| Gilling sword | |
|---|---|
 The Gilling sword | |
| Created | late 9th to early 10th Century AD |
| Period/culture | Anglo-Saxon |
| Discovered | 1976 Gilling West, North Yorkshire |
| Present location | Medieval Gallery, Yorkshire Museum, York |
The Gilling sword is an Anglo-Saxon sword, dating from the late 9th to early 10th centuries AD, found by a schoolboy in a river in 1976 and subsequently acquired by the Yorkshire Museum.
The sword was discovered on 9 April 1976 by nine-year-old Gary Fridd on the north side of Gilling Beck, in Gilling West, North Yorkshire. At the Coroner's inquisition for treasure trove, held in September of the same year, a police officer identified the find spot as "33 feet (33 ft (10 m)) east of a bridge and two feet from the water's edge". He also identified that a mechanical excavator had recently been working in the area where the sword was found, offering a reason for its unusual discovery. The sword was not declared treasure and became the property of the finder. [1] The finder appeared on the children's television programme Blue Peter to talk about his discovery and both he and the sword were awarded Blue Peter badges. [2] [3]
The sword was purchased at auction by the Yorkshire Museum in 1977. [1]
The whole sword measures 838 millimetres (33.0 in) in length, with a maximum width of 86 millimetres (3.4 in) across the guard. The sword blade is bifacial (double edged) and the hilt is decorated in silver with a combination of geometric and floriate (depicting flowers, leaves and foliage) designs. [3]
The blade itself measures 700 millimetres (28 in) in length from the guard. It tapers gradually from the guard, where it measures 52 millimetres (2.0 in) wide. The blade has a shallow fuller along its length and traces of pattern-welding are visible on its surface. The pommel is decorated with strips of silver and five matching strips are visible across the grip. [1]
The form and decoration of the Gilling sword places it within a group of late Anglo-Saxon swords classified as 'type L'; regarded as typical Anglo-Saxon swords of the Viking period and it has been compared to a similar example from Fiskerton, Lincolnshire. The sword may originally have derived from a grave, which had been disturbed by the mechanical excavator mentioned in the Coroner's report. [1]
The sword is in the collection of the Yorkshire Museum. It appeared in the exhibition "The Vikings in England", which was opened by the Prince of Wales on 30 March 1982 and was seen by over 235,000 visitors before it closed in October of the same year. This exhibition was awarded the European Museum of the Year Special Exhibition Award as a result of the presentation of the exhibition in the Museum and for additional educational projects organised by the curator Elizabeth Hartley. [4]
When the Museum was closed in 2010 for a major refurbishment, the Gilling sword (along with the other key objects from the Museum) were displayed at the British Museum. [5] It returned to the Yorkshire Museum for the new exhibition opening on 1 August 2010. [6]
In 2013, it was included in the permanent medieval exhibition "Capital of the North". [7]
In 2017, it formed part of a touring exhibition titled 'Viking: Rediscover the Legend' and is displayed alongside the Vale of York Hoard and the Cuerdale Hoard, with the tour starting at the Yorkshire Museum and subsequently including Atkinson Art Gallery and Library in Southport, Norwich Castle Museum, and the University of Nottingham. [8] [9] [10]
The sword went back on display at the Yorkshire Museum in September 2019. [11]
The Gilling sword (titled the 'Bedale-Gilling Sword') appears as an unlockable reward in the computer game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla . It was released in an update in October 2021 called the 'Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Discovery Tour' - a nonviolent educational experience within the game. [12] Maxime Durand, one of designers of the update for Ubisoft, said on Twitter that they worked with Sue Brunning (curator of Early Medieval Europe Collections at the British Museum and a specialist in early medieval swords) on the project. [13]
A seax is a small sword, fighting knife or dagger typical of the Germanic peoples of the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages, especially the Saxons. The name comes from an Old English word for "knife".
The Viking Age sword or Carolingian sword is the type of sword prevalent in Western and Northern Europe during the Early Middle Ages.
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The Coppergate Helmet is an eighth-century Anglo-Saxon helmet found in York, England. It was discovered in May 1982 during excavations for the Jorvik Viking Centre at the bottom of a pit that is thought to have once been a well.
The Vale of York Hoard, also known as the Harrogate Hoard and the Vale of York Viking Hoard, is a 10th-century Viking hoard of 617 silver coins and 65 other items. It was found undisturbed in 2007 near the town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. The hoard was the largest Viking one discovered in Britain since 1840, when the Cuerdale hoard was found in Lancashire, though the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard, found in 2009, is larger.
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The Seax of Beagnoth is a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon seax. It was found in the inland estuary of the Thames in 1857, and is now at the British Museum in London. It is a prestige weapon, decorated with elaborate patterns of inlaid copper, brass and silver wire. On one side of the blade is the only known complete inscription of the twenty-eight letter Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet, as well as the name "Beagnoth" in runic letters. It is thought that the runic alphabet had a magical function, and that the name Beagnoth is that of either the owner of the weapon or the smith who forged it. Although many Anglo-Saxon and Viking swords and knives have inscriptions in the Latin alphabet on their blades, or have runic inscriptions on the hilt or scabbard, the Seax of Beagnoth is one of only a handful of finds with a runic inscription on its blade.
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The Abingdon Sword is a late Anglo-Saxon iron sword and hilt believed to be from the late 9th or early 10th century; only the first few inches of the blade remain attached to the hilt.
Trewhiddle style is a distinctive style in Anglo-Saxon art that takes its name from the Trewhiddle Hoard, discovered in Trewhiddle, Cornwall in 1770. Trewhiddle ornamentation includes the use of silver, niello inlay, and zoomorphic, plant and geometric designs, often interlaced and intricately carved into small panels. It was primarily used to decorate metalwork. During the late Anglo-Saxon era, silver was the precious metal most commonly used to create Trewhiddle style jewellery and to decorate weapons. Famous examples include the Pentney Hoard, the Abingdon sword, the Fuller brooch, and the Strickland brooch.
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Andrew R. Woods is a British numismatist, archaeologist and curator specialising in early medieval and Viking coinage. He is the senior curator of the Yorkshire Museum and was formerly the curator of numismatics at the York Museums Trust.
Susan Elaine "Sue" Brunning is an archaeologist specialising in Early Medieval material culture, particularly swords, and is the curator of Early Medieval Europe Collections at the British Museum.
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