VIII.—The Distribution of the Anglo-Saxon Saucer Brooch in relation to the Battle of Bedford, A. D. 571

E. Thurlow Leeds

doi:10.1017/S0261340900011620

VIII.—The Distribution of the Anglo-Saxon Saucer Brooch in relation to the Battle of Bedford, A. D. 571

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2011

E. Thurlow Leeds

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The investigation of the early history of England is beset with many difficulties and has furnished material for the widest conjectures. Prior to the Roman invasion our knowledge is confined almost entirely to such deductions as can be made by the aid of archaeology. But the difficulties by no means decrease with the period when England makes its first appearance in the pages of written history. Indeed, they might be said rather to increase, and perhaps of no period is this truer than of the times between the decline of the Roman power in Britain and the ultimate establishment of the Anglo-Saxon power. The records are, to say the least of it, of the barest nature, and present many problems of absorbing interest, towards the elucidation of which archaeology has already contributed not a little. In some cases, however, the evidence of archaeology appears to find itself in conflict with the witness of history, and it is one of these incongruities which I have set myself the task of endeavouring to investigate in the course of this paper.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 63 , 1912 , pp. 159 - 202

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900011620 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1912

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^{page 160 note 1} See Appendix, Schedule II.

^{page 161 note 1} There are some outlying examples, but they may for general purposes be neglected, as they do not affect the main issue.

^{page 164 note 1} Arch. Journ., lxv. 80Google Scholar.

^{page 165 note 1} Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, 1. 152, fig. 4.Google Scholar

^{page 165 note 2} Wylie, , Fairford Graves, pl. iii, fig. 4.Google Scholar

^{page 166 note 1} Only a short while after this paper was read before the Society, I obtained most interesting corroboration of the persistence of Roman designs alongside of advanced Teutonic motives. In the same cemetery which was described by Rolleston (see below, p. 167) was found a pair of applied brooches decorated with a decadent zoomorphic pattern within a guilloche border. Advantage has been taken of this opportunity to publish the best example (pi. xxvi, fig. 3).

^{page 166 note 2} Archaeologia, xxxv, pl. xii, fig. 11Google Scholar.

^{page 166 note 3} In the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Evans Coll.).

^{page 166 note 4} Three examples in the Ashmolean Museum; for two others see Archaeologia, xxxvii. 146, fig. 4Google Scholar.

^{page 166 note 5} Op. cit., p. 80.Google Scholar PubMed

^{page 167 note 1} Green, J. R., Short History of the English People.Google Scholar

^{page 167 note 2} Wylie, , Fairford Graves, fig. on p. 16.Google Scholar

^{page 167 note 3} Wilts. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Mag., xxviii, fig. 19Google Scholar.

^{page 167 note 4} Archaeologia, xxxv, pl. xii, fig. 9Google Scholar.

^{page 167 note 5} Ibid., xxxix, pl. xi, fig. 4.

^{page 167 note 6} Surrey Archaeological Collections, xxi. 1 ff. and figs. 2 and 12. The odd brooch with spirals is not figured. See also Proceedings, 2 S., xxi. 3 ff.

^{page 167 note 7} Proceedings, I S., xix. 128, fig. 1.

^{page 167 note 8} Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc., n. s., 1899, v. 346.Google Scholar

^{page 167 note 9} In the Ashmolean Museum.

^{page 167 note 10} De Baye, Industrial Arts of the Anglo-Saxons, pl. viii, fig. 4.

^{page 167 note 11} Artis, , Durobrivae, pl. xii.Google Scholar

^{page 168 note 1} Fairford Graves, fig. on p. 14.

^{page 168 note 2} Catalogue of Londesborough Collection of Rings and Ornaments, no. 62.

^{page 168 note 3} V. C. H. Worcester, vol. i, coloured plate, fig. 9. Cp. Artis, Durobrivae, pl. xix, pavement found at Mill Hill, Castor.

^{page 168 note 4} Archaeologia, xxxv. 381.Google Scholar

^{page 168 note 5} Lysons, , Antiquities of Woodchester, pl. vii.Google Scholar

^{page 168 note 6} Riegl, , Die spatromische Kunstindustrie in Oesterreich-Ungarn, pl. xviii.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 1} After Foreningen til Norske Fortidmindesmcerkers Bevaring, Aarsberetning for 1898, p. 89, fig. 9a.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 2} e. g. Artis, Durobrivae, pl. xix, on a mosaic pavement.

^{page 169 note 3} Commission archéologique du Dépt. de la Cote-d'Or, v, pl. xii, figs. 2 and 6.

^{page 169 note 4} In the British Museum.

^{page 169 note 5} Archaeologia, xxxviii, grave 46 (not figured).

^{page 169 note 6} Ibid., xxxvii, p. 114, fig. no. 5.

^{page 169 note 7} Figured, , Proceedings, 1st ser., iv. 73.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 8} Archaeologia, xxxviii, pl. xix, fig. 7.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 9} Records of Buckinghamshire, pl. ii, 1 and 2.

^{page 170 note 1} Salin, , op. cit., fig. 130.Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 2} Ibid., fig. 128.

^{page 170 note 3} Boulanger, , Cimetiere Franco-Mérovingien et Carolingien de Marchclepot, pl. iv, fig. i.Google Scholar

^{page 170 note 4} Wylie, , Fairford Graves, pl. vGoogle Scholar , fig. 2 (a combination of the decoration of a pair of brooches slightly differing in detail).

^{page 170 note 5} Salin, , op. cit., fig. 395.Google Scholar

^{page 171 note 1} Archaeologia, xxxviii, pl. xix, fig. 4.

^{page 171 note 2} Fairford Graves, pl. iii, fig. 5.

^{page 171 note 3} The provenance is wrongly given as Kent in the text, though correctly stated in the inventory at the end of the book.

^{page 171 note 4} In the Ashmolean Museum (Evans Collection).

^{page 172 note 1} Archaeologia, xxxviii, pl. iii, fig. 9

^{page 172 note 2} Archaeologia, xxxix, pl. xi, fig. 3.

^{page 172 note 3} Ibid., xxxvii. 142 (Mayer Collection 7557), and Mayer Collection 7563.

^{page 172 note 4} Fairford Graves, pl. iii, fig. 1.

^{page 173 note 1} Museum, Lewes, Sussex Arch. Coll., xxxviii. 177 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 173 note 2} Ashmolean Museum (Douglas Collection).

^{page 173 note 3} A parallel to the Haslingfield examples from Northfleet, Kent, is now in the Maidstone Museum.

^{page 173 note 4} This statement does not carry with it any absolute denial of the veracity of the traditional account of the West Saxon conquest. A sharp distinction should, however, be drawn between bands of immigrants accompanied by their families and a rapidly moving force of armed invaders.

^{page 174 note 1} Salin, , op. cit., fig. 338Google Scholar , and Riegl, , Die spatromische Kunstindustrie, pl. xxii, fig. 5Google Scholar.

^{page 174 note 2} Arch. Journ., lxv. 80Google Scholar.

^{page 175 note 1} Cambr. Ant. Soc. Comm., v. 5.Google Scholar

^{page 175 note 2} Proceedings, v. 380.Google Scholar

^{page 175 note 3} Arch. Journ., xi. 95.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 1} Ant. Tidskr. f. Sverige, xi. 3, fig. 11.Google Scholar

^{page 176 note 2} Salin, , op.cit., p. 224.Google Scholar

^{page 177 note 1} Salin, , op. cit., fig. 710.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 1} Is it possible that some such ornament is indicated by the expression brēost-weoroung Beowulf, 1. 2505? Compare the restoration of a Nydam warrior ( Montelius, , Die Kultur Schwedens in vor-christlicher Zeit, fig. 114)Google Scholar.

^{page 178 note 2} In the British Museum.

^{page 178 note 3} I have been given to understand that on the completion of the new Museum of Ethnology and Archaeology at Cambridge the collection in Trinity College Library may be transferred thither.

^{page 178 note 4} A parallel use of a hand instead of a foot is to be seen on the brooch from Hedenmarkens Amt, Norway, mentioned above, but we may bring this pair rather into line with the first-mentioned pair from Barrington.

^{page 179 note 1} In Trinity College Library, Cambridge.

^{page 179 note 2} Camb. Ant. Soc. Comm., vol. v, pl. xi, fig. i.

^{page 179 note 3} Fairford Graves, 16, fig.

^{page 179 note 4} V.C. H. Hants., 388, coloured plate.

^{page 179 note 5} Camb. Ant. Soc. Comm., v, pl. viii.

^{page 179 note 6} Ibid., pl. iv, fig. 1.

^{page 179 note 7} Associated Architectural Societies' Reports, vii. 269ff., pl. iii, fig. 2.

^{page 179 note 8} Arch. Journ., xi. 96 (grave 9).

^{page 180 note 1} Akerman, , Pagan Saxondom, pl. xxxvii.Google Scholar

^{page 181 note 1} p. 26, fig. 31.

^{page 181 note 2} Op. cit., p. 74.

^{page 181 note 3} A third example from Friesland is now in the Friesch Museum at Leeuwarden.

^{page 181 note 4} Proceedings, 2 S., xix. 310.

^{page 181 note 5} All now in Northampton Museum.

^{page 182 note 1} In Reading Museum; another example in the possession of Mr. J. O'N. Barnes of Lambourn, who has kindly supplied a photograph of it.

^{page 182 note 2} Baye, De, Industrial Arts of the Anglo-Saxons, pl. viii, fig. i.Google Scholar

^{page 182 note 3} Archaeologia, lxii. 481 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 1} Archaeologia, lxii. 481 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 2} Salin, , op. cit., fig. 699Google Scholar. Salin records it in his inventory of illustrations as coming from Hasling-field, Bedfordshire, and the mistake is repeated under the actual figure, where the provenance is given as Bedfordshire, England.

^{page 183 note 3} Neville, , Saxon Obsequies, pl. 2.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 4} Salin, , op. cit., fig. 176.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 5} Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reports, vii, pl. ii, fig. 9.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 6} Cp. Salin, , op. cit., figs 176 and 177Google Scholar, and Jahrbuch des Provinzial-Museums zu Hannover, April, 1907-1908Google Scholar, pis. vi, vii, and viii

^{page 183 note 7} Manadsblad, 1894, 29.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 1} Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, vol. xi, 101 and plate.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 2} England before the Norman Conquest, p. 230.Google Scholar

^{page 184 note 3} Op. cit., p. 230.Google Scholar

^{page 185 note 1} Bede, , Eccles. History, ii, cap. 15.Google Scholar

^{page 187 note 1} Camb. Ant. Soc. Comm., v, pl. iv, fig. 4. Google ScholarSee also Salin, , op. cit., 326, and fig. 705Google Scholar.

^{page 187 note 2} Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reports, vii. 285, June 3rd. Mr. Reginald A. Smith has kindly searched for these at my request, but reports that they are not among the collection from that site in the British Museum. It seems, however, that not all the objects figured in the account above mentioned are in that collection, e.g. brooches figured pl. ii, fig. 1, and pl. vi, fig. 1. The matter therefore is still doubtful.

^{page 187 note 3} In spite of note 2 above, I here assume, for the sake of argument, that none were found at Kempston.

^{page 188 note 1} Schetelig, , op. cit., 104 and 112.Google Scholar

^{page 188 note 2} See Saxon Obsequies, passim.

^{page 188 note 3} It is worthy of remark that not a single case of cremation was found in this cemetery. Saucer brooches when found with cremation burial appear always to be late in type, e.g. at Girton, Cambs., and Marton, Warwickshire.

^{page 189 note 1} It is satisfactory to find that this view has the authoritative support of Prof. Haverfield in his chapter on Roman Britain in the first volume of the recently published Cambridge Mediaeval History.

^{page 192 note 1} Roach-Smith, , Cat. of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities (Gibbs Coll.), p. 6.Google Scholar

^{page 192 note 2} Archaeologia, xxxviii, pl. xix, fig. 5.Google Scholar

^{page 192 note 3} Camb. Ant. Soc. Comm., v, pl. xi, fig. 3Google Scholar.

^{page 192 note 4} A better example (see pl. xxviii, fig. 5) was found in a cremation urn at Marton, Warwickshire (Proceedings, v. 303).

^{page 192 note 5} The above suggestion would also afford an explanation of the leg-design on brooches found in Kent and Cambridgeshire noticed above (p. 173).

^{page 192 note 6} Salin, , op. cit., 88.Google Scholar

^{page 193 note 1} This is the type represented by a back-plate from the famous find at Dorchester Oxon The objects with which it was associated are identical with those belonging to the culture to which this brooch-type belongs in North Germany (fig. 21).

^{page 194 note 1} Jahrbuch der wissenschaftlichen Anstalten zu Hamburg, iv (1887), E. Rautenberg, Romische und germanische AltertumerGoogle Scholar.

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VIII.—The Distribution of the Anglo-Saxon Saucer Brooch in relation to the Battle of Bedford, A. D. 571

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