Anglo-Saxon Period—Arms—Swords—Knives—Spears—Shields—Umbones of Shields—Buckles—Helmets—Benty-Grange Tumulus—The Sacred Boar—Grave at Barlaston—Enamelled Discs and pendant Ornaments, etc.—Horse Shoes.
The arms of the Anglo-Saxons, so far as is known from the contents of their graves, consisted of swords, spears, knives, shields, daggers, etc., and occasionally with the men, besides these things, are found remains of helmets, ornaments from horse-trappings, buckles, axes, and many other articles.
The swords are straight-bladed, usually double-edged, with hilts of metal or wood. The scabbards were sometimes of wood, sometimes of leather, and sometimes again of bronze, and are often elaborately ornamented at the chape. The sword here engraved ([fig. 372]) was found in a barrow at Tissington, in Derbyshire. It had originally been enclosed in a wooden scabbard or sheath, which had apparently been covered with leather, and mounted with ornamented silver. Most of this ornamentation was decayed and lost, but sufficient remained to show that the sword had been of no ordinary beauty and value, and must have belonged to some person of note. The traces of silver ornamentation at the head are indicated on the engraving. The chape, which is simply rounded, is of silver, and the rivets still remain, as do also those by which the leather was attached to the wood. The sword is thirty-four inches in length, and two inches and a half in breadth. Across its upper part lay a small fragment of the shield, and near it, spread about, were a few pieces of iron, some of which, when joined together, proved to be a spear-head of the usual form of the period. It had doubtless been broken and disturbed at the time when the bones were dispersed by the planting of the trees.
Fig. 372.
Fig. 373.
Fig. 374.
