News Roundup - The 950th Anniversary of the Battle of Hastings

How the anniversary celebrations and the re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings at Battle Abbey was reported in the media...

Trying to find Harold, reading the Magna Carta, and going 3D: Medieval News Roundup

This week we take a look at some stories about the search for King Harold (sigh), some interesting medieval archaeological discoveries, and the wolf curse...

Is this how the Bayeux Tapestry would have ended?

The Alderney Bayeux Tapestry

The famous Bayeux Tapestry ends with the defeat of King Harold's army and the flight of the Anglo-Saxon soldiers. However, most scholars believe that the original tapestry would have ended with the coronation of William the Conqueror. 

Now, a community project from the British island of Alderney has recreated the missing piece of the Bayeux Tapestry. It depicts several scenes that they believe would have been in the original tapestry, including a scene where William is crowned on Christmas Day, 1066. 

Professor Robert Bartlett of the University of St.Andrews tells the BBC: "It has often been pointed out that the opening of the tapestry has a figure of King Edward the Confessor enthroned, and that around the middle point of the tapestry there is an image of William's enemy Harold enthroned.

"It would be a neat symmetry and make perfect sense of the story if the end of the tapestry had showed the victorious William enthroned, which is what the Alderney team have chosen to do. The other 'new' scenes are more speculative, but they are modelled on scenes earlier in the tapestry so look convincing."

The recreation is now being displayed next to the original at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in France - the exhibition will run until August 31st.

For the full story, please visit the BBC or the Daily Mail.

Click here to visit the Alderney Bayeux Tapestry Project website

Click here to see more photos of the Bayeux Tapestry recreation

Here is a video report about the project from last year:

Boat, oyster shells, coins and an Anglo-Saxon gravestone - what has been found from the Middle Ages

Some recent news on what medieval items people are finding in England and Wales...

Archaeologists working in Norfolk have discovered the remains of a boat which could be as much as 600 years old. The boat was found along the River Chet near Loddon, with some of its wooden timbers, iron and copper alloy nails. The vessel would originally have been about six metres long and would have had a sail.

This is the first time that a medieval vessel has been discovered in Norfolk, according to site archaeologist Heather Wallis. She explains, "We think it dates between 1400 and 1600 AD and is very well preserved. It might have been used for carrying lighter good on the river."

Click here to read reports from the BBC, Beccles and Bungay Journal and Eastern Daily Press.

A group of amateur archaeologists are working in Northampton, where they are doing digs to find remains of the town's medieval castle. John Duthie, one of the organizers of the dig, said in their last search, “We actually found a piece of the castle - a large piece of sandstone. We also found oyster shells and pieces of pottery which look to be medieval. They’re now being checked over by a professional archaeologist and we’re really delighted with the finds. For only a small dig, we found a great deal.”

The group of amateur archaeologists do digs of one-square metre around the site of the former castle, which was torn down in the 19th century so the land could be used for the town's railway station.

You can read more from the Northampton Chronicle and Echo.

The next two articles are a little odd. First, when Ifor Edwards dropped his keys somewhere on his farm near the Welsh village of Bronington, he called in spme metal-detecting experts from the Wrexham Heritage Society to help find them.

Not only did they find the keys, but also 14 coins dating from the later Middle Ages. Mr. Edwards told the Shropshire Star, “It is a once in a lifetime thing. It is such a shock, you just can’t quite believe it. You realize those coins were there before they ever found America or anything. You just can’t believe you’re holding something that is 600 and something years old. We only bought the land three years ago and nothing like this has ever been found before.”

You can read more from the Shropshire Star.

An even bigger discovery was made in a garage in Surrey - an auctioneer clearing out a house stumbled across a ninth-century gravestone. The 1,100-year-old stone is carved with Christian symbols, including an early Christian Celtic-form cross enclosed by a halo, with a panel of geometric carving below.

Guy Schwinge from the auctioneering house Duke's of Dorchester, told the Daily Mail, "Our valuer spotted the grave marker at the back of the garage, partially obscured by cardboard boxes and garden tools. To the untrained eye the gravestone appears insignificant, but closer examination of the carved decoration and detailed research has enabled experts to identify the object as an Anglo-Saxon grave marker, which probably dates from the time of Alfred the Great."

The gravestone has been sold at auction for £4,300. Click here to read more from the Daily Mail.

Newly discovered Anglo-Saxon grave may be evidence of 7th-century monastery

Archaeological work being done at St.Hilda's Church in Hartlepool has turned up an Anglo-Saxon grave. Other burials from the Early Modern period were also found, as the church is digging up a section of its floor to install a new heating system.

The discovery might be evidence that an Anglo-Saxon monastery existed on this site. Bede records that a nun named Heiu founded a monastery in the area named Heruteu in the 640s.

Dr Steve Sherlock, of Tees Archaeology, said: “It’s an exciting thing. We hope to do more work to understand it. It’s always presumed that there was a church here in Norman times in 1066. We note that the church is sited in the area of St Hilda’s Anglo-Saxon monastery, about 60ft north of the present church. 

“It’s always been presumed that this church was the site of St Hilda’s Anglo-Saxon monastery. We haven’t found any trace of that, but this one burial may be one of the clues pointing towards that.”

Click here to read the full article from the Hartlepool Mail

Click here to read more about an Anglo-Saxon Monastery at Hartlepool from Teeside Archaeology

After Richard III, archaeologists set their sights on Alfred the Great

His remains are believed to lie in an unmarked grave in Winchester and a team is reportedly applying for permission to dig up the spot at St Bartholomew’s Church. It is thought Alfred’s skeleton could be found among a collection of bones there.

But the job is expected to be much harder than the analysis on Richard III, as finding a living relative to provide a DNA sample would involve searching a much older family tree.

Katie Tucker, an archaeologist from Winchester University, told The Times: “As far as we’re aware there are five skulls plus other bones. The most simple part will be to work out ages, sexes, and put the bones back together. The problem is, where would we get a comparative sample from? It’s a hell of a lot further to go back to trace a living descendant.”

Click here to read this article from The Telegraph

English is a Scandinavian language

By Trine Nickelsen

Contrary to popular belief, the British did not 'borrow' words and concepts from the Norwegian and Danish Vikings and their descendants. What we call English is actually a form of Scandinavian.  


"Have you considered how easy it is for us Norwegians to learn English?" asks Jan Terje Faarlund, professor of linguistics at the University of Oslo. "Obviously there are many English words that resemble ours. But there is something more: its fundamental structure is strikingly similar to Norwegian. We avoid many of the usual mistakes because the grammar is more or less the same.

Faarlund and his colleague Joseph Emmonds, visiting professor from Palacký University in the Czech Republic, now believe they can prove that English is in reality a Scandinavian language, in other words it belongs to the Northern Germanic language group, just like Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese. This is totally new and breaks with what other language researchers and the rest of the world believe, namely that English descends directly from Old English. Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is a West Germanic language, which the Angles and Saxons brought with them from Northern Germany and Southern Jylland when they settled in the British Isles in the fifth century.


"Modern English is a direct descendant of the language of Scandinavians who settled in the British Isles in the course of many centuries, before the French-speaking Normans conquered the country in 1066," says Faarlund. He points out that Old English and Modern English are two very different languages. Why?

"We believe it is because Old English quite simply died out while Scandinavian survived, albeit strongly influenced of course by Old English," he says.

Click here to read this article from the University of Oslo

See also The History of English in Ten Minutes

Anglo-Saxon feasting hall discovered in Kent

Archaeologists from the University of Reading have uncovered the remains of Anglo-Saxon hall that would have accommodated at least 60 people. The discovery has been made at the Lyminge Archaeological project, which has already produced several important finds.

The archaeological team has been able to completely uncover the outline of the hall, which measures 21 metres by 8.5 metres, and believe that it dates from the late sixth or early seventh century.

Gabor Thomas, who is leading the archaeological dig, told the Guardian “This would undoubtedly have been the scene of many Beowulfy type activities, great assemblies for feasts that lasted for days, much drinking and story-telling, rich gifts like arm rings being presented, all of that. There could have been no more visible sign of wealth and status than raising a hall like this.”

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Wardell Armstrong Archaeology discover Iron Age and Saxon remains near Milton Keynes

Two perfectly preserved Iron Age notched log ladders as well as burial sites dating back to the early Saxon period have been found by Wardell Armstrong Archaeology.

The discoveries were made while carrying out open area excavations on farm land to the western side of Milton Keynes. The site is being developed for mixed use building, where Wardell Armstrong has been commissioned to carry out archaeological surveys as part of the planning permission process.

After trial trenching had revealed potential Iron Age and Romano British remains, excavation work in June this year concentrated on a large circular pit measuring around 7m in diameter and 2.5m in depth. The two Iron Age timbers of around 2.5m in length were found in the base of the heavily waterlogged pit which had provided the perfect anaerobic conditions for preservation.

Very few examples of notched log ladders have ever been found in Britain, and it appears that these two examples may be the largest yet discovered. They seem to have been used as steps down to the base of the pit to extract clay for use in building, lining or waterproofing.

Wardell Armstrong Archaeology carefully removed the log ladders which were then transported to the York Archaeological Trust who specialise in the conservation of timbers of this size. The process will take around 18 months to complete, after which they will be put on display in a local museum. The timbers could date to between 800BC to 100AD, but dendrochronology will be used to establish a more precise date.

Click here to read this article from Timber in Construction

Archaeologists discover medieval church and 300 burials in Ipswich

A team from Oxford Archaeology, in partnership with Pre-Construct Archaeology, has so far uncovered some 300 burials dating to the late Saxon and medieval periods from a site in Ipswich.

Ipswich was an important Saxon town and trading centre, and excavation at the site, located by the river on Great Whip Street, Stoke Quay, has revealed extensive Middle-Late Saxon occupation remains, including a lead strip inscribed with runic script, as well as the lost church and cemetery of St Augustine’s.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Anglo-Saxon treasures uncovered at Polesworth Abbey dig

Anglo-Saxon treasures which date back as far as 700AD have been unearthed during a major archaelogical dig at a historic North Warwickshire site.

 Dating back almost 1,200 years, Polesworth Abbey, near Tamworth, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, is steeped in centuries of history – some of which has just been unearthed for the first time in hundreds of years.

 Originally a Benedictine nunnery which was founded in the 9th century by St Modwena and King Egbert, a near 200-strong team of local people, aged 12 to in their 80s, has spent the last six weeks carefully excavating land on the river side of the abbey as part of a community archaeological dig. 

Supported by a professional team from Northamptonshire Archaeology, the team’s goal was to find any secrets hidden in the soil on the site of the monastery’s former kitchen and refectory.

Click here to read this article from the Birmingham Post

Anglo-Saxons and hand-saex

As an invitation to explore the wonders of Old English, hand-saex is certainly arresting.

The Dictionary of Old English, based at the University of Toronto (doe.utoronto.ca), offered hand-saex as last week’s “word of the week.” Reader Susannah Cameron spotted it and sent the reference to Word Play. “Have to admit it caught my attention,” she said.

 Sadly for anyone expecting new insight into the intimate practices of Anglo-Saxons between the years 600 and 1150, the word refers to a knife or dagger. The knife was a saex, also spelled seax and (yes) sex, and a hand-saex was a weapon held in one hand. The word for hand in Old English was hand. Very handy.

 Saex comes from a Germanic root (sah or sag) meaning to cut. It survives today only in the narrowly defined word sax, a tool used to trim roofing slates. But before the Norman Conquest of 1066 reshaped the English language and gave us Middle English – a process that took about a century to filter down to ordinary folks – saex was all the rage.

Click here to read this article from The Globe and Mail

Glass discovered at Glastonbury Abbey dates back to 7th century, researchers find

New research led by the University of Reading has revealed that finds at Glastonbury Abbey provide the earliest archaeological evidence of glass-making in Britain.

Professor Roberta Gilchrist, from the Department of Archaeology, has re-examined the records of excavations that took place at Glastonbury in the 1950s and 1960s.

Glass furnaces recorded in 1955-7 were previously thought to date from before the Norman Conquest. However, radiocarbon dating has now revealed that they date approximately to the 680s, and are likely to be associated with a major rebuilding of the abbey undertaken by King Ine of Wessex. Glass-making at York and Wearmouth is recorded in historical documents in the 670s but Glastonbury provides the earliest and most substantial archaeological evidence for glass-making in Saxon Britain.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Archaeologists discover 7th-century Anglo-Saxon teenager with golden cross

One of the earliest Anglo-Saxon Christian burial sites in Britain has been discovered in a village outside Cambridge. The grave of a teenage girl from the mid 7th century AD has an extraordinary combination of two extremely rare finds: a ‘bed burial’ and an early Christian artefact in the form of a stunning gold and garnet cross.

The girl, aged around 16, was buried on an ornamental bed – a very limited Anglo-Saxon practice of the mid to later 7th century – with a pectoral Christian cross on her chest, that had probably been sewn onto her clothing. Fashioned from gold and intricately set with cut garnets, only the fifth of its kind ever to be found, the artefact dates this grave to the very early years of the English Church, probably between 650 and 680 AD.

In 597 AD, the pope dispatched St Augustine to England on a mission to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxon kings; a process that was not completed for many decades. Using the latest scientific techniques to analyse this exceptional find could result in a greater understanding of this pivotal period in British history, and the spread of Christianity in eastern England in the Anglo-Saxon period.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Was St Edmund killed by the Vikings in Essex?

Keith Briggs, a visiting research fellow in linguistics at the University of the West of England, has proposed a new site for the battle in which King Edmund of East Anglia was killed in 869. If confirmed, the new proposal would change our understanding of the early history of Suffolk and especially of the town and abbey of Bury St Edmunds.

The story of Edmund, king and martyr, has become a kind of foundation myth for the county of Suffolk, but contains at least one element of truth – in 869 there was a battle between the East Anglians and the Vikings; Edmund was captured and later killed. About 100 years later the story was written down – soon after, Edmund came to be considered a Christian martyr and the new abbey (founded about 1020) at Bury St Edmunds was dedicated to him. Edmund’s remains were believed to be housed in the abbey, miracles were attributed to him, and Bury thus became a major pilgrimage site and a rich and powerful abbey for the next 500 years.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Viking Hoard discovered in England

In what is being described as a “very exciting find” over 200 items dating back to around the year 900 have been discovered near Silverdale, in north Lancashire. Now known as the Silverdale Viking Hoard, the collection cotnains a total of 201 silver objects and a well preserved lead container. Of particular interest is the fact that the hoard contains a previously unrecorded coin type, probably carrying the name of an otherwise unknown Viking ruler in northern England.


The Silverdale Viking Hoard was discovered in mid-September 2011 by Darren Webster, a local metal-detectorist, who reported it to the local Finds Liaison Officer that evening. The hoard comprises 27 coins, 10 complete arm-rings of various Viking-period types, 2 finger-rings and 14 ingots (metal bars), as well as 6 bossed brooch fragments, a fine wire braid and 141 fragments of chopped-up arm-rings and ingots, collectively known as ‘hacksilver’. The lead container is made of a folded-up sheet, in which the coins and small metalwork had been placed for safekeeping, while buried underground. The container is responsible for the excellent condition in which the objects have survived for more than ten centuries. The coins are a mixture of Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Viking, Frankish and Islamic types, including coins of Alfred the Great (871-99) and his god-son the Viking leader Guthrum, who became king of East Anglia with the baptismal name of Athelstan.


Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Anglo-Saxon building discovered in Yorkshire

The flanks of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales National Park have given up one of their secrets to a team of amateur archaeologists.

Members of the Ingleborough Archaeology Group spent weeks investigating a remote site on the side of one of the National Park’s famous Three Peaks to the west of Selside in Upper Ribblesdale.

And their work has resulted in the discovery of the first 7th century building to be positively identified in the National Park – and one of the first in the north of England.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Cornwall: Archaeological finds of national importance

A bigger picture of what life was like 1,300 years ago for people living on the Lizard is emerging at Gunwalloe.

Archaeological work in the area has been described by the National Trust as being of national importance.

The trust said: "Gunwalloe has for over 60 years captured the interest and imagination of local residents and archaeologists who have seen archaeological features eroding out of the cliff face from the beach below.

"The archaeological remains recorded so far belong to a possible early medieval settlement in the sand dunes dating to between the 7th and 9th centuries.

"This site is of great importance as only one other settlement of this date has been excavated in Cornwall which makes it of national significance in understanding this period."

Click here to read this article from This is Cornwall

Remains of Anglo-Saxon Saint discovered?

Archaeologists working in the Oxfordshire town of Bicester believe they have discovered a reliquary containing some of the bones of Saint Edburg, a seventh-century saint.

John Moore Heritage Services is conducting the excavations of a site of former apartment buildings (flats) which is being redeveloped. The land once belonged to Bicester Priory, and the archaeological work has uncovered the entire north transept of the Priory Church, After coming across thirteen other skeletons during the dig, the archaeologists found some partial remains of a skeleton wrapped in a lead sheet.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Oxford Viking massacre revealed by skeleton find

Evidence of a brutal massacre of Vikings in Oxford 1100 years ago has been uncovered by archaeologists. At least 35 skeletons, all males aged 16 to 25 were discovered in 2008 at St John's College, Oxford.

Analysis of wound marks on the bones now suggests they had been subjected to violence. Archaeologists analysing the find believe it dates from 1002 AD when King Ethelred the Unready ordered a massacre of all Danes (Vikings) in England.

The surprise discovery of the skeletons was made by Thames Valley Archaeological Services under the quadrangle at St John's College at the University of Oxford, before building work started on the site.

Click here to read this article from the BBC