Repton and the Legacy of the Viking Great Army
2018-02-23
By Catrine Jarman, University of Bristol In 873 the Viking Great Army attacked the monastery in Repton, forcing the Mercian king to flee the country and installing a puppet king in his place. 1100 years later, excavations led by archaeologists Martin Biddle and Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle at St Wystan’s Church in Repton in the 1970s and …
The Mythbusting Sword from the Bedale Hoard
2018-02-15
By Dr Sue Brunning Written sources from Viking period Britain create the impression that gold-hilted swords were typical weapons for high status warriors. Alfred the Great (871–99) described royal retainers wielding them; his father Æthelwulf (839–58) gifted one to the Holy See in Rome; and his grandson Eadred (946–59) bequeathed another. In the poem about …
Viking Age stone sculpture in the East Midlands
2018-02-02
By Paul Everson How do you make new discoveries of archaeological material dating from the Anglo-Scandinavian era in the East Midlands: the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries? And how do you contribute to scholarly and popular understanding of the Viking Age in England? For myself and my friend and long-term academic collaborator, David Stocker, the …
Repton in the Viking Age
2017-06-16
One of the aims of our project is to find out more about what happened in the East Midlands in the Viking Age. A key site near to our Nottingham base is Repton, in Derbyshire. This was an important centre of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and the burial site of several of its kings. It was …
First Glimpse of Viking: Rediscover the Legend
2017-06-02
Welcome to the Viking blog! Here we will be sharing stories and information relating to the two Viking exhibitions coming to Lakeside Arts later this year. Viking: Rediscover the Legend will bring together objects from the British Museum and York Museums Trust. It will be on in the Djanogly Gallery from the end of November until early March. In December, …
