Anglo-Saxon Kings and

Warlords AD 400–1070

RAFFAELE D’AMATO
ILLUSTRATED BY RAFFAELE RUGGERI
& STEPHEN POLLINGTON
Elite • 253

Anglo-Saxon Kings
and Warlords
AD 400–1070

RAFFAELE D’AMATO & ILLUSTRATED BY RAFFAELE RUGGERI

STEPHEN POLLINGTON Series editors Martin Windrow & Nick Reynolds
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION4

SELECT CHRONOLOGY 6

THE ANGLO-SAXON ELITE 8

Historical background n Elite relationships n Structure n Warrior qualities and expectations
Fosterage, and the meadhall n Ritual single combat

ARMIES18
Werod and húskarlar n The Staffordshire Hoard n Implications for army size

EQUIPMENT & WEAPONS 24

Defensive equipment: n Helmets n Armour n Shields
Weapons: n Axes n Swords n The seax n Spears and javelins n Bows

CLOTHING40
Tunics n Belts n Trousers n Shoes n Caps n Cloaks n Hairstyles

HORSEMANSHIP48
Travel and combat on horseback n Standards and flags

FOUR MAJOR BATTLES 53

Catraeth, c.600 n Edington, 878 n Brunanburh, 937 n Maldon, 991

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 60

INDEX64
ANGLO-SAXON KINGS
AND WARLORDS, AD 400–1070

INTRODUCTION
Among the influx of peoples who invaded sub-Roman and post-Roman
Britannia in the 5th–7th centuries AD, the Angles (Engle), Jutes (Eote),
Mercians, Saxons (Seaxe), Franks, Danes and Svear-Sweonas (Swedish) were
all represented. United by common or related Germanic languages, they later
came to describe themselves collectively as ‘Anglo-Saxons’, speaking the
language we call Old English.
Perhaps the first Germanic-speaking settlers had been retired members
of the Roman-employed military, who formed coloniae around Roman
military strongholds and depended for their status on the continued
prestige of the Roman Empire. There is evidence for depopulation across
much of lowland Britain in the later 3rd century, and for the subsequent
settlement in the Midlands of foederati – men who undertook a contract
or treaty (foedus) to work for the Roman authorities, bringing in their
families and contributing an agricultural workforce to replenish the
tax-base of the Late Roman economy in the 4th century. Certainly, the
European upheavals and constant warfare of that century also provided

The ‘Warham rider’ from

Norfolk, 4th–6th century. This
rather stylized copper-alloy
figurine may depict an early
Anglian leader on horseback.
It differs from examples
of similar subjects known
from the Roman period, and
an early Anglo-Saxon date
is therefore preferred. The
closest parallel to this find
is the more detailed early
Anglo-Saxon ‘gaming piece’
figurine from Bradwell, Norfolk
(NMS-40A7A7), which shows a
horse with similar proportions
(see page 44). The Warham
find measures 28mm/1.1ins
long, 31mm/1.2ins high and
7.5mm/0.29ins thick, and
weighs 14.22g/0.5 ounces.
(PAS record NMS-32FEA3,
licence CC BY-SA 4.0)

4
a ready supply of prisoners-of-war, whose labour could be harnessed Details of a sword from grave
to maintain the output of food and materials from the villa estates of 22 in the Blacknall Field
cemetery, Pewsey, Wiltshire,
Britain and northern Gaul at a time when the workforce was diminished dated to the second half of the
by successive plagues and uprisings. 5th century. The site yielded a
The Romans routinely enlisted defeated enemies to fight for them, number of high-status warrior
and so, during a period when mobile field units were being withdrawn burials, and frequent evidence
of blade wounds. Here laid on
by commanders in Britain attempting to usurp Imperial power (Magnus
a pinkish-brown background
Maximus in the late 4th century, and Constantine III in the early 5th), they with numbered labels, this
also used such men to stiffen Britain’s static border garrisons (limitanei) of sword was associated with
hereditary local recruits, who had to resist Pictish and Irish attacks. But it a copper-alloy ‘cocked-hat’
pommel, a scabbard mouth-
was only with the removal of the impediment of Roman nominal authority
piece decorated in ‘quoit
and tax-gathering after about 410 that hereditary elites can be said to have brooch’ style, and U-section
appeared among these immigrants. scabbard edging embossed on
We may query whether such early named figures as Hengest and Sigeferth one side and decorated with
truly existed, or were simply drawn from folklore, but the point is that gold leaf and silver strips, while
the blade retained substantial
successive generations of Angles, Jutes and others believed that these had traces of the original wooden
been real historical leaders. Such elites were clearly energetic and adaptable, scabbard. A leather strap
bringing not only military vigour but also new ideas about social and passed around the scabbard
religious organization to a Roman-dependant state which had come to the through the bindings, and
attached it to the wearer’s belt.
brink of collapse. The sword was found together
A common idea about the Anglo-Saxon period was that the military was with an iron shield boss and
not as glamorous or effective as those of their enemies: Romanised Celtic related fastening rivets and
Britons, and later Vikings and Normans. This misapprehension stems from iron grip, a copper-alloy
fastener fitting, a socketed iron
the Victorian obsessions with the Classical world, and romantic ideas of spearhead, an iron buckle with
‘noble savages’ drawn from the emerging science of anthropology. Generally, a silver and gilt copper-alloy
finds of Anglo-Saxon material could not be identified with certainty in the plate, and an iron knife and
archaeological record, with the result that any relatively crude or badly chape. (Photos courtesy Matt
Bunker)
degraded material was considered ‘British’, while any finely-made or
beautiful finds were ascribed to the Romans.
Decades of scholarly study made only small inroads into this false
impression – indeed, it has not been entirely overturned to this day. However,
more recent archaeological discoveries have provided a wealth of counter-
evidence. The ‘Taplow mound’ in Buckinghamshire, with its fine metalwork
and glassware, was recognized as Anglo-Saxon upon its discovery in the
1880s, but it remained for decades the only high-status burial assemblage
attributed to them. Since the excavation of the famous ship burial at Sutton
Hoo in Suffolk in 1939, scholars have of course had to accept a completely
different reality.

5
 SELECT CHRONOLOGY (AD)
c.449 Invited into Britain as military the last great pagan Anglo-Saxon
allies, the Jutish leaders Hengest king, Penda of Mercia (the modern
and Horsa establish the first Anglo- Midlands) is killed at the battle of
Saxon settlement in the south-east Winwæd.
– the event called by Bede the 664  The Synod of Whitby recognizes
Adventus Saxonum (HE, I, 15). the sole authority of Rome in
Violent and usually successful wars matters of Christian practice.
of expansion soon follow. 731  B ede completes his Historia
c.516 Battle of Badon Hill: post-Roman Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum.
Celtic elite temporarily defeat the 757–796 
Reign of Offa of Mercia, ‘king and
Saxon advance into western Britain. glory of Britain’.
597  Pope Gregory I sends a Christian 793  First recorded major Scandinavian
mission to the Anglian King raid, on the island of Lindisfarne,
Æthelbert of Kent, then the overlord Northumbria.
of all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms 796  Battle of Rhuddlan; Offa defeats
south of the river Humber. the Welsh, and overcomes all
c.616 K ing Æthelfrith of Bernicia Britain south of the Humber.
(Northumbria) defeats the Britons 835  Norse raid on Kent begins almost
(‘Welsh’) of Powys and Gwynned annual Viking attacks on British
at Chester, but is himself defeated coasts and extending inland.
and killed in Nottinghamshire by 864/865 
T he Danish ‘great army’ first
King Rædwald of East Anglia. remains in Britain over the winter
c.625 Burial of King Rædwald at Sutton – thus raiders become settlers.
Hoo, Suffolk. 871  King Ælfred of Wessex (Alfred the
655 After long wars against the rival Great, r. 871–899) defeats the
Saxon dynasty of Northumbria, Danes at the battle of Ashdown.

Sculpture from a cross-shaft From the first, the leaders of

from Norbury near Ashbourne, Germanic war-bands and the petty
Derbyshire, depicting an
elite warrior, c.AD 900. While
kingdoms that evolved from them
possibly representing the were frequently engaged personally
Norse god Heimdal, blowing in physical combat, as well as in
his horn to mark the beginning deploying their forces and organizing
of Ragnarök, it does not have
the structure of their territories. They
Scandinavian design features,
and the crested helmet and and their elite followers distinguished
pleated skirt show affinity with themselves through displays of wealth
Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian and military splendour symbolic of
models. The carving on this
their strength, prowess and fitness
‘Norbury Stone’ seems to
represent a padded armour to lead. The Anglo-Saxon elite was
perhaps reinforced with magnificently fitted out with a
metallic discs or embellished mixture of equipment influenced by
with round ornaments. (in the contemporary cultures of the Late
situ, Church of St Mary &
St Barlock, Norbury; photo
Romans, Scandinavians of the Vendel
Raffaele D’Amato, courtesy and later Viking periods, continental
of the parish) Merovingians, Carolingians and

6
 879  Alfred decisively defeats the Danes ealdorman Byrhtnoth, during reign
at Edington. Danish leader Guthrum of King Æthelred ‘the Unready’
accepts Christianity with Alfred as (‘the Ill-Advised’).
his sponsor, and the Viking army 1002  Provoked by Viking raids, despite
leaves Wessex. payment of ‘Danegeld’ to buy off
886 et seq:  Alfred, now ‘King of the Anglo- attacks, Æthelred orders a massacre
Saxons’, establishes limits of agreed of Danish inhabitants in his territory.
Danish administration in eastern and King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark
northern England (for which the begins a decade of vengeful attacks.
term the ‘Danelaw’ dates only from 1016–1035 Sweyn’s son Cnut (Canute) the Great
the 11th century). Alfred builds a rules his North Sea empire from
network of burh fortified towns/ England, as king of all England,
strongholds across southern Britain. Denmark, Norway and part of
The marriage of his daughter Sweden.
Æthelflæd cements the alliance of 1042 et seq: 
After the deaths of Cnut’s sons,
Wessex with Mercia. Æthelred’s son Edward the Confessor
c.911 et seq: Alfred’s son Edward the Elder, and soon succeeds to the throne.
the widowed Æthelflæd (‘The Lady 1066  After Edward’s death without an
of the Mercians’), extend the burgh heir, both King Harald Hardrada
network into Essex, East Anglia and of Norway (unsuccessfully) and
the Midlands. Duke William of Normandy
937  Alfred’s grandson Athelstan, first contest the succession to the
king of all England, decisively defeats English throne of Harold
an Irish–Norse–Scottish alliance at Godwineson, Earl of Wessex. The
the battle of Brunanburh. Aggressive latter’s defeat and death at the
Viking activity in England ceases for hands of William’s army at
more than half a century. Hastings brings an end to English
991  Battle at Maldon, Essex: defeat by independence.
Vikings of Anglo-Saxons under the

Ottonians, as well as their own customary forms of display in costume,

textiles, weaponry, horse-harness, and much else besides. Anglo-Saxon
rulers, warlords and churchmen interacted with their contemporary
equivalents across continental Europe and Scandinavia by diplomacy,
trade, intermarriage and military intervention. Their culture was neither
static nor constrained by traditions, but rather was willing to engage with
new ideas, new processes and new materials. When the 8th-century King
Offa of Mercia corresponded with the Frankish king and future Holy
Roman Emperor Charlemagne, he did so as a fellow Christian monarch of
an energetic and powerful early mediaeval state.
The purpose of this book is to show how the Anglo-Saxon elite
presented itself on the battlefield and for ceremonial occasions. Beside the
archaeology, as always, we have drawn upon the literary evidence (the
so-called Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Christian writings, later transcriptions
of early heroic poetry, and legal documents), and the iconography, though
the latter is scarce before the 11th century. Luckily for us, until at least the
mid-7th century the Anglo-Saxons buried their dead with their personal
possessions and weapons.

7
 THE ANGLO-SAXON ELITE

Historical background
Development of Anglo-Saxon rulership and the establishment of kingdoms
took place over a long period of time, from the first creation of settlements
on the eastern and southern coasts of Britain in the 450s AD, through the
growth of petty and then regional kingdoms, until the formation of a single
English realm in the early 10th century.
According to the British cleric Gildas, the Saxones had their origins as
pagan Germanic warriors who had entered Britain after the Roman field
army left early in the 5th century, and settled in the south-east under a treaty
with the local Romano-British authorities. There is little reason to doubt this
interpretation, given that the Late Romans had imported mercenaries from
at least the mid-4th century onwards. In a single passage Gildas gives his
understanding of the nature of this foedus (treaty), correctly using several
Late Roman terms associated with the temporary settlement of allies on
Roman territory in return for military service.
The origins of kingship among the peoples who would eventually style
themselves ‘Anglo-Saxons’ lie deep in the prehistory of their societies. Their
immediate geographical origins may be found in the area of the North Sea
rim in the last centuries BC, although any records of this period are difficult
to interpret: archaeological complexes can seldom be matched up to what
the scant written sources have to tell us. Tribal names such as ‘Cimbri’ and
‘Teutones’ appear occasionally, but it is only with the work of a Roman
historian and politician – Publius Cornelius Tacitus, writing in the late 1st

ADVENTUS SAXONUM, c.AD 449 wears a beag (arm-ring) on each wrist. His tight-fitting woollen
A (1) Hengest the exile trousers are bound round the lower legs with puttee-like linen
The legendary Jutish leader is imagined as wearing a helmet of strips, and a short knife is slipped into the bindings at his right
spangenhelm construction in gilded iron and copper-alloy, here knee. The spear is of the angon type, with a long iron shank
copied from the 5th-century Gultlingen specimen now in the and a barbed head. The convex shield displays a pointed iron
Stuttgart State Museum. The iron ring-mail armour (byrne or boss and leather-bound rim, with studs on the face where
byrnie) is decorated with edging bands of copper-alloy rings. It carrying/slinging straps are secured inside. Its blazon is based
is worn over clothing copied from finds in Danish bogs; a long on the iconography of gold bracteate medallions of the period.
tunic (cyrtel) is covered by a short-sleeved overcyrtel, with (3) Vortigern, post-Roman British Dux
trousers from the Thorsberg find, and over all he wears a This British leader, who supposedly invited the Jutish warlords
fringed, chequered cloak. The massive belt buckle (from Hengest and Horsa into south-east England, wears Late
Mucking, Essex) is decorated in the ‘quoit-brooch’ fashion which Roman military-style clothing as a mark of his status, copied
combined Romano-Celtic and Germanic styles. The sword he from the possibly 5th-century Vergilius Romanus codex
carries is copied from the incomplete Abingdon specimen, with miniatures. His white woollen tunic features applied textile
missing elements taken from the Selmeston find. bands and panels (clavi) with rich embroidery. His heavy cloak
(2) Sigeferth, lord of the Secgan is dyed a rich blueish-purple and fastened at his right shoulder;
Another warrior exile, Sigeferth was supposedly a friend of above its edge note a gold torque neck-ring. His sword belts
Hengest who shared in his adventures in Frisia, and defended and scabbard are of dyed leather and the hilt of his spatha-
him when the hall they shared was attacked (a story told in type sword is ivory, both with gilded copper-alloy fittings; the
Beowulf and in The Fight at Finnsburg). He wears the ‘pillbox’ pommel is of the ‘cocked hat’ shape (so called for a supposed
Pannonian cap which was apparently adopted from the Late resemblance to the shape of Napoleon’s bicorne). The woollen
Roman military. His sleeveless fur jerkin (pād) is gathered at the saddlecloth is dyed Imperial purple and embroidered with
waist by a broad leather belt with a buckle derived from gold thread in Roman military style. The helmet he holds is of
Roman military types, the strap end having a copper-alloy classic Late Roman ridge-helm typology, with coloured glass
knop. The belt supports a pouch with a firesteel on the lower or gemstone ornaments; it is reconstructed from the
edge of the flap, and a light axe. His pale linen tunic is Richborough fragment and based on the Budapest example,
decorated with bands of applied textile decoration, and he and has a purple-dyed horsehair crest.

8
 3

9
2
1
 century AD – that some light is shed on the
disposition and distinguishing features of
tribes in northern Europe.
It is Tacitus’s work De origine et
situ Germanorum (‘On the Origin and
Placement of the Germans’) that first
mentions the Anglian tribe (Anglii),
forming part of a cultic league worshipping
a goddess whose image was carried around
their region in an ox-wagon. Tacitus’s text
is not a dispassionate ethnographic work,
but rather a presentation of curiosities, facts
and opinions; he describes the Germanii
as typical savage peoples, but therefore
uncorrupted by luxury, being loyal, fierce
and warlike.
Tacitus has little to say about the details
of rulership among these tribes, although
we do learn that ‘kings’ were chosen for
their nobility of birth while ‘warlords’
were appointed for their abilities: reges ex
nobilitate, duces ex virtutes (Germania,
Ch.7). This division of authority may have
been traditional in the 1st century, but it was
not to last. During the immense economic,
social and political upheavals of the 3rd–5th
centuries which saw the decline of Roman
power in north-west Europe, new leaders
The famous ‘Spong Hill man’, a came to the fore. Noble birth no longer guaranteed leadership, whereas the
figurine measuring 14cm/5½ins ability to plan, to inspire followers, and to seize opportunities to make and
high decorating the lid of a
cremation urn found in the
abandon alliances became critical.
Anglian cemetery at Spong Hill, The military immigration of the early 5th century soon led to rebellions
Norfolk. It is currently the only against local post-Roman rulers, and competitive struggles for ever-expanding
known representation of an territories between Germanic war-bands that quickly evolved into minor
Anglo-Saxon warrior of the 5th
kingdoms. The ability to seize and hold territory was vital to success. Even
century, dressed in elements of
Late Roman military costume the small early kingdoms were largely new creations without direct descent
such as the ‘pillbox’ cap known from previous institutions (other than in Kent); and the larger kingdoms that
as the pileus pannonicus. (ex would emerge subsequently (Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria) were built on
Pollington, Kerr & Hammond;
the remains of earlier, smaller units (e.g. Bernicia, Rheged, Deira, Elmet, etc).
image, Lindsay Kerr, 2010)
While the identities they created in Britain might echo old names (East, South
and West Saxons relating to continental groups of the same names), there is
no evidence from the grave-goods of any exclusivity along ethnic lines: for
instance, Wessex contained Saxon settlers, but also Franks and Jutes. Only
the East Angles retained their nominal link with the folk of Angeln, while
similar relationships were no longer actively maintained in Northumbria and
Mercia. Bede’s neat division of the Germanic settlers into Angles, Saxons and
Jutes corresponds to the larger picture in the archaeology – Anglian types of
grave-goods do appear where he stated that Angles settled – but in almost
every cemetery there are intrusive elements from other cultures, and also
some which seem blended.
Kings embodied their peoples, representing them in dealing with the
supernatural and with other kings. There was a numinous quality to kingship,

10
 Gold 5th-century bracteate
medallion from Undley, Suffolk.
This complex object, bearing
what may be the earliest
attested words in English,
represents a warrior wearing
a pseudo-Attic helmet recalling
Roman iconography. Note
too the image of the she-
wolf suckling Romulus and
Remus; the wolf was also a
totemic beast of the Germanic
peoples. (ex Pollington, Kerr
& Hammond; image, Lindsay
Kerr, 2010)

and the king himself could adopt a god-like role in certain circumstances:
donning the war-helm would probably be a good example. It was no accident
that the Christian missionary effort was directed at kings and royal courts:
the god of the king was de facto the god of the people, because the king had
to intercede with the deity on their behalf.

Elite relationships
In Britain and elsewhere in post-Roman Europe, a new breed of rulers
emerged whose authority was not founded on any institution but rather
on the personal loyalty of powerful men and women. Predominant among
these was the figure of the ‘ætheling’ (æðeling), a prince or lord from a
noble family that had a claim to leadership. The social structure which
these societies developed was based on personal duties and obligations, on
rewards and incentives, on public displays of honour and of shame. The
central social institution for these new warlords and their followers was
the ‘meadhall’, the centre of social and public life for the lord (frea) and
his people. The meadhall was an imposing physical structure of sturdy
rectangular construction with benches along the long walls, usually a central
long-fire, an imposing doorway, and at the far end a raised dais from which
the leader could oversee his people and be seen by them.
On the benches were seated his young followers, who traditionally were
drawn from different communities, and hoped to win by their service praise
and rewards – visible symbols of success such as swords and other weapons,
gold, jewels, goblets, drinking horns, horses and harness. The young men
slept in the hall, but followed the lord on his progress around his territory,

11
Cast silver-gilt mount, perhaps and especially onto the battlefield, where they hoped to win not just physical
part of a buckle, representing rewards but also individual renown and advancement. Apart from those
a warrior’s face with helmet;
AD 450–500, probably
locals with close personal ties to the lord, their service might be for a fixed
Scandinavian-made. This fitting, term – one summer, for example, or the duration of a military campaign –
measuring 4.8cm x 2.2cm after which they might set out in search of another leader. If the rewards had
(1.9ins x 0.86ins). shows several been good enough already, they might perhaps return to their homes and
anthropomorphic images, one
marry, take up a parcel of land, and achieve a more settled life. Those who
of which is cast in the round.
It has a thick brow with a large chose to stay with the lord would join the troop of reliable and experienced
protruding nose, and a ridge warriors who provided leadership in battle and maintained order in the ranks.
running up to the hairline A leader’s authority was based ultimately on two factors: the possibility
or headdress, which might
of reward and the prospect of punishment. Loyal followers could expect to
indicate a half-face mask similar
to an image on a fitting from earn generous gifts and public recognition for their service – as long as the
Aldborough, Yorkshire. (PAS man they followed was lucky, rich, and inclined to distribute his disposable
record NLM-219C93, licence CC wealth. A lord who did not share out the benefits of his followers’ successes
BY-SA 4.0) would earn a reputation for meanness – a ‘wolfish heart’, as one poet put
it – and would not be able to attract hardy and ambitious youngsters to
follow him. If a leader fell from power, he might no longer have the means
to reward his companions, and this would be the test of whether the brave
words of loyalty spoken in the hall were meant seriously or were empty
boasts. Disloyalty could be punished by banishment and exile, and the life
of an exile was never easy. Since he had proved himself either unworthy or
incapable of carrying out his promises, his record would hardly recommend
him to another prospective leader.
The loyal band of followers was known in Old English as the werod
(‘protective force’) or the gedriht (‘band of men sworn to share hardship
together’), under the command of a warlord (OE dryhten or drihten). Similar
groups among Late Rome’s barbarian allies had already emerged and imposed
themselves on agricultural populations across Europe – Goths in Rumania
and Ukraine, Marcomanni along the Danube, Batavi in the Netherlands – all
of them societies with a militarized elite.
In Britain these traditional structures based upon personal loyalties
between rulers and followers were subject to great strain in the long 9th-
century wars against the Danish Vikings. However, in the latter part of

12
that century Alfred of Wessex (r. 871–899), the last remaining independent
Saxon kingdom, undertook a wholesale re-organization of the military and
wider duties of the elite. In his reforms the status of thane (OE þegn, pl.
þegnas – a landowner with military obligations, roughly similar to those of a
later feudal knight) was restricted to men who not only had proven military
accomplishments, but who could read; literacy was to be one key to Alfred’s
successes. Another was the establishment of a growing network of fortified
towns (burhs/burghs) governed by his trusted subordinates.

Structure
The word thane meant ‘one who serves’, and might describe either an
aristocratic individual retainer of a king or senior nobleman or, as a class
term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-
reeves (see below). They served their royal lords in peacetime as well as war, Anglo-Saxon military mounts,
and appear in the sources as tax administrators, enforcers of the king’s laws 6th century. (Top left) Copper-
alloy shield boss apex disc from
and dispensers of justice through the courts, witnesses to royal charters, Cambridgeshire. (Centre) Shield
recipients of land grants, and donors of land in their turn. mount, gold and silver surface
While such careers might begin as simple bodyguards in the werod (8th- finish, from grave 600, Mucking,
century sources refer to them as gesīþas, ‘companions’ of the king), the Essex. (Bottom) Chip-carved
shield mount, gilt copper-
subsequent development of medieval-style kingship might see them rise to alloy, from Melton Mowbray,
become high-ranking ealdormen (sing. ealdorman) or ‘regional governors’ Leicestershire. (ex Pollington,
administering a whole territory (OE scīr, ‘shire’). As the 9th-century kingdom Kerr & Hammond, 2010)
of Wessex expanded to include most of southern
Britain, new shires based around economic hubs
or military strongholds were established (e.g.
Oxfordshire based on Oxford, Hertfordshire on
Hertford, and so on).
The ealdorman was the highest grade of
official. The title is not mentioned in the Kentish
laws, and perhaps such a small kingdom did not
require this level of authority in the early days.
The ealdorman appears to be well established
in Wessex by the time of Ine (r. 689–726),
and is probably the rank for which Stephen of
Ripon (Eddius Stephanus) uses the Latin terms
subregulus and princeps. However, it is never
easy to equate the terms in Latin sources with
those in Old English. For instance, Brihtfrith, a
princeps in Stephen’s work, is called a prefectus
by Bede, whose use of princeps may be confined
to men of royal blood. Bede also seems to use dux
for ealdorman when used in its sense of military
leader. Prefectus is generally used for gerefa
or ‘reeve’, but the retention of the title ‘high-
reeve’ in the North for the rulers of Bamburgh
(one of whom is given the title ‘king’ in a Celtic
source) may suggest that in early times gerefa
had a wider application and was not used only
of officials inferior to the ealdorman.
In the attestations to early West Saxon
charters, prefectus seems to be used for
ealdorman. From the second half of the 9th

13
 century, ealdorman is also rendered as the Latin comes, but in earlier
writers such as Bede this word probably translates to the Old English gesiþ.
Occasionally one reads the term patricius, perhaps of an ealdorman holding
a particularly influential position (in sub-Roman Gaul it was the title of a
regional Imperial viceroy). In the 11th century the native word ealdorman
was ousted under Scandinavian influence by jarl, ‘earl’.
Thanes may be characterized as a group of ‘ministers’ (officers)
and attendants upon the king whose duties extended from the palace to
the battlefield. Thus we find the same man described as a cyngeshuskarl
(‘king’s housecarl’) in one charter, and as a ‘minister regis’ (‘officer of the
king’) in another. Even from early times there is evidence of the king and
greater nobles employing milites stipendiis or mercenary warriors brought
in to strengthen an army, serving for an agreed and limited period. When
witnessing land-grants, the Latin term miles (‘soldier’) was sometimes used
for men of thanely status, but also minister, implying that the rank of thane
was never purely military in nature.
By the later Anglo-Saxon period, it appears that the link between land-
holding and the rank of thane had become weakened. The sons and grandsons
of ceorls (‘yeomen’) who had become thanes were entitled to retain the rank;
it had become hereditary, and thus detached from land-holding and merit
acquired through personal service. By the time of the Domesday census in
1086 there were many ‘thanes’ who had estates far smaller than the statutory
(in Wessex) five hides. (The ‘hide’ was a variable measurement of the taxable
value of the land necessary to support one family.)
Successful leadership was exercised through practical example, so a leader
(folctoga) of a military force raised in a single district (folc) was expected to
have a set of skills which were not available to everyone. In the pre-Christian
period lordship was very much bound up with the cult of the god Woden,
who appears as the actual founder of many royal families in the king-
lists. Woden means ‘the lord of inspiration’, and the god passed on secret

KING ÆTHELBERT OF KENT, c.AD 600 wealth, and we copy his equipment largely from the
B (1) King Æthelbert contemporary princely burial at Prittlewell, Essex. We give
The king wears a helmet based on the example from Benty him a helmet based on the Shorwell specimen but with
Grange, Derbyshire, which bears a crest in the shape of a boar, restored cheek-guards. His mailcoat is worn over a short
but also has a Christian cross added to the nasal in silver studs; woollen tunic with braid decoration at the collar, sleeve-
note that he also displays a pectoral cross on a gold chain ends and hem, over a similarly-decorated long-sleeved tunic.
around his neck. He has a trimmed moustache and beard and In his right hand he holds a sword with the braided belt
shoulder-length hair, in the style shown on the Sutton Hoo wrapped around the scabbard, and in his left his leather-
sceptre. His knee-length linen tunic has decorated edging covered wooden shield. He has a throwing-axe (francisca)
bands and is gathered at the waist with a woven fabric belt tucked into his belt.
with a gold clasp. He wears a bleached white (Latin, alba) (3) Merovingian Frankish comes
cloak also with braid edging, fastened at the right shoulder; Leading families on both sides of the Channel maintained
the brooch might resemble the example from Wijnaldum, close ties, and we show this Frankish warlord as if visiting the
Netherlands, which was then Frankish territory. His sword, Kentish court. We copy his appearance from the Bradwell
copied from the Cumberland specimen, is slung at his left hip horseman figurine, but have given him a glass ‘claw beaker’,
from a baldric with a small buckle, and a small knife hangs which he offers to the king as a stirrup-cup. His belt is fastened
across the front of his waist belt. His equipment is decorated with a large iron buckle with silver ornament, copied from
with Germanic Style I motifs (Salin’s classification). His horse Frankish grave finds. His sword and knife are worn at his left
harness, in crimson leather with gilded copper-alloy fittings, is hip. He holds an angon spear with carved decoration on the
copied from the Faversham finds, integrated with different shaft, from the Prittlewell princely grave. His shield is copied
equestrian elements recovered in England. from a find at Bidford-on-Avon (grave 182), with applications
(2) Kentish gesið warlord in silver and gilded copper alloy.
This warlord accompanying his king is a man of rank and

14
 1

15
The 10th-century Skerne sword
is an unusually fine example of
a pattern-welded blade with a
decorated hilt, the pommel and
guard being inlaid with silver
and copper wires in geometric
designs. It was found during
excavations of a waterlogged
site near Driffield, East Yorkshire
in 1982 by the Humberside
Archaeology Unit; it had been
dropped, complete with its
scabbard, into the river Hull.
(Hull Museum collections;
photo courtesy of Matt Bunker)

knowledge to his chosen worshippers, partly through intoxicants. Among

the secrets which the kingly class had to learn were strategies of battle; these
were practised and rehearsed through board games where the objective is to
capture the opponent’s ‘king’, and in hunting wild animals.
Literacy, then a rare attribute, was another powerful tool available to
those who worshipped Woden in heathen times. The advent of Christianity
in the 7th century brought exposure to Latin literacy, although it did not
spread widely among the laity. In the later 9th century, as mentioned, the
ability to read (in English rather than Latin) was one of the requirements
for senior service under Alfred. Obviously, it would have been a powerful
aid to his governance to be able to send clear and detailed instructions to
subordinates. The skills of reading and writing are not the same, however,
and composition (writing) was restricted to a small number of clerics and
officials whose task it was to coordinate the management of the kingdom.
These ministri were highly accomplished and often very cultured, with a wide
knowledge of Latin and other authors from antiquity to more recent times.

Warrior qualities and expectations

The 10th-century poem The Wanderer, describing the life of an exiled warrior
in search of a new lord to serve, specifies the qualities which were expected
of a prudent man: ‘A wise man must be patient, must not be too hot-headed
nor too hasty in speech, neither too bashful in battle nor too blindly reckless,
neither too craven nor too carefree, nor too keen for wealth, nor ever too
fond of boasting before he fully understands.’ The recommendation of such
qualities of moderation indicates that headlong aggression was as undesirable
as laziness or timidity in a warrior, who had to be a ‘team player’ if he and
his group were to survive.
Warfare was usually conducted in order to gain access to scarce resources:
territory, and the subsequent output of its subject population; livestock, and
slaves. A less quantifiable but arguably more important resource was prestige
or honour (OE weorþ). Among highly competitive groups the victorious
warrior stood to gain prestige from his attacks against the enemy – witnessed

16
by his fellow warriors and his superiors – while also acquiring economic
benefit in the form of booty, and rewards from a grateful leader. The
receiving of valuable weapons was one of the most desired warrior rewards;
by performing brave deeds with his existing weapons, he showed himself
ready and able to perform greater deeds with better armament. Likewise,
a leader who appeared on the battlefield with lavish equipment displayed
himself as ready for combat and capable of taking a leading part in it. His
The Wareham sword, late
appearance was therefore part of his social identity: richly-furnished weapons 10th century, found in the
and war-gear formed part of the social display which marked out leaders, river Frome in 1927; the hilt
noblemen and warriors from other ranks of society. and roughly half the blade
survives, with signs of intricate
decoration in copper alloy and
Fosterage, and the meadhall silver on the guard and pommel.
Central to military life were two important customs: the system of fosterage, Its main interest lies in the
and gatherings in the meadhall. remains of an inscription on the
Under the former, boys of suitable temperament whose families had the horn grip: translated, it reads
‘Æthel-[…] owns me’. Names
means to support them were placed in the household of a social superior. beginning ‘Æthel-’(‘noble’) were
There they performed menial duties, such as serving at table, cleaning frequent among members of
weapons, repairing equipment, grooming horses, etc; these taught them how the royal family and nobility of
to behave courteously, the basics of how to care for gear and animals, and Wessex; this sword is the only
one known which is named to
how to handle weapons with respect. Games of wrestling and running built an individual warlord. (Dorset
strength. Hunting and horse-racing improved co-ordination and taught the County Museum, Dorchester;
youngster tactics – how to chase a stag or boar, to wear it out and to corner photo courtesy of Matt Bunker)
it effectively. Beyond this, the boys who were selected for future
leadership roles would learn about strategy, diplomacy, coercion
and other skills that would be needed when the boy became an
experienced fighter (known collectively in OE as duguð), capable
of leading a group of warriors of his own.
The meadhall was the social centre of its community – the
place where discussions took place among leaders and their men
and between guests and host; where rewards were handed out
and gifts exchanged; where promises were made, and reputations
enhanced by the praise-songs of poets (scopas). Before the advent
of Christianity it was also the religious centre where rituals in
honour of the gods were enacted. It was the mustering point
for the military before campaigns began; the storehouse of food
and wealth; and the administrative centre for the district – the
place where important decisions were taken, where the law was
enforced and judgements given. For the elite, it was the stage
on which they demonstrated their renown and authority. The
elaborate decorated drinking horns found in the Sutton Hoo and
Prittlewell graves, among others, were also social symbols used in
the meadhall, and were probably carried while on horseback on
long military campaigns.
By the end of the Anglo-Saxon period the meadhall had begun
to lose its institutional importance: its religious role was taken over
by the church, its defensive role by the burh stronghold, and its
economic role by the mint. But in the Anglo-Saxon imagination it
remained the centre where all that was good in life could be found.

Ritual single combat

Among warriors it was customary to avoid unnecessary bloodshed
by settling disputes by means of single combat between champions.

17
‘Abraham slaughtering the
Kings of Elam’, from a mid-or
late-11th-century manuscript
miniature. The only warrior
protected by a ringmail
hauberk seems to be Abraham
(top left), depicted as an
11th-century Anglo-Saxon
ruler; at his right side is the
shield-bearer defending him.
The swords represented here
seem to echo Types S and X of
Petersen’s classification (1919),
perhaps with gilded pommels
and guards. (British Library, MS
Cotton Claudius IV, folio 24v;
photo courtesy of the Library)

This ritualized warfare was governed by strict rules, the breaking of which
meant loss of honour. Some groups used this form of fighting to test their war-
luck before entering into battle, by capturing one of the enemy and forcing him
to fight one of their own men; Tacitus says (Germania, Ch.10) that the outcome
of the duel could be used to settle the differences between whole nations,
implicitly therefore without further loss of life. Yet an army which found that
its luck was out – that the gods were favouring its opponents – would still have
to choose whether to enter into battle or buy peace by paying tribute.
The duel was simply a single combat fought between two opponents,
each armed with sword and shield. In Norse tradition this was known as
hólmganga, ‘going to an island’, since the normally selected site was away
from interference or assistance by other parties. From the literature it seems
that fair play and an exchange of strokes, turn and turn about, was the norm.
A man could refuse to fight if challenged, but risked public ridicule and loss
of credibility if he did so.

ARMIES

Werod and húskarlar

The werod was originally the king’s small bodyguard of sworn retainers
whose duty it was to follow him in peace and war, and to enforce his will.
In the early period, following a tradition originating in the Iron Age, the
werod arose from the personal relationship between king and retainer. With
enlargement of the surviving major kingdoms (reduced from seven to three)
during the Danish wars, the original modest-sized retinue of royal guards
assumed wider responsibility for defence and government.

18
 The later institution of the húskarlar was introduced by the 11th-century
Danish king Cnut (Canute) as a personal following without ties to the
English state. The húskarlar (Old Norse, ‘household-men’) were armed with
fine weapons and armour including swords and mailcoats. We are told that
Cnut required his housecarls to possess ‘splendid armour’, and a double-
edged sword with a gold-inlaid hilt, as a condition of acceptance into his
military entourage. The housecarl is also associated with the two-handed
battleaxe, which characterized such warriors. Despite being paid in coin –
they were ‘stipendiary troops’ – their obligation to serve in arms arose from
the lordship-bond of duty rather than any cash inducement.
The size of the armies available to Anglo-Saxon kings has often been
understated, partly due to a passage in the laws of King Ine of Wessex (r.
689–726) telling us that a group of up to seven men were called ðeofas,
‘thieves’; from seven to 35, a hloþ ‘band’; and above that number a here,
‘army’. The specific circumstances of Ine’s reign, when he perceived a threat
from the presence of large armed groups outside his control, encouraged him
to limit the size of the military forces available to his individual ealdormen.
More generally, however, military forces were as large as the state could
afford – few kings were so confident in the abilities of their men that they
would willingly take the field with any smaller force.

The Staffordshire Hoard

We have the evidence of the 7th-century Staffordshire Hoard to weigh against
Ine’s legal limitations. This hoard consists of as many as 3,500 metal items,
all in gold or silver and many finely decorated with garnet-filled cloisons (flat
cells); the total weight after excavation is estimated to be about 5kg/11lbs
of gold and 1.3kg/2.8lbs of silver. Almost all the items are fragments of
military equipment. A processional cross and some other puzzling fittings

Fragmentary plaque from

the Staffordshire Hoard, item
595, representing a warrior
on horseback; second half of
7th century. While the origin
of the hoard is still a matter
of dispute, stylistic evidence
points towards East Anglian
booty taken by a Mercian army.
(Photo courtesy Archaeology
Data Service, ADS)

19
 are evidence of a Christian presence among
the original owners of the treasure – which
extended on to the battlefield, it seems. The
hoard has thrown new light on the political
turmoil of those times, and the materials in
the hoard illuminate aspects of Anglo-Saxon
military history at just that point when
chiefdoms were becoming kingdoms and
Christianity was gaining a firm foothold.
This was a very turbulent period, in which
old power structures were challenged and
overthrown as new ones arose.
The hoard was deposited, perhaps in a
bag, in a hole dug in open heathland close to
the Mercian cathedral city of Lichfield, and
not far from the route of the strategic Watling
Street (the modern A5). A case can be made
for linking the deposit to any of several events
in the later 7th century – the aftermath of
King Penda’s death in 655, for example, or
an uprising of 658, or an outbreak of plague
in 664. Any of these momentous events might
Reconstruction of helmet from have prompted the owner of the treasure to hide it in a safe place in the vain
the 7th-century Staffordshire hope that he could later return to collect it.
Hoard. Painstakingly
reconstructed from fragments
Who might have owned the treasure? Its exclusively military nature
by the Dept of Conservation, suggests strongly that it should be seen as victors’ plunder from a battlefield.
Birmingham Museum, it is But these gold and bejewelled fittings clearly were not taken to a place of
described as ‘a magnificent safety for recycling by Mercian goldsmiths and armourers based in Lichfield
thing’, redolent of the authority
or Tamworth. Rather, the whole collection appears to have been hastily
of the man who wore it.
Iconography shows that hidden in a pit out in the countryside where nobody would ever look for
helmets were sometimes it. Was this a desperate attempt at concealment – or was it a pre-Christian
crested; the crest reconstructed deposition ritual intended to put the weapons beyond use?
here echoes one depicted on
The question of the hoard’s origin has been carefully considered. If it
the Norbury Stone, where the
helmet may represent a later represents battlefield booty, then the likelihood must be that it was taken
development of the Sutton by the victorious local Mercians from invaders, or during an expedition
Hoo type. (Photo courtesy into neighbouring territory. Examination and comparison do not support
Wikimedia Commons) the idea of local manufacture, added to which the Christian nature of
some items (Mercia was still heathen at this time), and the destructive
dismantling of weapon-parts, both suggest that the objects were not Mercian
in manufacture or possession. An origin in East Anglia is most likely on
historical grounds (there was endemic warfare between the two kingdoms in
the mid 7th century), and is supported by the quality of the known output
of East Anglian workshops.
The most informative aspect of the find is the quantity of sword pommel
caps – of which there appear to be 74 complete examples plus some
fragments, totalling 86 in all. The majority are made of gold, with a few
silver and gilded copper-alloy examples. They are almost all of very high
quality – similar in many respects to the Sutton Hoo Mound 1 sword – and
they feature either garnet cloisonné decoration (17 examples) or filigree and
granulation (47). The decorative tradition is overwhelmingly in Salin’s Style
II (1904, r/p 1935), with a few exceptions in the older Style I. This dates the
manufacture of the bulk of the hoard to the range c.575–c.650. Some of the

20
pommels show signs of wear through prolonged use, so a date of deposition
between 650 and 675 seems most likely. Since the pommel caps and other
items are apparently close in date, they probably represent fittings from
the high-status swords of a single force. Furthermore, with so many ornate
swords present in a single troop, these must be the remains of the weapons
used by the elite, men of either cyning or drihten (king or warlord) rank or
their immediate entourage and champions.

Implications for army size

There were thus in one army at least 86 swords used by men of elite status.
Each of these leaders would have led a troop of warriors numbering perhaps
no less than ten, and very probably many more if we include the rank-and-
file spearmen, subordinate thanes and their supporters. This very fact has
implications for the size of the army represented by the hoard.
The ASC (MS A, s.a.784) describes the unsuccessful bid for power in
Wessex by a prince named Cyneheard in these terms: ‘Here Cyneheard slew
King Cynewulf and he was slain there, and 84 men with him.’ So it appears
that a group of around 100 men (or rather more) supported Cyneheard’s bid
for power, and that they were a credible force – they had slain Cynewulf,
the previous king, but lost their lives in the battle. Cyneheard was not a king
but an æðeling, probably an ealdorman and landowner in his own right.
If each ealdorman had a force of similar size (100+), equipped with fine
weapons which displayed their status, then swords of this type must have
been available in some quantity.
It has been calculated that there might be four ealdormen at any one
time in a large kingdom such as Mercia, each of them with the wealth to

Fragmentary plaques identified

as items 596 and 597 from the
7th-century Staffordshire Hoard
represent marching warriors
with sturdy spears and small
round shields. The embossed
figures at left and right both
wear knee-length ringmail
hauberks, while the central
figure shows a cross-hatched
pattern strongly suggesting
quilted ‘soft armour’. The left-
hand helmet has an eagle
protome, and the central one
shows a ribbed effect; both
have attached cheek-guards.
(Photo courtesy Archaeology
Data Service, ADS)

21
 support a retinue of around 100 thanes, so there could have been 300–400
similar swords in use in the mid-7th century in that kingdom alone. If the .

swords of the elite warriors represent only the highest ranks, as their rarity
in the archaeological record suggests, then they probably account for less
than 10 per cent of the total numbers in the field (i.e. for every chief with
a gold-hilted sword there are 9 or more men of lower ranks, from thane to
spearman).Therefore 400 leaders with gold-hilted swords represent around
4,000 fighting men. Anglo-Saxon armies might thus have comprised several
thousands of combatants, as well as all the support staff.
This suggestion has a bearing on the sizes of the forces ranged against
them, such as the following in the ASC (MS A, s.a. 837): ‘Here Ealdorman
Wulfheard fought at Southampton against 33 shiploads [of Danes] and
made great slaughter there and took victory’. The stated sizes of Viking
armies have often been regarded as exaggerations, due to a supposed
tendency to overestimate the numbers of enemy forces. An attack by 33
Danish ships implies a force of around 1,500 men (assuming about 50
men per ship). If Wulfheard, who was just an ealdorman, arrived with a
personal retinue of 100 elite warriors and their followers, supplemented
by the garrison at Southampton, he could have fielded a force of a
similar size.
We might alternatively suppose that swords of the quality present in the
Staffordshire Hoard were actually very rare, only available to men of the
ealdorman – æþeling – cyning class, in which case they would represent a
proportion closer to 1 per cent of the total present. This would mean that
Anglo-Saxon armies might have been even larger, and that the 86 swords in
the hoard represent a force closer to 10,000 men. The logistics of moving,
feeding, supplying and commanding such large numbers seem daunting, but
successful kings attracted successful followers, and it may be that such large
military assemblies were sometimes able to take to the field.

KING RÆDWALD OF EAST ANGLIA, c.AD 616 Mound 17. Tight trousers and leg-bindings were probably
C (1) King Rædwald preferred when riding a horse, as shown on the Bradwell
Here we imagine the king welcoming the exiled Edwin of figurine. The shield is shown in 7th-century Anglo-Saxon
Northumbria to his kingdom on his arrival via the river art on the helmet plates from Sutton Hoo and in the
Deben. The king is depicted with equipment from Mound 1 Staffordshire Hoard iconography; it was probably of
at Sutton Hoo, and horse harness from Mound 17. He wears modest size, suited to the role of a skirmisher using
the famous helmet from the burial, which bears religious throwing-spears and/or a bow. The silver-gilt mounts from
iconography (riders assisted by supernatural figures, two large drinking horns were found at Sutton Hoo.
warriors dancing with swords and spears, boars’ heads on (3) Edwin of Northumbria
the eyebrows, a serpent on the crest, and a bird on the Still personally wealthy, Edwin is now an exile arriving at
faceplate), which marks him out as a devotee of his Rædwald’s court with limited power and agency. He sports
legendary ‘ancestor’ Woden. Over an alba-white tunic with a trimmed moustache and hair cut to collar-length. His
richly decorated gold-on-red bands at the cuffs and hem, long-sleeved yellow linen tunic is obscured by the thick
his mailcoat has narrow copper decorative edging. Over his woollen cross-over ‘riding coat’ with a gold-braid border
ringmail he wears a soft leather ‘cuirass’ fashioned as a and lower hem, reconstructed from the Taplow barrow find
Roman lorica, fastened at the shoulders with golden clasps in Buckinghamshire. The waist is gathered by a broad
bearing garnet and glass cloisonné ornament including the leather belt with a gilded copper-alloy triangular double
figures of boars. His sword is slung at his hip in a scabbard fastener with triple bosses, also based on the Taplow finds
worn on a leather belt with gold and garnet cloisonné (Hines & Bayliss Type BU3-d). Close-fitting woollen trousers
panels. A heavy, shaggy cloak or mantle rests on his are confined by crossed leather bindings each ending in a
shoulders. small buckle. He holds a personal tufa military standard as
(2) Prince Eorpwald described by Bede, and based on evidence from the
Eorpwald, Rædwald’s eldest son, is partly reconstructed Welbeck Hill barrow, Lincolnshire – a painted spear with a
with items from the unidentified young male burial in tuft or tufts of horsehair.

22
 1

23
 EQUIPMENT & WEAPONS
The survival of organic materials from the Anglo-Saxon period is rare,
unless the object has been preserved in either very dry conditions (e.g. a
saint’s tomb) or very wet (e.g. a boggy deposit). In what follows, it must
always be borne in mind that leather, wood, horn and other materials may
have been used extensively without leaving any trace in the records. Wood
and leather only survive in waterlogged conditions and are rarely found
except in small fragments, adhering to metal objects and preserved by their
corrosion products.

DEFENSIVE EQUIPMENT:

Helmets
A splendid helmet (OE cynehelm) was the battlefield distinction of a leader in
Reconstruction of a the early period. A few examples are known from archaeological discoveries,
spangenhelm-type helmet, but may represent only random survivals from the larger numbers which
from a find at Vézeronce, must have been in use. Apart from the archaeology, important information
France dated to AD 450–500.
(Netherlands National Military
is also presented in the conservative medium of poetry, such as in the 7th–
Museum, Deft; photo courtesy 8th century Beowulf, whose description of spectacular battle equipment
the Curator, Jeroen Punt) (heaðowǣda) is confirmed by archaeology. The iron-plate helmet
(wírumbewunden, ‘wound about with wires’)
comprised a bowl (héafodbeorge) and a crest
(wala) and sometimes a face-plate (heregrima).
The gilded copper-alloy sheet mountings and
plaques were richly embossed with images of
mythical warriors and battles. According to the
poem, the areas above the cheek-guards of the
hero’s helmet were ornamented with images
of boars, a detail confirmed by archaeology.

Sutton Hoo, Mound 1 (Suffolk) A classic

enclosed iron helmet with silvered plates
attached to the outer surface, loosely based
on Roman mask helmets, including the face-
plate with stylized facial detailing. Preciously
decorated mask-helmets (grímhelmas) were
the result of a long development starting
during the Late Roman era. (Helmets like the
Vendel XIV example, with its heavy cheek-
and neck-guards, were probably modified
versions of the Sassanian-inspired or pseudo-
Attic Roman cataphract helmets of the period.)
The details of the Sutton Hoo helmet indicate
a strong association with the Anglian god of
war, Woden. Its decoration is in Style II – a
common North Sea Germanic format – which
led early investigators to conclude that it was
probably of Swedish workmanship, since its
closest known parallels were helmets found
at Valsgärde and Vendel, Sweden. However,

24
 The Shorwell helmet, 6th
century. During the excavation
of a site on the Isle of Wight a
single remaining high-status
warrior grave was identified.
Among its contents was what
was initially thought to be a
fragmented iron vessel, but
cleaning and consolidation
confirmed that it was in
fact a helmet. Of composite
construction, it originally
comprised eight separate
plates riveted together. An
encircling brow band was
riveted to a brow-to-nape
band and two separate lateral
bands, with the gaps left by this
cruciform framework backed
by four sub-triangular infill
plates. (Photos courtesy of the
British Museum; reconstruction
drawings by Andrea Salimbeti,
ex Hood)

further investigation into differences in the construction techniques indicates

its English origin.
The skull is made from a sheet of iron, to the rim of which are attached
the deep, movable side-pieces and neck-plate, and a fixed face-plate.
Comparable Scandinavian examples are made from iron strips and have
hanging iron bars or mail at the rim, not the deep cheek-guards of this and
the Wollaston and Coppergate examples. The surface of the skull, neck-plate
and side-pieces was covered in decorated copper-alloy foils, each tinned to
give a lustrous silvery sheen in discrete zones: the ‘rider’ motif on the skull,
‘dancing warriors’ on the brow and side-pieces, and ‘interlaced serpents’
on the neck-plate and in bands on all these surfaces. The tinned plates are

Two angles of the Wollaston or

‘Pioneer’ helmet, c.AD 675, from
Northamptonshire (‘pioneer’
simply refers to an aspect of
its modern origin). The small
boar crest recalls a time when
such decorations may have
been common; the Anglo-
Saxon poem Beowulf mentions
boar-adorned helmets five
times, including a funeral pyre
‘heaped with boar-shaped
helmets forged in gold’. (Royal
Armouries Museum, Leeds;
photo courtesy of Matt Bunker)

25
Right side and three-quarter
front images of the magnificent
8th-century Coppergate
helmet found in York. Note the
gilded copper-alloy decorative
bands and nasal guard. A
ringmail curtain (aventail in
O.E., freawrosn) is suspended by
copper-alloy rings which pass
through slots cut through the
browband, to a wire running
around inside the helmet.
(Yorkshire Museum, inv. no.
YORCM: CA665; photo courtesy
Wikimedia Commons)

Three angles of the 10th-

century Yarm helmet; found in
the North Riding of Yorkshire,
this is the first relatively
complete Anglo-Scandinavian
helmet found in Britain, and
held in place by corrugated copper-alloy strips, and the edges of the helmet’s
only the second Viking helmet
discovered in north-west various components are finished with U-section guttering. The ‘face’ sports
Europe. The iron bowl is made a neat moustache, prominent nose and eyebrows which combine to form the
of bands and plates riveted image of a bird in flight. The crest across the top of the helmet is formed as
together, with a simple knob
a snake with a head at each end – a motif found elsewhere in Germanic art.
at the apex. Below the brow
band it has a ‘spectacles’ The eyebrows are set with a row of garnets along the lower edge.
guard around the eyes and Benty Grange (Derbyshire) An iron frame recovered from a burial mound
nose forming a half-mask, has horn plates forming the skull, and possibly metal foil pressblech plates
which suggests an affinity over this. The helmet is surmounted by the figure of a boar, a feature
with earlier Vendel-culture
helmets from Sweden. The
which appears in contemporary iconography but which is seldom found in
lower edge of the brow band situ. Another barrow nearby at Newhaven House may have held a second
is pierced with circular holes similar helmet, unearthed in the 19th century, but what became of it is
where a mail aventail may not known.
have been attached. (Preston
Park Museum, Stockton-on-
Wollaston (Northamptonshire) An iron bowl with reinforcing straps, cheek-
Tees; photos courtesy of Matt plates, and a crest including a stylized boar figure. The style is strikingly
Bunker) similar to helmets worn by horsemen on the ‘Aberlemno Stone’ in Scotland,

26
leading some scholars to conclude that the imagery of that monument
commemorates an Anglian (Northumbrian) incursion into Pictland.
Shorwell (Isle of Wight) Iron fragments recovered from a grave belong to a The 8th-century ‘Repton
bandhelm helmet, a simple but effective form not otherwise known to have Stone’, probably representing
a mounted Anglian leader in
been in use in Britain. However, some possibly Late Roman fragments found full armour. He clearly sports
in Dumfriesshire in the 19th century may also have formed part of a similar a large moustache, and seems
specimen, but in the shape of a spangenhelm. to wear on his head a circlet
York (Yorkshire) The Coppergate helmet was found during excavations in with filigree decoration. In his
left hand is a shield, and at his
the city, deposited in a well. It dates from the later 8th century and is similar
waist an unmistakable Type
in profile to the Wollaston helmet, but is more richly appointed. It has a III seax, perhaps 45cm/18ins
ringmail aventail attached through the lower rim, longer hinged cheek-plates, long,and characteristically
and a long nasal with decorated edges to the eyes terminating in beast-heads. worn horizontally. The mouth
of the sheath may have metal
The gilded strips which form a cross on the bowl are inscribed with a text
reinforcement, since rivets are
in large, decorative insular capitals: IN. NOMINE. DNI. NOSTRI IHV. visible, along with a ‘V’-shape.
SCS. SPS. D. ET. OMNIBUS DECEMUS. AMEN. OSHERE. XPI. (‘In His main protection is a scale
the name of our Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God and all, we pray. Amen. armour, as explained in the
Oshere. Christ.’) ‘Oshere’ is presumed to be the name of the owner; many text. His thighs are covered
by the folds of a knee-length
Northumbrian kings had names beginning with ‘os-‘ (e.g. Osric, Oswine, tunic, of which the carved
Oswulf), which means ‘heathen god’. It is likely enough that this Oshere was detail rules out interpretation
a (junior?) member of the royal family; how his fabulous helmet came to be as Roman-style pteryges. He
hidden in the shaft of a well is still a mystery. wears winingas – cloth ‘puttees’
– on his lower legs. (Derby
Yarm (Northumberland) A rather poor-quality helmet found at this village Archaeological Museum; photo
was for years regarded as a modern copy imitating a Viking style of helmet Raffaele D’Amato, courtesy of
(e.g. the find from Gjermundbu, Norway). Recent (2020) re-examination the Museum)
indicates that the metal and details of construction
are actually consistent with a possibly 10th-
century date, and the Yarm helmet must therefore
be considered ‘probably genuine’. It is thus only
the second (after Gjermendbu) intact Viking-
period helmet found in north-west Europe. A
recent interpretation by T. Vlasaty suggests an
even earlier dating, i.e. 6th–9th century, due to
its possible affinity with the Swedish helmets
from Uppland (Vendel, Valsgärde), but the Yarm
helmet is still firmly classified as 10th-century by
the York archaeologists.
In addition, there are several fragmentary
helmets, most notably the various parts (crest,
cheek-guards, etc.) included in the 7th-century
Staffordshire Hoard. A repoussé pressblech
foil recovered from a burial mound at Caenby
(Lincolnshire) probably belonged to a rich helmet,
possibly similar to the Sutton Hoo example.
Simple conical helmets are visible in 11th-
century manuscripts, often rendered in shades of
blue probably symbolizing iron. Alongside these
iron examples, head protections made partially
or entirely from boiled and moulded leather (cuir
bouilli) were probably widely used, but do not
survive. If such headgear were dyed (yellow in the
Cotton MS Claudius IV – called hereinafter the
Hexateuch – folio 25r), if painted or otherwise

27
 ornamented, it would still have made an impressive
display despite its functional limitations. This is a
possible explanation for the ‘Phrygian’ crenelated caps
worn in battle in the miniatures of the Hexateuch and
other manuscripts.

Armour
Literary sources tell us that body armour normally
took the form of a mailcoat. One Old English riddle
(Exeter Book, riddle 35) specifically describes such a
garment, in terms which indicate that it was a familiar
item. The Beowulf poet (7th–8th century) likewise
refers to mailcoats by a number of different words
(byrnie, gúðbyrne, searonet, etc), which indicate that
his audience was expected to be acquainted with
such armour. The body armour in the poem is mainly
recorded as a shining war-coat made of iron rings
(hringírenscír), often gilded and decorated (fratwa
gelaéded). This type of body armour already existed in
Scandinavia during the early Iron Age, imported from
the Celtic tribes of Central Europe. The decoration of
such armour had Eastern origins, and at the time of
chieftains like Beowulf was mainly reserved to leaders
Sculpture from the shaft of the and limited numbers of their high-ranking retainers.
‘Brailsford Cross’, representing Lawcodes dating from the 10th century require men presenting themselves
a 9th-century warrior. The
prominent sword and small
for military service to be equipped with a mailcoat, and the Anglo-Saxon
raised shield suggest a member Chronicle records a royal decree which is translated thus: ‘Here the king
of the Anglo-Scandinavian ordered that across all the English nation ships must be made constantly, that
elite, but this identification is is then from every 310 hides one scegð [light warship] and from every eight
speculative. He seems to be
hides a helmet and mailcoat’.
dressed in a similar fashion
to the warrior on the Repton The surviving physical evidence is far from re-assuring, however: the only
Stone, which predates the Viking known Anglo-Saxon example of a ringmail coat is the tangled ferrous mass
occupation of that area. (in situ, recovered from Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo. Carefully restored and reconstructed,
All Saints’ Church, Brailsford,
this appears to have been thigh-length, with small (8mm) iron rings linked
Derbyshire; photo Raffaele
D’Amato, courtesy of the parish) four-in-one forming the main protection, and copper-alloy links at the edges.

KING PENDA OF MERCIA, AD 655 Staffordshire Hoard. His sword is slung from a baldric, and a
D (1) King Penda notably long seax from his waist belt (e.g. the blade alone of
On a dreary November afternoon, the mortally wounded king the ‘Beagnoth’ specimen from the Thames is 72cm/28½ins
is being led from the battlefield of Winwæd by one of his long). A sheepskin cloak is thrown back from his shoulders
warlords; all the figures are wearing heavy cloaks and boots, with the hood folded down; his cross-over coat is dark blue
and Penda has winingas leg-wrappings. The battle took place with contrasting edge-bands. His slung shield is painted
beside a flooding river, in which many trying to escape from yellow, with iron edge-binding.
the field were drowned. Penda’s war-gear includes some main (3) Thane
elements reconstructed from the Staffordshire Hoard – A younger nobleman of lesser rank is gathering items now in
especially the crested helmet, and a sword with a jewelled the Staffordshire Hoard, including sword and knife fittings
hilt, of which the scabbard lies discarded in the foreground removed from weapons. Some of the latter are damaged or
along with a broken shield and decorated spearshaft. The broken, including the sword he holds; note its double-ring
harness of his horse is also reconstructed from elements in the pommel, partly obscured here. His close-fitting tunic is bright
Hoard. green wool, with embroidered edge-trimming. Over this he
(2) Mercian warlord wears a squared dark grey mantle with a red border. His close-
This aristocrat wears the Wollaston or ‘Pioneer’ helmet, and fitting trousers are made from saffron-yellow wool, with dark
padded fabric armour copied from embossed plates in the leather cross-bindings each ending in a small buckle.

28
 1

29
2
3
 Mail armour is also represented in
art, but its interpretation is not always
clear. The miniature of folio 24v in
the Hexateuch represents Abraham as
a king wearing a short-sleeved mail
hauberk rendered as if made from large
rings. Is this a realistic representation
of a typical 11th-century mailcoat, or
something else? The iconography (see
page 18) might represent a broigne
annelée, i.e. a leather coat covered by
juxtaposed or superimposed iron rings
placed row-by-row and stitched onto
the leather backing. This thesis, which
is supported by Charles Hamilton
Smith and Viollet le Duc when referring
to some of the armour represented on
the Bayeux Tapestry, has long been
contested, but cannot be dismissed out
of hand. Its existence might be argued
from the rarity of any complete mail
armour made of interlaced rings. At
the end of the 7th century a verse by
Bishop Aldhelm (Aenigmata Aldhelmi
IV, 3) might suggest that armour made
only of interlaced iron rings was rare
compared to the more usual broigne.
A carved cross-shaft from the Certainly the fact that on folio 24v the only man armoured is the king,
church of St Mary Bishophill Abraham, suggests that ringmail was reserved to the elite.
Junior, York, dated on
stylistic grounds to c.AD 850,
Another possibility is that the armour represented in the miniature is
around the time when Saxon composed of small or medium-sized scales. This type of armour was used
Northumbria was fighting by the Anglo-Saxon elite, being well represented on the 8th-century Repton
for its existence against the Stone, where the warlord (a probable member of the Mercian royal house,
Danes. The stone, measuring
perhaps even King Æþelbald himself) is clearly wearing a squama over an
66cm/25.9ins high, shows two
figures. The left-hand man is under-armour garment showing from the waist down. These scales are also
shown in profile, wearing a represented (also with an under-garment, very similarly arranged) on the
hood or coif, a knee-length famous Franks Casket.
padded (?) coat, and with a
There is discussion among scholars as to whether these two monuments
horn attached to his waist
belt. The right-hand figure is represent mail or scale armour, but bearing in mind the contemporary
bare-headed, wears a long Frankish iconography (especially the Stuttgart Psalter) the answer is more
belted garment with a raised probably scale. On the Repton Stone this does not appear to cover the upper
collar, and holds the hilt of his thighs, which are protected by the padded under-corselet. A recent (2000)
apparently Anglo-Saxon sword
at his waist. The interlaced
work of scholarship comments that the Repton Stone shows ‘a mounted
detail under their feet is warrior wearing a mail shirt’. Although sketches of the carving make the
too worn for identification texture appear to show circles, close examination of the actual carving
of the original subject. This reveals that the elements are off-circular, with downwards overlapping and
monument has sometimes
been assumed to be Anglo-
‘shingling’ typical of scale armour. While it does not extend below the torso,
Scandinavian, but the carving it does onto the upper arms, like the scale armour of Late Roman soldiers in
is consistent with the local the early 4th-century sculpture in the Vatican Museum, section Chiaramonti.
Anglian tradition. (Yorkshire Armours of iron scale and lamellae were certainly in use in continental
Museum, accession no. YORYM:
1979.53)
Europe at the time of the Repton Stone. While we can only theorize as to what
such a cuirass might have been called in Old English, it too might have been

30
termed a byrnie. The word ‘byrne’ is of unknown
origin, but some derive it from brūn (‘burnished,
shining’), and the scale cuirass would certainly
have qualified for that description, especially
if the scales had been dipped in molten tin. We
might guess that the Anglo-Saxons might have
called this harness a ‘scealu-byrne’ or perhaps a
‘wyrmfell byrne’ (‘dragon-skin armour’).
Other than metallic armour, padded
garments foreshadowing the later medieval
gambeson were worn – either providing an
under-layer for a mailcoat, or worn alone. The
latter seems to be the case for some soldiers
on the Franks Casket, whose striped garments
are not simply tunics, but imitate the Late
Antique thoracomaci or subarmales fitted with
hanging strips like pteryges. Here, however,
the garment’s stripes are compact and give
the impression of being sewn together, as in
the medieval gambeson, and as also visible in
contemporary Frankish iconography (Stuttgart Psalter, folio 52; Arator A 6th-century iron shield boss
Subdiaconus, Historia Apostolica, folio 54v). Quilted leather and cloth with silver and gold fittings,
from Mucking, Essex. (British
garments as alternatives to metal armours could have been produced easily Museum; photo Raffaele
and inexpensively using the technologies of the period. D’Amato, courtesy of the
A fragmentary carved stone Museum)
cross at the church of St Mary
Bishophill in York shows two
standing figures, each with an
impressive moustache (see photo
opposite). The figure on the left
has a cloak or mantle thrown over
what may be some form of armour
on his shoulders, a hood (or
helmet?), a broad waist belt, and a
horn slung at his hip. He appears
to be restraining the figure on the
right, who also wears a mantle over
a collared garment. Both men wear
outer garments with a carefully
carved quilted texture suggestive
of padded armour, such as is also
visible on 7th-century plaques
found at Sutton Hoo and in the
Staffordshire Hoard. It is equally
plausible that metal reinforcement
Reconstruction of the outer
plates might have been sewn into and inner faces of the 7th-
the body of such garments, as in century shield from Sutton
the much later ‘coat of plates’. Hoo, Mound 1. The gilded
The warrior on the 9th-century copper-alloy mounts on the
outside represent a dragon
Norbury Stone (see page 6) seems and a bird. (ex Pollington, Kerr
to wear padded armour perhaps & Hammond, 2010; Mortimer
reinforced with metallic discs. Collection)

31
Both sides of a 5th-century
war axe of Frankish type; it
shows various affinities with
finds on the continent, and in
England (at Howletts, Kent).
According to Harrison (1993), it
has a Merovingian origin, of a
type normally used by cavalry.
(Lewes Museum, Alfriston, E.
Sussex; photo courtesy of
Matt Bunker)

Shields
The shield was conventionally a wooden disc of several boards laid edge-
to-edge, the most commonly-used woods being poplar (populus) or willow
(salix). Shields were probably finely crafted from thin laths curved into a
lenticular form and tapered
towards the outer edge. The
inner and outer faces were
covered with leather (Prittlewell
grave 121) – a law of King Cnut
forbids the use of sheepskin
Three views of a complete for this purpose. A protruding
and well-preserved Anglo-
Danish asymmetric iron
metal boss covered a central cut-
axehead from the 10th or 11th out over the internal handgrip,
century. Weapons of this type and various metal mountings –
are typically known as ‘Dane simultaneously decorative and
axes’, and are depicted on the
protective – were occasionally
Bayeux Tapestry being wielded
two-handed by the English, fitted, as was metal edge-binding.
particularly the housecarls. The poem Beowulf describes
The haft-socket is of D-section, leather-covered shields made of
and has triangular projections
wood, richly ornamented with
pointing both up and down
the haft. This axe is similar to metal ribs and fitted with bosses,
R.E.M. Wheeler’s Type VI (1927), strengthened with metal around
which he dates to around AD the edges (rondas regnhearde,
1000 onward, referring to 15 faéttes cyldas).
examples from the Thames
and several from the Home
The shield bosses of the
Counties and southern East elite were often of the common
Anglia. A number of similar domed typology, but there are
axes, found at the northern important exceptions. The boss
end of old London Bridge, are
now in the Museum of London
might be strengthened by a
collection. (PAS record BUC- central protrusion or spike and
B7ACE2, licence CC BY-SA 4.0) studs, usually flat, although

32
this form later gave way to simpler domed profiles. The magnificent shield
recovered from Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo featured gilded copper-alloy panels
around its boss, of which the central stud was topped with a gilt-copper disc
with inset garnets. Unusually, this shield featured almost as much decoration
on the reverse as on the front, with gilded vertical bars developing into
pairs of beast-heads, and paired fixtures at the rim – perhaps to attach a
slinging strap. The handgrip was of wood reinforced with iron and bound
with leather.
The size of the boards can seldom be determined. Iconography (e.g. the
Bradwell figurine) often shows shields as quite small, covering the bent arm
from shoulder to hand, so e.g. 45–65cm/18–25ins in diameter. Early grave
finds indicate that the face of the shield was decorated with metal studs,
plates and other fittings ornamented with animal, fish, bird and other motifs.
The majestic example from Sutton Hoo Mound 1 was much larger – the
metal rim showing a diameter of 93cm/36.6ins – and decorated with metal
plates formed as a bird and a dragon. Iconography and archaeology indicate
that throughout the Anglo-Saxon period shields were usually circular and
either flat or convex, but during the 11th century the longer ‘teardrop’ or
‘kite’-shaped shield was introduced, probably under influence from the East.
The Bayeux Tapestry also shows one warrior using a rectangular shield with
rounded corners, an archeologically confirmed design that has echoes in the
art of Ireland and Pictish Scotland.
In Beowulf the shields had a yellow rim or were painted yellow. Designs
for shield blazons are known from 11th century sources, especially from
the Hexateuch (foliate decoration) and from the Bayeux Tapestry. Some
miniatures from the Cotton MS Claudius show broad shields whose surface
is divided by radial bands, which in some cases are reinforced by studs or
nails (folio 24v), and in others are marked by blue or red lines (folio 25v).
These radial bands, probably derived from those decorating Carolingian and
Ottonian shields, seem to be typical of royal bodyguards (folio 34r). Again,
the surface of the royal shields in that manuscript is painted plain yellow
(folio 25), or sometimes only around the rim, suggesting metal edging. Shield
bosses were still in use in the 11th century, and in the Cotton MS Claudius
are represented as conical, painted black, light blue or reddish-mauve.

WEAPONS:

Axes
Axes feature widely in the early Anglo-Saxon period in the form of the light
francisca throwing-axe, with its curved head and swept blade. Surviving Reconstruction of the Acklam
examples are seldom decorated, and it may be that these missile weapons Wold sword from North
Yorkshire, which has been
were regarded as expendable. Nevertheless, the hafts may have been carved variously dated. The pattern-
or painted, if only for identification. welded blade was made from
Axes of conventional design were important to Anglo-Saxon warriors, 12 composite rods, and the
sometimes having a status similar to that of the sword, and were carried by hilt shows traces of ivory and
gold filigree, with a wire-inlaid
the same elite class. They were representative of wealth and privilege, and
pommel. (Drawing by Andrea
were often included as grave goods, such as the Alfriston axe from Sussex. Salimbeti, ex Ben Mortimer,
A long axe-hammer with an iron haft and head, the blade angled 2019)
downwards, and with a complex swivel-ring at the end of the haft, was
found in Mound I at Sutton Hoo. This was probably not a weapon of war
but rather a ceremonial piece, probably used for the public slaughter of
cattle and horses for ritual feasting. Iconographic evidence (e.g. the Bayeux

33
 Tapestry) shows 10th- to 11th-century
warriors with large, two-handed axes. These
are probably the weapons called in Norse
skeggøx (‘beard-axe’), presumably from their
asymmetric blade shape, and were associated
with the húskarlar.

Swords
The sword (Latin, ensis, spatha; Old English,
sweord, mece) was the most symbolically
important weapon of the Anglo-Saxon elite.
Though the spear was more widely used, the
sword had a prestige and glamour greater
than that of any other weapon.
The typology of hilt parts (pommel, grip
and guard) has been studied for nearly two
centuries, and several classification systems
have been devised. These tie the early (5th-
to 8th-century) evidence to developments in
France and the Rhineland, while later types
share characteristics with Scandinavian
finds. Given that so-called ‘Viking’ blades
generally originated in the Rhineland and
were fitted with hilts and scabbards locally,
the similarity of Anglo-Saxon, Frankish and
Reconstruction of the sword later Scandinavian finds is hardly surprising.
hilt and scabbard fittings from It has been estimated that swords are found with about one burial in 20
Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo, plus
a suspended sword bead from
(5 per cent of graves) in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Such a figure should not be
Dover (Buckland, grave 93); taken at face value, since we cannot know how representative of society at
first half of 7th century. The large these furnished burials really are – while study of the many cremation
two short suspension straps cemeteries seldom produces any evidence for swords at all. That said, it may
associated with the two domed
be supposed that swords were not available to everybody, and that ownership
gilt cloisonné bosses probably
allowed the scabbard to be of one conferred some status. This is confirmed by the highly decorated
removed without unfastening elements of many hilts, like the
the waist belt. (ex Pollington, specimen found in Mixnam’s
Kerr & Hammond, 2010;
Pit, Chertsey, with a copper-
Mortimer Collection)
inlaid hilt, and another find
from Cumberland of a profiled
hilt in wood and horn with
indented gold elements. On the
other hand, more than 80 mostly
high-status sword pommels were
found in the Staffordshire Hoard
Pommel and part of grip from alone, showing that swords were
the Fetter Lane sword, late 8th more numerous than previously
century. This impressive piece
was made of silver with gilt and
thought. In the early centuries
niello decoration on an organic elite swords often had attached
base, and the main panels of to the hilt a dangling sword-
the grip are decorated on both bead made of glass, amber or
sides with animal and foliate
motifs. (British Museum; photo
perhaps horn.
Raffaele D’Amato, courtesy of An important category of
the Museum) 6th- to 7th-century swords had

34
 FAR LEFT
The 9th-century Fiskerton
sword, from the river Witham
in Lincolnshire. This iron
two-edged blade has a silver-
mounted hilt; the down-curved
guard quillons are undecorated,
as is the up-curved guard of
the trilobate pommel. The
blade has no fuller, and X-ray
photography shows different
patterns of welding – a slightly
watered effect at the hilt,
and a herring-bone pattern
throughout the length of the
blade. This weapon falls into a
well-defined group of similarly-
dated swords, of which the
most important example is that
from Abingdon.

LEFT
The broken 9th-century
Abingdon sword from
Berkshire (now Oxfordshire).
Its silvered mounts bear niello
decoration echoing objects
in the Trewhiddle hoard from
St Austell, Cornwall, which is
the largest assembly of Anglo-
Saxon metalwork known from
that century. The up-curved
pommel guard and down-
curved quillons are decorated
with interlaced animal, bird,
human and foliate motifs,
and the pommel cap has two
outward-facing animal heads.
(Sheffield City Museum &
the pommel decorated with a ring, as also present on the contemporary
British Museum, respectively;
swords of other Germanic peoples such as the Lombards. According photos courtesy of Matt
to Evison (1956), interlinked rings symbolized a bond of mutual loyalty Bunker )
between lord and warrior. One suggestion is that the ring meant that the
sword was given by a leader to a thane as a reward for service or a symbol
of elite rank. The ring-hilted sword has elsewhere been linked to the practice
of ritual oath-taking.
Ring-hilted swords are a feature mainly of finds in Kent and elsewhere in
the south-east from the 6th and 7th centuries, and this characteristic style of
hilt fitting is termed the ‘Bifrons-Gilton pommel type’, from early find sites
in Kent. It suggests that Kentish kings were influenced by contemporary
Merovingian Frankish customs during a period of Frankish hegemony
usually ascribed to c.520–570, a period of consolidation when chiefdoms
were developing around a few powerful kinship groups. Identical customs
are found in Kentish cemeteries such as Ash Gilton and Faversham, and
Frankish ones such as St Dizier. The contemporary finds of ring-pommels
in Västergotland (Sweden) and Westphalia (Germany) may be considered as
outliers of this cultural group.
The blades of early swords were made by the pattern-welding technique,
whereby several grades of iron bars were welded together alternating in twisted
and straight sections to produce a stratified linear effect; this could be etched

35
RIGHT and ground to reveal ‘star’ patterns and
Anglo-Saxon iron seax with other effects. Pattern-welded blades
silvered copper-alloy ‘cocked-
hat’ pommel and fittings;
were certainly the prerogative of elite
7th-8th century, from Oliver’s warriors. We find them in great number
Battery, Winchester, Hampshire; in the pre-Christian graves (e.g. in
total length, 39.3cm/15.4 Prittlewell grave 121, accompanied by a
inches. When it was excavated,
beechwood scabbard covered in textile
iron corrosion could be seen
to preserve the remains of a and lined with fleece).
wooden sheath, probably of The typical sword of the early period
oak. (Winchester City Museum, (e.g. that from Mound 1 at Sutton
photo courtesy of Matt Bunker)
Hoo) does not appear to have featured
a fuller, although this was present on
FAR RIGHT blades from the 9th century onward.
The 10th-century ‘Beagnoth’ The pommels represented on the Cotton
or Battersea seax, with a
72cm/28.4-in blade with the
IV BL manuscript are round or three-
back running almost parallel lobed in shape (folio 25v), which links
to the straight cutting edge them with Petersen’s Type S (folio 38r)
before being angled towards or X (folio 36v), like the example held
the point. The broad tang
by Harold when taken captive in the
is offset sideways from the
centre of the blade, which is Bayeux Tapestry.
decorated on both faces with The scabbard was formed as two
linear ornament formed by wooden laths (usually radially cut or
hammering polychrome wires
split, and 2cm/0.78in thick) held in a
into the surface of the metal,
including a Runic alphabet leather casing with metal fittings at the
and the name of either the mouth and lower end (chape). The form
smith or the owner. (British and decoration of these fittings allows
Museum, inv. no. 1857,0623.1; a systematic dating and typology to be
photo courtesy of Wikimedia
Commons)
proposed. In some cases it is likely that
foundation moulding (a carved wooden
core with leather shrunk tight over it)
was used to produce a decorative design
in raised ribs across the surface; this

‘OFFA’s DYKE’, LATE 8th CENTURY AD (2) King Beorhtric of Wessex

E (1) King Offa of Mercia To Offa’s left side stands his younger ally Beorhtric. He
Offa is credited with ordering the construction of this wears a blue cloak hanging open at the front to below his
impressive earthwork along the border between Mercia knees, copied from the Franks Casket; its silver disc brooch
and the hostile Welsh kingdom of Powys. We reconstruct with small raised bosses is from the Evington specimen. His
the king’s appearance as in his vigorous middle age, and his rich saffron-yellow tunic is, again, pleated below the waist.
costume partly from the carvings on the Franks Casket. He He holds a sword with a silver and gilt pommel, from a
wears a crimson ‘Phrygian’ cap, and a knee-length tunic. specimen found at Chiswick on the river Thames.
This shows pleats below the waist; hints of transverse folds (3) West Saxon warlord
on the forearm; gold brocade edging, including bands from Between and behind the two kings, a warlord stands in
the collar down the vent on the chest; and note a gold left attendance on Beorhtric. His helmet is a composite of the
arm-ring. His tight-fitting linen trousers are confined with Coppergate and Wollaston specimens, in comparison with
tapes, each with a silver-gilt hooked tag fastening just the Franks Casket. He is protected by a knee-length leather
below the knee, and he wears calf-length leather boots of coat quilted with diamond-pattern stitching copied from
Carolingian style. His short mantle in rich green silk is the St John’s Bishopshill Cross, and a high collar. The
decorated with a repeat pattern, and is fastened at his right bindings of his trousers would again have small silver
shoulder with a silver-gilt disc brooch. Slung from a leather fastening tags. His sword has a silver pommel with inlaid
belt with a long hanging strap-end is his scabbarded sword gilt panels (from the Windsor specimen), and at his feet is a
with a silver-gilt hilt, copied from the Fetter Lane specimen. shield with a ‘sugarloaf ’ boss (from British Museum
(see photo, page 34) specimen 1912, 1220.3). On campaign, he carries a finely
mounted drinking horn as a sign of status.

36
 37
3
2
1
 feature has been detected on scabbards from the bog-deposit at Nydam
(Denmark) in the area from which the Angles originated.
Early chapes – such as that from Kingston by Lewes (6th century), or one
from Brighthampton – were of copper alloy, often short-armed, broad and
with gilding, or long-armed, and both asymmetrical. Decorated specimens
were probably related to elite warriors.
The suspension system is well documented in the iconography and
archaeology. Sometimes the swords were slung at the waist, either in a
near-horizontal position (picture stone from Sockburn, Co Durham) or at
a steeper angle to the rear (Sutton Hoo, Sigmund Stone, and Winchester
Old Minster). The scabbard could be worn from a baldric (Goliath in MS
Cotton Tiberius), or be attached to a waist belt, perhaps by a button passing
through a slit in the belt (Harold scabbard on Bayeux Tapestry). Equally, it
might have been attached by a looped strap (again, Goliath in MS Cotton
Tiberius); in the case of the surviving Gloucester scabbard, such a strap might
have passed through two slits in the case. It is interesting to note (Hexateuch,
folio 38v) that the marching lord is not wearing a sword, but weapons are
carried by servants in his baggage train.

The seax
The word seax or sax denotes a single-edged knife, as was in common use
by all levels of society for domestic as well as military purposes. Iron knives
are a common find in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, although corrosion usually
prevents us from appreciating their original design and fineness of execution.
The military knife shares its basic form with the hunting knife from which
it derives. The iron blade is usually quite short and very sturdy, with a thick
back edge; a scooped point (i.e. a ‘Bowie-knife’ shape) develops from the 8th
century onwards.
The inlaid decoration on the blade may be all that survives to indicate
what a magnificent weapon a found seax originally was. An example in
the British Museum from Sittingbourne, Kent, bears inlaid silver panels and
the reserved inscriptions ‘+Biorthelm me porte’ and ‘+S[i]gebereht me ah’.
Another superb example recovered from the river Thames at Battersea, also
in the British Museum, is 72.1cm/28.4ins long without its original hilt, and
is inlaid with silver and copper-alloy decoration including a complete runic
alphabet (fuþorc) and the owner’s or maker’s name ‘Beagnoth’.
The seax was worn in a sheath of leather with a tooled design, of which
examples survive from London, Hexham, Lincoln, Durham and York.
Sheaths were made from a single piece of leather with one seam, and may
have been moulded directly around the blade itself. The basic type was a
folded flap of leather, sewn or riveted along its upper edge, with small buckles,
and reinforcements at the mouth and point to prevent wear; later sheaths
were carefully sewn along the centre of the reverse. A characteristic pattern
on early types consists of tooled ribbing following the profile of the blade,
A shorter so-called ‘broken- while the upper section, which partly covers the hilt, is cross-hatched within
back’ 9th- or 10th-century seax
from Sittingbourne in Kent. It is
a rectangular panel. A few examples bear a maker’s formula: ‘+BYRHTSIGE
inscribed in insular majuscules MEC F[E]CIÐ’ on one from Aachen, Germany, and ‘+EDRIC ME FECI[T]’
☩ BIORHTELM ME ǷORTE i.e. ‘Eadric made me’ on another from Dublin. It is likely that the names are
(‘Biorhtelm made me’) and on those of the weaponsmiths rather than the leatherworkers.
the reverse ☩ S[I]GEBEREHT
ME AH (‘S[i]gebereht owns
Evidence from graves and iconography shows that the weapon was worn
me’). (British Museum; photo across the stomach – probably with the sharp edge uppermost and with the
courtesy of Matt Bunker) hilt at the right-hand end. This would make withdrawal quicker and easier,

38
and, by preventing the blade from resting on its cutting edge, both the sheath
and the edge would have been protected from undue wear. The small buckles
may have fastened straps which attached it to the belt.
Small knives for general use, 14cm/5½ins long and with horn handles
and leather sheaths, are also recorded from princely graves (e.g. Prittlewell
grave 121). One remarkable suite of knives was found at Dover (Buckland
cemetery, grave 93), with a large ‘cutlass’ in a wooden-cored leather sheath
flanked by two smaller horn-hilted knives. It may be that this represents a
huntsman’s group, with the larger blade used for the kill and the smaller ones
used for cleaning the carcass.

Spears and javelins

It should be borne in mind that the spear was wielded more often in hunting
than in war, and that proficiency in its use was a badge of male achievement.
In the 9th century King Alfred calls the male line of family descent the
sperehealf (‘spear-side’) while the female is the spinelhealf (‘spindle-side’).
The heavy thrusting spear is the commonest weapon recovered from Anglo-
Saxon graves, and also appears frequently in manuscript illustrations and
elsewhere. The iron head was usually lozenge-shaped with a slender neck, and
a split socket which was nailed to the wooden shaft. Grave finds show that
a minority of spears were furnished with a ferrule on the butt. The shaft was
often of ash wood (fraxinus), and typically around 2m/6½ft long. A typology
of forms has been established for Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian spearheads,
which vary mainly in having either a closed or a split socket, and in the relative
broadness of the blade. Decoration is confined to small inlaid geometric and
other designs at the base of the blade (e.g. the find from Hollingborough, Kent),
and occasionally a gilded copper-alloy band at the socket (e.g. the example
from Great Chesterford, Essex, now in the British Museum).
In the late miniatures a type of long spear wielded by kings and their
retinues is represented with a barbed head reinforced with two or three
transverse ‘wings’ below (Hexateuch, folios 24v & 25r), and the shoulders
reinforced by volutes. While usually called today a ‘boar-spear’, this weapon
is often represented in 11th-century battle scenes, which proves that it was
not used only for hunting. Interestingly, in the Hexateuch manuscript these
barbed spearheads alternate with squared blades characterized by a spherical
counterweight below the head (folios 39r & 39v), a typology usually visible
among East Roman spears of the period.
The spear shaft is usually represented in medium brown, suggesting bare, Spearhead from Great
unpainted wood. While decorated shafts are not well attested archaeologically Chesterford, Essex, 5th century.
This originally magnificent
in Britain, some of the earlier Danish bog-finds featured carved and spearhead must have belonged
pigmented panels and occasionally a short runic text, all designed to impress to an elite warrior; it is
and to personalize the weapon. Some of the shaft fragments recovered from decorated with inlaid roundels
the early 7th-century Prittlewell princely chamber grave in Essex also bear near the shoulder, and a socket-
ring bearing zoomorphic
engraved interlace detailing; these were presumably for identification as well
decoration in Germanic
as showing off the warrior’s taste in decoration. Style I. (ex Pollington, Kerr &
Javelins or throwing spears (daroð) were also used, and the Bayeux Hammond, image Lindsay Kerr,
Tapestry shows a warrior in the English shieldwall carrying three of these in 2010)
his left hand behind his shield, while brandishing a fourth in his right hand.
An early form is called in the modern literature an angon, and features a
narrow, sharply barbed head on a short shaft. Javelins might be carried in
a purpose-made case or quiver, as attested by the armed figure from the
Norbury Stone in Derbyshire and by many manuscript illustrations.

39
 Bows
The use of bows in warfare was mainly confined to lower social ranks,
although they were popular with the elite for hunting, and representations
of their use in war are visible on the Franks Casket. In the Prittlewell princely
burial an arrowhead was found, but the lack of any other archery element
makes it more logical to suppose that this was the cause of the buried man’s
death rather than part of his own war-gear. References to the bow used
in war are few: in The Battle of Maldon the two sides were able to harm
each other only ‘through arrow’s flight’ (þurhflanesflyht, line 71), and in
the initial stages ‘bows were busy’ (bogan wæronbysige, line 110), while
towards the end of the poem Æscferþ’s contribution was that ‘he sent many
arrows speeding forth – sometimes he struck a shield, sometimes wounded a
warrior’ (lines 269–270). This is probably due to the initially static nature of
this combat, when the English and Danes were at first physically separated
by a waterway and missiles were the only available choice.
The bow is well represented in the miniatures (e.g. Hexateuch, folio
36v), but not in the hands of kings or their followers. One exception is the
bow of ‘Welsh’ type (an ancestor of the longbow) depicted in the hands of
Esau in the same manuscript (folio 41v); it is shown as white and the quiver
as black, with white-fletched arrows. Esau being an important character
in the Old Testament, this might be the representation of a nobleman
out hunting.
Detail of left panel from the
8th-century ‘Franks Casket’,
representing the siege of
Jerusalem in AD 70 under the
Emperor Titus. The carvings on CLOTHING
this Northumbrian whalebone
chest show important details
of contemporary Anglo-Saxon
war gear. The leader of the
Tunics
Romans (centre) wears a The main garments of male Anglo-Saxons (Anglisaxones) were tunics and
‘Phrygian’ helmet or cap and trousers, which in the early period were tailored wide and made in linen
advances with a drawn sword, (Paulus Diaconus, IV, 22). A short-sleeved tunic like the Roman-style one
followed by a man in scale
armour similar to that on the
recovered from Thorsberg was probably part of their earlier clothing.
contemporary Repton Stone. According to Paulus Diaconus – if this passage also refers to Anglo-Saxon
Other soldiers are clad in what garments – they were ornamented with broad borders woven in various
seems to be ‘muscled’ armour, colours. Physical remains of English garments from the early and middle
worn over a padded garment,
showing vertical folds, to
protect the lower abdomen
and groin. The Anglo-Saxon
military equipment of the
Northumbrian elite was widely
influenced by Carolingian
styles, which, under Italian
and Eastern Roman influences,
still included pseudo-Roman
armours. The realism of the
equipment represented on
the casket is supported by
one of the warriors carved on
the lid, who wears a helmet
virtually identical to the famous
Coppergate find from York.
(British Museum; photo Rafaele
D’Amato, courtesy of the
Museum)

40
 ‘David slaughtering Goliath’,
a miniature from the poems
of Paulinus of Nola. This
illustration includes a rare
image of a Benty Grange-type
helmet with an animal crest.
Note the down-curved guard
quillons of the sword, typical
of 9th- to 10th-century Anglo-
Saxon finds. (St Petersburg
Public Library, Ms.Q.v.XIV.I;
drawing by Andrea Salimbeti
ex Nicolle)

Detail from the rear panel

of the Franks Casket. The
abandoned Romulus and
periods are confined to a few mineralized scraps of cloth recovered from
Remus are found by four
graves, and some woven bands placed in the tombs of saints. hunters, one of them (left)
The tunic (cyrtel or tunece) of the later elite, as represented in 11th-century dressed in an elegant
manuscripts (Hexateuch, folio 22r, and Bayeux Tapestry) is knee-length and vernacular short cloak fastened
on the right by a round fibula.
long-sleeved, sometimes with the forearms showing transverse folds. Often
This man may represent an
the abdomen is shown ‘pouching’ down over the belt, which it thus conceals. ealdorman, since he shows long
The fullness of the skirt is often indicated, as in sculptures where the skirt is tunic sleeves having a pleated
represented longer at the sides than in the middle with a curving hem, as on appearance like those of
the Norbury Stone. The tunic sleeve of the archer on an 11th- century ivory noblemen in later manuscripts.
The other warriors, symbolizing
cross is slightly flared but other images show smooth, close-fitting sleeves his retinue, are dressed in
extending to the wrist. tunics having tighter skirts, as
Colours and ornamentation might indicate status. Kings may be indicated by a line beneath the
represented with red tunics and gold cuffs (probably indicating embroidery buttocks, and some have plain
close-fitting sleeves. (British
with gold thread or silk or gold brocading, e.g. King Edgar in MS Vespasian Museum; photo Raffaele
A VIII). Gold brocade formed part of the costume of the occupant of the 7th- D’Amato, courtesy of the
century burial mound at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, but the garment to which Museum)

41
Cnut the Great, in a detail from
the 11th-century manuscript
Liber Vitae now in Winchester
Library. At lower right, with
his right hand on the cross
shaft, the king wears a crown
in German Imperial style. So is
his typical 11th-century royal
gown (oferlaeg), which is knee-
length and quite loose-fitting,
with long sleeves having a
pleated appearance. Note
the decorated cloak, drawn
through a band and furnished
at the fastening point with two
ribbons ending in trapezoidal
tags. (Winchester Library, MS
Stowe 944, folio 6r; photo
Raffaele D’Amato, courtesy of
the Library)

it was applied had perished. The brocade appeared to be attached at the

collar and to extend down the front of the body as a hem. It is likely that the
garment was what some modern commentators have called a ‘riding jacket’,
of a type used widely in northern Europe from the 6th century onwards, with
the frontal panels overlapping one over the other.
The scholar Gale R. Owen-Crocker suggests that the royal costume of
King Athelstan in the Cambridge Corpus Christi College MS 183 shows a
linen tunic (to judge from its light shade), terminating in a decorated cuff or
wrist band. The neckline of this tunic is marked by a decorated band placed
at the top of the shoulder, indicating an aperture wide enough to pass over
the head. In the Life of Edward (pp.22–33) we have a reference to earlier
Anglian kings: ‘It had not been the custom for English kings in bygone days
to wear clothes of great splendour, apart from cloaks and robes adorned at the
top with gold in the national style’. This suggests that such gold edging was
considered normal for kings. Green-blue is often used in the Hexateuch for the
tunics of kings and their retinues (folio 25r), but red is also visible (folio 38r).
Royal servants seem to have worn similar but simplified tunics, of
medium blue or light brown colour. Usually the tunics shown in manuscript
illuminations are plain and without decoration, but one worn by an elite
guard represented as Goliath (Tiberius Psalter, folios 8v & 9r), as well as

42
those of the noblemen (folio 8v), are decorated on the skirts with floral
patterns as well as rows of dots and lines, dotted cuffs and necklines. The
tunic is often represented with a slit at the front of the neck and a wide collar
(sweor-claþ or sweor-sal) often depicted in contrasting colours or, as in the
Tiberius Psalter, decorated with dots. Goliath is wearing a tunic with this
type of border at the neck, with the additional feature of two strings, ending
in tags, with which the neck opening is laced or drawn together. Interestingly,
his sleeves, like those of the guardsmen in the Cotton B IV, are marked from
elbow to wrist in a series of parallel transverse lines terminating at the wrists
in a band which is decorated with dots on gold embroidery (see photo below).
It is not clear what these parallel lines are meant to represent – perhaps
bracelets or arm-rings awarded for service? But more probably, based on the
miniatures of the Hexateuch and samples in Late Roman art (e.g. Colossus of
Barletta), these are simply transverse folds or ruches in the sleeves.

Belts
These had been associated since antiquity with masculinity and military
status. Belts worn prominently by otherwise naked or partly-clad warriors
feature in European art back to the Bronze Age. True belt buckles made their

Goliath, also from the

Cotton manuscript of c.AD
1050–75. The warrior has an
embroidered tunic apparently
with transverse-pleated sleeves
and a loosely-hanging skirt.
Note also that he wears buskins
or hose over his trousers.
(British Library, MS Tiberius C VI,
folio 9r; photo courtesy of the
Library)

43
The 6th-century Bradwell first appearance in northern Europe with the advent of the Roman armies,
‘gaming piece’, found in replacing a form of cast copper-alloy toggle used to secure a waist belt.
Norfolk. This copper-alloy
figurine is only 37.5mm/1.5ins
The Roman army’s use of a buckled belt was carried through into the
tall by 42mm/1.6ins long , but traditions of Anglian and other successors – cf. the splendid belt-set retrieved
is precisely fashioned. Note from the Late to Post-Roman cemetery at Mucking, Essex. Civilians, by
the bridle and reins, and straps contrast, gathered their tunics with a sash or cord, or left the garment
running to the rump and
beneath the tail indicating the hanging loose. The Latin (or Etruscan) word balteus denoted a sword belt
use of a saddle. The rider has (whether around the waist or an over-the-shoulder ‘baldric’), while cingulum
thick, collar-length hair, and was reserved for the military waist belt. The OE belt derives from balteus,
sports a narrow moustache.
overlapping with the Germanic-derived word gyrdel (‘girdle’) for a belt with
A scabbarded sword is slung
at his left hip and extends over a pouch attached.
the horse’s flank. His left hand
grips a small circular shield with Trousers
a central umbo, while his right
These were in use since the Iron Age, and the early models were
loosely holds the reins. (Private
collection, photo courtesy probably identical to the 3rd-century pair found at Thorsberg, Denmark.
Timeline Auctions) Iconographically, the details of legwear are often hidden beneath the tunic.

AFTERMATH OF BATTLE OF EDINGTON, AD 879 His body is protected by a waist-length, short-sleeved iron
F (1) King Alfred of Wessex scale armour, over a knee-length under-armour garment in
In the aftermath of his greatest victory, the king stands before padded fabric worn over his green tunic. Grey trousers with a
the altar, accompanied by priests, about to present the defeated woven pattern are tucked into calf-length boots of russet
Danish jarl Guthrum with a gold arm-ring to signify the latter’s leather, in Carolingian style. His sword is taken from the
submission. Alfred is depicted in iconography with short hair Abingdon specimen, and below the front of his yellowish
and a neatly trimmed beard. He wears a knee-length red leather belt is a long seax in a leather sheath, worn with the
woollen tunic with short sleeves, bordered with a vinescroll cutting edge upward. The shield resting beside him bears
pattern embroidered in gold on red. Under this he wears a white motifs copied from the major 9th-century Trewhiddle hoard,
silken undertunic with sleeves reaching the wrist, where they found down a mine near St Austell, Cornwall.
are edged like the overtunic. His sky-blue trousers are tight- (3) Danish jarl
fitting, the leather cross-gartering fastened with gilt buckles, Our imagined reconstruction of Guthrum, at the moment of
and his soft leather shoes are buff-yellow. On his right hand he accepting Christianity under Alfred’s sponsorship, kneels
wears a gold finger ring. His dark green woollen cloak is draped before the king, priests and altar. He is wearing a white shift
over a chair behind him with the gilded disc brooch visible. which is plain apart from braid at the collar and cuffs, copied
(2) West Saxon ealdorman from the Maaseik embroidery. Around his waist is a loosely-
This war-seasoned senior nobleman is mainly copied from the tied plain sash in purple-red, and around his brow is a white
Repton Stone, with the addition of the Coppergate helmet. silk band with the chrism (a Christian symbol) folded inside it.

44
 2

45
Reconstruction of 6th-century
bridle elements from finds at
Eriswell, Suffolk. (Drawing by
Andrea Salimbeti, ex Fern)

Breeches and longer trousers were used in all the periods, as also were braies
or hose – two fabric tubes suspended from a belt. Late manuscript images
always depict the legwear as tight-fitting, often with bindings (possibly
woollen or leather straps) confining them from below the knee to the ankle.
Trouser colours are often off-white, but also mauve, and (as worn by Harold
on the Bayeux Tapestry) dark blue.

Shoes
The 11th-century manuscripts represent kings, noblemen and royal guards
with pointed shoes fitting low beneath the ankle bone (anklebone), and
mainly in buff, black or brown colours.

Caps
A very early form of soft headgear is evidenced on a 5th-century ceramic
figure from the Anglian cemetery at Spong Hill, Norfolk: a ‘pill-box’ cap
similar in form to the Late Roman military pileus pannonicus.
A ‘Phrygian’ cap – raised, drawn forward, sometimes ribbed and/or
‘crenellated’ in profile – is often represented in 11th-century miniatures,
and should not necessarily be considered as simply an artistic convention.
It is mainly associated with military figures, often in battle, including royal
bodyguards rather than kings themselves, and may have been made of plain
leather, cuir bouilli or even felted wool (Hexateuch, folio 22r). Those of the
kings’ retainers are represented as high and conical, often yellow in colour
or embroidered (Hexateuch, folio 37r).

Cloaks
The Saxons perhaps adopted specialist military capes from Roman dress,
and both long cloaks and short mantles were widely worn by kings and
noblemen. The cloaks of the men on the Franks Casket are typical of the
garments depicted in later manuscripts: rectangular, with the upper corners
fastened together by a brooch-pin at the right shoulder.

46
 From the 9th century onwards the influence of the Carolingian court is
evident in the combination of a cloak with a short tunic. The short mantle of
the king and some of his retinue in 11th-century manuscript images is usually
squarish or rectangular, represented in a light blue or blue-green colour,
medium blue, light or olive green, medium brown, mauve, reddish-pink, even
purple (Hexateuch, folios 38v, 47r); Harold in the Bayeux Tapestry wears
an indigo cloak. Cloaks may sometimes be gold-embroidered, and this may
not be an artistic convention. According to the Vita Aedwardi (‘The Life of
Edward’), in the ornamentation of the king’s garments ‘no count was made
of the cost of precious stones, rare gems and shining pearls that were used.
As regards mantles (clamidibus), tunics (tunicis), boots and shoes (caligis et
calciamentis), the amount of gold which flowed in the various complicated
floral designs was not weighed…’.
Very few male brooches have been found in the earliest Anglo-Saxon
male graves, so knotting two corners of the garment, or closing it with cords,
may have been fashionable. However, especially in the early period, a sort
of Romano-British style was diffused through Britain, and both ‘crossbow’
and ‘quoit brooch’ styles (Alfriston) were certainly used by warriors. Later
Gilded harness mount with a
brooches appear in varying types, especially for royal figures. In the Bayeux
garnet set in the centre, and
Tapestry the cloak of Harold is fastened by a penannular (incomplete ring) stylized eagles’ heads, found
brooch, and brooches were usually circular from the 10th century. However, in Hampshire. Christopher
one example of variation from Winchester is rectangular with extended Fern has studied the similar
Cowbridge mount in
trefoil corners, and corresponds with the one fastening the king’s cloak in
conjunction with harness
the Hexateuch, folio 36v. fittings from Mound 17 at
The cloak is occasionally shown fastened on the left shoulder by a Sutton Hoo, and has concluded
circular brooch, and although this is rarer than fastening on the right (e.g. that this piece represents a
the king holding a sword in the Hexateuch, folio 59r), there is no reason development uniting a circular
mount with an originally
to dismiss it. In the MS Stowe 944 the cloak of King Cnut is fastened on separate pelta-shaped mount.
his left, even though he stretches out his right arm. Special decoration of This would have been used
the cloak and fasteners were indicators of status. The pre-battle scenes in on a bridle, at the junction of
the Bayeux Tapestry show Harold and his noblemen mainly with cloaks the noseband and cheekpiece
where three functional
(scenes 1–3), distinguishing them from servants and attendants (scenes 3–6). straps meet a decorative
However, as in the Hexateuch, there is no precise rule; an individual may terminal. (PAS record HAMP-
be shown wearing a cloak in one scene and without it in the following 408148, licence CC BY-SA 4.0)
miniature (scenes 7–10). Neither mantles nor
cloaks are shown being worn in battle in any of
the iconography.

Hairstyles
The English love-affair with the moustache,
already visible on the Repton Stone, seems
to significantly pre-date its use in the Bayeux
Tapestry, where it is used to distinguish the
English warriors from their Norman foes.
Indeed, the decoration on the face of the
7th-century Sutton Hoo helmet shows a neat
moustache framing the upper lip but not
extending far beyond the edges of the mouth.
The 8th-century Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin
lamented that Northumbrian men were
emulating Viking style by ‘trimming their hair
and beard like the pagans’, thus implying the

47
A picture stone of mounted previous use of long hair and beards. Regal images in the 9th century show
warriors from Sockburn, Co hair cut to collar-length and neatly trimmed beards and moustaches. In the
Durham, late 9th to mid-10th
century. These two Anglo–
11th century, manuscript miniatures show Old Testament elders wearing a
Scandinavian elite horsemen long ‘forked’ beard, either with or without moustaches.
are cantering, holding in their Interestingly, some manuscript miniatures show the hair of noblemen
left hands short reins to what as coloured – green, orange, or a rich deep blue (Hexateuch, folio 47r). In
seem to be snaffle bits, and
her writings on Anglo-Saxon costume Owen-Crocker says that ‘the use of
carrying a spear in their right
hands. They lack helmets, colour in Anglo-Saxon art is not realistic’. While it is obviously true that
but may wear close-fitting early iconography must always be approached with great caution, and that
caps. They sit on high-backed the pigments used on manuscripts also may well have discoloured over time,
saddles, and seem to be braced
this dismissal may be too drastic. The continental Celts are reported to have
back against them. The horses’
long tails are knotted up. (in sometimes dyed their hair bright red with goats’ grease and beechwood ashes,
situ, Sockburn; drawing by or bleached it with lime water, and worn it long like a horse’s mane. The plant
Andrea Salimbeti, ex Hadley) and mineral sources of natural colourants for the skin and hair were readily
available throughout England. There are contemporary reports that Saxons
did dye their hair blue, as shown in the miniatures of the Hexateuch, though
this obviously raises the question: did those writers actually see people with
blue hair, or just drawings of them?

HORSEMANSHIP

Travel and combat on horseback

The Anglo-Saxon army sometimes both travelled and fought on foot (OE
feðan,‘ínfantry’), but more usually travelled by horse (eoh). We know from
various Old English poems that the saddle was part of the warrior’s normal
equipment. Saddle elements, spurs and bridles form one of the characteristic
types of grave-goods in high-status burials – e.g. the horseman graves at
Niederstotzingen (Germany) and elsewhere – but cemetery remains of

48
horses are not found in England to the extent that they are on the continent.
Warriors arrived at the field of battle on horseback, and either assembled in
squadrons for the attack or dismounted and formed up on foot for defence.
Presumably the men whose task it was to drive the supply wagons also had
to hold the horses during fighting. Byrhtnoð, the English commander at the
battle at Maldon in 991, kept his horse by him even when he had ordered Anglo-Saxon stirrup, 11th
the others to be removed. century, from southern
Horses were widely used in warfare elsewhere in northern and western England. Decorated with a
distinctive technique of iron
Europe from the Migration period onwards. From the subsequent inlay, it is of a type perhaps
Merovingian and Vendel periods there is often ample evidence for this, introduced during the renewed
both in literary sources and in the iconography – e.g. the pressblechs from Viking attacks at the end of the
the helmets in Vendel grave 1, Sutton Hoo (Mound 17), the Staffordshire 10th century, and visible on the
Bayeux Tapestry. (Metropolitan
Hoard, and other examples. Among the finds of English archaeology there Museum, New York, inv, no.
is some evidence from east Kent for bowmanship alongside horsemanship, 47.100.23; Museum photo,
from material included in high-status graves at Dover (Buckland cemetery); public domain)
this may indicate that horse-archers were
a recognized military force, although such
graves might simply be those of huntsmen.
Other graves with horses and associated
with weapons were found in Suffolk (Snape,
and Sutton Hoo Mound 17). Likewise, the
characteristic equipment of Late Roman heavy
cavalry was used in Anglo-Saxon England in
the 6th and 7th centuries (although there is no
evidence for heavily-armoured horsemen on
the Iranian clibanarius model, as there is in
contemporary Vendel graves).
The remarkable bronze figurine from
Bradwell (Norfolk) shows a mounted warrior
with shield and sword sitting on a small,
sturdy horse. The figure is probably from the
7th century, and the lack of stirrups supports
this early date. This fits well with an episode
described in the Historia Ecclesiastica of Bede,
when one of King Edwin’s priests ‘incontinently
casting away vain superstition... besought the
king to grant him harness and a stallion war
horse (equus emissarius) whereon he might
mount and come to destroy the [pagan] idols.
For it was not before lawful for a priest of
the sacrifices either to wear harness or to ride
on other than a mare. Girded therefore with
a sword (gladius) about his loins, he took a
spear (lancea) in his hand, and, mounting the
king’s war horse, set forth against the idols’.
Mounted military forces formed the
backbone of Carolingian armies from the
8th century onwards, being indispensable for
leaders with a large territory to administer
and defend. This fact was known to Anglo-
Saxon travellers – pilgrims and nobles making
the long land passage to Rome – although the

49
 military hazards faced by the English at that time were rather small-scale
when compared to the frontiers of the Carolingian regime.
To be of service, horses had to be trained not to flee from the commotion
of battle; they had to be quite large – taller than a man’s shoulder if the rider
was to have a real advantage of height; and they had to have enough stamina
to keep going after the opposition began to flag. The typical Anglo-Saxon
horse as evidenced in the burial records was around 13–15 hands tall (about
1.4m/4 ft 7ins) at the shoulder, and weighed around 300–500kg/600–1,100
lbs, making it a hefty animal with considerable presence.
Spurs are widely attested from the 6th century onward. Archaeological
evidence for the use of stirrups begins in the Middle Saxon period and it is
definitely attested in 11th-century miniatures, confirmed by some artefacts.
The saddle is sometimes represented only as a fur or fleece cover, and harness
in the manuscript illustrations is usually dark brown. The Hexateuch shows
the king and his retainers on horseback (folios 25), using both stirrups and
spurs. The saddles seem to be of fringed fur; harness is brown leather with
pendant strips, and small phalerae at the ear intersection of the bridle.
Some literary evidence has been cited to suggest that the Anglo-Saxons
were not used to fighting on horseback, but the many counter-arguments
have been presented in scholarly debate for more than a century. The three
textual sources for this notion are the poem The Battle of Maldon probably
written shortly after 991; John of Worcester’s account of the battle of
Hereford (1055); and the events of 1066 as recorded in the ASC, in the
writings of Snorri Sturluson, and in the Bayeux Tapestry. All these sources
are relatively late, and therefore may not be typical of earlier times. One
scholar believes that the Maldon and Hastings texts have been a ‘major
hindrance to the study of how battles were fought … [they] have not simply
had a substantial impact on our interpretation of warfare, they have defined
Anglo-Saxon warfare. Both Maldon and Hastings were defensive battles in
which a firm stand had to be taken against an invading foe. In neither case
did the English commander choose to leave his men mounted – and it is no
coincidence that both were heavy defeats’. (Cathers, 2002)
The evidence of the Bayeux Tapestry is often used to generalize from the
particular: that since the English army at Hastings was not mounted, it could
only fight on foot, while the Normans preferred fighting from horseback.
Yet during several episodes depicted on the Tapestry Harold is shown on
horseback, including accompanying Duke William in the battle of Dinan, and
there is no suggestion that he was an inferior horseman. While it is unwise to
infer from this that the English were all equally comfortable on horseback, it

AFTERMATH OF BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH, AD 937 Stone sculpture. The helmet is based on the Yarm specimen,
G (1) King Athelstan of England but crested as on the Norbury Stone. His olive-green tunic,
The king is about to distribute the spoils of victory among his hemmed with a band of bright multicoloured embroidery in
warriors in a meadhall. According to his portrait in MS.183 Carolingian style, is almost obscured by his padded fabric or
fol.1v (Cambridge), Athelstan had a slender build and fair hair leather armour with decorative stitched volutes. The
and beard. He wears an alba-white tunic with bands of gold multicoloured leggings or hose are clearly of woven fabric,
thread brocade at the hem, cuffs and flanking the vent on the probably wool.
chest. Over this he wears a short blue silken mantle clasped at (3) Scop
his right shoulder with a gold disc brooch. His sword, copied Seated on a low stool, the middle-aged poet is preparing to
from the Chertsey Museum specimen (CHYMS 2645), is carried declaim a poem of praise for the king and his loyal warriors.
by his attendant ealdorman (2). The harp is of waxed wood, with decorative interlaced panels
(2) Mercian ealdorman and roundels carved lightly into the surface. For travel it would
This warrior’s equipment is copied largely from the Norbury be carried in a waterproof leather bag with a shoulder-strap.

50
 2

51
 does suggest that among both the Norman and the English elite proficiency
at riding was one of the expected accomplishments. Without the example
of the images presented in the Tapestry, it is unlikely that historians would
have placed such emphasis on Norman cavalry; the Carmen de Hastingae
Proelio/Carmen Windonis (believed to date from 1067) does not stress any
such tactical gulf between the two armies.
A rigid distinction between ‘cavalry’ and ‘infantry’ is characteristic of
both more ancient and later medieval military tactics, and may have had no
real bearing on the equipment and deployment of early medieval warriors.
It has long been known that Anglo-Saxon forces were able to acquire horses
in large numbers when necessary – for example, when countering the Danes
– but they did not harbour an image of ‘cavalry’ as implicitly superior to
footsoldiers. The same men who fought toe-to-toe with the Danes in the
shieldwall later pursued them on horseback when they fled (see below,
‘Brunanburh, 937’). Monuments such as the 8th-century Aberlemno Stone
clearly show mounted warriors wearing Anglian helmets engaging in fighting,
and there is no reason to believe that the images represent anything other
than the contemporary understanding of a battle.

Standards and flags

Military standards or pennants were used throughout the Anglo-Saxon period.
Famous in Bede’s history (HE, XVI) is the mention of the tufa of King
Edwin: ‘And moreover, he had such excellency of glory in the kingdom that
not only in battle were banners (Vexilla) borne before him, but in time of
peace too a standard-bearer (signifer) was accustomed to go before him
whensoever he rode about the cities, townships or shires with his thanes; yea,
even when he passed through the streets to any place there was wont to be
carried before him that kind of banner which the Romans call Tufa but the
A copper-alloy mount
representing a warrior wearing
English Thuuf’. This text shows that the Anglians carried vexilla (probably
a horned helmet, early 7th
century. The wide diffusion of
images with horned helmets
in England and Scandinavia
in the 6th and 7th centuries
may support the idea that they
were not necessarily an artistic
convention, but an actual
form perhaps used during
pagan rituals. Here, the horns
meet at the apex in conjoined
bird’s-head terminals to form
a ring, and the face has a large
drooping mouth and perhaps
a moustache and a pointed
beard. The figure is wearing
a garment with a cross-over
front opening, and has the
arms bent at the elbow to grip
two spears at shoulder height.
Motifs of figures with horns
and carrying a pair of spears
are well known from early 7th-
century art; parallels include
the Finglesham buckle. (PAS
record FAHG-8EAAA3, licence
CC BY-SA 4.0; drawing by
Lindsay Kerr)

52
in the shape of Roman squared, fringed flags hanging from a
crossbar, as still visible in Carolingian miniatures); but also
that as a personal standard the king had a tufa, i.e. a spearshaft
from which hung a tuft of feathers, ex confertis plumarum
globis (Ducange, Latin Dictionary, p.204) or horsehair.
From an early scene in Beowulf, we hear that the troop of
men accompanying Beowulf to Denmark had given up hope
of victory:... ac him dryhtenforgeaf, wigsped agewiofu…
(Beowulf, l. 696–7); ‘but the lord gave to them, webs of
war-might’. The nature of the poetically described wigsped
agewiofu (‘weavings of war-speed’) is probably some form of
banner with magical powers. A belief in the totemic nature of
the battle-flag is implied in the later saga of Olaf Tryggvason,
who received a standard from a supernatural female with the
words ‘Now accept a banner, for I have made [it] with all my
magical skill, and I foresee that he before whom it is borne
must be victorious, but he must die who bears it.’ The saga
continues: ‘The banner was made with much fine work and
resplendent craftsmanship. It was made in the form of a raven,
and whenever the wind blew the banner, it was as if the raven
stretched its wings for flight’.
The military standards shown on 10th-century English
coins and the Bayeux Tapestry are mainly small, rectangular,
and with a dagged trailing edge, echoing ‘barbarian’ standards shown on Picture stone of a helmeted
Roman coins centuries earlier. The simple, geometric blazons depicted warrior from Sockburn, County
Durham; Anglo–Scandinavian,
(mainly crosses and circles) could easily have been made either by appliqué AD 950–975. His head has
shapes or by embroidery. However, the Tapestry’s depiction of what been tooled away, but he
appears to be Harold’s personal standard is in the form of a reddish dragon seems to have worn a sharply
(the dragon of Wessex?), which is probably of the Late Roman draco type pointed helmet, as paralleled
in carvings at Staveley and
based on the ‘windsock’ principle – a moulded beast-head with gaping
Middleton. With one hand he
mouth, to which a tubular fabric ‘tail’ was attached in order to inflate holds a spear upright, and at
when in motion. his waist is a sword apparently
The other mentioned standard of Harold at the battle of Hastings was with curving guard quillons,
but the hilt is broken. (in situ,
the so-called Ravageur du Monde, which presents a puzzle. According to
Sockburn; drawing by Andrea
Guillaume de Poitiers (II, 31), it represented an armoured man embroidered Salimbeti, ex Hadley)
in gold (hominis armati imaginem intextam habens ex auro purissimo). No
other reference to it is known, and its real appearance is still a mystery, but
Guillaume wrote that Duke William sent it to Pope Alexander II (might it
even still be hidden among the Vatican treasure?).

FOUR MAJOR BATTLES

Catraeth, c.600
This battle is the subject of a long poem in Old Welsh (Y Gododdin), which
details the main events in heroic terms. It took place in around 600 in the
area of modern Catterick, Yorkshire. The attackers comprised a cavalry
troop of ‘three hundred’ warriors raised by the Gododdin, a North British
tribe whose name represents the Iron-Age people known as Votadini. The
Gododdin force comprised warriors drawn from all over the area called Hen

53
 Ogledd (‘The Old North’) – northern Romano–British kingdoms, possibly
including Gwynedd in North Wales. It is generally thought that a force of
300 horsemen would be too small for a major military campaign, and that
the number had been chosen for poetic reasons to demonstrate the heroism of
the outnumbered Britons in mounting an attack against overwhelming odds.
Alternatively, the horsemen may have been only the elite warriors whom
the poet thought worthy of mention, while disregarding their accompanying
infantry.1
The British leader – perhaps Mynyddog Mwynfawr – gathered a large
force of chosen champions from across the Brythonic kingdoms. He feasted
them at Din Eidyn (Edinburgh) for a year, prepared them for battle, and
then launched an attack on Catraeth. The defenders were seemingly Angles
Another 10th-century who had recently advanced into Deira and captured that stronghold. Y
picture stone from Sockburn, Gododdin mentions fighting both on horseback and on foot; the battle
depicting an elite warrior resulted in a resounding victory for the Angles, from which the northern
wearing a helmet and carrying Romano–British never recovered.
a shield and long spear. The
crested helmet can hardly be
The tale does not figure in any surviving Anglo-Saxon sources, but the
associated with the Vikings; written records of Northumbria are no longer plentiful; what we know of its
its shape more closely recalls early history is dependent on the writings of Bede, a monk of Jarrow, whose
the Anglo-Saxon tradition of text Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum recounts the establishment of
the Wollaston and Coppergate
helmets, fitted with wide
the Christian church in Northumbria. A critical Anglian military victory such
cheek-guards. (in situ Sockburn; as the poem relates would certainly have been celebrated by Anglo-Saxons in
photo Raffaele D’Amato) song for generations afterwards, but may not have been considered relevant
to or desirable in Bede’s history of the church.

Edington, 878
A Danish army led by a jarl named Guthrum attempted to invade
Wessex from its base in East Anglia. The Danes had already occupied
several important towns and evaded the attempts of King Alfred to
bring them to battle, always preferring to move beyond the reach of
his forces. The Danes had taken payments to leave the country and
had sworn solemn oaths that they would make peace with Wessex,
but never actually did more than move on to their next target in
Britain or on the continent.
Alfred’s own household was caught by a surprise attack over
midwinter when they were celebrating Christmas at Chippenham
(Wiltshire), in what was the holiest time of year for the Christians,
and the season when pagans relaxed with their families after the end
of the agricultural year. Alfred, his family and a small retinue escaped
the attack, but had to seek refuge in the Somerset marshes at a
hunting lodge on the island of Athelney, probably a minor royal hall.
Rather than surrender, choose a life in exile, or buy the enemy off yet
again, Alfred summoned his followers to meet him at Egbert’s Stone
(Ecgbryhtesstan, location unknown), and from there he led them to
Edington (Eþandun), where battle took place. Against expectation,
the West Saxons overcame the Danes and drove them from the field.
The Vikings retreated to a nearby fortified town, where the king
besieged them and forced their surrender after two weeks.
Alfred insisted that the Danish leader become a Christian as a
condition of his capitulation, with the king as his sponsor – which

1 For a more detailed analysis, see Elite 248, Post-Roman Kingdoms: ‘Dark Ages’
Gaul & Britain, AD 450–800.

54
automatically made Alfred Guthrum’s political and spiritual overlord. A Details of a beautiful 10th-
negotiated peace followed in which Wessex consolidated its power, and century Anglo-Saxon sword
found in the Thames in 1840.
eventually drove the Danes from the south of England. It shows a fine inlay design on
the fullered pommel, and the
Brunanburh, 937 blade carries a runic inscription.
An alliance of Scandinavian jarls and Irish (Hiberno–Norse) princes joined (Tullie House Museum and Art
Gallery Trust; photo courtesy of
forces with the leading men of the kingdom of York, and attempted to
Matt Bunker)
prevent King Athelstan from consolidating all English territory under his
sole rule. Resentment at the growing power of Winchester and its satellites
(the commercial port of London and the spiritual centre of Canterbury)
encouraged the northern chieftains and the Archbishop of York to attempt
to create a break-away state based on the wealth generated by commercial
trade routes stretching east across the North Sea to Norway and Denmark,
and west across the Irish Sea to Dublin.
Olaf Guthrithson, the king of the Dublin Vikings, made an alliance with
Constantine II, king of the Scots, and King Owain of Strathclyde, to combine
forces: their aim was to bring Athelstan down, but it is not clear whether one
or other of them planned to assume supreme command of the alliance in the
event of their victory.
The English were at this time still more often loyal to their older political
groupings (Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, and the rest) than to the king
and the wider English nation. Athelstan was a member of the Wessex royal
line – grandson of Alfred the Great – but he grew up in the Midlands, and
was thus Mercian by birth. His father, Edward the Elder, had undertaken the
reconquest of territory from the Danes, but in so doing he had sometimes had
to impose an unwelcome southern authority on areas outside the heartland
of Wessex. His task as king was to unite all the various local identities behind
a common Englishness, overriding the centrifugal tendencies of provincial

55
 leaders and magnates. The threat to all English territory posed by the power
of the enemy alliance now offered him an opportunity to overcome this
hesitant suspicion.
Athelstan’s army moved north to meet the gathering forces of the Scots
and Hiberno-Norse, and the ensuing battle resulted in the capture or
slaughter of almost the entire invading army. The Old English poem now
called Brunanburh records the outline of events in heroic terms. It opens with
the resounding statement ‘Here Athelstan the king, lord of heroes and ring-
giver of champions, and his brother likewise, Eadmund the atheling, won
lifelong glory in combat with their swords’ edges around Brunanburh. They
smashed the shieldwall, hewed war-shields with the leavings of hammers
[swords] … The attackers fell, both the men of the Scots and the seaborne
forces …’.
The poem specifically mentions the great deeds of the West Saxons (‘for
the whole day the West Saxons in mounted troops were on the track of the
hated people’) and the Mercians (‘the Mercians did not refuse hard hand-to-
hand fighting to any of those champions who sought our land with Olaf who
had come over the churning waters in the hold of a ship’). The combined
Wessex–Mercian army achieved a convincing victory which swept away
most of the leaders of the invaders, either dead or powerless and obliged
to flee (‘five young kings lay slain by swords on the battlefield, likewise
seven of Olaf’s earls and countless warriors of the seamen and Scots). There
the Northmen’s prince was put to flight, compelled by necessity back to his
ship’s keel with a small bodyguard … Likewise also the experienced leader
Constantine came back from the rout to his kinsmen in the north, the grey-
haired warmaker’… ‘[He] had no cause to boast of that clash of swords,
that old invader, any more than did Olaf …’. The mention of mounted West
Saxons is interesting, since it clearly implies that they were deployed as
cavalry to break up, harry and pursue the Vikings and Scots.

HAROLD GODWINESON, AD 1065–66 Harold’s bodyguard sports gold arm-rings on each wrist. Over
H (1) King Harold II a fabric or leather hood he wears a conical helmet ornamented
Harold is about 45 years old, but very fit and active; he has short- with silvering or tinning and gilding. He has a leather coat
cut fair hair and a moustache. Here we imagine him arguing covered with iron discs applied in rows rather than interlinked
with his younger brother Tostig, whom he would banish in ringmail. On his left shoulder he rests a large ‘Danish’ battleaxe;
October 1065. Harold wears a ringmail byrnie which reaches to the varied iconography sometimes shows a very long haft,
his knees, and is split front and back for ease of riding; the and these weapons were reportedly used effectively against
Bayeux Tapestry shows the edges of the thrown-back hood mounted opponents’ horses. In his right hand he holds a
(coif), elbow-length sleeves and lower hem trimmed with ‘hunting’ spear; both weapons are copied from English 11th-
leather. On the forearms note his linen tunic woven in horizontal century archaeological finds. Note the spurs, confirming that
stripes of white and deep blue. His helmet is conical, of the he rode to the battlefield.
Norman type with a broad nasal, and the Tapestry shows it (3) Tostig Godwineson, Earl of Northumbria
partly lacquered red. His sword is at his left hip, and the Tapestry Tostig was one of Harold’s younger brothers, whose
shows the scabbard as passing through a slit in his byrnie. appointment as Earl of Northumbria proved unpopular with
(2) Royal húskarl the northern elite. When they rebelled against him in 1065
The description by William of Malmesbury (of housecarls Harold soon deposed and outlawed him, but he raided and
offered to Hardacnut by Godwin in 1041) gives us a vivid plotted ceaselessly to secure his return. Eventually he
image of these royal guardsmen: ‘It was a ship beaked with persuaded King Harald Hardrada of Norway to lead a landing
gold, having 80 soldiers on board, who had two bracelets on on the English north-east coast, but both were killed by
either arm, each weighing 16 ounces of gold; on their heads Harold’s army at Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066, just
were gilt helmets; on their left shoulder they carried a Danish 19 days before the battle of Hastings. His tunic and semicircular
axe, with an iron spear in their right hand; and... they were mantle are conventional for an 11th-century æþeling. In his
equipped with such arms... that splendour vying with terror right hand he holds the draco standard, copied (like most of
might conceal the steel beneath the gold’. This member of the figure) from the Bayeux Tapestry.

56
 1

2 3

57
 Athelstan’s power was not open to challenge
after this victory, and he began using the words
Rex Totius Britanniae (‘King of All Britain’) on
his coinage. The resounding success of combined
English forces under a king with a foot in both
Wessex and Mercian camps was significant in
creating or consolidating the new English state.
The site of the battle is disputed, with many
possibilities put forward between the Wirral and
the south Midlands. Many scholars believe that
the site must be on or close to the Great North
Road (the modern A1), and probably north of the
river Humber. This would place it in the great ‘war
zone’ of 10th-century Britain, between the area
dominated by York and the Anglo-Saxon kingdom
already formed from the political union of Wessex
and Mercia, which extended from the Channel
coast into the Midlands as far as the Humber.
A later Icelandic account of a battle called
Vinheiðr in Egilssaga Skallagrimsonar appears to
relate to the same conflict. It gives many interesting
details of the disposition of troops and the events
of the day, in which the saga’s hero Egil played
a prominent part as a mercenary on the Anglo-
Saxon side, and was supposedly richly rewarded
by King Athelstan. The Anglo-Saxon celebration
of the victory in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
compares its significance to the original triumphs
which had allowed the Anglo-Saxons to establish
themselves in Britain.

Maldon, 991
After decades of consolidation of Anglo-Saxon
power in England under the Wessex dynasty,
and its development as a powerful economic and
military force, new waves of social disruption
in Scandinavia resulted in a second phase of
aggressive Viking activity. Coastal raiding gave
way to the manoeuvres of a large seaborne army
which ravaged the English east coast. An attack on
The Battersea sword, late 10th the mercantile centre at Ipswich (Suffolk) was followed by the Vikings taking
or early 11th century, decorated up a safe position on an island in the river Blackwater, Essex.
with copper-alloy inlay; this
ornamentation resembles
The local ealdorman, Byrhtnoth, gathered his forces to try to dislodge
that on several high-quality them; he was at this time over 60 years old, but still very active in national
stirrup-iron finds. An early 11th- affairs. Among the Vikings may have been Olafr Tryggvason, then a young
century date is suggested by Norwegian warlord. After exchanges of archery the Vikings were allowed
the acanthus ornament of the
to cross from the island to the mainland in order to ensure that they would
pommel, which is quite close
to designs in the Winchester fight rather than sail away, and this overconfident tactical mistake resulted
School of painting. (Pitt-Rivers in a grave defeat for the locals. Byrhtnoth was cut down in the fighting, but
Museum, Oxford: inv. no. P.R. his men fought on around his body and refused to surrender.
1555-2580: PLo II, A, B; photo These events were recorded in a long epic poem of which just a few verses
courtesy of Matt Bunker)
survive. After Byrhtnoth’s death the king, Æthelred II (known to history as

58
‘the Unready’, meaning ‘the Ill-Advised’), offered the invaders money to buy The ‘Penrith Crucifixion’ plaque,
peace, and for several years levied a burdensome tax to pay for this – the 10th century. This extraordinary
monument shows three
Denegeld (Danegeld). Needless to say, this was not the end of England’s warriors around the cross of
Viking troubles (see Select Chronology). Our Lord, all wearing conical
helmets (at least two with a
nasal) and carrying spears. This
is one of the earliest English
artworks showing the style of
helmet usually visible in 11th
century iconography. The
spear-bearer (bottom right),
seems to wear quilted armour.
(Kendal Museum, Cumbria,
inv. no. 0030/94T; photo (c)
Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone
Sculpture, photographer T.
Middlemass)

59
 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
For reasons of space, we can list here only the main primary sources (including
commentaries), and a limited selection of relevant secondary sources. A much
fuller Bibliography of academic publications can be found on the Osprey
Publishing website, by following: ospreypublishing.com/discover/extended-
bibliographies/eli-253-anglo-saxon-kings-and-warlords-ad-400-1070/.

Abbreviated references used in text

AJ Antiquaries’ Journal
Arch. Cant. Archaeologia Cantiana
ASC Savage, A., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (etc.)
ASE Anglo-Saxon England
ASSAH Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology & History
AWLSK  ( Mededelingen van de Koninklijke) Academie voor
Wettenschapen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten (van Belgie)
EJA European Journal of Archaeology
HE Bede, Ecclesiastical History, ed & trans Colgrave & Mynors
JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology
JIES Journal of Indo-European Studies
Med. Arch. Medieval Archaeology
NOWELE North West European Language Evolution
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association
RGA Reallexicon der Germanischen Altertumskunde
TPAPA  Transaction & Proceedings of the American Philological
Association

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Almond, T.L., ‘The Whitby Life of St Gregory’ in Downside Review 23, NS
4 (1904) pp. 15–29
Bede (ed King, J. E.), Opera Historica/ Ecclesiastic History of the English
Nation (Cambridge, 1962)
Bede (ed & trans Colgrave, B., & Mynors, R.A.B.), Ecclesiastical History of
the English People (Oxford, 1969)
British History and the Welsh annals, ed Morris, J., History from the Sources,
8 (London & Chichester, 1980)
Canu Taliesin, ed Williams, I. (Cardiff, 1960)
‘Chronicle of the Princes’ in Archaeologica Cambrensis, Vol X, 3rd series
(London, 1864) pp.1–143
Clancy, J.P., Earliest Welsh Poetry (London & New York, 1970)
Clhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Text, ed
Bromwich, R. & Simon Evans, D. (Cardiff, 1992)
Cunedda, Cynan, Cadwallon, Cynddylan: Four Welsh Poems and Britain
383–655, ed Koch, J.T. (Aberystwyth, 2013)
Eddius Stephanus (ed Colgrave, B.), The Life of Bishop Wilfred (Cambridge,
1927)
The Four Ancient Books of Wales, Vols I–II, ed Skene, W.F. (Edinburgh,
1868)
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae, a Variant Version
Edited from Manuscripts, ed Hammer, J. (Medieval Academy of America,
57; Cambridge, 1951)

60
Geoffrey of Monmouth (ed & trans Thorpe, L.), The History of the Kings of
Britain (Harmondsworth, 1968)
Geoffrey of Monmouth (ed & trans Thompson, A.), The History of the
Kings of Britain (Cambridge, Ontario, 1999)
The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth, III: a Summary
Catalogue of the Manuscripts, ed Crick, J.C. (Cambridge; Brewer, 1989)
(Gildas) Opus novum. Gildas Britannus monarchus, cui sapientis
cognomentum est inditum, ‘De calamitate, excidio et conquestu
Britanniae’, quam Angliam nunc vocant, author uetustus a multis
desyderatus et nuper in gratiam d. Cuthberti Tonstalli Lond. episcopi
formulis excusus (London, 1525)
Gildas, The Ruin of Britain etc. (London, 1899)
Gildas (ed Winterbottom, M.), The Ruin of Britain and Other Works
(London & Chichester, 1978)
Giles, J.A., The Works of Gildas and Nennius, translated from Latin, and with
the former translations carefully compared and corrected (London, 1841)
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Group, 2015)
Gough-Cooper, H.W. (ed), Annales Cambriae, the B text, from London,
National Archives, MS E164/1, pp. 2–26 (Welsh Chronicle Research
Group, 2015)
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British Library, Cotton MS, Domitian A, I., ff. 138r–155r (Welsh
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an illuminated capital from the
11th-century Grimbald Gospel.
Note the dotted decoration of
the tunic. (British Library, Ms.
Add. 34890, folio 158r ; photo
Raffaele D’Amato, courtesy of
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63
INDEX
Note: page numbers in bold refer to copper-alloy mount 52 41, G(50)
illustrations, captions and plates. Cynewulf of Wessex, King 21 Northumbria, kingdom of 10

‘Abraham slaughtering the Kings of Elam’ Danish administration in England Offa of Mercia, King 6, 7, E(36)37
(manuscript miniature) 18 (‘Danelaw’) 7, 19, 32, 42, 47, 54, 59 Offa’s Dyke E(36)37
Acklam Wold sword, the 33 Domesday census, the 14 Old Testament portrayals in Anglo-Saxon
Adventus Saxonum, the 6 dress and armour A(8)9, 10, B(14)15, 19, iconographies 18, 30, 40, 42–43, 43, 48
Ælfred, King of Wessex (Alfred the Great) 20, 21, C(22)23, 27, 28, D(28)29, 28–31, Owen-Crocker, Gale R. 42, 48
6, 7, 13, 16, 39, F(44)45, 54–55 30, E(36)37, 40–48, 41, 42, 43, F(44)45,
Angles (Anglii), the 4, 10 48, G(50)51, H(56)57 Penda of Mercia, King 6, 20, D(28)29
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the 7, 28, 50 ‘Penrith Crucifixion’ plaque, the 59
Anglo-Saxon elite, the 6–7, 30 ealdormen (‘regional governors’) 13–14, 19, punishments for disloyal followers 12
Anglo-Saxon military mounts 13 21–22, 41, F(44)45, G(50)51, 58
archaeological discoveries and records 5, 5, early Anglo-Saxon settlers 4, 8–10 Rædwald of East Anglia, King 6, C(22)23
8, 16, 25, 25–27, 28, 34, 35, 39 East Angles, the 10, 20 relationships among the elite 11–12
Staffordshire Hoard 19, 19–21, 20, 21, Edward the Confessor, King 7 Repton Stone, the 27, 28, 30, 40, F(44), 47
22, D(28)29, 31, 34, 49 Edward the Elder 7 ring-hilted swords 34–35
Sutton Hoo 5, 6, B(14)15, 17, 20, 20, Edwin of Northumbria, King C(22)23, 49, Roman Empire in Britain, the 4–5, 8, 10
C(22), 24, 27, 28, 31, 31, 33, 34, 36, 52 rulership among the Anglo-Saxon tribes
38, 47, 47, 49 Eorpwald, Prince C(22)23 10–13
Trewhiddle Hoard 35, F(44)45
army size 19, 21–22 foederati 4 saga of Olaf Tryggvsaon, the 53
Æthelbert, King of Kent 6, B(14)15
folctoga (military leader of a district) 14 Saxones, the 8
Æthelflæd 7
Forbeard, King Sweyn 7 scop G(50)51
Æthelfrith, King 6
fosterage 17 seax 36, 38, 38–39, F(44)45
‘ætheling,’ the 11
Franks Casket, the 30, 31, E(36), 40, 40, settlement of disputes by single combat, the
Æthelred, King ‘the Unready’ 7, 58–59
41, 46 17–18
Athelstan, King 7, 42, G(50)51, 55–56, 58
shields 31, 32–33
axes 32, 33–34, H(56)57
Germanii, the 10, 11 shoes 46
Gododdin, the 53–54 Sigeferth A(8)9
Battle of Ashdown, the 6
Godwineson, Harold, Earl of Wessex 7, 50, Skerne sword 16
Battle of Badon Hill, the 6
53, H(56)57 spears and javelins 39, 39, 53, 59
Battle of Brunanburh, the 7, G(50)51, 52,
Godwineson, Tostig H(56)57 ‘Spong Hill man’ figurine, the 10
55–58
gold brocade 41–42 spurs and stirrups 49, 50
Battle of Catraeth, the 53–54
Gregory I, Pope 6 standards and flags 2–53
Battle of Edington, the F(44)45, 54–55
Guthrithson, Olaf 55, 56 Stephen of Ripon 13
Battle of Hastings, the 7, 50, 53
Guthrum 7, F(44)45, 54–55 succession to the English throne, the 7
Battle of Maldon, the 7, 40, 49, 50, 58–59
Battle of Rhuddlan, the 6 swords 16, 17, 33, 34, 34–38, 35, E(36)37,
Bayeux Tapestry, the 30, 32, 33–34, 36, 39, hairstyles 47–48 40, 41, G(50)51, 53, 55, 58
41, 47, 49, 50, 52, 53, H(56) Hardrada, King Harald 7, H(56) Synod of Whitby, the 6
Bede 6, 10, 13, 14, C(22), 49, 52, 54 harness mount 47
belts 43–44 helmets 6, A(8)9, 11, 12, B(14)15, 20, Tacitus, Publius Cornelius 8–10, 18
Beorhtric of Wessex, King E(36)37 21, C(22)23, 24, 24–28, 25, 26, 40, 41, ‘Taplow mound,’ the 5
Beowulf (poem) A(8), 24, 25, 28, 32, 33, 53 F(44)45, 48, G(50), 52, 53, 54, H(56)57, thane (landowners), the 13–14, D(28)29
boars in Anglo-Saxon iconography B(14)15, 59 trousers 44–46
C(22)23, 24, 25, 26 Hengest the Exile 6, A(8)9
bows and archery 40 honour and reward for service 12, 16–17 Vergilius Romanus codex, the A(8)
bracteate medallion 11 horsemanship 46, 48, 48–52, 49, 54 Vita Aedwardi (‘The Life of Edward) 47
Bradwell ‘gaming piece’ 44 Vortigern A(8)9
‘Brailsford Cross,’ the 28 Ine of Wessex, King 19
bridle elements for horse (6th century) 46 Wanderer, The (poem) 16
Brunanburh (poem) 56 Jutes, the 4, 6, 10 Wareham sword, the 17
burial of weapons in cemeteries, the 34 ‘Warham rider’ figurine, the 4
Kentish gesið warlord B(14)15 warrior quality and demands 11–12, 16–17
cast silver-gilt mount 12 weapons and equipment 17, 17, 22, 24,
Charlemagne 7 Life of Edward (book) 42 24–38, 25, 26, 31, 32, 32–40, 33, 34,
Christianity 7, 16, 20, F(44)45, 54–55 literacy 13, 16 35, E(36)37, 38, 39, 40, 41, F(44)45,
chronicles 8, 10, 28, 50, 52, 54, 56, H(56), 58 G(50)51, 53, H(56)57
Hexateuch 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 50 mail armour 18, 30 werod (‘protective force’), the 12, 13, 18–19
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum 6, meadhall, the 11, 17 Wessex, kingdom of 7, 10, 13
49, 54 mercenary warriors (milites stipendiis) 14 West Saxon warlord E(36)37
church of St Mary Bishophill Junior, York Mercia, kingdom of 7, 10, 20, 21–22 William of Normandy, Duke 7
30, 31 Mercian warlord D(28)29 Woden 14–16, C(22)23, 24
cloaks 46–47 Merovingian Frankish comes B(14)15 Wulfheard, Ealdorman 22
Cnut (Canute) the Great, King 7, 19, 32,
42, 47 ‘Norbury Stone’ sculpture, the 6, 20, 30, 39, Y Gododdin (poem) 53, 54

64
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Title page photo

Detail from the 8th-century Franks Casket, a Northumbrian whalebone
chest which illustrates contemporary Anglo-Saxon warriors. See page 40.
(British Museum; photo Raffaele D’Amato, courtesy the Museum)

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