Viking Names
Swarby
Swarby, in the Aswardhurn Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is an Old Norse compound formed from the male byname Svarri and by ‘a farmstead, a village’. Swarby is a joint parish with Aswarby.
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Viking Names
Beli
Beli is probably an original byname derived from the Old Norse verb belja ‘to bellow, roar’. No certain instance is recorded in Viking Age Scandinavia, though it is recorded as a giant-name in Old Norse mythological texts. Beli is suggested as the first element in Beelsby, Lincolnshire.
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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 Names
Skardi
The Old Norse male personal name Skarði was originally a byname from Old Norse skarði ‘notch, hack’. A few instances are recorded as a personal name in Norway from the eleventh century onwards. It is also found as a byname in Norway and Iceland and in some Swedish runic inscriptions in the form skarþi. Skarði is possibly found in a Danish place-name and a strong form of the name Skarth appears in Denmark in the fifteenth century. The personal name may also be the first element in Scartho, Lincolnshire.
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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 Names
Aswarby
Aswarby, in the Aswardhurn Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is a compound name formed from the Old Norse male personal name Ásvarðr and Old Norse by ‘a farmstead, a village’. The construction of the place-name is identical with that of Aswardby, in the South Riding of Lindsey in Lincolnshire. Ásvarðr is also the first element in the district name, Aswardhurn, and presumably both the settlement and the district names refer to the same man. Aswarby is now a joint parish with Swarby.
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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.
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Viking Objects
Stirrup Mount (LEIC-113224)
Early medieval copper-alloy stirrup mount rectangular in form and cross section. The main decoration consists of a trilobed motif, cebntrally placed, which sits on a very short wide shaft running to the objects base. The mount is classified under Williams class B, type 1, group 3.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Viking Silver Penny
This reproduction of a Viking silver penny immitates those minited bu the Vikign rulers of York in the tenth century. Viking rulers in the Danelaw eventually took up the Anglo-Saxon practice of minting coins which helped legitimise their authority.
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Viking Objects
Scabbard Chape (NLM-6C0242)
This possible scabbard chape fragment is very damaged but the reddish tint is often characteristic of Anglo-Scandinavian metalwork
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Viking Names
Thormund
Þormundr is probabably an Eastern Scandinavian make personal name formed from Old Norse Þór- ‘the god’s name Þór’ and Old Norse –mundr ‘protector’. It is rare in Sweden, but a number of instances are recorded in Denmark including the form þurmutʀ in a runic inscription from the early Viking Age. The name was not found in West Scandinavia until the sixteenth century. Some forms of the place-name Thurmaston, Leicestershire seemed to be influenced by Þormundr in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.