Early Anglo-Saxon Clothing
Lesson #5: Page 4
Jewellery, Footwear and
Accessories: Brooches 3.
Other
Brooch Types
These types do not fit into the bow
or circular type brooches, and generally represent imported types.
S-Brooches
These are found rarely in England:
Briscoe could locate only eleven examples from Anglo-Saxon contexts in
1968, all confined to the area south-east of a line from the Isle of Wight
to Grimsby; more recently, a more northerly example was found in Co. Durham.
Such evidence as there is suggests that they belong to the early phases
of settlement here and some examples may well be direct imports from the
Continent. They are generally of silver, often with jewelled
eyes.
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Usage: Singly or in pairs.
Distribution: Mainly south-east
England (rare)
Date: 5th century
Size range: 2.0-4.0cm
Typical size: 2.5-3.0cm
Bird Brooches
A number of brooches in the forms of
stylized birds of prey have been found, generally in Kent, and seem to
be of Frankish origin. These are usually of silver, often with
garnet eyes and niello inlay. They are generally of fifth to sixth
century date.
A second type with less offensive birds
(often duck-like) are also known in the form of a flat plate brooch in
the shape of a bird. They are generally of copper-alloy, sometimes
tinned with simple punched or incised decoration. This type
of brooch may represent the last traces of the flat animal and bird brooches
popular in Roman times. They are rare but are generally found
in southern England, and are probably of sixth century date.
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Usage: Singly or in pairs.
Distribution: Mainly south-east
England (rare)
Date: 5th-6th century
Size range: 2.0-4.0cm
Typical size: 2.5-3.0cm
Unusual Brooches
There are a number of unusual brooches
known from Anglo-Saxon graves. They don't fit exactly into
any of the other groups, and were used in a variety of ways.
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Pair of plate brooches
of tinned bronze in a swastika shape.
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This brooch seems
to be a kind of small-long brooch, but is made from a decorative mount
from a bronze bowl.
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This brooch seems
to be a kind of small-long brooch, but seems also to be reminiscent of
a crossbow brooch.
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This brooch could
probably be classed as an S- brooch, but the backward biting animal is
unusual.
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Bibliography
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