Halvgrimr's Viking & Pre Viking Helm Presentation

In addition to the four reconstructable helmets mentioned above there is a small amount of evidence for some further Anglo-Saxon helmets in the archaeological record. There are crest fragments from helmets, which can be loosely described as 'of the Sutton Hoo type' from Rempstone in Nottinghamshire (Unpublished, Nottingham Castle Museum) and Icklingham, Suffolk (Unpublished, Bury St. Edmunds Museum). From Guilden Morden in Cambridgeshire there is a bronze boar-crest; unfortunately it cannot be securely attributed, but it seems to have once been attached to a helmet. #2

There is also what appears to be the remains of a sixth/seventh Spangenhelm of Germanic type that were found in Dumfriesshire (This style of helmet is well known from the continent, and is found throughout the Germanic World, so it is almost inconceivable that this style of helmet would not have been used by the Anglo-Saxons.

There are also two more possible helmets, one from Caenby in Lincolnshire (#3) and one from Asthall in Oxfordshire (#6), but there is very little information on these two. It is possible that they may not even be helmets.

There are also several early pictorial sources showing helmets, most notably the 'Franks Casket' (which shows warriors wearing crested helmets with nasals and cheek-flaps) and the eighth century manuscript 'The Poems of Paulinus of Nola', which shows warriors wearing helmets with animal crests. Another good source of representations of this type of helmet come from the Aberlemno Pictish Symbol Stone (#4), and the Anglo-Scandinavian carved stone crosses at Stockburn (Durham), Brompton (North Yorks) and Chester-le-Street (Durham) (#5.) There are also several continental illustrations of these types of helmets, mainly on decorative foils adorning other (non boar-crested) helmets

2. The exact details of this find's discovery are unclear as it was excavated in 1864 or '65, but it was not published until 1903, by which time the other associated items (a bronze ring and two glass beads) had been lost and the boar's tail had been damaged. The grave is thought to have been a female burial, but is thought the boar may have been an heirloom piece removed from a helmet, perhaps buried as a 'family momento' of a husband/son/etc.

3. This seems to consist of 'fragmentary gilt bronze and silver material’, which is decorative in nature. Dominic Tweddle identifies it as the remains of a crested helmet (in 'The Anglian Helmet from Coppergate, York Archaeological Trust 1992) although Paul Everson identifies it as the decoration of 'a box, chest or other item of wooden furniture'. (in 'Pre-Viking Settlement in Lindsey' in A. Vince (Ed) Pre-Viking Lindsey 1993)

4. Although of Pictish origin and situated in Angus, Scotland, it is thought to be a commemoration of the Battle of Nechtansmere in 685AD. In this battle the Picts defeated King Ecgfrith and his Northumbrian Saxons. Many of the warriors are thought to be English and wear helmets of a type very similar to the Pioneer and Coppergate Helmets.

5. Although all three of these are of 10th century date they show helmets with prominent crests and cheek-flaps, very similar to the Pioneer and Coppergate Helmets. This might suggest that this style of helmet remained in use for quite a long time.

6. T.M. Dickinson and G. Speake "The Seventh-Century Cremation Burial in Asthall Barrow, Oxfordshire: A Reassessment" in M.O.H. Carver(ed.)_The Age Of Sutton Hoo_ (Woodbridge 1992) pp.95-130, who say that: "while the decorated foils have been published as possible analogies to the foils from the Sutton Hoo helmet, and the fluted and U-sectioned bindings might indeed be compared with those on helmets, the apparent absence of iron backing to the Asthall foils ought to preclude their derivation from a helmet. Equally compelling parallels may be found among the remains of drinking horns, wooden bottles, and cups." and they go on to conclude that this is in fact what the foils represent and therefore there was "at least one vessel of organic material with copper-alloy mounts" in the barrow

Good Reference BooksViking Weapons and Warfare by Kim Siddorn was published on 15th December 2000 by Tempus Publishing, The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stroud, Glos, England. GL5 2QG. Hardback & Cardback, 160 pages. FP 2000. The ISBN is 0-7524-1419-4 (It’s available from the publishers direct at a £2.00 discount off the cover price. Also available from Book Club Associates (Ancient History Book Club, Military Book Club et al). It is selling quite well and sales are such that it will probably run to a reprint during April, so it might become temporarily unobtainable. Don't let the bookshop snow you! It IS available now!) You might like to look at the website www.regia.org

The Anglian Helmet from Coppergate. Tweddle (1992), 350pp plus index, 206 illustrations, over 50 in colour, ISBN 1 872414 19 2, One of only four helmets to survive in England from this period, this is arguably the most important single find from York. The helmet is described fully, with historical, art historical, technical and linguistic discussions, and comparisons with other European helmets are included. (You can buy this and many other good books at http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk)

Aspects of Anglo-Saxon archaeology: Sutton Hoo and other discoveries by Rupert Bruce-Mitford. Published London : Gollancz, 1974. xxi, 356 p., [104] p. of plates : ill., maps (some col.), plans, port. ; 26 cm.