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Early Anglo-Saxon Applied Disc Brooches. Part I: On the Continent1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

Vera I. Evison
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Extract

Fragments of an applied brooch found among the tiles of the collapsed roof of the Roman bath building in Lower Thames Street, London, were exhibited to the Society in March 1969, and they again raised the question of the date of this type of brooch. The applied saucer brooch in Anglo-Saxon England has often been discussed in connection with the cast saucer brooch, and as the two types are very similar in appearance, it would be as well at the outset to remind ourselves of their several distinguishing features. The Anglo-Saxon applied brooch consists of a disc or back plate of metal, usually bronze and concave, but sometimes flat; the spring lug and pin catch at the back are often separate pieces of metal fixed through slots in the disc, and the pin is of iron or occasionally bronze. On top of the back plate is fastened, by means of some adhesive material, a disc of thin, gilt, bronze sheet, decorated with a repoussé design. There was sometimes an intervening packing of perishable material no longer traceable. A circular band of bronze is fastened on the edge at an angle to the disc to form a rim. When found, the rim and decorative plate have usually become detached, and have often been lost altogether. It is not surprising, therefore, that an alternative method was adopted to make a more durable construction in one piece; the base plate with spring lug and pin catch, together with the decorative surface and rim, were all cast in one piece, so forming the saucer brooch. This was a development of the applied brooch, but the two types continued in use at the same time, and as one design often occurs on both types, they are usually considered together. As there are very few saucer brooches on the Continent, however, possibly contemporary specimens are mainly excluded from the present review, nor will any attention be paid to the larger applied brooches found almost exclusively in this country, many of which are ornamented with animals in Style I and belong mainly to the sixth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , March 1978 , pp. 88 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1978

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References

NOTES

1 ‘Early Anglo-Saxon applied disc brooches, Part II: in England’, will appear in Antiq. Journ. Iviii, part II. Acknowledgements will appear in Part II.

2 Antiq. Journ. xlix (1969), 395.Google ScholarA fragment of eastern Mediterranean amphora from the same site was also exhibited, ibid., 396. Merrifield, R., The Archaeology of London (1975), fig. 41aGoogle Scholar.

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14 Evison, V. I., The Fifth-century Invasions South of the Thames (1965), p. 69Google Scholar, fig. 1, g, h; the grave contents reconstructed by Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 138, 5.

15 The star motif disc referred to by Welch in grave 88 at Oudenburg(Welch, op. cit., 1976, p. 208, note 1; Mertens, J. and Impe, L. van, ‘Het Laat-Romeins Grafveld van Oudenburg’ Archaeologica Belgica, cxxxv (1971), pl. xxviiGoogle Scholar, 6) is not a disc brooch as stated by him. Mr. Welch noted that this was decorated in the style used on tutulus brooches, and it was, indeed, no doubt part of a tutulus brooch–there were two in the grave. Another fragment in the grave, however, of a repoussé disc with zigzag border, may well have been part of a disc brooch, perhaps attached to a back plate with a border which although not nearby was in the same grave (Mertens/van Impe, op. cit., 1971, pl. XXVIII, 7 and 4, a, b). It is interesting to note that three of the applied brooch patterns, the star, floriate cross, and five spiral, appear on the discs of the tutulus brooches, a type limited to the fourth century.

16 Böhme, op. cit., 1974, 332.

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19 Ibid., Taf. 85, 3.

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25 K. Waller, op. cit., 1938, Taf. 44, 1–7, 9; Genrich op. cit., 1951, 271; Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 36, 14–15.

26 Zimmer-Linfeld, K., Gummel, H., and Waller, K., Westerwanna I (1960), Taf. 65Google Scholar; Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 36, 14–15.

27 Information from Dr. A. Genrich.

28 Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 62, 19, 20.

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30 Pirling, op. cit., 1966, Taf. 22; Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 76, 12.

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32 Boeles, P. C. J. A., Friesland tot de elfde eeuta (1951), pl. xxxvGoogle Scholar, 9; Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 58, 15.

33 Roeder, op. cit., 1927, 46; Namurcum, iv (1927), 41–3Google Scholar (gilt bronze with scalloped border, diam. 4–9 cm.); Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 92, 12.

34 Pirling, op. cit., 1966, Taf. 79; Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 79, 11.

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38 Oxon. xvii/xviii (1952/1953), pl. ivGoogle Scholar, c.

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40 Roeder, op. cit., 1927, 22–3, Taf. 3, 2; Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 32, 8; A pair of ‘Perlberg’ type brooches have just been noted in grave 86 (unpublished) at Zweeloo, H.-J. Hassler, op. cit., 1977, 103.

41 Grohne, op. cit., 1953, Abb. 66, 67B–these grave numbers are now altered to 249 and 68 respectively, see Böhme, op. cit., 1974, 224–6, Taf. 11, 4–7 and Taf. 7, 7–14.

42 Leeds, E. T., ‘The distribution of the Anglo-Saxon saucer brooch in relation to the Battle of Bedford, A.D. 571’, Arch. lxiii (1912), 159–202,Google Scholarfig. 12.

43 Roeder, op. cit., 1927, Taf. 3, 3a and b.

44 Evison, op. cit., 1965, 70, pl. 17, c.

45 Coutil, L., ‘Département de l'Eure, Archéologie Gauloise, Gallo-Romaine, Franque et Carolingienne II Arrondissement de Louviers’, Bulletins de la Société d'Etudes Diverses de Louviers (1898–1921), 44Google Scholar, plate between pp. 40 and 41, fig. 2; Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 127, 15, one brooch only illustrated.

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47 Decaens, J., ‘Un nouveau cimetière du haut moyen âge en Normandie, Hérouvillette (Calvados)’, Arch. Med. i (1971), fig. 26.Google Scholar

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50 Waller, op. cit., 1938, Taf. 48, 5–10; Grohne, op. cit., 1953, Abb. 67a, 68b, 69c; Roeder, op. cit., 1927, 21, 47, Abb. 6.

51 Zimmer-Linfeld, et al., op. cit., 1960, graves 124, 241, 301, 826, 862, 1009, 1167, 1238, 1370, 1372, 1421; Waller, op. cit., 1957, 26, Taf. 4, 8022, 73, Taf. 10, 8154.

52 Böhme, op. cit., 1974, Taf. 61, 2; 61, 9; 64,18.

53 Pirling, op. cit., 1966, Taf. 85, 9–12.

54 Roeder, F. ‘Neue Funde auf kontinentalsachsischen Friedhofen der Völkerwanderungszeit’, Anglia, lvii (1933), 321–60, 333Google Scholar; Werner, J., ‘Die frühgeschichtlichen Grabfunde vom Spielberg bei Erlbach, Ldkr. Nördlingen, und von Fürst, Ldkr. Laufena.d. Salzach’, Bayerische Vorgeschichtsblätter, XXV (1960), 164Google Scholar; Bonner Jahrbücher, lxxxvi (1888), 209Google Scholar.

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56 Genrich, op. cit., 1951, Abb. 30.

57 Brown, G. Baldwin, The Arts in Early England, iv (1915), pl. CXLIXGoogle Scholar, 1.