File:The arts in early England (1903) (14804575093).jpg

Identifier: artsinearlyengla03brow (find matches)
Title: The arts in early England
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Brown, G. Baldwin (Gerard Baldwin), 1849-1932 Webster, A. Blyth (Adam Blyth), 1882-1956 Sexton, Eric H. L. (Eric Hyde Lord), 1902-1980
Subjects: Art Architecture Architecture, Medieval Church architecture Crosses Decoration and ornament, Celtic Inscriptions, Runic
Publisher: London, J. Murray
Contributing Library: Wellesley College Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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that thiscemetery was a poor one in its tomb furniture generally, andthis is contrary to the view which makes the wearer of thesword always a man of substance, and which is supported bythe case of Derbyshire, where though three swords only havebeen found they were all associated with objects denotingan owner of rank.1 In the recently excavated cemetery atAlfriston, Sussex, swords were comparatively numerous, sixhaving come from the 115 graves first excavated. Thiscemetery was a decidedly rich one, as the chapter on fibulaewill show. If the sword were the weapon of the eorl this would accountfor its comparative rarity, but it has been also suggested ~ thatthese arms were excluded from grave deposits because theywere heirlooms handed down from father to son. In Beowulf 1 Victoria County History, Derbyshire, 1, 268. 2 By Charles Roach Smith in .r.ventorium Sepulchrak, p. xxxvi, and morerecently by Professor Hamp-. mer in Ungarn, i, 1S6. XXV facing p. 209 ANGLO-SAXON AND OTHER SWORDS XXV
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6, 7, are Continental specimens ; 8 is Roman; 10, Piking PRESTIGE OF THE SWORD 209 the chiefs ancestral swords are mentioned,1 and his own swordhe describes as f the ancient heirloom,2 while the weaponwith the wondrous hilt that he finds in Grendels lair was anantique trophy.3 We may remember also the numerousbequests of swords in the wills of later Anglo-Saxon timesprinted by Thorpe in his Diplomatorium, and the place thatthe sword holds in the lists of Heriots in early Teutonic legis-lation. It must not at the same time be forgotten that suchdocuments are of much later date than the pagan sepulchres,though the parts of Beowulf cited may seem to carry us backto the older heroic age. The principle of reserving the heir-loom if it were really an old-established one might be expectedto result in the almost total exclusion of swords from graveinventories, whereas as a matter of fact their rarity is by nomeans so great. Again if the sword of the chief were reservedas something too preciou

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