The Viking World: A History in ObjectsMain MenuGallery viewA galleryTag Cloudtag cloud pageThemesA path of thematic categoriesAuthor IndexExplore the collection by authorWorks CitedReferencesAdam Bigelow3afa9c7ecebf516bba6609664b1b12f79c54bf77Caitlin Donahue61b7e986e7c71d400e5c803912ed83c0cf65252fCaroline Harvey1783f21a5882b5b4d3d0b6c174d058052a5ff7eaEdward Hershewee701ef220480b51ca728fc9c719bc094cf813655Martin Hoffmana1fd203afd9a84ee8db567e188cf6ed1d269386eTyler Hruby23493f763b312110686cfafc62578fd0ab5f3833Brittany N. Johnsonc1c1763339f8fa953e3c907c6bb8a3bad0c28b2cCarlos Lua Pineda0a28cc23b0aa00b4f24a9e205aeb57fbdb07ff01Moira McConnell710633400590ea38533ea3412c01fc5056288180Clara McCurdy9aec76477d0b55f9c685c47330d6786ec98182e1Elise McIlhaneyef48481634ff342c8b43c9d56f678b2d3562fb69Cameron Meikle669a5682bfbfd603130a26e25628f24eb07e6295Alexander Christopher Newkirk019c2f5b38c043507251d1789e2fdf47e61c3b7fBenja Reilly816c23aa0d444213fb2d1ef33555a15617e08228Oliver Statenc625ae8c3926f5e1a4268bc91d6a6f4cdb1e7fb6Liam Sullivanaa3a1dccb90c7fe4646b61c4af594abbb0c5574aRead Wilder31bf4715220144a665996f2e6cae80a1a8611eadAliza Yazdanicd49f227d88c72331226ddf574bf56c37308cd10Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707dea
Trewhiddle Strap End
12017-05-10T10:38:42-07:00Elise McIlhaneyef48481634ff342c8b43c9d56f678b2d3562fb69164562Broken silver strap end decorated in the Trewhiddle style of zoomorphic interlace.plain2017-05-10T10:40:31-07:00Marsden, Katie. Strap End. Still Image, October 10–14, 2014. PUBLIC-2014T696. Portable Antiquities Scheme. https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/640841.800-1000PUBLIC-2014T696CC BY51.8637187,0.9732419SilverPortable Antiquities SchemeTendring District, EnglandEarly MedievalElise McIlhaneyef48481634ff342c8b43c9d56f678b2d3562fb69
1media/2014 T696.jpg2017-05-20T20:06:38-07:00Trewhiddle Strap End19object pageplain2017-09-20T20:22:44-07:00This broken strap end found in England dates to the Viking Age, and its discovery could be evidence of English soldiers carrying objects decorated with zoomorphic design as they fought the vikings. It was found by a metal detectorist in the eastern region of England in 2014. The strap end is mostly silver and measures 28mm long, 11.9mm wide, 3mm thick, and 4.33g. Based on the decoration style, it is dated to the 9th-10th centuries and is ascribed to the Anglo-Saxons. It is decorated with a stylized animal head in a style of zoomorphic interlace called the Trewhiddle style which is easily identifiable because of the drilled dot representing the creature’s eye, a signature of the Trewhiddle style. It was a common style for the Anglo-Saxons and was commonly made of niello, but any trace of it on this silver strap end has since faded away.[1]
Strap ends of the Jelling style were also popular in England, and especially the Danelaw,[2] during this time, as well as in the Baltic and Russia,[3] and the Trewhiddle style does resemble the Jelling style with its long, sinuous, intertwining creatures. However, the Trewhiddle style also shows a resemblance to the earlier Borre style with the round-eared creature represented on the strap end facing forward toward the viewer. This strap end may have been an early version of the popular Jelling strap ends that would come later, and the dates of this object could support this idea. The strap end and the Trewhiddle style could be a transition style that morphed the Borre and Jelling styles of zoomorphic interlace.
Amidst the dates given for this object was the reign of King Aethelwulf in Wessex and the reigns of his four sons, the youngest being Alfred the Great. Their reigns saw a lot of conflict with the micle here, or the viking Great Army, and Alfred himself was the one to ultimately drive them out of England.[4] This strap end was found in Essex, which is along the border of what would later become the Danelaw where it meets with Wessex. It had broken off something, possibly a soldier’s gear, and its location and dates suggest that this may have belonged to an Anglo-Saxon soldier in the armies of Aethelwulf or his sons as they fought against the vikings.
