Early Medieval Brooches

From Saxon mercenaries to prince Beowulf  – Scandinavian identity in Anglo-Saxon England ca 450 – 800 AD.
Through an analysis of the spatial, chronological and social organization of Scandinavian material culture in England during the early and middle Anglo-Saxon period, it is argued that the Scandinavian cultural traits take part in a social discourse relating to the manifestation, negotiation and transformation of Anglo-Scandinavian identity. Both archaeological and contemporary historical sources are explored, and the analysis focuses on the intersection of manifestation of ethnic identity in the different medias/sources. The theoretical basis of the analysis is the perception of ethnicity as a dynamic, contextual and multidimensional phenomenon, generated in a situation where a cultural encounter between peoples of differing cultural traditions takes place. The cultural content of ethnic identities is seen as dependent on both the cultural practices of the agents involved, and the social conditions that characterize the specific historical situation where the meeting takes place.
The analysis of Scandinavian material culture indicates that in the period immediately following the ”Anglo-Saxon” invasion, Scandinavian identity is incorporated in a common Germanic, ”Saxon” identity that is contrasted and defined in opposition to a British/Romano-British ethnic identity. Then, in the period ca 475 – 575 AD, Scandinavian culture seems to be actively involved in a process of polarization between different regional groups. These groups are based on a constellation of different ethnic groups, such as Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Francs, ”Norwegians”, a ”native” Romano-British population etc, and are later to be known as Angles, Saxons and Jutes referred to in historical sources from the 8th and 9th centuries. At the end of the 6th and beginning of the 7th century, Scandinavian identity is going through a process where it is structured in accordance with a hierarchical principle, in which it comes to symbolize the common cultural heritage of an emerging aristocracy.

From the period of the Ostrogothic rule in Italy and Western Illyricum appeared brooches with three oval gemstone settings on a semicircular head , which are probably originated in Central Europe and could be connected with Alemannian or Thuringian groups.

Although the transition between the Migration Period (ca. AD 400–550) and the following Merovingian Period (ca. AD 550–800) in Norway is characterized by a fundamental shift in material culture, one particular jewelry type survives the radical breach between the two periods: great ornamental bow brooches. These brooches belonged to the upper level of society, the Early Medieval aristocracy. The use of great ornamental brooches can be traced back to around AD 200, and it constituted a tradition that was kept alive until the Viking Age. Why this tradition survived for such a long time, and how it evolved during a period of several hundred years are themes addressed in this paper. The paper focuses mainly on the meaning and significance of the brooch tradition during the transition between the Migration and the Merovingian Periods in Norway, through the use of relief and disc-on-bow brooches.

This thesis concerns early medieval dress brooches from urban and rural sites in South West Scania. The purpose is to investigate similarities and differences between urban and rural sites as well as between the rural places in particular. The main research questions concern the reasons for the similarities and differences, what connections and contact areas are observable according to the dress brooches and how this material can contribute to the discussion about urban and rural identities. The material has not been studied to a large extent before, especially not in any compiling project and is therefore an important piece in understanding the early medieval material culture and the inhabitants in towns and villages in South West Scania. This study is based on the notion that dress brooches were a medium from which people could express their identity. 
The dress brooches are examined both in terms of types as well as specific objects. Three observations are noticeable in the material in particular; a greater number of objects and types have been retrieved in Lund and more objects with Continental connotations as well as a divergent material among the rural sites. These observations are probably connected to the number of people that were present and visited each site, especially the number of foreign persons. It indicates stronger connections with Continental areas in Lund than among the rural places, especially ‘German’ areas. Lund was therefore a multicultural area with an intensity of social interactions between a lot of different persons. It probably differentiated itself from the villages in terms of contact areas and the kind of people that were present at the site. The material from rural places does instead indicate a strong connection with the urban centre. 
Collective identities are therefore visible both on a societal level, where the same types of dress brooches have been used in all parts of South West Scania, and on a local level, where different contact areas are visible, leading to varied social interactions at each site. Therefore, urban and rural identities are different on a social level but similar in terms of consumption patterns.

This dissertation interprets the zoomorphic imagery that features on twenty Viking brooches, all of which have been discovered in England. These brooches, which have been reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), form the examined dataset, which has been assembled and edited by the author.  The purpose of this study is to explore and analyse the imagery on the twenty brooches, suggesting new meanings for the inclusion of specific animals, and seeking to reappraise previous discussions about the imagery. Ultimately, it has been concluded that the brooch dataset can be categorised in several different ways: abstract or realistic representations of animals, the type of animal motif, the artistic style of the design and finally the identity of the brooch’s creator, Scandinavian or Anglo-Scandinavian. The concluding chapter then assesses these newly categorised brooches, putting them under one of the following subtypes: The 'Viking Ship’, Mammen 'Swan’, Borre/Jelling or Jelling 'World Serpent', the Common Sacrificial Totem or the Borre 'Fylgja'. These newly identified subtypes provide us with an even greater understanding, and further information about the class, personal taste and religious belief of the individuals who owned these pieces of jewellery.

This detailed study of a small-long brooch of the Domburg type, found in 2012 in a Merovingian-period rural settlement at Heiloo, explains how the shape and decoration of a simple female ornament in the 6th and 7th centuries AD expressed a very specific symbolic language. When the brooch’s iconography is compared with that of other brooches and bracteates in the southern North Sea area and Scandinavia, and its message is reconstructed with the help of Old Norse literature, it becomes clear that the symbolism of ‘a man between animals’ refers to a god with similar qualities and characteristics as the Scandinavian Odin. Most probably, the brooch is showing Wodan, after his gradual transformation into a god who was very similar to his Scandinavian counterpart. Like Odin, this Wodan is depicted as a bearded man, one-eyed and flanked by his mythical birds. Within Northwestern Europe the combined Wodan-Odin cult gave rise to an ideological-religious border zone, with Frisians and other pagan groups to the north and Christian Franks to the south. It was not until the 8th century that Christian symbols on brooches and other ornaments were widely accepted among the ‘northern pagans’, the image of Wodan/Odin now giving way to Christian motifs

Based on the study of 1,859 metal-detected brooches recovered at different sites in the Limfjord region, this paper discusses patterns of production, distribution, use, and deposition of brooches. Widespread indications of nonferrous metalwork and a modest number of models for brooch production suggest that brooches were produced at many settlements in the region during the period studied (AD 400–1150), and traces of technical change and varying distribution patterns in the finished brooches suggest temporally as well as spatially differing modes of production. Furthermore, analyses suggests that most brooches were intact when they entered the soil, and seemingly random
distribution patterns likely reflect the fact that many, perhaps most, were simply accidentally dropped. However, over and above, the interpretational difficulties are consequent on the recovery of all of the metal-detector finds in the plough layer detached from their original context. The interpretation of distribution patterns is at most sites also markedly challenged by the fact that many brooches, along with other metal artefacts, appear to having been secondarily deposited in the fields surrounding the settlements, probably during the manuring of the fields.

Fish or fowl: A bird brooch from the Merovingian period
In 2007 a copper alloy brooch was found at the Bygdøy kongsgård in Oslo. The brooch was small and shaped like a combination of a bird and a fish viewed from above. It belongs to a sub group of a series of South Scandinavian bird brooches from the Merovingian period which is sometimes called "fish brooches». This sub group is dated to the very beginning of the Merovingian period, c. 550/75-650 AD, while the main body of (more typical) bird brooches belongs to the second phase, i.e. middle part of the Merovingian period, c. 650-725 AD. The Bygdøy find is the first bird brooch that contains both fish and bird characteristics to appear in a Norwegian context, and its origin can probab!y be traced to Scania in Sweden. Although both the bird and the fish motif can be traced back through the preceding periods in Scandinavia, the former is much more common than the latter, and the frequent use of the bird symbol in these centuries is usually seen in connection with the foundation of a shamanistic cult of the god Woden/Odin. Odin is described as "the eagle headed» in written sources because he sometimes transforms himself in to an eagle. He also has two ravens as
"helpers» that are able to bring him news from "the other worlds». In this con text the image of the bird may symbolize the voyage to the other world that Odin or the shaman can achieve through a transformation in which he or she takes on the shape of a bird and transgresses the boundary between the !iving and the dead. However, also the fish motif can be understood in this con text, because the fish like the snake in a shamanistic cosmology is a symbol of the voyage to the "underworld». Moreover, both the fish and the snake are mentioned among the different animals that Odin is known to change himself into. Yet, the snake is a much more common symbol than the fish in the Scandinavian Merovingian period and the image of the snake appears among others on bird brooches in the form of interlaced snake like ribbons. It can therefore be argued that the snake gradually replaces the fish and is constituted
as an Odin-related symbol in the Merovingian period, and that the combination or merging of the different Odin-related animals, i.e. birds, fishes and snakes, in one and the same shape symbolizes the powerful abilities of transformation that this god possesses.

Il riutilizzo a scopi funerari in età tardo antica ed altomedievale degli edifici pubblici di età romana è fenomeno tutt'altro che inedito. L'area cimiteriale rinvenuta all'interno del complesso termale urbano di Aquinum durante le campagne di scavo avviate nel 2009 ed ancora in corso, va ad ampliare l'elenco dei casi noti documentando una fase di passaggio verso l'alto medioevo, con l'intento di contribuire alla definizione delle dinamiche di rioccupazione dello spazio urbano e di introdurre elementi nuovi all'interno del dibattito sul tardo antico e sul medioevo basso laziale.

In addition to earlier finds of late Roman brooches in the Lentseveld, north of Nijmegen, this contribution deals – together with the finds of an early Roman brooch and an early medieval equal-arm brooch – with a second supporting-arm brooch with trapezoid footplate (Stützarmfibel mit Trapezfuß) from the same find spot. Since another pair of supporting-arm brooches was found on the other side of the village of Lent in 2012, this specific type of late Roman brooches has been discussed in a wider perspective.

From the fifth century to the Viking Age in present-day Norway, certain women belonging to the upper strata of society were buried with high-quality ornamental bow brooches. Although adjusting to changing styles of decoration, the practical function and basic form of the brooches-a rectangular headplate, a bow and a rhomboidal footplate-remained more or less the same throughout the centuries they were in use. By exploring burials which include these ornamental accessories, I argue that the brooches functioned as an important factor in reproducing and continuously negotiating identity shared by certain women within the Scandinavian Iron Age elite.

Were early medieval burial objects the personal property of the person who had died? This book looks at the case study of brooches to critically examine this question. The key component is an empirical study on the potential correlation between the use of brooches and the ages at which their wearers died. The insights gained in the study are joined by an analysis of wear factors and a compilation of theoretical modalities of purchase.

Waren Grabbeigaben im Frühen Mittelalter persönlicher Besitz der Verstorbenen?
Am Beispiel der merowingerzeitlichen Gewandspangen, sog. Fibeln, wirft dieses Buch einen kritischen Blick auf diese Frage und schließt gleichzeitig eine Forschungslücke: Statistisch fundierte Aussagen zu einem Zusammenhang zwischen den Beigaben und den Verstorbenen stellen ein Desiderat dar.
Kernpunkt der Arbeit ist eine empirische Fallstudie anhand von 836 Fibeln Süddeutschlands zur möglichen Korrelation zwischen deren Abnutzung und dem Sterbealter der Trägerinnen. Sie wird ergänzt durch eine Übersicht der bisherigen Untersuchungen sowie eine Analyse der Abnutzungsfaktoren, wie Tragedauer und Position am Körper, dem Material, aber auch der verwendeten Restaurierungsmethoden. Die Autorin stellt den in der Fallstudie gewonnenen Erkenntnissen abschließend die theoretisch möglichen Erwerbsmodalitäten gegenüber. Ein Vergleich der Ergebnisse beider Teile ermöglicht eine Eingrenzung auf einige wenige Möglichkeiten des Fibelerwerbs.
Ein direkter Zusammenhang zwischen der Fibelabnutzung und dem Alter der Verstorbenen ist nicht nachzuweisen. Zumindest die Fibeln waren nicht per se persönlicher Besitz der Frauen, der regelhaft in einer bestimmten Lebensphase erworben wurde.

Eclipsed by the Åker find. An elite female grave of the Merovingian Period from Åker in Hedmark. Fornvännen 114. Stockholm.

This article presents a richly furnished female grave find of the Merovingian period at Åker in Hedmark, Norway. The grave was excavated in the early 1870s, but even though rich female graves of this time are rare in Norway, the find has never been published in its entirety before. Since it was a cremation grave and most of the grave goods had been destroyed by fire, it was perhaps overshadowed by rich inhumation burials, as has been the fate of many of Merovingian Period cremation graves. Here I argue that this find is a unique source for understanding the life and cultural contacts of the elite residing at Åker in the phase following the so-called Åker find with the famous cloisonné buckle. Through a detailed presentation of the grave monument and grave goods, and a discussion of the implications of the cultural affiliations reflected in both the objects found in the grave and the grave ritual, I offer an interpretation of the woman’s significance and her social role.

The so called four-brooch dress (Vierfibeltracht) – widely considered by the Hungarian research as the typical female dress in the 6th-century Pannonia – consists of two brooches located on the upper body, and two other ones generally found in the area of the pelvis or between the femurs or the knees. Although the name of the type of this dress clearly emphasizes the brooches, it consists of two parts: first the upper body clothing was fastened in a way and the the second is a girdle-hanger that is usually, but not necessarily decorated with brooches. With the analysis of the cemeteries from South-Transdanubia, I would like to present that the two aforementioned elements of the 6th century female dress are independent from each other, and that the ver-sions decorated with brooches are just their common, archaeologically well represented variants. So the four-brooch dress is the combined occurrence of these common variants of two dress elements. There is a difference between the connection networks of small and bow brooches based on 33 sites from modern-day Moravia, Lower Austria, Western Hungary and Slovenia. It can be presumed that there were different – spatial or tem-poral – structures behind their distribution.

This is a small extract of my chapter dealing with the medieval brooches from the first comprehensive excavation of a medieval manor house in Dorset. Amongst others, it includes a fascinating oval plate brooch with gold filigree work holding a rock crystal. The object is discussed within the background of its links with high-Medieval, Salian metalwork in North-Western Europe.
The version here is the page proof with some comments left in.
At present, the book is only available from the Museum Shop at Dorset Museum.
https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/publications/monographs/

In the past two decades human representational art
in migration-period Scandinavia and early Anglo-Saxon
England has been recognised as an important research
topic, illuminating novel ways to explore performance
and enactment (e.g. Gunnell 1995; Simek 2000; Watt
2004; Back Danielsson 2007; Hedeager 2011; Helmbrecht
2011; Brundle 2013). Largely, however, explorative
research on bodily postures has been confined to
full-bodied human representation. Little is known
about gestural expressions in early Anglo-Saxon art.
In this paper I investigate the gripping-arm posture:
a rare gesture rendered on the large drinking horns
from the high-status male barrow burial at Taplow
(Buckinghamshire), dating to the early 7th century.
Past research has established similarities between
contemporary drinking vessels across Scandinavia and
continental Europe (Holmqvist 1951; Hårdh 2004).
Remarkably, however, this gesture is also portrayed
on a small collection of 6th-century relief brooches
from Norway; this connection and the potentially
meaningful role of this gesture are explored here.

The study addresses the interpretation of ring-and-dot motifs in relation to three brooches from Tolna County. Although the three brooches are decorated in a similar manner, their forms differ, reflecting cultural contacts with entirely different regions.

A short article presenting an interesting pit assemblage excavated during the Channel Tunnnel Rail Link excavations at Springhead, part of HS1. Amonst others, the feature contained a type of bow brooch indicative of contacts with the Visigothic sphere in southern France and Spainduring the 5th and early 6th century AD.

The Portable Antiquity Scheme has now recorded fifty seven late 10th to 11th century brooches with cloisonné enamel plaques, of the type first identified by Evison. The brooches generally follow the patterns already established by Buckton (1986), however the larger sample size (Buckton categorised only 12 brooches and 4 plaques) allows the identification of new variants and firmer statements to be made about the frequency of certain types. This English pattern is compared to an analysis of similar brooches found in Denmark (Lindhal 2003).

Buckton, D. 1986. ‘Late 10th and 11th-century cloisonné enamel brooches’, Medieval Archaeology 30:8-18 pls 3-4.

Lindahl, F. 2003. ‘Some late tenth- and eleventh-century cloisonné enamel brooches and finger-rings from Denmark’ in C. Entwhistle (ed.) Through a glass brightly: studies in Byzantine and medieval art and archaeology; presented to David Buckton. Oxford: Oxbow, pp163-170.