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Vikings of the Irish Sea PDF

185 Pages·2010·7.542 MB·English
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ViKINGs of the irish sea 3646 Vikings.indd 1 08/02/2013 11:46 V iKINGs of the irish sea Conflict and assimilation AD 790–1050 david Griffiths 3646 Vikings.indd 2 08/02/2013 11:46 V iKINGs of the irish sea Conflict and assimilation AD 790–1050 david Griffiths 3646 Vikings.indd 3 08/02/2013 11:46 For Neil, Who found some of it, and lived with the rest First published 2010 Reprinted 2012 The History Press The Mill, Brimscombe Port Stroud, Gloucestershire, gl5 2qg www.thehistorypress.co.uk This ebook edition first published in 2013 All rights reserved © David Griffiths, 2010, 2013 The right of David Griffiths to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. epub isbn 978 0 7524 9854 6 Original typesetting by The History Press 3646 Vikings.indd 4 08/02/2013 11:46 Contents List of Illustrations 7 Preface 11 Chapter 1 Introduction 13 Vikings 13 The Irish Sea 16 ‘The Irish Sea Province’ 18 The Irish Sea in the pre-Viking period 19 Sources of evidence for the Viking period 20 Chapter 2 Raids and Early Settlement in Ireland 25 Longphort and dún: the Viking base on land 30 ‘Dark’ and ‘fair’ foreigners, and the ‘Gallgoídil’ 36 Chapter 3 Exporting Violence and Seeking Landfall c. 850–c. 1050 38 Weakness and opportunity: Galloway and Cumbria 39 From Dublin to Brunanburh 41 The later tenth and early eleventh centuries 45 Chapter 4 Land-take and Landscape 48 Estates and landholding 52 Territory, boundaries and defence 60 Meetings and ‘things’ 62 Rural settlement archaeology 66 Chapter 5 Burial: Changing Rites, New Places 72 Regional surveys 1: Ireland 74 Regional surveys 2: The Isle of Man 80 Regional surveys 3: From the Solway Firth to Wales 89 Viking-period finds and burial in churchyards 96 Chapter 6 Trade, Silver and Market Sites 100 Hoards and currency 103 Single finds and market sites 109 Chapter 7 Towns and Urbanisation 119 Tenth- and eleventh-century Dublin 120 Anglo-Saxon urbanisation and tenth-century Chester 129 Trade in the Bristol Channel, and the later Hiberno-Norse towns 135 3646 Vikings.indd 5 08/02/2013 11:46 Chapter 8 Assimilation and Cultural Change 140 Burial and commemoration 141 Religious conversion and Viking motifs 143 An Irish Sea metalwork tradition? 150 Architecture: urban and rural 153 Language and inscriptions 153 Hybridity and acculturation – the process of cultural change 155 Chapter 9 Conclusion 157 List of Abbreviations 161 Notes 162 Bibliography 172 3646 Vikings.indd 6 08/02/2013 11:46 List of Illustrations Front Cover: The ‘fishing scene’ stone, Gosforth, Cumbria. Thor and Hymir ride in a boat on a fish-filled sea, as Thor hooks the world serpent. (Ross Trench-Jellicoe) Back Cover: Sea Stallion from Glendalough, a full-size reconstruction of an Irish-built Viking Ship (Skuldelev 2), passes the north-west of Scotland on its way from Denmark to Dublin, 2007. (© Roskilde Viking Ship Museum) Figures chapter 1 1 The Irish Sea from Space. (© NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) 2 The landscape of Sognefjord, Norway. (Author) 3 The Irish Sea region in the Viking period: sites and territories 4 Scandinavian place-names, mapped from the publications of Gillian Fellows-Jensen and others 5 Wirral place-names: road sign at Caldy Crossroads. (Sarah Philpott) chapter 2 6 Viking raids on churches in Ireland. (After Etchingham 1996) 7 Inchmarnock ‘Hostage Stone’. (Reproduced by kind permission of Chris Lowe, © Headland Archaeology) 8 British/Irish ‘insular’ objects found in Viking-period graves in Scandinavia. (After Wamers 1998) 9 Longphort Comparison. (By Peter Drake, after Kelly and Maas 1995, Kelly 1998, Simpson 2005, Sheehan 2008) 10 Woodstown finds: a silver ingot, decorated and polyhedral weights, amber beads and a Kufic coin fragment. (© Waterford Treasures Exhibition) 11 Type 1 building plan, Temple Bar West. (Reproduced by kind permission of Linzi Simpson, © Margaret Gowen & Co.) chapter 3 12 Chester from the air from North; the Medieval walls echo the Roman plan. (Nick Higham) 13 The Castle Ditch Hillfort, Eddisbury, Cheshire from North, the site of the burh founded in 914. (Robert Philpott) chapter 4 14 A working suggestion for areas of Viking land-holding and settlement before 1050 15 Isle of Man: sites mentioned in text 16 The Dyflinarskíri. (Reproduced by kind permission of John Bradley) 17 The lower Dee and Mersey: sites mentioned in text 3646 Vikings.indd 7 08/02/2013 11:46 8 Vikings of the Irish Sea 18 Maen Achwyfan (Whitford, Flintshire), sandstone standing cross dated to c. 1000. (Author) 19 Morecambe Bay area: sites mentioned in text 20 Land tenure and Medieval estates in Copeland, Cumbria. (Reproduced by kind permission of Angus Winchester) 21 Northern Cumbria: sites mentioned in text 22 Scandinavian settlement in Galloway. (Reproduced by kind permission of Richard Oram) 23 The Medieval territories of the Hiberno-Norse towns. (Reproduced by kind permission of John Bradley) 24 Burials and boundaries in Jurby Parish, Isle of Man, located on (15). (Reproduced by kind permission of Paul Reilly) 25 Tynwald, St Johns, Isle of Man. (Roger White) 26 Cross Hill, Thingwall, Wirral. (Robert Philpott) 27 Comparison of buildings from rural sites. (By Peter Drake, after Redknap 2000, Bersu 1949, Gelling 1970, Ó Néill 2000) 28 The Braaid settlement site, Isle of Man. (Nick Higham) 29 Vowlan Promontory Fort, Ramsey, Isle of Man. (After Bersu 1949) 30 Whetstones and spindle-whorls from Bryant’s Gill, Kentmere, Cumbria. (© National Museums Liverpool) 31 Earthworks showing unexcavated longhouse settlement at Linglow Hill, Cumbria. (Nick Higham) 32 Irby, Wirral, bow-sided buildings under excavation in 1990. (Robert Philpott, © National Museums Liverpool) chapter 5 33 Viking burials in the Irish Sea Region 34 Viking burial F196 with iron shield boss (centre), South Great George Street, Dublin. (Reproduced by kind permission of Linzi Simpson, © Margaret Gowen & Co.) 35 Antler comb from Burial F598, South Great George Street, Dublin. (Reproduced by kind permission of Linzi Simpson, © Margaret Gowen & Co.) 36 The Kilmainham-Islandbridge area, Dublin. (After Johnson 2004) 37 One of a series of watercolours depicting objects from the Kilmainham/Islandbridge burials, Dublin, by James Plunket, 1847. (© National Museum of Ireland) 38 Ballateare: Bersu’s excavation. (© Gerhard Bersu and David M. Wilson) 39 Ballateare: the female skull. (© Manx National Heritage) 40 Ballateare: half section of the mound showing central burial pit and overlying features. (© Gerhard Bersu and David M. Wilson) 41 Camp Keeill Vael, Balladoole, Isle of Man: Viking burial on boundary towards lower left. (Nick Higham) 42 Balladoole: the reconstructed stone ship-setting. (Roger White) 43 Balladoole: plan of the burial with lintel graves beneath. (Reproduced by kind permission of Julian D. Richards) 44 Balladoole: Bersu’s excavation, the Viking burial with lintel graves beneath. (© Gerhard Bersu and David M. Wilson) 45 St Patrick’s Isle/Peel Castle, Isle of Man, from West (Nick Higham). The tenth-century burials were immediately north of the roofless cathedral at the eastern perimeter 46 Peel Castle, Isle of Man, the ‘Pagan Lady’ burial. (After Freke 2002, © St Patrick’s Isle Trust) 47 Aspatria, Cumbria, finds from burial mound. (After Rooke 1792) 48 Hesket-in the-Forest, Cumbria, finds from burial mound. (After Hodgson 1832) 49 Claughton Hall, Lancashire, oval brooches, bead and belt fitting. (© Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston) 50 Meols: weapons from probable Viking grave found in 1877–78. (Meols Project, © National Museums Liverpool) 3646 Vikings.indd 8 08/02/2013 11:46 List of Illustrations 9 51 Cumwhitton: gilded copper-alloy composite oval brooches. (© OA North) 52 Cumwhitton, Cumbria: Oxford Archaeology North photographers record the burials inside tem- porary excavation shelter, 2004. (© OA North) 53 Cumwhitton Viking cemetery, Cumbria, plan of the six graves. (After OA North) 54 Cumwhitton: artistic reconstruction of Grave 25 by Dominic Andrews 55 Cumwhitton: X-ray of inlaid sword pommel. (© OA North) chapter 6 56 Hiberno-Norse silver pennies of Dublin of Phases I, II and III, (c. 995–c. 1050). (© Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) 57 ‘Early Viking Age hoards’ in Ireland and (below) histogram showing dates of deposition of coin hoards. (Reproduced by kind permission of John Sheehan) 58 Dinorben Hoard of silver arm-rings, Anglesey. (© Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru/National Museum of Wales) 59 Part of the Huxley Hoard of silver arm-rings, Cheshire, found in 2004. (© National Museums Liverpool) 60 Orton Scar, Cumbria, silver bossed penannular brooch. (© National Museums Liverpool/Society of Antiquaries of London) 61 Cuerdale Hoard, Lancashire, some of the silver including ingots, arm-rings, ‘ring-money’ and coins. (Nelson Collection, © National Museums Liverpool) 62 Chester, Castle Esplanade Hoard, found in Chester Ware vessel in 1950. (© Cheshire West and Chester Council) 63 Recent finds: Left: Preston, Lancashire: decorated lead weight; Right: Arnside, Cumbria: hanging bowl mount with human face. (© Portable Antiquities Scheme) 64 Meols, from East. (Robert Philpott) 65 Meols: ringed pins. (Meols Project, © National Museums Liverpool) 66 Meols: gilded copper-alloy plaque, pyramidal bell. (Meols Project, © National Museums Liverpool); roundel-decorated buckle plate and drinking horn terminal. (After Hume 1863) 67 Meols: copper-alloy bird from merchant’s balance scale. (Meols Project, © National Museums Liverpool), with part of a complete example from Jåtten, Rogaland, Norway. (After Petersen 1940) 68 Ness, Wirral, silver ingot. (© National Museums Liverpool) 69 Llanbedrgoch: plan of excavated settlement. (© Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru/National Museum of Wales) 70 South-eastern Anglesey and the Menai Straits: sites mentioned in text 71 Hacksilver from Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey. (© Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru/National Museum of Wales) 72 Decorated lead weights from Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey. (© Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru/ National Museum of Wales) chapter 7 73 Dublin Area: sites mentioned in text 74 Dublin: plan of major excavations, by Peter Drake 75 Dublin, Type 1 building, Fishamble Street Excavations. (© National Museum of Ireland) 76 Dublin: Fishamble Street excavations in progress. (© National Museum of Ireland) 77 Comparison of buildings from urban sites. (By Peter Drake, after Wallace 1992, Bourke 1995, Hurley et al 1997, Hill 1997) 78 Comparison of sunken-featured buildings. (By Peter Drake, after Ward 1994, Morris 1983, Wallace 1992) 79 Dublin: bone trial or motif piece bearing Ringerike-style designs. (© National Museum of Ireland) 80 Chester: plan of major excavations, by Peter Drake 3646 Vikings.indd 9 08/02/2013 11:46

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