anglo saxon medieval gold haul- tolkein etc

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not sure if this has been reported in the press abroad- but the best haul of anglox saxongold battlefeild artifacts has been found, in staffs (cue bloke who found it w excellent midlands accent).

this used to be mercia (an area of central england, before it was later divided into later shires- one now being staffordshire), which tolkein had an interest in...

thought some people might like to see the pictures, as some of the items are stunning- its reportedly the best discovery ever- better than sutton hoo, 75 years ago.
over 1500 bits, 1000 being gold.
joyous!

the top one is part of a charger, written in old english, and is a biblical passage. there are also gold, jeweled sword hilts, which previously had been only read of in beowolf, but never seen.
("Rise up O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face." It has two sources, the Book of Numbers or Psalm 67, taken from the Vulgate, the Bible used by the Saxons.)

annoyingly, and wrongly, this period is stillknown as the dark ages.















here is the bbc report...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staf ... 272058.stm

yeah we heard about this in sydney, this is pretty cool stuff.

Much of that artwork appears to be Celtic.

no, the art work is not celtic.
this is what saxon crafts look like too- as well art crafts across europe in non celtic countries.
not specifically celtic.

This is great!

I speak as a person of Anglo Saxon/ Celtic descent, as many of us are.

When we are taught "Ancient History" in schools it is all about the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians etc.

They ignore the history and myths of Northern Europe as if we were just ignorant cave men or something. Stonehenge is as old as the Egyptian pyramids.

To be "educated" you must learn the Greek and Roman Myths. Why?

I much prefer our (well, my) fairy stories and myths. Oden, Valhalla, Avalon, Middle Earth, Valkyries, Trolls, Baba Yaga etc.

Not to dump on other peoples history but this is mine and I am proud of it.

that picture on top (and the coin) are in Latin, but what the hey...

Yes, it's in Latin as is to be expected. This is post Roman empire stuff. Thanks for the pictures misslottie. I would love to find some jewelry with designs like that.

cool- glad other people like it; they are such incredible pieces; i may even venture north of london and visit them when they are shown.
im never sure how much news is reported around the world- we endless american stuff, but very little else (france is only 22 miles off out coast, but hey- lets hear about a fire engine in LA or something).

hi wombat!! ! i too love old european myths too; glad to know other Wpers do too..
pehaps because i like the darker fairytales (im phytosensative); i love the dark forests, trolls beneath bridges etc.. i get really annoyed about greek myths being 'proper'- its simply a class thing, as they are concerned more with gods, rather than european folklore, which combines gods and peasants, or sometimes just peasants (and magical creatures). and the architecture aspect comes into play- massive temples= great civilisation- rude huts= well- simple, inbred, inebriated peasants, whom we repress.

i like the outlines of the greek myths but i can never love them- as soon as i start to think about it too much i can see and feel the sundshine.

north european ones are all delightfully damp, dark and misty.
as well as the normal grimm's books, i had a lovely 1923 book called the rose coloured wish, about the eye fingered dwarf who lived deep in a forest; just brilliant- really scarey.

i still read the moomin books (finnish childrens' stories based on trolls- see the cartoon series too- lovely, but quite dark- lots of death, loss, fear and long, dark winters), and love wagner, terrible old swine though he was; i love the sound of the horn in the ring!!
its worth finding some of the books on old english- its a beautiful language, with some lovely dead letters in it(eg the thorn). A Guide to Old English by Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson is a great starting point.

ive recently been buying loads of different antique dictionaries in welsh, icelandic, swedish etc- some of the words are so mellodious, as well as the obvious crossovers between languages (im so a.s sometimes!).

there is a great new book out i want- i like its unquivocal title -By Sword and Fire: Cruelty and Atrocity in Medieval Warfare . the struggle to reconcile religion (resulting in concepts of honour, vallour) and brutality- castration and eye gouging being popular, well, passtimes...

and yes- old english wasnt written so much- scholars generally used latin- part snobbery, partly for practical reasons- there were so many different dialects even in smallish areas, and no definate spelling even for common words.
also, going into battle was inextricably allied to religion, (all latinised- an english language bible wasnt published until about the 1500s (about 500 years after the anglo saxons), so noone would have thought to do otherwise.

yeah, Anglo-Saxon didn't really catch on until Post-Norman (figure that out... conquest. I think Malory was one of the first ones to write in it.

Latin was a 'common' language understood through much of pre-Roman Europe.

I seem to remember that some of the LOTR was based on Finnish mythology. Or that's what the TV special said...

crikey! im the longest winded answer-er whereever i am, arent i?!
i can spot my yahoo answers a mile off!! !

BEYOND the glaring nordic mythology, you mean ;]

Mmm, yeah, Bombadil has many similarities with Vainamoinen. There's a section of the Silmarillion, too, which is heavily influenced by the Kalevala, to the extent of having the same lines at one point*.

The artwork on these recently found pieces is great, but the really wonderful thing is the distance that the gemstones may have travelled - trade halfway round the world is not so Dark!


*literally.