C ULTURE AND G ENDER IN THE D ANELAW :
S CANDINAVIAN AND
A NGLO -S CANDINAVIAN B ROOCHES
Jane F. Kershaw
Introduction
I
n recent years metal detecting has yielded a substantial corpus of Scandinavian
and Anglo-Scandinavian metalwork from the area of northern and eastern
England once known as the Danelaw (Figure 1). Particularly prominent are
brooches belonging to female dress in ninth- and tenth-century Scandinavian
forms and styles. These objects add an entirely new dimension to the rather limited
existing archaeological evidence for Scandinavian activity in the British Isles. As
highly visible, typologically distinct dress accessories worn by women in everyday
dress, they have much to reveal about the construction and expression of Scandinavian colonial identities during the Settlement Period (AD 870–950).
Scandinavian metalwork, once a footnote in historical and archaeological studies
of the Vikings in England, now forms a crucial part of the archaeological record of
the Danelaw. In large part this is due to the efforts of museum curators and finds
recorders, whose successful liaison with metal detectorists has ensured that new
discoveries of metalwork are recorded and made available for research. By engaging
with detected material, recent studies have transformed our understanding of the
Jane F. Kershaw (jane.kershaw@arch.ox.ac.uk) is Randall MacIver Student in Archaeology
at Queen’s College, Oxford.
Abstract: Recent metal-detecting in areas of northern and eastern England has brought to light
hundreds of Viking-Age brooches decorated in Scandinavian styles. While some objects are likely
to be products of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian interaction, others are diagnostically Scandinavian
and may have been imported from the Scandinavian homelands. The following considers the
distribution of these items within England, together with their chronology and status. It suggests
that such pieces were worn to express Scandinavian cultural affiliation within the Danelaw. Given
the status of these brooches as female dress accessories, it proposes that women in particular had a
key role in promoting a Scandinavian colonial identity. In this context, this paper contributes to
increasing scholarly interest in the value of material form, decoration, and consumption for
negotiating identity in the Danelaw.
Keywords: material culture, metalwork, style, identity, gender, Danelaw
Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 5 (2009) 295–325. 10.1484/J.VMS.1.100682
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Figure 1. The Danelaw. (Map: Jane Kershaw)
character and distribution of Scandinavian metalwork (Richardson 1993; Margeson 1982; Margeson 1996; Margeson 1997; Leahy and Paterson 2001; Paterson
2002). Building on past scholarship, this paper presents up-to-date evidence for
Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian female dress items, namely brooches and
pendants, found on English soil. It argues that these artefacts indicate the presence
in the Danelaw of substantial numbers of women dressed in an overtly Scandinavian manner.
This paper is divided into two sections. It begins with a discussion of the quantity and character of Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian brooches found in
England and suggests that brooches which formed an integral part of contemporary
female dress in Scandinavia were present in the Danelaw in higher numbers than
previous scholarship has suggested. It then considers the geographical distribution
of these artefacts, their date range, and quality of workmanship. These themes are
then used to explore the significance of Scandinavian metalwork in ninth- and
tenth-century England, especially in regard to its use in the construction of gendered and cultural identities. The second part of this paper provides more detail
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on the main brooch types and their morphological and stylistic attributes. It draws
attention to the wide repertoire of Scandinavian brooch forms and motifs found
in England and suggests that Scandinavian material from the Danelaw is particularly closely correlated with jewellery from southern Scandinavia.
Data and Classification
The research summarized in this paper is based on the author’s documentation and
study of 485 female dress items decorated in the Scandinavian Viking-Age styles
of Borre and Jelling. This total, which includes oval, equal-armed, trefoil, disc, and
lozenge-shaped brooches, and pendants, represents an approximately twenty-fold
increase in the number of items known twenty-five years ago from excavation and
antiquarian sources (see, for instance, Roesdahl 1981). It reflects the vast increase
in the number of finds recovered in recent years through metal detecting and
recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), county Historic Environment
Records (HERs), and regional museums. Detector finds account for close to 90
per cent of all recorded Scandinavian brooches from England (431 items), with
modern excavations and antiquarian sources contributing relatively few artefacts
by comparison, around 4 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. The origin of a few
remaining items is unknown or unrecorded.
There are, of course, a number of biases involved in the survival, recovery, and
recording of metal-detector finds. Most metal-detector items are taken from the
ploughsoil and are therefore unstratified, with the result that dating artefacts on
anything other than stylistic grounds is problematic. Artefact distribution patterns
may simply reflect concentrations of detecting activity, rather than genuine patterns of circulation. These and other issues surrounding the interpretation of
detector material have been discussed at length elsewhere (Dobinson and Denison
1995). However, it is important to note that metal detecting also benefits the
archaeological record, ensuring the survival of artefacts which, in heavily cultivated
areas, would otherwise be destroyed by modern agricultural processes (Leahy 2003,
138). In the context of this research, metal detecting has led to the discovery of
artefact types not previously known from England, including lozenge and convex
disc brooches, in addition to ‘new’ Scandinavian objects, without known parallels.
The female dress items discussed in this paper can be broadly classified into two
groups, distinguished by distinct morphological and stylistic characteristics. The
first encompasses brooches which we can refer to as ‘Scandinavian’. These items are
indistinguishable from objects found in Scandinavia; they carry pure Scandinavian
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ornament and bear the hallmarks of Scandinavian manufacture. Scandinavian
brooches may have been produced in the Danelaw by craftsmen working in a Scandinavian tradition or imported, either via trade or migration, from the Scandinavian homelands. A second group of artefacts, described here as ‘AngloScandinavian’, combines cultural forms and styles. Typically, these hybrid artefacts
are ornamented with modified versions of Scandinavian motifs and have native,
Anglo-Saxon brooch or fitting forms, indicating their manufacture within an insular setting. Owing either to inadequate recording or excessive wear, a few remaining objects cannot be assigned to either group. Distinguishing Scandinavian from
Anglo-Scandinavian brooches is important since the interplay between the two
groups has much to reveal about Scandinavian cultural influence in the Danelaw.
Part 1: Approaches and Interpretations
Scandinavian Metalwork: Character and Use
Previous studies of Scandinavian metalwork in England, working from a necessarily restricted dataset, have tended to downplay the impact of Scandinavian
brooch styles on the material culture of the Danelaw. Instead, they have proposed
that Anglo-Scandinavian brooches, with a mixture of cultural forms and styles, far
outweighed items which could be considered diagnostically Scandinavian (Hadley
2006, 122–23; Thomas 2000, 252). The fresh perspective provided by this, more
comprehensive, survey of material reveals instead that a significant quantity of
brooches with diagnostically Scandinavian forms and motifs circulated in eastern
and northern England. Around half of the 485 brooches studied by the author
preserve distinctly Scandinavian shapes and artistic styles.
Such brooches include oval brooches, worn exclusively with a Scandinaviantype apron dress, large trefoil and equal-armed brooches, and pendants, an accessory type not part of contemporary Anglo-Saxon female costume (Paterson 2002).
More common, comprising over 150 items, are smaller brooches, also distinctly
Scandinavian in terms of object form and ornamental detail: convex disc, lozenge,
and trefoil brooches, worn alone or in combination with larger brooches to close
a linen shift or secure a lightweight outer garment. Like their Scandinavian counterparts, brooches recovered from the Danelaw are ornamented with motifs drawn
from pre-Christian, Scandinavian artistic traditions: from the Borre style, ring
chain and knot motifs, together with cat-like animals with symmetrical, gripping
bodies, and from the Jelling repertoire, profiled beasts with open jaws, ear lappets,
and sinuous, interlacing double-contoured bodies (Wilson 1995, 89–90, 115–16).
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The Scandinavian brooch types represented in England extend to cover a multitude of variants and sub-types (Table 1). They are remarkably varied, reflecting
the full artistic and morphological range of Viking-Age brooches from Scandinavia.
For instance, Borre-style convex disc brooches occur in England in three of the four
forms represented at Birka ( Jansson 1984). Moreover, they include two additional
variants not recorded at the Scandinavian site, discussed in further detail below.
Danelaw brooches ornamented in the Scandinavian Terslev style, a volute pattern
related to the Borre style, reveal a similarly wide compositional range. In addition
to the established Terslev motifs, Scandinavian brooches from England carry new
compositions generated by the amalgamation of two or more existing Terslev
styles, and, in doing so, add to the current register of Scandinavian Terslev designs.
Table 1. Scandinavian brooch types represented in England.
Scandinavian Brooches
from England
Oval Brooches
Equal-armed Brooches
Convex Disc Brooches
Borre style
Terslev style
Jelling style
Trefoil Brooches
Lozenge Brooches
Variants represented
References
Types Berdal; P 37; P 51
Types III A; III F; IV C
Petersen 1928
Aagård 1984
Types IIA, IIC, IID
Types Grundtyp 1, 2, 3, 4; LVB; Dreipass
Type I A1. Motifs Fiskeby; Tuna
Jansson 1984
Kleingärtner 2007
Jansson 1984; Callmer
1989
Maixner 2005
Types P 2.4; P 4.2; P 7.12; P 5.1; G 1.3;
E 1.3; E 1.2; E 2.1; F 3.1; Z 1.5; Z 2.3; Z 2.4
Types with beaded and ridged arms
Richardson 1993
The presence in the Danelaw of a wide range of Scandinavian brooch types,
encompassing almost the full repertoire of brooch styles in contemporary use in
Scandinavia, is highly significant. It is commensurate with items having been introduced to England on the clothing of female settlers from Scandinavia, rather than
items having arrived as trade goods for the mass market. It also runs counter to
suggestions that brooches with diagnostically Scandinavian forms were discarded
by Scandinavian settlers in favour of brooch types which could be assimilated into
native costume (Thomas 2000, 252). Indeed, distinctly Scandinavian brooch types,
with diagnostic trefoil, lozenge, and convex disc forms, were reproduced within the
Danelaw. This is evidenced by a significant number of brooches which retain their
trefoil, lozenge, and convex disc shapes as well as their Scandinavian decorative
content, but which reveal insular influence in their pin fittings. Examples include
a series of ten lozenge brooches and a selection of Borre-style convex disc and
geometric trefoil brooches, discussed in more detail below.
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The manufacture within the Danelaw of Anglo-Scandinavian brooches closely
modelled on Scandinavian prototypes provides evidence for a vibrant local market
in Scandinavian-type dress accessories. Such a demand for Scandinavian-type
brooches is notable, since the diversity and distinctiveness of Scandinavian brooch
shapes was not replicated in indigenous, Anglo-Saxon fashion. The use of brooches
in Anglo-Saxon female dress was considerably more conservative, focusing on the
use of just one brooch type: flat disc brooches. The impact of Scandinavian brooch
forms and shapes on fashions and personal appearance in the Danelaw is likely to
have been especially profound since other aspects of Anglo-Saxon and Danish dress
were less varied. They comprised such similar components as under-tunics, dresses,
and outer garments or shawls, evidence for the use of the Scandinavian strap-dress
in Denmark being limited (Owen-Crocker 2004, 148–51, 156–59, 212–26;
Hedeager Krag 1994). With their distinct forms and new art styles, Scandinavian
brooches were therefore well placed to articulate social differences and mark out
a distinct Scandinavian cultural affiliation.
The Scandinavian brooches recovered on English soil did not simply look
Scandinavian; there is evidence to suggest that they were worn in a distinctly Scandinavian manner. This is true not only of oval brooches, which, due to their form
and recessed pin, could only be worn with a Scandinavian-type strap-dress, but also
of trefoil and small lozenge and disc types. In addition to having a pin-lug and
catchplate, these brooches possess an extra, third loop, a feature which is common
to Viking-Age brooches from Scandinavia. The function of the third loop on Scandinavian brooches is the subject of debate ( Jansson 1984, 58; Hårdh 1984, 88;
Richardson 1993, 20), but there is clear evidence from Scandinavia, including from
graves at Birka, that it was often used for the suspension of metal or textile chains,
to which pendants, beads, or non-decorative items including toilet implements
would have been attached (Eilbracht 1999, 96–97; Hägg 1974, 40–42, figs 32–33;
Hägg 1986, 58–59).
In the Viking period, brooches with suspended chains with attached tools in the
style of chatelaine brooches represent a uniquely Scandinavian and Baltic fashion.
They were not part of contemporary Anglo-Saxon female dress, as evidenced by the
fact that native late Anglo-Saxon brooches lack suspension loops or equivalent
features. The presence of third loops on Scandinavian brooches from England
therefore suggests that, if worn as intended, these brooches would have formed just
one part of a much more elaborate costume set, one which was incongruent with
native women’s dress. The preservation of metal chain bits in the third loops of
some Scandinavian brooches from England (for instance, Kirk 1927), together
with the presence in the Danelaw of object types traditionally worn suspended
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from brooch chains in Scandinavia, including eastern Scandinavian combs (PAS
‘Find-ID’ NARCB3E1B5), lends support to suggestions that the Scandinavian
fashion for chatelaine brooches continued in use in areas of England.
However, it is notable that third loops do not appear on Anglo-Scandinavian
brooches, even on those objects whose form and decorative content otherwise
accurately mirrors Scandinavian styles. Just one Anglo-Scandinavian brooch carries
a third loop, a debased Jelling-style disc brooch from Gooderstone, Norfolk (PAS
‘Find-ID’ SF7482). On this item, however, the loop is unfinished and is positioned
horizontally, rather than vertically in the Scandinavian manner, suggesting the craftsman was unfamiliar with its traditional form and arrangement. This would appear
to indicate a different context of use for Anglo-Scandinavian brooches compared
with their Scandinavian counterparts. Such items were worn singularly, in a manner
in keeping with indigenous fashions, rather than as part of a more extensive
accessory ensemble involving suspended chains, as was traditional in Scandinavia.
This modification to the way in which Scandinavian-type brooches were worn
in the Danelaw suggests some level of accommodation on behalf of brooch wearers
with existing, local fashions. Other evidence for such accommodation, which may
be interpreted as a sign of cultural interaction, is provided by brooches of AngloSaxon form with ornamental schemes adapted from Scandinavian brooches. The
chief representative of brooches of this description is a flat insular-type disc brooch
with an interlace design derived from the Scandinavian Borre style (see Figure 12
below) (Paterson 2002, 274–75).
This brooch series, named here the East Anglian Series after its predominantly
East Anglian distribution, was mass produced in the Danelaw: over 230 examples
are known to the author. Although clearly inspired by Scandinavian prototypes —
the motif appears on a small number of brooches of Scandinavian form from Denmark and Sweden — the Danelaw items represent a new and independent brooch
series, with a form familiar to female Anglo-Saxon dress. The Borre-derived interlace motif, with arms in the shape of a cross, appears to have captured the imagination of the inhabitants of eastern England. Its prolific output and clear combination of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian cultural influences arguably indicates
that it functioned not just as a dress accessory, but as a type of symbolic badge,
expressive of the emerging Anglo-Scandinavian culture of the Danelaw.
The East Anglian disc brooch series represents a process in which motifs of
Scandinavian origin were applied to brooches of Anglo-Saxon manufacture.
Notably, the reverse process is not well attested among Danelaw finds. Just one
item, a mould for a trefoil brooch from Blake Street, York, is suggestive of a
practice in which indigenous Anglo-Saxon motifs, in this case drawn from the
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Winchester style, were applied to brooches of Scandinavian form (Kershaw 2008,
263, fig. 12). Similarly, there is no evidence for the co-occurrence on individual
brooches of Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon art styles, despite the existence of
vibrant, indigenous artistic traditions in the area of Scandinavian settlement in the
late ninth and tenth centuries (Kershaw 2008; Thomas 2006, 157). This stands in
contrast to the frequent mingling of later Viking-Age Scandinavian and AngloSaxon art styles on ornamental metalwork as well as in other media (Kershaw 2008,
265). These patterns suggest limits to the extent of cultural assimilation in the
Danelaw, or, more precisely, to the role of ornamental metalwork in negotiating
such processes.
Artefact Distribution
The find locations of brooches and pendants in early Viking art styles, with a few
exceptions, confirm the Danelaw as a cultural boundary marking the extent of
Scandinavian metalwork (see Figures 5 and 8 below). Anglo-Scandinavian
brooches, with a mixture of Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon forms and styles, reveal
a similarly restricted distribution in the area of Scandinavian settlement (see Figure
13 below). The northern and easterly scatter of artefacts in the ninth- and tenthcentury Scandinavian styles is at variance with the more widespread and southern
distribution patterns of metalwork in the later Scandinavian styles of Ringerike
and Urnes (Williams 1997, fig. 10; Owen 2001, fig. 11.2). Metal items in these
later styles enjoyed widespread popularity in England from the late tenth and early
eleventh century, possibly having been popularized under the influence of the
Scandinavian court of Cnut and his dynasty in London.
Within the Danelaw, female dress items are heavily concentrated in the eastern
county of Norfolk, with a significant number of finds also from Lincolnshire. Such
concentration is notable, since East Anglia is not a traditional focus for studies of
Scandinavian settlement, even being excluded from some historical definitions of
the Danelaw (for a discussion, see Abrams 2001). There are no finds north of the
River Tees and relatively few in Cambridgeshire and central-midland counties such
as Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire. To a degree, the
concentration of metalwork in Norfolk and Lincolnshire can be seen as a reflection
of both high levels of metal-detecting activity and each county’s long history of
successful liaison between museums and metal-detectorists, which has resulted in
a wealth of material from all periods being made publically available. Nonetheless,
objects recorded nationally by the PAS show a similar concentration and must, to
some extent, illustrate genuine patterns of artefact use and circulation.
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There is no doubt that Scandinavian metalwork is found in highest numbers
in rural areas with historically attested Scandinavian settlement. In most instances,
the distribution of metalwork corresponds with high incidences of Scandinavian
place-names. One very notable exception is the low numbers of surviving Scandinavian place-names from Norfolk with the exception of Flegg, an area which has
produced both Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian artefacts (Abrams 2005).
Very few items of Scandinavian metalwork are recorded in and around the Five
Boroughs — Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Stamford, and Lincoln — where there
is a similar paucity of Scandinavian place-names (Cameron 1975, map 2).
This pattern is not simply a reflection of low levels of metal detecting in
modern urban areas. Modern excavations at Lincoln, Norwich, Thetford, and
York have revealed only a handful of Scandinavian items: a composite Jelling-style
disc brooch from St Mark’s Station, Lincoln, and a silver Borre-style trefoil brooch
from Thetford provide two, rare examples (Lincolnshire HER 70176-MLI70176;
Norfolk HER 34380). The same sites have, however, produced multiple AngloSaxon and Anglo-Scandinavian brooches (Roesdahl 1981, cat. nos YD 12, 13, 38,
40, YMW 14; Ayers 1994, 39–40, fig. 14; Dallas 1993, fig. 116.22; Youngs 2004).
In terms of metalwork, Scandinavian cultural influence does not appear to have
been strongly felt in the towns of the Danelaw (pace Loveluck 2007, 158), perhaps
reflecting what Gabor Thomas (2000, 240) has described as ‘heightened levels of
cultural integration and assimilation existent in Viking trading communities’.
Chronology and Period of Use
Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian brooches recovered on English soil have
proved difficult to date independently. Just seven brooches recorded by the author
derive from datable archaeological contexts, and evidence of contaminated deposits
renders some of these dates unreliable (for example, Wallis 2004, 38, 67). For most
Scandinavian brooches, dating is carried out on stylistic grounds, via comparisons
with similar artefacts from datable contexts in Scandinavia. In this context, the appearance on brooches from the Danelaw of the Jelling style, which partly postdated
the Borre style in Scandinavia, is significant. It indicates that the local population
kept abreast of changing Scandinavian fashions during the tenth century and
welcomed new artistic impulses, providing evidence for continued cultural contact
between the Danelaw and Scandinavia.
On stylistic grounds, most Scandinavian brooches from England can be
assigned a broad date range stretching from the late ninth to the mid- to late tenth
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century. This period corresponds with the floruit of the Borre and Jelling styles in
Scandinavia, as attested by the appearance of the styles in coin-dated hoards, as well
as by dendrochronological dates obtained from sites with diagnostic material,
including the relevant burial mounds at Gokstad (dated to AD 900–05), Borre (AD
900), and Jelling (AD 958–59), and the ‘fortresses’ of Fyrkat (AD 980) and Trelleborg (AD 981) (Capelle 1968, 48–49, 83; Wilson 1995, 120; Roesdahl 1994).
The dating of Anglo-Scandinavian artefacts without exact parallels in Scandinavia presents additional challenges. As culturally hybrid brooches reflecting a
mixture of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian forms and styles, it may be supposed
that they postdate the original, Scandinavian brooches on which they were partially
modelled. A lead-alloy disc brooch with a debased Jelling style design was recovered
from a tenth-century context at 16–22 Coppergate, York. It displays casting bubbles, suggesting that it was produced nearby and discarded as a reject at this date
(Mainman and Rogers 2000, 2571–72, 10604). Two East Anglian Series disc
brooches, from Castle Bailey, Norwich, and Flaxengate, Lincoln, were excavated
from eleventh-century contexts (Richardson 1993, 55; Ayers 1985, 29, fig. 24.1).
This interlace motif is dated by its appearance on brooches from Birka, Sweden,
and Syvsig, Denmark, to the first half of the tenth century, suggesting the possibility that it circulated in the Danelaw for an extended period of time (Evison
1957, 221; Rieck 1982, 8).
Other brooches may have experienced similarly ‘long lives’, beyond their period
of popularity in Scandinavia. Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian brooches are
often extremely worn. A substantial number show signs of repair or reuse as pendants or mounts, perhaps indicating their continued use over several generations.
Although outside the area of study, an interesting example is provided by a composite Borre/Jelling-style double-plated disc brooch recovered from the High
Street excavations, Dublin, and dated stylistically to the early to mid-tenth century
(Graham-Campbell 1980, cat. no. 200). This piece was secondarily fitted with a
pin over twice its length and was recovered from a context dated to the mid- to late
eleventh century (originally published as tenth century) (Graham-Campbell 1994).
That this dress item appears to have retained its appeal over several generations is
notable. Examples of the brooch type from England, none of which are independently dated, also exhibit signs of reuse. In three instances, the outer, openwork
brooch plate was fitted with pin attachment lugs, enabling it to function as a brooch,
perhaps after the lower plate was discarded or lost (see, for instance, Figure 11).
Scandinavian styles in ornamental metalwork were, it seems, current in the
Danelaw beyond the era of Scandinavian political dominance and into the period
of West Saxon rule. How can this be explained? Given the restricted distribution
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of Scandinavian artefacts within the region of Scandinavian settlement, one explanation may be that these items were used to express or reinforce Scandinavian cultural affiliation. The continued popularity of Scandinavian designs may reflect the
desire of the Danelaw inhabitants, whether of Scandinavian lineage or indigenous,
Anglo-Saxon background, to cultivate and promote Scandinavian identities and
associations, perhaps for reasons of political or social advantage. In this context,
and given the extended popularity of Scandinavian art styles beyond the period of
Scandinavian colonial rule, we may need to revise our understanding of the distribution of power and authority in late tenth- and early eleventh-century England.
Object Quality and Social Status
The suggestion that Scandinavian cultural association was actively cultivated by
women in the Danelaw seems at odds with recent assessments of the quality of
Scandinavian metalwork recovered from England. A number of studies have drawn
attention to the base-metal (copper and lead-alloy) composition of Danelaw artefacts, citing their cheap material and low-quality workmanship as evidence of the
low social status of their wearers (Richardson 1993, 37; Leahy and Paterson 2001,
189, 198; Margeson 1996, 48; Margeson 1997, 6–7). The worn appearance of
many items, suggestive of long periods of use, has added to this view, as has their
predominantly rural distribution (Margeson 1996, 55). Certainly, most artefact
types belong to highly standardized, mass-produced brooch or pendant series and
would have been worn as part of everyday dress. Indeed, metal detection biases the
recovery of items which, as stray finds, are likely to have been casually lost or
mislaid.
The extent to which dress artefacts in copper and lead-alloys can be considered
low status in the late Anglo-Saxon and Viking period is questionable. This period
was marked by a decline in the use of precious-metal dress accessories and a
corresponding increase in the manufacture of base-metal items facilitated by the
serial production of some metalwork within towns (Thomas 2000, 239–40). However, as David Hinton (1975, 178–80; 1978, 141–43) has suggested, the decline
in the quality and elaboration of dress fittings may reflect changing social attitudes
among the elite towards the display of wealth through personal adornment, rather
than a decline in resources. Furthermore, although base metals occupied the lower
end of the market for ornamental dress items, the absence of metalwork from
Viking-Age graves in some regions of Scandinavia suggests that not everyone had
access to metal dress fittings (for instance, Svanberg 2003, 23). Several base-metal
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Danelaw brooches are gilded or coated in a white metal, a treatment we would not
expect on the lowest quality brooches.
The material presented later in this paper also indicates that ‘high-status’ Scandinavian objects nearing the top end of the market were worn in the eastern and
northern counties. A lead patrix from York (Roesdahl 1981, cat. no. YMW13) and
a copper-alloy die from Swinhope in Lincolnshire (Kershaw, forthcoming) would
have been used in the serial production of exclusive silver filigree pendants of the
Hiddensee-Rügen type. This style is closely associated with the Danish king Harald
Bluetooth and his court, appearing on gold and silver objects manufactured and
found at high-status sites, including so-called central places, in areas once controlled by the Jelling dynasty ( Jansson 1991, 279; Duzcko 1995; Svanberg 1998,
118). No finished pendants of the Hiddensee type have been found in England,
but the York patrix and Swinhope die provide clear evidence for the manufacture
there of highly sophisticated, elite Scandinavian jewellery.
From the Danelaw there are some very fine, artistically and technically accomplished brooches in precious metals. A gilded, cast-silver trefoil brooch with Borre
ornament was found during excavations near Thetford (Norfolk HER 34380).
Silver-gilt brooches and pendants carrying complex Terslev or Terslev-derived
motifs are known from Whitton in Lincolnshire (see Figure 2 below) (Youngs
2000), Saffron Walden in Essex (Evison 1969, pl. LXXI), and Manchester
(Graham-Campbell 1983, fig. 6). Through the use of chip-carved bands or pellets
these items imitate the filigree and granulation work applied to the highest quality
Scandinavian items (Eilbracht 1999). Similar imitation work is carried on a
number of humbler, copper and lead-alloy brooches, including on an AngloScandinavian lead brooch from Torksey, Lincolnshire, with pellets in its central
field (PAS ‘Find-ID’ NLM-72D1C7).
Brooches and Gender
The presence in the Danelaw of large numbers of women’s brooches decorated in
early Viking-Age art styles is notable given that Scandinavian-type dress items worn
or used by men are uncommon (Leahy and Paterson 2001, 197). A copper-alloy
belt slide with Borre ring-chain ornament from Wharram Percy provides a rare
English example of a specifically Scandinavian male dress item (Stamper and Croft
2000, pl. 11). A small number of buckles decorated with Borre and Jelling motifs
are recorded, for instance, from Sculthorpe, Norfolk (Margeson 1997, fig. 25),
South Ferriby, North Lincolnshire, and Caistor, Lincolnshire, the latter finding
CULTURE AND GENDER IN THE DANELAW
307
a close parallel in a buckle from grave 1076 at Birka (Richardson 1993, 13, 47–48;
Arbman 1940, taf. 87:1). Gabor Thomas (2000, 244–46) has identified several
Scandinavian strap-ends with Borre-style ring-chain ornament, in addition to a
larger number of Anglo-Scandinavian products, with different combinations of
Borre and Borre-derived ring-knot and zoomorphic features. However, these items
are few in number compared with the quantity of recorded female dress items and
may, like buckles, have been worn by women as well as men.
In contrast, metalwork in the late Viking-Age art styles of Ringerike and Urnes
appears to be more ‘masculine’ in character. As recent reviews have highlighted,
these eleventh-century styles, in distinctly Anglicized versions, commonly adorn
pieces of equestrian equipment. Examples include bridle and stirrup-strap mounts,
over five hundred examples of which have now been recorded (Williams 1997;
Owen 2001, 209). Conversely, female brooches in later Viking-Age art styles are
correspondingly rare. To date, metal detecting has recovered just two Scandinavian
Urnes-style brooches known to the author, from Walcott, Lincolnshire, and
Shotley, Suffolk (PAS ‘Find-ID’ NLM7007; Suffolk HER SLY 056-MSF1388).
These findings suggest that, over time, the relationship between Scandinavian
ornament and female dress was replaced by the association of Scandinavian styles
with items normally used by men. This may be explained by a number of factors.
Viking-Age male dress utilized fewer metal items than female costume, and those
items which it did employ, such as ringed pins and penannular brooches, offered
fewer opportunities for ornamental styles. Male dress was also less varied than
contemporary female costume, and more conservative with respect to evolving
fashions. Furthermore, changes in female fashion in Scandinavia during the later
tenth century saw a sharp decline in the use of oval and other mass-produced
brooches, though, by the eleventh century, copper-alloy accessories had been reinstated, as evidenced by the vast numbers of openwork Urnes-style brooches now
known from Scandinavia (Fuglesang 1991, 85; Bertelsen 1994; Lønborg 1994).
Nonetheless it is valid to suggest that in the Settlement Period female dress items,
more than male, were selected for the display of Scandinavian forms and motifs.
More specifically with regard to the trefoil brooch, it is possible to identify a process by which a traditionally ‘male’ item, the Carolingian trefoil mount, was adopted
and modified by women to be worn as a brooch, first in Scandinavia and then in
the Danelaw. Perhaps the transferral of an originally Frankish object to Scandinavia and the Scandinavian colonies was intended to convey overtones of Carolingian
military strength and associated authority, expressed through the medium of
female costume. A similar process has been noted by Tania Dickinson (1991,
1993) for the transferral of five-spiral designs on late Roman chip-carved cingulum,
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Jane F. Kershaw
military belt equipment worn by men, to saucer brooches worn by women in the
early Anglo-Saxon period. Both the early Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods saw substantial migrations and no doubt flexible political and social allegiances. Allusions to
a past and powerful authority through dress may have helped identify and legitimize the presence of a new people with otherwise rather tenuous claims to the land.
While we must recognize that dress is just one of the ways in which cultural
identity may be articulated, female dress in this period appears to play a role in
harnessing historical, ideological, perhaps even political, associations in order to
confer authority in times of social or political change. In this light, we may speculate that women, whether ethnically Scandinavian or not, had a special status in
reconfiguring and communicating Scandinavian identity in the British Isles,
perhaps also carried out via other social strategies, such as exogamous marriage. The
evidence of Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian brooches suggests that women
and their dress codes may have represented historical and cultural links with the
Scandinavian homelands. As such, their dress reflected a contemporary role for
women as bearers of family tradition and continuity within a new colonial society.
Part 2: Brooch Types and Characteristics
This section discusses in more detail the Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian
brooches recorded from England, and provides the base for the arguments made
in the preceding section. The collection of Scandinavian material includes a number of particularly unusual finds, which are worth highlighting. One such object is
a unique oval-shaped brooch from Great Dunham in Norfolk (PAS ‘Find-ID’
NMS-F26AB7). This item is not technically a Viking-Age piece, since its form and
decoration date it to the eighth century, well before the Scandinavian settlement
of England (Rogerson and Ashley 2008, 428–29). Its moulded, crouched beast
decoration and prominent median band nonetheless relate it to the Berdal brooch
group, the precursors to the oval brooch. Also without parallel is a Scandinavian
silver-gilt disc brooch from Whitton in Lincolnshire (Figure 2) (North Lincolnshire Museum 2003.086). This brooch, a British Museum Treasure, bears deeply
cast ornament based on a variation of a Terslev-style composition (Youngs 2000).
Two Scandinavian lozenge-shaped brooches with schematic Borre-style animalhead terminals, from Queenhithe, London, and Hasketon, Suffolk, represent
hitherto unrecorded variants of a Scandinavian brooch type (Museum of London
BUF90, 1500; Martin and others 1994, fig. 48D). A trefoil brooch from Bures
Hamlet, Essex, with decoration comprising prominent Borre-style gripping feet,
CULTURE AND GENDER IN THE DANELAW
309
belongs to a trefoil series with
just five other representatives, all
from eastern Sweden (Figure 3)
(PAS ‘Find-ID’ SF-EB5262;
Maixner 2005, karte 22, Type F
3.1). Notable AngloScandinavian brooches include a
Figure 2. Gilt silver convex disc brooch with
disc brooch from Hemingstone,
Terslev-style ornament, Whitton, Lincolnshire.
Suffolk (PAS ‘Find-ID’ SFCopyright North Lincolnshire Museum.
8EE7E2). This item carries a
modified version of a Scandinavian motif, which appears in its original form on a
Scandinavian pendant from Lincolnshire (Paterson and Minter 2004).
Figure 3. Borre-style trefoil brooch, Bures Hamlet, Essex.
Drawn by Donna Wreathall. Copyright Suffolk County Council
Archaeological Service.
Before looking in more detail at particular brooch groups found in England, it
is worth noting the morphological features which distinguish Scandinavian brooches
from indigenous, Anglo-Saxon types. These include the shape of a brooch, as well
as variations in its form and attachment mechanisms. For instance, while disc
brooches are found in both costume traditions, Scandinavian disc brooches are
dished whereas Anglo-Saxon forms are flat, perhaps reflecting their different functions in female dress (Richardson 1993, 20). Scandinavian brooches carry a double
pin-lug set at a right angle to the brooch rim, in contrast to the single, transverse
310
Jane F. Kershaw
pin-lug encountered on Anglo-Saxon products (Richardson 1993, 20). They may
also possess a third loop for the suspension of a chain, beads, or pendants, a feature
not found on Anglo-Saxon brooches. Often, decorative features can also be
ascribed specific cultural origins, making it possible to distinguish pure Scandinavian ornament from devolved or Anglicized versions of Scandinavian motifs.
Scandinavian Brooches and their Anglo-Scandinavian Variants
The convex disc brooch is
the most common Scandinavian artefact type found
in the Danelaw. It is associated with a range of motifs,
one of which comprises
three inward-looking Borrestyle animal heads separated
Figure 4. Borre-style convex disc brooch, Hindringham,
Norfolk. (Photo: Jane Kershaw)
by a double-contoured trefoil, Jan Petersen’s Type P
128 (Petersen 1928, fig. 128) (Figure 4). Once thought to have comprised an
eastern Scandinavian brooch series, with a cluster of items from Birka, the type is
now recorded from a range of sites in southern Scandinavia, suggesting a broader
Scandinavian distribution ( Jansson 1984, 62; for instance, National Museum
Copenhagen C36096, C33449). In England, the series is represented by forty-two
specimens, all of which come from the territory of the Danelaw (Figure 5).
Stylistically, the Danelaw brooches are indistinguishable from their Scandinavian
counterparts. However, evidence suggests that many of the items were manufactured locally. Twenty-five examples employ a single transverse pin-lug typical
of native Anglo-Saxon brooches yet retain their diagnostic convex shape and would
appear to be local copies of Scandinavian prototypes.
Variants of this motif are also represented among Danelaw finds. Eight
brooches known to the author depict a variant classified by Ingmar Jansson (1984,
abb. 8.2 IID) as Type IID, with three outward-facing long-necked animal heads
stemming from a concentric circle. These encompass equal numbers of Scandinavian brooches and locally produced Anglo-Scandinavian products with a different
pin-fitting arrangement. Another brooch, said to come from East Anglia, belongs
to Jansson’s Type IIC, distinguished by four, rather than three, outward-facing
CULTURE AND GENDER IN THE DANELAW
311
Figure 5. Distribution of Borre- and Terslev-ornamented disc brooches. (Map: Jane Kershaw)
animal heads and a complex Borre-style ring-knot pattern ( Jansson 1984, abb. 8.2
IIC; Mills 2001, 45, V91). Two further Scandinavian brooches, from Laxfield in
Suffolk and Malton, North Yorkshire, carry a variant of the classic motif,
ornamented with pellets. This variant is rare even in Scandinavia. The Danelaw
brooches find parallels in just two specimens, from Uppåkra, Skåne, and Gudme,
Fyn (LUHM 3100–36592; Thrane 1987, fig. 44 c, 4:592).
Another Scandinavian style which appears in England on convex disc brooches,
as well as on flat, Anglo-Scandinavian derivatives, is known as the Terslev style.
This comprises three or four symmetrically placed volutes which, when bound by
a closed ring, create a ring knot related to the Borre-style (Paterson 2002, 270).
During the Viking Age, the motif is a southern Scandinavian phenomenon,
appearing on ornate silver and gold brooches and pendants executed in filigree and
granulation (Friis Johansen 1912). In addition to appearing on jewellery of the
highest calibre, the Terslev motif also adorned simpler, cast copper-alloy brooches
and pendants, some of which were produced at Hedeby (Capelle 1968, taf. 10.2,
312
Jane F. Kershaw
27.8). There is a growing southern Scandinavian as well as Insular corpus of such
items, most of which have been recovered as stray finds with the use of a metal
detector.
Thirty-three Terslev-decorated objects are now known from England, most of
which come from the northern Danelaw and modern-day Lincolnshire in particular (Figure 5). They exhibit a broad repertoire of Terslev volute and knot patterns,
encompassing several of the variant ornamental schemes recently classified by
Sunhild Kleingärtner (2007). This corpus includes a number of brooches and
pendants in precious metals, including the convex disc brooch from Whitton,
Lincolnshire, mentioned above, with three symmetrically placed volutes related to
the Terslev Dreipass motif (see Figure 2) (Kleingärtner 2007, 64–65). Further
examples include two silver-gilt pendants from a female inhumation from Saffron
Walden, Essex, the cultural origins of which have been the subject of a recent review (Paterson 2002, 271–72, fig. 5). A Scandinavian silver disc from Manchester,
with four circular fields enhanced by the use of niello inlay, offers yet another example from England of a Terslev-ornamented dress item in precious metal
(Graham-Campbell 1983, fig. 6).
More common in England
are simpler brooches in copper
and lead alloys. The so-called
Terslev Grundtyp 1 motif,
comprising four volutes
bound by a square frame, is
carried on a group of five disc
brooches from England, a
number which almost doubles
the total number of recorded
Figure 6. Terslev-style disc brooch, Thurlton, Norfolk.
examples from Scandinavia
Drawn by Sue White. Copyright Norfolk Museums and
(Figure 6) (Kleingärtner 2007,
Archaeology Service.
61). The Terslev ‘Type 4’
motif, also carried on pendants of Callmer’s Type Liljenäs and identified by the
presence of pellet-filled lozenges at the centre of four volutes, also circulated in
England (Kleingärtner 2007, 63–64; Paterson 2002, 270; Callmer 1989, abb.
3.18). It appears on four disc brooches, one of which comes from Wereham in
Norfolk (Norfolk HER 24542). Terslev designs were also enthusiastically copied
in the Danelaw; around half of Danelaw Terslev brooches comprise AngloScandinavian products, distinguished by either their flat form or the use of a single,
transverse pin-lug.
CULTURE AND GENDER IN THE DANELAW
313
The openwork lozenge
brooch, with a raised central rosette and four arms terminating
in moulded Borre-style animal
heads, is another ninth-century
Scandinavian brooch type with
a distribution in the eastern
counties of England (Arwidsson Figure 7. Lozenge-shaped brooch, Rockland St Peter,
1989, 70). This brooch type is
Norfolk. Copyright Norfolk Museums and
Archaeology Service.
southern Scandinavian, with
evidence for its production at
the aristocratic site at Lake Tissø in Denmark ( Jørgensen 2003, fig. 15.23 4), as
well as at Hedeby (Capelle 1968, taf. 10.2), where systematic metal-detector
surveys since 2003 have lead to the recovery of eighteen brooches of the type as well
as two models (Volker Hilberg, pers. comm.). Caroline Paterson (née Richardson
1993, 18) has identified two main variants of the brooch within Scandinavia,
distinguished by cast beading or ridges along the arms. Both types are also found
in the Danelaw, which currently has a register of over thirty examples (see Figure
8 below). In the Danelaw, as in Scandinavia, the variant with beaded arms appears
to have been the most popular; well-preserved examples come from Wenham Parva
in Suffolk and Rockland St Peter in Norfolk (Figure 7) (PAS ‘Find-ID’ SFD9EEA2; Norfolk HER 34984). Like the disc brooches, lozenge brooches were
also reproduced in the Danelaw. The insular provenance of a lozenge brooch from
Stoke Holy Cross, Norfolk, is revealed by its use of an Anglo-Saxon type pin-lug
(Margeson 1997, fig. 21).
The trefoil brooch is one of the most characteristic items of female Scandinavian dress. It was based on trefoil-shaped Carolingian military belt mounts, which
were adopted by women in Scandinavia and fitted for use as brooches (Petersen
1928, 93). The brooch form was also popular in England. Seventy-eight trefoils
have been recovered on English soil, most from the modern county of Norfolk
(Figure 8). These items display a broad repertoire of geometric and zoomorphic
motifs, reflecting an artistic diversity also characteristic of trefoil brooches from
Scandinavia (Maixner 2005). Examples of large trefoils other than the Bures
Hamlet brooch mentioned above include a brooch discovered over seventy-five
years ago near Pickering in North Yorkshire (Kirk 1927). This piece, with en face
Borre-style animal heads and spiral-shaped animal bodies, belongs to Maixner’s
Type Z 1.5, a populous Scandinavian series (Maixner 2005, taf. 12). A heavily worn
brooch belonging to the same series has recently been discovered from Bampton
314
Jane F. Kershaw
Figure 8. Distribution of trefoil, lozenge, and Jelling-style brooches. (Map: Jane Kershaw)
in Oxfordshire, introducing to the English corpus of Scandinavian brooches a rare
non-Danelaw specimen (PAS ‘Find-ID’ BERK-CD5492).
The tally of trefoil brooches from England includes forty-five small trefoils with
geometric ornament based on an acanthus design (Figure 9). This trefoil type has
a devolved appearance, but is in fact well known from southern Scandinavia. It is
particularly well represented at Hedeby, where the presence of numerous moulds
supports the serial production of the type (Maixner 2005, Katalog B, G 1.3).
Notably, these Scandinavian examples consistently carry a design flaw, manifest in
the misalignment of one trefoil lobe (Maixner 2005, 123). The same design irregularity is preserved on several geometric trefoils found in England, suggesting the
likelihood that these items derived from the same or similar moulds as brooches
from Scandinavia (for instance, a brooch from Middle Harling, Norfolk, Norwich
Castle Museum 1989.43.10). The use of Anglo-Saxon type pin-lugs on small, geometric trefoils indicates, however, that such trefoils were produced locally, by
craftsmen familiar with insular metalworking traditions. This raises the possibility
CULTURE AND GENDER IN THE DANELAW
315
that Scandinavian trefoil
brooches or brooch moulds
were employed in AngloScandinavian context for the
reproduction of this apparently popular brooch type.
A clear indication of the
strong Scandinavian character of the Danelaw corpus
of female dress items lies in Figure 9. Geometric trefoil brooch, Long Melford, Suffolk.
Copyright Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service.
the recent recovery of oval
brooch fragments. The oval, or tortoise, brooch is the most common Viking-Age
brooch form, with over four thousand examples to date ( Jansson 1985, 12). It was
worn exclusively with the traditional Scandinavian strap-dress, and is thus a secure
indication of Scandinavian appearance and cultural affiliation. Although it has
been suggested that oval brooches, along with other diagnostically Scandinavian
brooch types, were discarded by their owners early on in the Scandinavian settlement (Thomas 2000, 252), new discoveries from Norfolk of fragments belonging
to three or possibly four oval brooches suggest that this characteristically Scandinavian brooch was more prominent in the Danelaw than previous records suggest.
These recent discoveries include
two brooch fragments, from Mileham
and Mautby in Norfolk, which cannot
be assigned to a specific oval brooch
group due to their small size. Enough
detail survives on two fragments from
the outer shell of an oval brooch from
Wormegay to assign it to Petersen’s
Type P 51, and possibly the variant P
51 B, the most common tenth-century
oval brooch type with examples from
Norway, Sweden, and the Scandinavian
colonies (Figure 10) ( Jansson 1981, fig.
1; Jansson 1985, 67). These fragments
are gilded, with openwork bosses, and
Figure 10. Oval brooch fragment, Wormegay, bear decoration consisting of ribbing
Norfolk. Copyright Norfolk Museums and
and scroll, probably the feet, legs, and
Archaeology Service.
hip of Oseberg-style animals.
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Jane F. Kershaw
These finds complement the discovery in 2001 and 2004 of pairs of oval
brooches from excavated female inhumations at Adwick-le-Street, Yorkshire
(Speed and Walton Rogers 2004), and Cumwhitton in Cumbria (Pitts 2004) and
bring the total number of oval brooches found in England to thirteen, including
five pairs (for other oval brooches found in England, see Speed and Walton Rogers
2004, fig. 16). In addition to this evidence, there are indications that other large,
ostentatious Scandinavian brooch types were more common in the Danelaw than
was previously thought. Five Scandinavian equal-armed brooches have now been
recovered from the eastern counties. Two of these survive only as fragments, but
three better-preserved finds, including a recent discovery from Harworth Bircotes,
Nottinghamshire (PAS ‘Find-ID’ SWYOR-50BAF5 and SWYOR-FAFC04),
belong to established tenth-century Scandinavian types represented at Birka
(Aagård 1984, abb. 11:1 IIIA; abb. 11:2 IIIF, IVC).
Of course, compared with the numbers of other Scandinavian brooch types
now known from England, oval and equal-armed brooches are relatively rare
Danelaw finds. The fact that such brooches are not recovered in particularly high
numbers is not surprising, however. Equal-armed brooches have a predominantly
eastern Scandinavian distribution and, over the course of the tenth century, were
increasingly replaced by trefoil and large disc brooches (Aagård 1984, 96, 106–10;
Callmer 1999). During the tenth century, oval brooches were, in the main, Norwegian and Swedish brooch types; indeed, the type is more commonly found in
Swedish colonies in Russia than in modern-day Denmark ( Jansson 1985, 12;
Hedeager Madsen 1987; for a more recent catalogue of oval brooches from southern Scandinavia, see Hedeager Krag 1994, 65–69). We would, then, not expect
them to have been worn in substantial numbers in an area of England with close
cultural connections to southern Scandinavia. As large, expensive brooches fulfilling a primary function holding together the straps of a dress, oval brooches were
also far more likely to have been recovered by their owners if dropped or lost than
smaller, cheaper, and more easily replaced items such as disc or lozenge brooches.
The objects discussed so far have been concerned with the Borre style. The
Jelling style also adorns metal dress items from the Danelaw, appearing on over
forty dress items (see Figure 8). In England, the style is manifest in a number of
different motifs, reflecting the varied nature of Jelling ornament on objects in the
Scandinavian homelands. One brooch group, comprising eight Scandinavian disc
brooches, bears ornament consisting of paired, asymmetrically positioned S-shaped
animals, commonly depicted in Scandinavia on pendants of Callmer’s Type
Fiskeby (Callmer 1989, abb. 3:22). Another, more populous group, which includes
a single pendant from Cawston in Norfolk, carries a motif of a single backward-
CULTURE AND GENDER IN THE DANELAW
317
Figure 11. Upper plate of a Jelling-style disc brooch, Hindringham,
Norfolk. Drawn by Jason Gibbons. Copyright Norfolk Museums and
Archaeology Service.
looking S-shaped animal, gripping its tail between its mouth and paws (Paterson
2002, 272–73; Callmer 1989, abb. 3:6–8, 3:20–21). This motif was also taken up
outside Scandinavian circles as part of the repertoire of craftsmen working in an
Anglo-Saxon tradition. Devolved and somewhat blundered versions occur on two
flat, pewter disc brooches from York (Roesdahl 1981, cat. nos YD12 and YD13).
A further group of artefacts decorated in the Jelling style is represented by a
composite brooch type with openwork zoomorphic ornament, originally discussed
by Graham-Campbell (1985). These brooches belong to Jansson’s Type I A1 and
depict a single, profiled Jelling animal with a double-contoured circular body, a
looping tail, and an extended ear lappet ( Jansson 1984, abb. 8:2 I A1). Until
recently, composite brooches of this type were known only from Sweden, leading
Graham-Campbell (1985, 449) to suggest that the group was Eastern Scandinavian
in origin ( Jansson 1984, 60). Recent discoveries of the type from Dähre and Hamburg in Germany and Randers, Ålborg, and Lolland in Denmark ought, however,
to turn the geographical focus of the type’s distribution to southern Scandinavia
( Jens Jeppersen, pers. comm.). Eleven examples of this Scandinavian brooch type
have now been recorded from England, with a distribution stretching from Lincoln
in the east to Chester in the west (Figure 11) (Lincolnshire HER 70176MLI70176; Mason 2007, 116, fig. 36).
In addition to brooches, the corpus of Scandinavian dress items from England
encompasses a small number of pendants (for instance, PAS ‘Find-ID’ NMS2E6E42; Paterson 2002, 269). As demonstrated by Caroline Paterson (2002),
these items carry designs which appear more commonly on disc brooches,
prompting suggestions that motifs which occur on pendants in Scandinavia were
transferred to disc brooches in the Danelaw. Since pendants were not part of the
late Anglo-Saxon jewellery repertoire, Paterson (2002) suggests that this process
318
Jane F. Kershaw
provides positive evidence for cultural accommodation, Scandinavian designs being
adapted to suit existing dress preferences.
However, pendants represent a distinctly northern and eastern Scandinavian
fashion (Callmer 1989). They are rare finds in the area of Viking-Age Denmark
and are therefore unlikely to have been among the Scandinavian dress items introduced to and adopted in the Danelaw. Furthermore, motifs which appear on pendants in Sweden and Norway often adorn disc brooches in Denmark, suggesting
regional differences in the association between motifs and artefact types within
Scandinavia. This is demonstrated by the growing number of brooches recorded
from southern Scandinavia which carry the Jelling beast motif seen on Callmer’s
pendant Type Tuna (1989, abb. 3.7; for instance, National Museum Copenhagen
C 31438; Wikinger Museum Haithabu Hb 2006/12347; Hb 2006/ 13765). In
this context, the fashion for brooches rather than pendants in England would
appear to reflect the adoption of a specifically Danish fashion.
An Anglo-Scandinavian Brooch Series
The Anglo-Scandinavian brooches
discussed thus far may be described as
local, occasionally Anglicized versions
of distinctly Scandinavian brooch
types, produced as one-off designs or
small series in the workshops of the
Danelaw. An altogether separate phenomenon is represented by a group of Figure 12. Disc brooch with Borre-style interlace
flat disc brooches with an interlacing design, Hilborough, Norfolk. Drawn by Jason
tendril design derived from the Gibbons. Copyright Norfolk Museums and
Scandinavian Borre style (Figure 12). Archaeology Service.
These brooches, called here the East
Anglian Series, are of Anglo-Saxon manufacture but Scandinavian artistic descent
(Paterson 2002, 274–75). They are characterized by a central sunken roundel
surrounded by a concave-sided lozenge, the four corners of which extend to form
double-stranded, loosely knotted interlace.
These brooches reveal a high degree of stylistic homogeneity and, although no
moulds for the brooches survive, it seems clear that they were mass-produced to a
standard design. The series is remarkably prolific, with over 230 finds to date.
Notably for such an extensive series, most finds are restricted to the area of
CULTURE AND GENDER IN THE DANELAW
319
Figure 13. Distribution of East Anglian Series disc brooches. (Map: Jane Kershaw)
Scandinavian settlement, suggesting that the motif’s Scandinavian origins had
meaning for those who wore the brooches or viewed them on others (Figure 13).
Multiple examples are known from Lincoln and Norwich, where Caroline Paterson has suggested the series may have been produced (Richardson 1993, 31–32).
The scale on which these brooches were produced is notable given that the same
motif appears on just a handful of Scandinavian brooches from the Scandinavian
homelands, from Denmark in particular (for instance, National Museum Copenhagen KN938; KN1647). The popularity of the series within the Danelaw is likely
to have been facilitated by the flat, Anglo-Saxon disc-brooch form on which the
motif appeared and would appear to reflect the use of the brooch series by large segments of the indigenous population. This brooch series may, then, have represented a way for Danelaw inhabitants to express their Scandinavian affiliation,
while observing local fashions. As such, it provides evidence for cultural interaction and exchange in the Anglo-Scandinavian communities of eastern England.
320
Jane F. Kershaw
Other Brooches with Scandinavian Designs
Finally, it is worth briefly mentioning a small number of brooches which combine
Scandinavian designs with Carolingian artefact forms. Several items modelled on
Carolingian rectangular brooches appear in the Danelaw with Scandinavian ornament. Four rectangular lead-alloy brooches, all from the Thetford area, Norfolk,
carry contorted Borre-derived animals arranged around a central lozenge (Youngs
2004, pl. V SF437). A square brooch from West Stow Heath, Suffolk, an antiquarian find, depicts a profiled animal with classic Jelling-style features, including
a round eye and interlacing ear lappet, and is one of two such brooches recorded
from East Anglia (Hinton 1974, no. 35; Hattatt 1987, 384, no. 1426, fig. 125).
While not strictly Anglo-Scandinavian in cultural terms, these brooches are likely
to have been produced within the culturally mixed environs of Anglo-Danish
communities. They serve as a reminder of the range of styles available to consumers
of metal dress items in the ninth- and tenth-century Danelaw.
Conclusion
This paper has argued that Scandinavian dress fittings decorated in Scandinavian
styles were both widespread and popular in the ninth- and tenth-century Danelaw.
This is not to suggest that all Danelaw dress was defined by a Scandinavian appearance. The inhabitants of the Danelaw had access to metalwork in Carolingian,
Irish, Anglo-Saxon, as well as Scandinavian styles (Thomas 2000). Nonetheless,
Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian metalwork has now been recovered in sufficient quantities to indicate that brooches in Scandinavian styles were commonplace. Why this was the case, and what such items communicated, is open to
debate. Taken together, the restricted geographic distribution of Scandinavian and
Anglo-Scandinavian artefacts and their longevity may indicate that such objects
were used to promote a Scandinavian identity within ethnically, socially, and culturally eclectic communities. In this sense, Scandinavian association may seem to
have been beneficial: socially, politically, or economically advantageous. Women’s
dress in particular was seen as an appropriate means of identifying with a Scandinavian heritage, suggesting that women, through their emblematic dress, were
seen by contemporaries as the bearers of cultural identity and continuity in the
Viking colonial Danelaw.
CULTURE AND GENDER IN THE DANELAW
321
Bibliography
Abbreviations
H ER
Historic Environment Records <http://www.algao.org.uk/Cttees/H ER s/
HERIntro.htm>
LUHM
Lunds universitets historiska musem (Historical Museum, University of Lund, Lund,
Sweden)
PAS
Portable Antiquities Scheme <http://www.finds.org.uk/index.php>
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