Draft:Sutton Hoo Shield
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The Sutton Hoo Shield is a shield found at the Sutton Hoo archaeological site in Suffolk, England. It was created around the 7th century[1] and was included in a burial around that time. It is unknown exactly where the shield was made, who made it, or who owned it, but theories suggest it may have been owned by Raewald, a king of East Anglia who lived and reigned in the late 7th century.
The vestiges of Rome did not suddenly dissipate with Rome. This is important to the shield because the trade networks set up by Rome helped its creation. Tombs in the Middle Ages were very important to the people making them.[2] The symbolism of the Sutton Hoo burial is also important the pieces in there tell stories of who owned them.[3] What ends up in a burial is important to either the person who is buried there or whoever buried them.
Description[edit]
Although the complete original shield has not survived, partial reconstructions do exist which use most of the original attachments. The Sutton Hoo shield was made from the original gold, garnet, and copper alloy. It's fitted on a modern lime wood board, the shield is circular, and the decorations are highly detailed and fine.[1]
Bede gives the most contemporary source for the period the shield would have been used in, and for the man that many historians have proposed the shield to have belonged to, in Bede's history he writes that Redwald received the sacraments in Kent,[4] this would explain some of the Christian items in the tomb, like baptism spoon and Bede also writes that Rewald was seduced by his wife and teachers and at least in partial did not completely convert to Christianity, Bede explains that in the same temple that Redwald had an alter to Jesus and a pagan god side by side, this would explain why some of the items in the tomb were pagan in theme.[4] This would make sense for the tomb to be Redwald's then and the most popular theory of the tomb. Redwald during his reign became the leader of all the kings after a battle that killed both his son and king Ethelbert the king before his who had control of the region.[4] The battle was over his friend Edwin's exile from Bernicia by his brother, Redwald then installed Edwin as king of Kent,[4] that is how Redwald gained power in the region to become leader of the kings. This is another reason historians think that he is the king buried in the tomb because he had so much power and influence that he would have been able to gather what would have later been buried with him. Other theories have been posited because there were a lot of kings in the area and many of them were wealthy, Redwald is most likely because of his dual religion. Though Bede is the most contemporary source on Redwald, he wrote his history a century after Redwald's death.
Beowulf is one of the best descriptions of shields at the time. Beowulf is written in roughly the eighth century, it is set in Scandinavia but written in and by an English person, the author of Beowulf describes the shield as broad and rimmed with lime wood,[5] this is almost exactly like the Sutton Hoo shield. This shows that the shield would have been familiar to an English person. According to the Beowulf author, it was also wide bossed and gripped in the hand.[5] The wide bossed part means that the circular metal piece in the center is wider than the other bosses. Also, shield bosses were not usually so highly decorated, the Sutton Hoo shield boss is highly engraved and enormous.[1] This connects to the historical theory that the Sutton Hoo grave or Mound 1 was the grave site of a king[6] otherwise the shield would not have been so highly decorated and not likely to have seen battle, kings at this time would have, as they would have been traveling and fighting. This shield is less practical than that so likely it is more decorative.
In Beowulf the author describes a warrior's shield as "made, all of iron, wondrously wrought, knowing that Lime-wood was no help, no timber Proof against flame".[5] While some of this description matches that of the Sutton Hoo Shield there are many differences the main one being that of iron, on the Sutton Hoo Shield there are only iron fittings which is different than being made of all iron, not only that but the Sutton Hoo shield is made of gold alloy for the most part and lime wood which like the quote says makes the shield very flammable, gold is not tough nor has it a high melting point. Not only is it decorative because of its decoration but because of its construction. This is not a warrior's shield this is decorative and fit for a king. The shield was owned by someone who wanted to project authority onto others.[7]
Origins[edit]
Other historians have argued that the shield is from the region where it is found, it has most of the same characteristics except that it is not battle-ready, the shield is highly detailed, with the large boss and the animal heads that are jeweled and detailed. Some have speculated where the shield is to give a better idea of who owned it. Pearson. Noort and Wolf that this shield was from Sweden,[8] They argue that the Rewald theory is not the only theory that should exist and believe that any number of people could have owned the shield, Frankish, Saxon, and Swedish. The shelled being Swedish makes sense to Beowulf, set in Scandinavia but written by an English author, the shields match up. Lime board and metal, the only big difference is the detailing. This is why Niles argues that the shield is from Asia because of what the details are. The animal heads are stylistically like motifs found in Asia.[9] This is important to the conversation with regards to Redwald, since he oversaw the other kings and had the most power it would make sense that because of that he would have been the one trading and having diplomatic relations with others. Other historians have argued that because of a technique with gold foils, a more English technique was made in England.[7]
Asian artifacts known in the archaeological record, some of them executed in gold and garnet, play variations on this same zoomorphic style, which often features stylized raptors and beasts" [19] This would connect to the shield and the animals on it, this would suggest that the shield is from Asia not Sweden. This debate is not over because of how infrequently the shield is researched. Now most of what is known about this shield is the other objects in the tomb and its description "An enormous wooden shield was placed by the chamber's west wall (the head end of the burial). This was very ornate, decorated with a ring of animal heads around the rim and images of a bird-of-prey and dragon. A whetstone (sharpening stone) was also placed along this wall. It was a long, smooth bar carved with human faces at either end and topped with the model of a stag."[1]
In the time after Rome fell, the use of Roman-established trade networks still existed. Roman trade networks established remarkable amounts of trade, they traded with people in the Indian Ocean region.[10] It is highly possible that the motifs from the shield could have been made or inspired by Asian shields from the same time. Rome's legacy continues after its decline. The rest of the grave goods are also from trade networks established during Rome, with jewelry from Sri Lanka and spoons from Byzantium.[11]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d "Sheild," The British Museum, Accessed 12/13/23, shield | British Museum
- ^ Williams, Howard (1998). "Monuments and the past in Early Anglo-Saxon England". World Archaeology. 30 (1): 90–108. doi:10.1080/00438243.1998.9980399. ISSN 0043-8243. JSTOR 125011.
- ^ Williams, "Monuments and the past" 101
- ^ a b c d Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, translator not clearly indicated (But it seems to be L.C. Jane's 1903 Temple Classics translation), introduction by Vida D. Scudder, (London: J.M. Dent; New York E.P. Dutton, 1910)
- ^ a b c Beowulf (Gardners Books, 2000).
- ^ Martin Carver, Sutton Hoo: Burial Ground of Kings? (London: British Museum Press, 2014), 2-3.
- ^ a b Catherine Karkov, Art and the FormationArt, Early Medieval England. Elements in England in the Early Medieval World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. 40.
- ^ Pearson, Michael Parker; Van De Noort, Robert; Woolf, Alex (December 1993). "Three men and a boat: Sutton Hoo and the East Saxon kingdom". Anglo-Saxon England. 22: 27–50. doi:10.1017/s0263675100004294. ISSN 0263-6751.
- ^ Niles, John D. (2013-04-18). "The Huns in Europe". The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge University Press. pp. 133–164. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511920493.004. ISBN 9780511920493. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
- ^ Fauconnier, Bram (2012). "Graeco-Roman merchants in the Indian Ocean : Revealing a multicultural trade". Topoi. Orient-Occident. 11 (1): 75–109.
- ^ Catherine E. Karkov, "Art and The Formation of Early Medieval England" 5