is of a polyhedral weight of a type that the Vikings adopted from Middle Eastern cultures and brought back to Europe with them. These weights are very common on Viking Age sites.
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Viking Names
Bak
Bak is an original byname meaning ‘back’ and is not recorded as a given name in Scandinavia. It is the first element in the place-name Baston, Lincolnshire, and is also found as the first element of Baxby, in North Yorkshire.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Equal-Armed Brooch
A reproduction of an equal-armed brooch in the Borre style found in Nottinghamshire. This style of brooch is known from Birka in Sweden, suggesting trade contacts or individuals from Birka arriving in the East Midlands. Brooches were a typical part of female 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 Names
Sumarlidi
Sumarliði is originally a byname meaning ‘summer-traveller’. Although it has also been suggested that it is a variation on Vetrliði ‘a bear in its second year’, the close association of the name with the Viking diaspora supports the ‘summer-traveller’ meaning. These names likely arose in the Atlantic islands as there is one instance of Sumarliði from the early tenth century attributed to a man of Scottish birth, and several from the time of settlement in Iceland (c. 870-930). It does not appear until late in Norway, but there are several instances after c. 1320. The name is found in runic coin legends as the name of a moneyer operating in the Danish town of Lund between 1065 and 1075 – many of the moneyers in Lund actually came from England, where the name is relatively common. Sumarliði is also found in a place-name in Normandy. Sumarliði is the first element in three instances of the place-name Somerby, and one of Somersby, Lincolnshire, and the name is also frequently reported independently as a personal name in Domesday Book for Lincolnshire.