Early Anglo-Saxon gold braids

Metadata

Title:

Issue:

Medieval Archaeology 11

Series:

Medieval Archaeology

Volume:

Page Start/End:

42 - 86

Downloads:

11_042_086.pdf (2 MB) :

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Licence Type:

ADS Terms of Use and Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5284/1071470

Publication Type:

Journal

Abstract:

These gold braids, all from Kent or areas of Kentish influence and all, with the exception of Taplow, of mid or second half of 6th cent, reflect close mercantile and dynastic ties with the Merovingian Franks. Excepting the man's baldric from Taplow, the English gold braids come certainly or probably from women's graves and mostly appear to have been vittae, fillets. This, too, is usually the case with surviving Frankish braids (a few are from cloak or tunic borders). Most of these are inadequately published, and more research is needed on the continental braids before their origin can be settled; but gold braid tunic borders were Roman and Byzantine imperial prerogatives. The vittae originated as Roman bridal woollen headbands, though later literary evidence indicates that married Germanic women wore them. Gold braids remained an aristocratic perquisite; their Kentish owners must have been aristocrats or married princesses while the owner of the Taplow baldric was undoubtedly a local ruler. A catalogue of English and continental braids is appended. LW

Author:

Elisabeth Crowfoot
Sonia E Chadwick Hawkes

Year of Publication:

1967

Subjects / Periods:

ROMAN (Historic England Periods)
	GRAVE (Monument Type England)
Cloak (Auto Detected Subject)
Bridal Woollen (Auto Detected Subject)
Gold Braids (Auto Detected Subject)

Source:

ADS Archive (ADS Archive)

Relations:

Created Date:

05 Dec 2008

Crowfoot, E. and Chadwick Hawkes, S. E. (1967). Early Anglo-Saxon gold braids. Medieval Archaeology 11. Vol 11, pp. 42-86. https://doi.org/10.5284/1071470. Cite this via datacite

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