This image depicts a stirrup for a horse of Anglo-Scandinavian design, most likely from that portion of southern England that was for a significant period of time under Danish control, commonly known as the Danelaw. Though for obvious reasons Scandinavians are most commonly known as seafaring raiders, this stirrup and others like it give evidence that they adopted horsemanship from contact with European inland powers.

Notable is that this stirrup was not used in Europe prior to the Middle Ages, as Roman cavalry lacked stirrups. It was unseen in Europe until around the Sixth and Seventh centuries, when the Eurasian Avars invaded. Even then, we do not have evidence of stirrups amongst Scandinavian people until the 8th century, when certain Swedish kings were buried with it – although Scandinavian style stirrups were far more prominently found in Denmark and, later, England than in Sweden. As with other weapons, they are commonly found as grave goods in warriors’ graves – in particular, during the reign of the Jelling kings, numerous leading Danes were buried with these stirrups.¹

This particular stirrup was dated between 975 and 1075, though more likely than not it was made in the latter portion of that, as it is commonly accepted that stirrups did not come into common usage in England until raids during Æthelred’s reign, when Cnut’s Danes made numerous raiding expeditions into England before he took the throne in 1016.²
Cavalry would have granted an advantage of speed of attack overland, and were invaluable to the Micle Here’s invasion of England.

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