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The ‘Northwest Essex Anglo-Saxon Ring’, Falconry and Pagan–Christian Discursive Space

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2020

Robert J. Wallis Open the ORCID record for Robert J. Wallis [Opens in a new window]
Robert J. Wallis*
Affiliation:
Richmond University, the American International, University in London, 1 St Alban's Grove, Kensington, LondonW8 5PN, UK Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

A unique gold finger ring, dated stylistically to c.ad 580–650, was discovered by metal-detecting in Essex in 2011. The ‘northwest Essex Anglo-Saxon ring’ is highly decorated with Style II art and shows a distinctive juxtaposition of ‘pagan’ and ‘Christian’ imagery including birds of prey and an anthropomorphic figure holding a long cross in the right hand, a raptor in the left. In this article, I consider the possibility that the object provides further evidence that falconry was practised in early Anglo-Saxon England. I begin by examining the finger ring itself and the imagery upon it, situating this within an Anglo-Saxon and broader Continental context. I then explore the possible social context of the ring, focusing on the ‘ideology of predation’ within which falconry, as a high-status hunting pursuit, may have been performed. Evaluating the hybrid ‘pagan’ and ‘Christian’ elements of the imagery, I suggest that falconry, and the ring itself as a high-status and possibly royal object, may have played important roles in the dynamics of pagan–Christian ‘discursive space’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , August 2020 , pp. 413 - 432
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

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