Anglo-Saxon Age — World of the Anglo-Saxons: Literature, History, Art, Religion, Warfare

More Staffordshire Hoard Items Discovered

After the Staffordshire field at Hammerwich had been ploughed again last month, archeologists examined it again and discovered a new wealth of artefacts of the Anglo-Saxon period. In July 2009 the same field yielded 3,900 items, which are known worldwide as the Staffordshire Hoard. This time the scale is smaller, but the surprising fact is […]

Rare Anglo-Saxon Sapphire Ring Find

Last July the Yorkshire Museum raised £35,000 to purchase a unique Anglo-Saxon gold and sapphire finger ring. It had been found in April 2009 by a metal detectorist Michael Greenhorn, a railway technician who is also member of the York and District Metal Detecting Club. The find was reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and […]

Bamburgh Sword

Bamburgh sword is a rare Anglo-Saxon sword from the seventh century. It once belonged to an Anglo-Saxon king or a member of a royal family. The sword was made up of six individual strands of iron: this technique is known as pattern welding, Babmburgh sword thus being a six pattern-welded sword. Cold weapons of such […]

Sutton Hoo Chosen The Top Suffolk Icon

Sutton Hoo and especially the early medieval helmet discovered there is now the icon of Suffolk. The emblem of the Sutton Hoo helmet will be used in publicity material to highlight what the county is all about. This happened as a result of a poll that had to identify the icon of Suffolk. The poll […]

Help Identify The Meads Disk

In 2008 archeologists excavated an Anglo-Saxon burial ground with 229 graves at The Meads, Sittingbourne. More than 2,500 objects were discovered, including weapons from male burials and beads from female ones. It is a circular silver, bronze and wooden disk with seven holes in it: one in the centre and two groups by three holes […]

Gaer Farm Saxon Palace in Wales

The archeological site at the Gaer Farm (close to Offa’s Dyke at Forden, near Welshpool) was identified back in 1985. Preliminary excavations and aerial photographs revealed a post-Roman settlement, but a proper investigation did not take place until August 2010, when a team from Cambrian Archaeological Projects started an excavation on what seems to be […]

River Ant Anglo-Saxon Boat

In the summer of 2010 at Ludham, near Great Yarmouth on the River Ant between Horning Hall and Browns Hill workmen unearthed a log boat during flood defence work. The boat made from a solid piece of oak was 2.2 m down in the silt clay. As it was damaged by the digger, the work […]

Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

The first armed conflict of Hengest and Horsa with Vortigern took place in 455. About the same time Horsa was killed in battle, while Hengest carried war on the Britons. By 473 he founded the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the kingdom of Kent. His successors were Esc, Octa and Eormenric of Kent (relationships in this line […]

Anglo-Saxon Invasion: Adventus Saxonum

Incursions of Germanic warriors into Britain started late in the 4th century, during the Migration Period in Europe. Roman authors called them Saxons, but they certainly were divided into multiple ethnic groups. According to Bede the Venerable, armies of the invaders comprised representatives of the “three most powerful Germanic peoples” of the time: Angles, Saxons […]

Maximus: The End of Roman Britain

The power of Romans in Britain first weakened early in the 4th century. The main reason was economic crisis. Moreover, along the usual incursions of Scots and Picts, fierce attacks by Saxons, Attacotti, and Franks worsened the situation. Romano-British population was overwhelmed by the extraordinary conspiracy of the barbarians who acted in concert. In 367 […]

Coppergate Helmet

The Coppergate helmet (York helmet) was found in May 1982 at a site where many Viking Age artifacts had been discovered previously during the archeological excavations. The Anglo-Saxon helmet was right beneath the surface, protected by a brick chimney above. It was created about AD 750-775 but deposited considerably later: the brass decoration was already […]

Meanings of Anglo-Saxon Runes

All the variants of Germanic runic writing are basically kindred and go back to the Common Germanic Elder Futhark. One may be certain that these ancient runes had names. Alas, no rune-master of the Common Germanic period either left us a list of names for the Elder Futhark or explained what these names meant. Therefore […]

Anglo-Saxon Runic Rings

There are seven known Anglo-Saxon Age rings inscribed in runes, one of which is now disintegrated: 1. Kingmoor, Carlisle. Chance find, 1817. Now in the British Museum. Gold with niello, c. 27 mm diameter; 9th century (according to David Wilson). It has thirty runes: 27 outside the hoop and 3 inside: + æ r k […]

Futhorc: Anglo-Saxon Runes

Futhorc is a system of runic writing used in Anglo-Saxon and Frisian inscriptions belonging to the 5th to 9th centuries. Already the word itself shows that Futhorc (as compared to Common Germanic Futhark) developed due to phonemic changes in the languages that it was designed to transcribe: At first, both Old English and Old Frisian […]

World of the Anglo-Saxons: Literature, History, Art, Religion, Warfare