Viking Objects
Pin-Beater (NLM-78D3B5)
This pin-beater was made from a large mammal limb bone, trimmed to a rounded point and smoothed and glossed by wear and handling. Single-ended simple weaving tools are a class linked to the Anglo-Scandinavian use of the vertical loom.
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Viking Names
West Leake
West Leake, in Rushcliffe Wapentake of Nottinghamshire, is a simplex name from Old Norse lœkr ‘brook’. East and West Leake are on the banks of a small stream which joins the Soar at Kingston.
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Viking Names
Ingifrid
Ingifríðr appears fairly frequently in Denmark and Sweden. The name is attested twice in England during the Middle Ages in the forms Ingefrit and Ingefrid in documents from Lincolnshire and Yorkshire respectively. It is an Old Norse compound name with its first element Ingi-, which is of doubtful origin but might relate to a Greek word meaning ‘lance’ or ‘staff’ combined with and the second element -fríðr, related to Gothic frījōn ‘to love’, with original meaning ‘loved’, later ‘fair’. In origin it is thus the same name as Ingiríðr.
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Viking Objects
Harness Fitting (SUR-38C283)
A simple double ended strap-link used as part of a harness. The metal has a reddish tint often associated with Anglo-Scandinavian material.
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Viking Names
Miningsby
Miningsby, in the Bolingbroke Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is a very difficult name with a great variety of spellings. The best suggestion for the first element is the Old Norse male personal name Miðjungr, but this name is only known as that of a mythical giant, recorded in an early skaldic poem cited in Snorri Sturluson’s Edda, or as an appellative for ‘giant’ in skaldic poetry more generally. The second element is Old Norse by ‘a farmstead, a village’.
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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)’.
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Viking Objects
Anglo-Scandinavian Silver Mount (SWYOR-0201A1)
This silver rectangular mount is decorated with an openwork design consisting of a possible backward-facing animal alongside interlace which may have zoomorphic elements.
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Viking Names
Moorby
The first element of Moorby, in the Horncastle Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is either Old English mor or Old Norse mór ‘a marsh; barren upland’ here in the sense ‘moor’. The second element is Old Norse bý ‘a farmstead, a village’. The village is on the slope of the Wolds.
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Viking Names
Wigtoft
Wigtoft, in the Kirton (in Holland) Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is likely an Anglo-Scandinavian compound. The first element is uncertain, but it is probably Old Norse vík ‘a small creek, an inlet, a bay’. The second element is Old English toft ‘a curtilage, the plot of ground in which a dwelling stands’. Wigtoft is situated near Bicker Haven, which was formerly an arm of the sea.
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Viking Names
Fotherby
Fotherby, in the Ludborough Wapentake of Lincolnshire, comes from the Old Norse male personal name Fótr and the Old Norse element bý ‘a farmstead, village’. The same personal name occurs in other place-names in Lincolnshire including Foston and Fosdyke. There is also a Foston in Derbyshire.
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Viking Objects
Copper-Alloy Key (LEIC-931912)
Slide keys such as this example are generally known as ‘Viking keys’ due to similarities in shape with excavated examples. However, its T-shaped projections at the base have no identified parallels but the design could possibly show Anglo-Scandinavian influence. Keys were not only practical items but also symbols of status. Women often carried the keys to the family’s chests of valuables. They also are often buried with keys, representing their authority in the household. See also the blog post on keys in the Viking Age.