Bow Brooches
These generally developed out of earlier ‘safety-pin’ type brooches and are divided into four main components – a head, bow, foot and pin.   The hinge for the pin is usually on the head and the catch on the foot,  however, these terms are misleading and these brooches are normally illustrated upside-down.   When worn the head was usually downwards with the foot uppermost.
 

Cruciform Brooches
Cruciform brooches, along with square-headed and radiate-headed types, represent one of the ultimate developments of the ‘safety-pin’ fibulae which had appeared in numerous manifestations since the Early Iron Age.   Unlike many of the circular brooches mentioned above, only a minority of cruciforms have been found in pairs; they were commonly worn singly on the chest, often in association with a pair of brooches of different design at the shoulders, probably fastening the cloak.   Where the context is known they are almost invariably found in female graves.

The three principal divisions may be recognized in the brooch; the head-plate, the arched bow and the foot.   The cruciform outline is completed by a pair of lateral wings which emerge from the head plate, the form being accentuated by the presence of three knobs, one on the top of the head plate and one at the extremity of either wing; these in turn may each have decorative extensions projecting from them.   On some early brooches these lateral extensions of the head-plate are functional in that they carry the pin axis, but on most examples they are purely decorative.   Variations occur on all these elements, some of which evidently have chronological implications, while in others instances indications of a linear progression seem to defy detection.

The relative importance ascribed to the head plate and wings is striking in its variety.   In the earliest forms, which remain rare in England, the wings may be absent altogether.   Later types vary in the form of the head-plate (which may be trapezoid or square, and differentiated from the wings by a step or by rows of punch marks, or it may be undifferentiated) and the wings (which may be narrow and rectangular or wide with a markedly flaring outline).

The top-knob is generally cast as an integral part of the brooch, but examples occur which are attached by means of a projecting tab with a stud on the underside which engages with the head plate, the whole perhaps secured with solder.   The side knobs too may be cast with the brooch, but others are (presumably0 soldered on and held in place by an iron pin; such pins are fixed at either end into lugs on the backs of the knobs and run the entire width of the brooch, piercing the hinge for the pin at the mid point.

Early forms of bows are generally of solid, plano-convex construction.   As casting techniques were refined to allow the back to be cast hollow, producing a concavo-convex section, it became possible to increase the visual importance of the bow without unduly increasing the weight.   In the most elaborate types the entire brooch, including the bow, tends to be notably thin and flat in section.

Between the bow and the moulding which regularly marks the junction with the foot, there is commonly a rectangular field which may carry punched decoration which may be flanked by lateral lappets – plain, punched, or with moulded ornament.   The foot itself normally takes the form of an animal head mask, comparatively naturalistic in the upper parts but frequently with nostrils so enlarged as to dominate the whole design with their scrolled or circular outlines.   In more elaborate examples the foot may develop a plate-like extension, which may carry further ornament.   The catch on the back of the foot is most commonly short and plain, but some are rebated or stepped in outline while others are elongated to the point where they occupy most of the length of the foot.

Some brooches retain traces of gilding, whilst a few have been tinned.   A few brooches have silver foil appliqués, producing a bichrome effect.

A broad development can be traced from early, simple forms of the fifth and sixth centuries, through those with scrolled nostrils and those with lappets beneath the bow, to the highly ornamental forms of the later sixth and seventh centuries.

In England the distribution of cruciform brooches reveals a dominant Anglian influence in their production and utilization, with particular concentrations in East Anglia, the East Midlands, and as far north as the Humber basin, with outliers beyond.   There is also a distinctive Kentish group.

Square Headed Brooches
These impressive items represent the largest and most baroque form of the Anglo-Saxon bow brooch, rendered all the more striking in their original condition by overall gilding.   In execution they frequently lack the finesse of their smaller counterparts, and seldom involve the use of precious metal or niello, and the effect they present is often one of vulgarity rather than refinement.   Leeds noted that they were seldom widely worn by the population represented by any single cemetery; whilst more recent excavations have not invariably conformed to the picture painted by Leeds, the effectiveness of these brooches as badges of the principal families in rural societies must have been undeniable.

The head-plates on this type are expanded to form large rectangular or trapezoidal fields for the display of chip-carved ornament, only occasionally set off by inlays such as garnet or coloured glass, which reflect Frankish influences on Kent in the sixth century.   Forming the edge into a fringe of radiating tongues or dentillated peaks rendered them all the more eye-catching.

The characteristically arched bow may, in contrast, have nothing more than three or four ribs to decorate it, although some may also have fields of ornament.   A few had the addition of an applied disc on the bow.

A second major area for display is provided by the foot-plate, whose decorative scheme normally follows quite a different pattern from that of the head plate.   A pair of animal motifs is normally incorporated onto the shoulders (the upper corners) of the foot-plate.   In some instances a prominent mid-rib divides the ornamental scheme below.   One of the most striking characteristics of the foot-plates on these brooches is the common occurrence of large and well defined lobes, projecting from either side and from the bottom.   In many instances they carry bosses in the form of anthropomorphic face-masks.   Some were plain with silver sheet metal appliqués to give a bichrome effect.

From an ultimate origin in fifth-century Scandinavia, square-headed brooches were introduced to England shortly before 500AD.   Although Kent figures prominently in the local development of this type, there is evidence for independent influence directly from Scandinavia to both Anglian and Saxon areas of Southern England.   Their popularity was maintained until the end of the third quarter of the sixth century, after which it waned rapidly.

Small Square-Headed Brooches
These are in effect more modest versions of the great square-headed brooches discussed above.   Some are of fine workmanship and of precious metal; others are fairly perfunctory in execution, no better in workmanship than the more common small-long brooches detailed below.   Virtually all of the small square-headed varieties have been gilded, and some are inlaid with niello.   A common feature of this type is a raised moulding forming an open rectangle, following the outline of the head-plate, within which are cast decorative elements.   The moulding itself, like the outer margin of the head plate, often carries punched ornament.   A few have garnets set in the head plates.   It is a further feature of many of these brooches that a unified decorative scheme covers the whole of the front, being carried from the head down the bow to the foot, where it sometimes involves lateral lobes with further decorative fields, and thence to the terminal.   In some cases the lateral fields terminate in semi-circular motifs, in design terms vestigial remnants, perhaps, of the roundels which are a feature of other brooches.   On other examples, the foot incorporates Style I zoomorphic forms or elements of face-masks.

The origins of the type in England are undoubtedly to be found in Kent, but in the course of the early to mid sixth century they came to be copied throughout the greater part of southern England.

Small-Long Brooches
Brooches of this type form the most modest representatives of the Anglo-Saxon safety-pin variety.   Normally worn in pairs, they are in size generally similar to or smaller than the cruciform brooches dealt with above and are of lighter construction: they are invariably made in one piece and tend to be rather low-grade castings of bronze.

Variety is given to the head-plate by shaping it in various ways.   The simplest square outlines are elaborated in some instances by cutting rebates or slots in the corners or by drilling circular holes in them; many of these developed into trefoil or cruciform shapes of various sorts.   Other head-plates are fashioned into trapezoids, while some sprout ‘ears’ or ‘horns’ from their upper corners.   The front surface of the head-plate may also recall the tripartate divisions of cruciform brooches, with raised central fields on some brooches and vertical rows of punch marks on others.   More random ornament, mostly in the form of punched annulets, ring-and-dot motifs or incised lines, is found on others.

The arched bow usually forms the most solid element of the casting.   It may taper in outline from top to bottom, or it may be parallel sided.   The front surface may be rounded in section or it may be faceted or have a central carination; commonly the bow is squared-up at the extremities, producing bevelled or faceted corners.   The back is most often flat but in some cases it has been cast slightly hollowed or more deeply concave.

The foot generally originates in a flattened area below the bow, decoratively expanded on some examples and on a few forming fully developed lateral lobes or lappets.   Stamped or incised decoration is sometimes applied to the flat field, while the lappets may be decoratively profiled.   A cast moulding forming multiple bands often separates the upper part of the foot from the terminal, which is usually expanded to some degree and may form itself into a well-defined rounded, crescentic, triangular or T-shaped outline.   On some brooches the entire foot adopts a decorative profile, most notably in lozenge-shaped varieties.   A few examples incorporate vestigial zoomorphic elements (eyes and nostrils) that recall cruciform types, but they are seldom highly developed.

Traces of gilding survive on a few brooches of this type, and tinning on others.

The type makes its appearance early in the fifth century and survive well into the sixth century.   Their distribution extends from East Anglia and the East Midlands as far west as Gloucestershire; outliers are found as far north as Northumberland.

A typology (now judged to be in need of complete reappraisal) was first evolved by Leeds in 1945, who also added continental parallels, although the type is not well represented there and close parallels for the English examples remain few.

Radiate-Headed Brooches
These have in common a semi-circular head-plate, with or without a series of radiating knobs (invariably cast with the head plate) or spokes.   The bow tends to be wide and rather flat in form, whilst the commonest forms of feet are either simple expanding shapes or lozenges.   They are of bronze or silver, often with some gilding.   Some have small circular garnets set in the radiating knobs.

The type is ultimately Gothic in origin but became widely popular in the Frankish territories.   Many examples found in England are indeed thought to be of Frankish manufacture.   In England some production may have taken place in Kent, and the discovery in Oxfordshire of an unfinished example demonstrates the likelihood of more widespread manufacture, at least within the southern counties.   The type occurs as far north as Yorkshire.   A date in the sixth century is suggested for the period of their popularity in England.

Supporting-Arm Brooches
These are comparative rarities in England and the degree to which they were made in this country (if at all) remains uncertain.   Several belong to the Mahndorf type of German Stützarmfibeln reviewed by Böhme, who dated them initially to the period c.380-420, later revising the context in which they occur more specifically to the early decades of the fifth century.   Ornate English examples extend the date range into the middle of the fifth century.

In England the distribution of the nine examples known in 1977 has a markedly easterly distribution, reinforced by more recent (unpublished) finds.   In chronological terms they span the early to mid-fifth century.

Equal-Armed Brooches
These were mainly a Continental type seen in the fifth century only.   They may be a style worn by settlers only. They were made originally in Northern Germany, only a few made in England towards the end of the fifth century.   They are generally of Scandinavian inspiration and of a restricted Anglian distribution.

Bow Brooches
One of the earliest and rarest types, generally dated to the late fourth and early fifth century, generally associated with the earliest generations of Anglo-Saxon settlers.   Leeds ascribed the type to the Romano-British population rather than Anglo-Saxons, but its Germanic affinities were firmly established by Evison.

In some examples a hole in the bow held a fixing with a captive ring; the occurrence of pairs of such brooches with captive rings suggests that they may have been worn as linked pairs.

These are the simplest of all the bow-brooches, usually with almost no head-plate and an upturned foot.

Crossbow Brooches
These brooches were used in the later Roman Empire.   It has been suggested they noted high rank and military status.   Such insignia were also worn by barbarians within the imperial system, such as the Vandal General Stiticho and the Frankish king, Childeric I.   It is likely that such brooches would also have been worn by some of the early Germanic mercenaries in England.

These brooches were usually of bronze, although the highest-ranking civilian and military officials wore gold versions.   They were used from the late third to the fifth century.

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